It’s nearly lunch time on a Wednesday in a sleepy Japanese town called Sendai, and there’s a long line of people queueing to get into a big tent. No, they’re not office workers queueing to get into some hip Michelin-starred ramen joint for lunch. They’re lining up to enter the Big Top tent where Cirque du Soleil’s KURIOS – Cabinet of Curiosities is showing (the Cirque crew tell us that, oddly, noontime shows only work in Japan). This is the show’s final stop before it lands in Singapore on Jul 5 to Aug 4 at the Big Top next to Marina Bay Sands (the tent’s already up!), and we’re here to suss the scene onstage and backstage at the revered Canadian circus company’s most fantastical, imaginative show we’ve seen in a while.

Cirque du Soleil’s iconic Big Top tent will receive a makeover when it lands on our shores: instead of the blue-and-yellow structure perched here in Sendai, you’ll get to see the debut of the spanking new grey-and-white Big Top at Bayfront Ave.

Written and directed by Michael Laprise (whose credits include artistic direction for Madonna’s 2012 Super Bowl halftime show and her MDNA tour), Kurios is set in the Victorian era, ensconced in a steampunk aesthetic, and is very much inspired by the Industrial Revolution.

Its loose storyline revolves around The Seeker, a mad scientist who dozes off in his lab. We’re then let into an exciting alternative universe that exists in his personal curio cabinet, one where dreams of grandeur, whimsical ideas and enchanting secrets live. There is the incredible display of superhuman feats, as you’d expect from any Cirque du Soleil show. But Kurios manages to elevate that, and spins a completely mesmerizing, jaw-dropping, captivating experience, thanks to its captivating theme, amazing props and intricate costumes.

You’ll find superbly flexible contortionists do their thang atop a giant mechanical hand. Then there’s Mr Mircocosmos, a man with spherical container for a belly where a woman resides in. Oh, look, there’s human fish bouncing on a giant acronet (which kinda looks like Jewel’s Canopy Park). An aspiring aviator attempts to balance on cylinders and planks on his propeller plane (remember, this was in the era where flight technology was still in infancy stages), which is as nerve-wracking as it sounds. We walk out of the show completely bamboozled by the sheer magic we’ve just witnessed, put together by 122 tour members of the cast who hail from 23 countries. Little wonder that Kurios, Cirque du Soleil’s 35th production in its 35-history, has been delighting critics worldwide.

One of the most jaw-dropping segments of the show is the Upside Down World — a dinner gathering gets interesting when the diners discover that there’s a parallel universe that exists above them…upside down!

How on earth does all this magic happen? We go behind the scenes at Kurios – Cabinet of Curiosities to bring you the secrets of the show.

We arrive 10 minutes before the Sendai show commences are greeted with this elaborate steampunk-themed set-up on stage. There’s what seems like an entrance of a time machine at the back, performers idly perched on larger-than-life cabinets at the sides, but the centerpiece is a ginormous metal drawbridge that’s arched across the entire stage. A couple of people are gingerly making their way across, and upon closer inspection, we realise that they aren’t performers. Instead, it’s an obasan and her husband, and other random audience members following behind, who are crossing the bridge on stage. Did they lose their way to their seats or what?

If you’ve always wondered what a Cirque du Soleil cast member sees when they’re on stage, you’ll get your chance pre-show at Kurios. Ten minutes before show time, members of the audience will get a chance to go on stage and traipse across a rope bridge on stage. So you can’t do acrobatics or contort yourself like a pretzel, but hey, you could pretend you’re a Cirque du Soleil performer for one hot minute on this bridge (which frankly, is higher and shakier than we expected). The walk takes all of a couple of minutes, but the view from the stage will be worth it.

We bet Thanos would trade the Infinity Gauntlet for this. Among the props in the show is this mega mechanical hand, which is among the heaviest props in Kurios, weighing 340kg and measuring 4.5m by 2m. It doesn’t move on its own — two performers are squirreled underneath, controlling the ginormous paw via handles. “The front one controls the fingers with their feet, and the person at the back controls where the entire thing goes. It’s kinda like a giant rowboat!” Ali Bowman from the Kurios props team tells us.

A closer look at the mechanised hand.

Kurios is the Cirque du Soleil show with the most number of props with 426 pieces. In comparison, the last Cirque show that Ali worked on had 30 to 40 props.

One of the most entertaining acts in the two-hour show involves nobody on stage, or so you think. In a cheeky nod to the classic circus acts, Kurios’ Invisible Circus act is a miniature wonderland of everything you’d expect from a traditional circus: the ring of fire, a unicycle, trapezes, diving boards and more. Except that everything is performed by invisible performers, who don’t quite seem to get the act right. The secret here? Not invisible potions, but two hardworking performers below the stage who are controlling everything. “You know how on the side of the bus you have stickers for bus ads that you can see through, but you can’t really see through the other way from the front side?” Ali explains. “We use the same perforated sticker so the two people underneath can see what’s going on but the audience can’t see them, and they’re controlling everything via ropes and pulleys.” Now you know.

