KAANAPALI — A new, permanent nightly show, the first to present cirque on Maui, will open June 2 in the Monarchy ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa.

Managing partner Doug Harris says it will be unique in combining cirque and Polynesia — as its name says, Cirque Polynesia.
Cirque has been in Hawaii before, as Cirque Hawaii in Waikiki, but it lost its lease. Harris managed to keep the core of that group’s performers together long enough to craft a new show. It was “a perfect storm” that made the Monarchy ballroom available, though, said Harris. (“Storm,” by the way, is the title of the opening musical number of the show.)
With ceilings 45 feet high, seating for 550 and the promotional assistance of the biggest hotel (by number of guest rooms) on Maui and 10,000 guest rooms within a short walk, the promoters think they have hit a sweet spot. True, tourism is slow, but Harris says the show is well-capitalized and able to last long enough to find an audience.
Hyatt General Manager Michael Jokovich says he has seen “a little uptick” in reservations in June and July, so he is full of hope. This will be the first cirque show at any Hyatt hotel.
“Cirque” is the French (or French-Canadian) word for “circus,” but thanks to Cirque du Soleil, it has come to be the label for a particular modern sort of circus. No animals, but a range of acrobats, aerialists and contortionists, performing in moody lighting with a custom score rather than a brass band.
Instead of hawkers of peanuts, patrons will be encouraged to buy the dinner-show combination, starting with dinner at the Hyatt's swank Umalu restaurant at 5 p.m. After that, at 7, they troop downstairs to have a show right in their laps — literally for VIP ticket buyers.
The high ceiling is just right for members of the Flying Wallendas, circus aerialists for seven generations, who will be flying over the heads of patrons in the first rows. Up above, there will be musicians on towers. The performance will tell a story through music and action, of the collision, at first tense, then collaborative, of cirque performers and Polynesians.
Hyatt employees and their families will get a neak preview performance on June 1.
The first public performance will be the next night. The price for the 75-minute show is $35 to $75, with dinner-show combinations from $70 to $130. Peter Donnelly, food and beverage director at the Hyatt, says the menu will be taken from Umalu’s wider menu. The multimillion-dollar restaurant opened at the end of last year.