On March 14, 2020, entertainment behemoth Cirque du Soleil shuttered its seven Vegas production shows due to COVID-19. More than 15 months later, the company will finally turn the lights back on, Nevada Public Radio reported. With state plans allowing entertainment venues to operate at 100 percent capacity starting June 1, Cirque will revive its pioneering shows "Mystere" and "O," along with its affiliate show "Blue Man Group." All three will be open by the big July 4 holiday weekend. Many have said the return of Cirque on the Strip would signal the return of the Strip entertainment. But it’s also a huge comeback for Cirque itself, the company having come out of last year’s bankruptcy. The company went from putting on 44 shows across the globe to zero revenue almost overnight and was pushed into bankruptcy. “The company was very, very healthy, but you cannot sustain close to 5,000 employees without any revenue. That is why we had to protect ourselves from our creditors,” said Daniel Lamarre, CEO and president of Cirque du Soleil. But from that came new investors who helped the company survive. “That shows a lot about the strength of the brand of Cirque du Soleil because, despite zero revenue for more than a year, people were willing to spend money to keep us alive,” he said.
