Review: Cirque du Soleil's 'OVO' is like 'A Bug's Life,' but weirder

Cirque du Soleil brings its newest iteration, OVO (which is Portuguese for egg), to the North Charleston Coliseum, and there are still five opportunities left for you to check out the show. The premise is that the Cirque performers are bugs living and playing in a bug kingdom. Expect the standard Cirque stuff, as the actors writhe around the stage, flip from trapeze to trapeze, and balance on metal poles from their mouths.

What sets this production apart is that the actors really commit to their roles as bugs —the movements are snappy and sudden, and their bodies twitch just like the grasshoppers and flies they emulate. “This is kind of weird when you think about the fact that these are all grown adults acting as confused bugs,” my co-show goer remarked to me. That kind of sums up the whole experience.

The show was certainly family-friendly (the kids in front of me were giggling the whole time), but some jokes were more adult. For example, one bug sprays gas into another bug’s mouth. He decides he likes it and gases himself more, and suddenly the music, visuals, and dance moves all become kinda … wavy. This drug-induced humor didn’t go unnoticed by those above 15, since the bug definitely just greened out on stage in front of our eyes.

My biggest question about the whole production involves this egg that it is so centrally based around. The bugs usher out an egg at the end and celebrate it, but it never hatches. What becomes of that egg? That loose end is the only disappointment in this otherwise peculiar, yet dazzling show.

The bugs hit the stage tonight at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 4 pm and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Buy your tickets online.