All that swinging, bending, twisting, trampolining might distract you from the unsung heroes of Kurios: the seven-piece live band and the lead singer. They’re decked out in steampunk-era costumes as well, and blend in to the background. But we think they’re actually the spine of the production, providing the live soundtrack throughout the show, which comprises about 16 tracks. Yes, that's like a full-fledged solo gig.

As we amble through the wardrobe department backstage in the artistic tent after the show, we’re first struck, not by intricate costumes or shiny baubles laid out, but by massive lines of clothes hanging in the tent and four mammoth fans blowing at them. “Oh, that’s the laundry,” assistant head of wardrobe, Perrine Chassagne, reveals. For a show that has a total of about 6,000 costumes (“not all get used at the same time in one show”, she says), that’s a lot of laundry to be done. “Usually we wash at night, and in the morning, it’s nice and dry and clean again. We have two fans above and two fans on the ground, and they blow all night to ensure the laundry is dry in time.”

Kurios has some big fans. ​​​​​​​

“Each artist has about two sets for each role they do, and some artists do [more than one] role. This is our depot that is our back-up that we receive from [the Cirque du Soleil headquarters in] Montreal. As soon as a costume is too old to be used on stage, we have a fitting with the artist and we replace it. We order backup costumes more than a year in advance to make sure we can prevent catastrophes,” says Perrine.

The mentalist, who also makes an appearance in the beginning of the performance, is one with many bright ideas, literally. What you don’t know is that this hat is outfitted with a computer system inside that has the projections emitted from his headgear already programmed into the system. Fancy.

Keep your eyes peeled for the entertaining human steam train act in the beginning that weaves through the audience. The actor at the front of the locomotive gets to operate this very cool hat and controls the steam that rises from it.

Believe it or not, about 80 faux ’staches are used just for one show.

This mega ball of a costume belongs to Mr Microcosmos, and can weigh up to 20kg, simply due to the fact that it holds so much… including another human being. Yup, this is where the Mini Lili character resides — think of her and Mr Microcosmos as best friends, or brother and sister, or husband and wife. Whatever floats your boat.

Rima Hadchiti who plays Mini Lili is about 100cm tall and weighs about 18kg, and is among the 10 smallest people in the world. And at a couple of points in the show, she’s tucked away inside this costume. Inside her spherical abode are lights and a ventilation system (you know, for visual effect and so that Mini Lili doesn’t get too uncomfortable), as well as batteries. “One of our dressers is on standby to get [the actor] in and out of the suit as soon as he can, so he doesn’t have to wear the full costume all the time. Or we can remove part of the costume or some of the props [so that it’s lighter],” says Perrine.

The Accordian Man is another key character in Kurios, so of course his costume has to be one-of-a-kind. Even more complex is how his ultra-bendy accordion get-up, made out of recycled carton material usually used for shoe insoles, is made. It takes three weeks in total to make the whole thing. During that time, for one entire week, the costume maker has to stand inside the contraption just to stitch and then check everything by hand. “It’s really fragile and hard to take care of, so we try not to wash it,” Perrine reveals.

The acrobats’ and contortionists’ splendid spandex suits, as fancy or gaudy as they may look, will never ever have any rhinestones on them. “Sometimes they are on top of each other, so they cannot have any rhinestones or anything sharp on [the costumes] in case something breaks, or if they fall. It’s all for safety,” says Perrine.

It’s no secret that pulling off death- and gravity-defying superhuman feats on stage night after night is physically demanding, to say the least. And that’s why artistic director Rachel Lancaster’s dedicates part of her day to keep up to speed with everyone’s health. “I have a meeting with the stage management team and head coach to check on everyone’s health status for the day, check where people’s acrobatic progression is if they’re new to the cast or if they’ve been injured. I usually try to catch up with people during training, like if I have notes from the previous show or if there’s something we need to work on, I try to follow up with them through the days,” she reveals.

There’s plenty of interaction with the audience in the pre-show segment which provide many rib-tickling moments. Our favourite was when mime artists foisted a pillow upon an unsuspecting lady, who, like the polite Japanese she was, chuckled and took it, only to be presented with more props, including a sleep mobile and an eye mask. But that’s nothing compared to the lucky lady who got selected during the show to go on stage for an entire 10 minutes or so. And if you happen to be among the chosen ones at the Singapore shows, just know that there is little acting involved because your true emotions will shine through (read: the horror of being in the spotlight). We won’t give away too much, except that: If you’ve been on a date that ended badly, this may also count as re-living your past Tinder nightmares on stage for everyone to see.

KURIOS – Cabinet of Curiosities runs from Jul 5 to Aug 4, at the Big Top on Bayfront Ave (next to Marina Bay Sands). Tix from $95 from Sistic. More info at www.cirquedusoleil.com/kurios.

Show photos: D-CORD Keiju Takenaka. Costumes: Philippe Guillotel © 2018 Cirque du Soleil
All other photos: Jasmine Teo, taken with the Leica Q camera

Special thanks to: Sliding Doors Entertainment for making this trip possible, and Leica for the loan of the Leica Q camera.​​​​​​​