Cirque to perform at Kremlin

Cirque du Soleil will invest $57 million in a new show to beperformed in the Kremlin in Moscow.

The company based in Montreal and Las Vegasis testing the market in Russia with Zarkana, a highly acrobatic showgeared to acountry where people love the circus.

The $57 million that Cirque du Soleil will invest in the production in the Kremlin, Russia's seat of power, is the most thecompany has invested in a non-permanent show.

"Zarkana, for us, is a test to see if the market can bear a permanent show," president Daniel Lamarre said in a statement from Moscow.

"(The show) will tell me much more about the clientele in Moscow. If we have the success that I think we will have, this will definitely confirm the means for a permanent presence."

Zarkana, with music arranged by Elton John, will debut at Radio City Music Hall in New York in June before beginning an engagement at the Kremlin Palace.

In the past two years, Cirquebrought two large-scale touring shows to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan and sold more than 510,000 tickets. It is currently touring Russia with arena show Saltimbanco.

In 2009, Cirque founder Guy Lalibert spent 10 days at the International Space Station after paying for a tripin a Soyuz space capsule.

About 20 per cent of Cirque du Soleil's 1,000 artists are from Russia, which has a strong circus tradition.

Zarkana will premiere at the Kremlin Palace in February 2012 and run for nine weeks. Cirque de Soleil plans a permanent presence in Russia by 2015 and could invest an additional $30 million to $50 million.