OVO … OMG more like it! Cirque du Soleil's 25th show did not disappoint, but the pouring rain did. We squelched down the orange carpet but, as we stepped into the VIP tent for pre-show drinks, we were treated to a kaleidoscope of colour, with every corner holding a new spectacle. Cirque du Soleil always attracts a great crowd and the tent was bursting with celebs - all clowns in our media circus.
We filed into the main tent and it wasn't just the kids who were wide-eyed and full of wonder; I think we all reverted to childhood that night. I was busily typing notes on my phone before the show started when a performer dressed as a bee-keeper snuck up and scared me with a fake butterfly. My squeal amused the people around me.
OVO is the story of a community of insects startled by the discovery of a large egg. Well, that doesn't make a lick of sense. Really, you don't go for the storyline. You go for the cool tricks that humans shouldn't be able to do. I looked around the audience and saw the insect theme was working; with their open mouths, everyone looked as though they were catching flies and guests were buzzing.
In the interval Jamie Durie told me he trained with Cirque in Vegas many moons ago - I figure it was before he was showing his moon in Manpower. And Manu Feildel admitted he ran away with the circus when he was younger. ''I was 13; I told my mum I wanted to be a clown and she took me seriously. So I trained three days a week and every school holidays until I was 16. But when it came to the professional auditions I thought I'd never make it, so I quit and went to work for my dad, who's a chef,'' he says with a laugh. ''Now … I get pangs of regret but I have a good life and, really, I'm clowning around on TV as a chef.''
Shelly Horton is editor-at-large and acting editor of S plus a regular on Channel Seven's Sunrise, The Morning Show and Weekend Sunrise