Cirque du Soleil to Open $57 Million Circus in Kremlin

Cirque du Soleil, the circus whose founder paid Russia $35 million for a trip into space, said it reached an agreement with the Kremlin to perform inside the country’s 500-year-old seat of power.

The entertainment company is spending $57 million to develop a new show called “Zarkana” that will debut at Radio City Music Hall, New York, in June before beginning an engagement at the Kremlin Palace from February to April next year, the company said in a statement distributed at a news conference in Moscow today. U.K. singer-songwriter Elton John will organize the music for “Zarkana,” Chief Executive Officer Daniel Lamarre told reporters.