Bugging Out with The Audio of OVO

Elmont, NY (October 30, 2024)—Cirque du Soleil productions have always been family shows cut from a different cloth. Sure, there’s acrobats, trapeze artists, tumblers, musicians and clowns, but they’re always presented in fresh ways, familiar yet exotic, reinventing the concept of a circus into something that delights anew—and that’s certainly the case with OVO, one of the company’s longest-running hits.

First launched in 2009, the touring production draws big crowds to this day with its simple story of a gawky bug, The Traveler, who falls in love with a ladybug, and spends much of the runtime trying to woo her. Along the way, there’s pauses for big dance numbers, death-defying mid-air gymnastics, and lots more.

When it was first launched, OVO toured with its own big top in tow, but a massive overhaul in 2015 dropped the tent and took the show indoors, staging it as a massive arena production requiring a staff of 100, including the 52 performers, and a phalanx of 20 semi-trucks to carry the show from city to city.

While the show sports some wild acts, it’s tied together not only by the story but also an insistent musical score performed live by seven musicians. Composed by Berna Ceppas, the percussion-heavy music draws from a variety of genres—bossa nova, samba, funk and electronic music among them—and that in turn keeps the four-person audio team (FOH, Monitors, PA and RF) on its toes throughout each two-and-a-half-hour show.

Keeping tabs on everything sound-wise for OVO is head of audio Kevin Lorenzo Adkinson. A classically trained pianist, Adkinson toured with bands in his native Spain before becoming interested in sound—a pursuit that led to working in studios and live productions. When the chance to become a runner on a Cirque show came up, Adkinson literally ran away with the circus and never looked back. Four years later, he’s now with OVO and has been mixing front of house for the last 12 months.

The show’s sound design was originally created by Broadway sound designer Jonathan Deans, and when the production was reformatted to arenas, Deans modified it to accommodate the new surroundings, but was able to retain most of the existing audio system. Amazingly, much of that original system is still in use today—but not for much longer.

“It’s going to be refreshed in a little while [to better match] the needs and the technologies of these days,” Adkinson reported. “We change arenas every week, so it’s quite a beaten kit.”

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The tour sports a P.A. based around Meyer Sound MICA compact line array elements, bolstered by JM-1Ps used to cover seating on the floor, along with a variety of M’elodies, UPQ-1Ps and M1Ds as well. “It’s very solid, and at the end of the day, it’s been touring with this show around 15 years and is still working,” he noted. In deference to keeping the system predictable and trouble-free, once OVO loads into an arena—typically for a four or five day stand during which there may be up to eight performances—the system is left on until it’s time to tear down.

Both the FOH and monitor positions are based around Avid Venue SC48 consoles; the house mix additionally has a Yamaha DM1000 desk used for surrounds and delays, though plans are afoot to revamp all that into Meyer Sound Spacemap when the audio refresh takes place. The show incorporates not only music and speech, but also recorded insect sounds such as crickets; used for ambiance and occasionally as music, the sounds are triggered through an Ableton setup at FOH.

The three main bug characters—who speak a language of nonsense sounds—are captured with DPA 4088 core headset mics, while a featured singer is heard via a DPA 4266. Wysicom wireless systems are used for the performers, while some of the band members—violin, flutes, and accordion—who come on stage at different points use Sennheiser EM 6000 wireless systems. Most of the time, however, the score is performed backstage, so the monitor desk is located directly next to the musicians, who all hear themselves via IEMs. The instruments, ranging from drums to oboe, are all captured with a variety of Sennheiser mics.

Most insects have short lives ranging from a day to perhaps a week, but after 15 years, OVO looks likely to run as long as a termite queen (25-plus years!). While termites don’t bring people much joy, the long-lived Cirque du Soleil show certainly has, and with its upcoming audio refresh on the horizon, all involved are looking forward to continuing that tradition for a long time to come.