After nearly a year and a half of performances, Cirque du Soleil has announced updates to performances of “Drawn to Life,” performed each night exclusively in Disney Springs in partnership with the Walt Disney Animation Studios. The production has been refreshed with an all-new acrobatic act, aerial artists, and a “flying” guitarist.

“Drawn to Life” is described as a “love letter to Disney animation.” The show is a first-ever collaboration among Cirque du Soleil, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Walt Disney Imagineering. The show is a journey into a world where an animator’s desk becomes the stage and drawings come to life. “Drawn to Life” is a celebration of life told through Cirque du Soleil’s acrobatics.

“Drawn to Life” follows the story of Julie, a courageous and determined girl who discovers an unexpected gift left by her late father: an unfinished animation piece. Guided by a surprising pencil, she embarks on an inspiring quest sprinkled with her Disney childhood memories. Through this journey, she will learn to imagine new possibilities and animate the story of her future.

In a video shared by the WKMG News 6 team, the show’s Artistic Director Tim Bennett elaborated on the evolving nature of the production and the reasoning behind some of the major new changes.

“So, any Cirque show evolves over time, and especially usually within the first year, but we’re in a little bit of a protracted development phase,” said Bennett. “We’re making tons and tons of little and medium tweaks. And right now we’ve decided to change two acts in a major way. One change was a complete replacement of an old act – it was the stilts act before, and we decided to find something that really jumped up the acrobatic level earlier in the show. So, we brought in the Icarian Games act.”

The refreshed Cirque du Soleil show will also feature a new “flying” guitarist that will perform as acrobats soar and flip in the sky and a new aerial hoops routine that Bennett suspects will add to the intensity of the production.

“We realized that we didn’t have a whole lot of aerial stuff in the show, so we wanted to add more aerial acts,” said Bennett. “So, what we did is we’ve taken the paint and ink girls and made them into Ceraso artists, so now they fly on aerial hoops, and it brings the act forward.”

An original score was written for the show, but that, too, has received an update. Some existing songs have been updated to bring new life to the production and an entirely new song has been written for the new Icarian Games act.

Cirque du Soleil’s “Drawn to Life” at Disney Springs

“Drawn to Life” premiered in November 2021 and is performed at the Cirque du Soleil Theater in the West End of Disney Springs. Since opening night, the show has been performed more than 650 times and ushered more than 600,000 guests through its doors. The show replaced “La Nouba,” which closed at the end of 2017.

“Drawn to Life” has performances Wednesday through Sunday at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Earlier this year, the show began to also offer Sunday matinee performances at 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tickets start at $85 and are available from the official Cirque du Soleil website. To add to the experience, guests can also book a prix fixe meal at participating Disney Springs restaurants before or after their viewing of Cirque Du Soleil’s “Drawn to Life” as part of a special dining offer.

Have you seen the Cirque du Soleil and Disney collaborative production of “Drawn to Life” yet? Let us know what you think of this Walt Disney World exclusive show in the comments below!

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