Paramour (Cirque du Soleil)

Paramour
Logo for Cirque du Soleil's Paramour
Company	Cirque du Soleil
Genre	Contemporary circus
Show type	Resident show
Date of premiere	May 25, 2016
Location	New York City, New York
Creative team
Director	Philippe Decouflé
Creative guide	Jean-François Bouchard
Assistant directors	Pascale Henrot and West Hyler
Set designer	Jean Rabasse
Costume designer	Philippe Guillotel
Composers	Guy Dubuc and Marc Lessard
Choreographer	Daphné Mauger
Flying Machine Design and Choreography	Verity Studios
Lighting designers	Patrice Besombes and Howell Binkley
Props designer	Anne‐Séguin Poirier
Projection designers	Olivier Simola and Christophe Waksmann
Sound designer	John Shivers
Acrobatic performance designers	Shana Carroll and Boris Verkhovsky
Rigging and acrobatic equipment designer	Pierre Masse
Makeup designer	Nathalie Gagné
Other information
Preceded by	Toruk (2015)
Succeeded by	Luzia (2016)
Official website

Paramour is Cirque du Soleil's first resident musical theatre show at the Lyric Theatre on Broadway, New York City. Paramour is themed to the "Golden age of Hollywood" and follows the life of "a poet who is forced to choose between love and art". It has similar elements to Cirque du Soleil's retired Los Angeles resident show in Iris (which was also themed on cinema) written and created by Philippe Decouflé, and has a 38-person onstage cast with actress Ruby Lewis in the lead as Indigo.Paramour began preview shows on April 16, 2016, with an official premiere on May 25, 2016.

During previews, Paramour got off to a strong start and grossed over $1 million in its first six shows.

The show is directed by French director-choreographer Philippe Decouflé, who was also the director of the cinema themed Cirque du Soleil show Iris. The rest of the creative team is also the same as for Iris apart from the assistant directors, composer and sound designer. Scenes from Iris, such as aerial straps performed by the Atherton twins (who also performed in Iris), were incorporated into Paramour. The show also features flying machines from Verity Studios.

Paramour is also a musical featuring ten original songs.

Charles Isherwood of The New York Times wrote "The athletic circus acts that are laced throughout the show provide the real entertainment, and make the surrounding book scenes and songs feel even more bogus and synthetic," and "There’s no denying the breathtaking magic of seeing bodies swim through the air with such apparent weightlessness. Too bad the musical surrounding them feels just as weightless, and far more forgettable."