Cirque du Soleil's Amaluna to put female spin on The Tempest

The Cirque du Soleil's newest production Amaluna will put a feminine spin on William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

The Montreal-based acrobatic and artistic troupe unveiled details on Monday about Amaluna, a new show directed by Americanstage and opera director Diane Paulus.

The Cirque's 32nd productionloosely follows the plot of the Bard's The Tempest in its tale of a sorceress named Prospera who governs a mysterious island, according to organizers. In the wake of a storm she causes, a group of young men become stranded in her domain and Prospera's daughter falls in love with one of them.

Paulus, head of the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard University, has developed a reputation for creating contemporary, pop-influenced adaptations of stage and opera classics with her playwright and producer husband, Randy Weiner (who will serve as dramaturge of Amaluna).

Her credits include the controversial new Broadway production The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, the Tony-winning 2009 revivalof '60s counterculture musical Hair, the 2011Canadian Opera Company productionof Mozart's The Magic Flute and The Donkey Show, a disco adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream that ran off-Broadway from 1999-2005.

Amaluna, which marks the first collaboration between Paulus and Cirque, opens in Montreal in April before moving to Quebec City in July and Toronto in September.

More than 1,300 performers are starring in 22 Cirque current shows in permanent venues and touring productions around the globe.