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Cirque du Soleil’s “La Nouba” Adds Two New Acts

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Cirque du Soleil’s musical and acrobatic spectacle “La Nouba” added two new acts to its popular show at Downtown Disney. The opening act now includes a skipping rope segment where the cast bobs and weaves among the skippers. The chair stacking segment in the middle act has now been replaced by a juggler. Before you shrug at the thought of circus clown with a couple of rubber balls, know that this juggler is considered to be the best in the world. He not only juggles balls, pins and rings in denominations of seven, nine and finally eleven but he does it while bouncing a ball on his head or balancing a pole on his chin. Remarkable.

The new performers blend well into the existing show, and anyone who has already seen it may not even notice the changes. Those who see it for the first time will get an equal a level of entertainment to what was in past shows.

Cirque du Soleil is difficult to describe. Labeling it a circus performance does not do it justice, yet the performers could tumble alongside any circus in the world. It is nothing like a Broadway musical, yet the score is beautiful, haunting and integral to the experience. We could pump several paragraphs full of adjectives and hyperbole to try and describe this show. Bottom line: go see it! It is one of the few experiences in Central Florida for which we rarely receive negative comments. We think that La Nouba offers one the best entertainment values in all of the Walt Disney World Resort, and that says a lot. If you have wanted to see the show but felt the ticket price was too steep, check out this fall’s promotion.

From September 27, 2011, through October 29, 2011, members of Cirque du Soleil’s Cirque Club can purchase discounted category 2 tickets for La Nouba for $50 plus tax. Depending on the seat location and the season, regular adult tickets range in price from $58 to $140. Cirque Club is free to join. A similar offer is available to Florida residents.

We review all of the resident Cirque du Soleil shows as part of our work with the Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas as well as La Nouba at Downtown Disney. If you have seen one of the shows and wonder if the others are worth seeing, we can say this: we enjoy them all. Mystère and La Nouba are comparable yet sufficiently different to justify seeing both. Love and Viva Elvis are more about the music, KÀ is dark with a linear storyline, and O is set in an aquatic theatre. Zummanity is different because of the adult theme. These seven shows are fantastic, and although they are different in some ways, they all present the same awe-inspriring entertainment expected from Cirque productions. Only Criss Angel Believe falls short of the standard set by the other Cirque shows. Here’s how we rank them all.

  1. Mystère (Treasure Island Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas)
  2. La Nouba (Downtown Disney, Walt Disney World Resort)
  3. Love (The Mirage Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas)
  4. (MGM Grand, Las Vegas)
  5. “O” (Bellagio, Las Vegas)
  6. Viva Elvis (Aria Resort & Casino at City Centre, Las Vegas)
  7. Zummanity (New York-New York Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas)
  8. Criss Angel Believe (The Luxor Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas)

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Fred Hazelton

Fred Hazelton maintains the crowd calendar, theme park wait time models and does hotel rate analysis for the Unofficial Guides. He's also done the models for the new mobile wait times product Lines. Fred Hazelton is a professional statistician living in Ontario, Canada. His email address is fred@touringplans.com. You can also follow him on Twitter: @DisneyStatsWhiz.

6 thoughts on “Cirque du Soleil’s “La Nouba” Adds Two New Acts

  • Oh and BTW I balance a pole on my chin 3 nights a week 🙂

    Reply
  • I couldn’t disagree with your rankings more. Mystere is dated and La Nouba isn’t in Vegas for a reason. O, Love and Ka in that order are the top 3 Cirque shows and the ticket sales prove that. You’ve got 6, 7 and 8 correct. Mystere and La Nouba are somewhere in the middle.

    Reply
    • It is interesting that we receive less negative feedback about the Cirque shows than anything else, yet we get a lot of disagreement about our rankings, specifically with the ranking of Mystere and La Nouba at the top. We are in the minority doing so however we stick by them. We feel that Mystere and La Nouba offer a certain level of charm and humor that the other shows lack. It is that playfulness that appeals to us in a way that we feel a traditional Cirque show should. Incidentally, our rankings are not based on the box office sales, but rather our opinion of the entertainment value.

      Still, to rank the top 5 shows is nitpicking at best. They are all great and we would never discourage anyone from trying them all.

      Reply
  • This is awesome news. I always hesitate going back to La Nouba because I cannot justify spending the money for a show I’ve seen several times. However, this news will help me explain WHY to my husband 🙂

    Reply
    • The category 2 tickets for $50 are really worth it, we feel. A simply online registration for the Cirque Club is well worth the time in order to get the discount, if you are not a Florida resident.

      Reply
      • Thanks, Fred! I didn’t know about the Cirque Club, that’s a really terrific tip. – Rosanne

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