Monsieur Fleur, our guide through the world of Alegría, is unreliable, unearthly and unpredictable. Carrying his lighted scepter, he parades around humoring the pretension of the flock of Old Birds who hover around him. He can appear fun loving, but the beak-nosed, hunch-backed Fleur is jealous, petty and angry. He is rotten to the core yet elegantly dressed in a red velvet coachman's jacket, black brimmed hat and jeweled vest that barely covers his grotesquely protruding belly. Don't mistake this humble man in disguise... he wants power. "He is a character who highlights the contradictions, who destabilizes, that we cannot really grasp," says Christian Racoux, Fleur's original performer.

The disapproving Old Birds, grotesque and absurd, stumble around the stage in this changing world as though they were still young and beautiful and the future was still theirs. They admire their reflections in mirror-less frames but they are only empty shells, shadows of their former selves. They are the old aristocracy, desperately trying to cling to power in a world where pretenses no longer matter, rather uncertainty reigns, convinced of their power and beauty. But they are twisted, deformed and ugly. They wear fanciful hats and hide behind their flamboyant costumes in rich tones of mauve, green and gold, covered with lace, jewels and embroidery.

The Nymphs are the jewels of Alegría: they bring light to where only darkness exists. They are youthful and etheral; their exuberance is infectious and their enchanting dance can melt the hardest of hearts. These gentle creatures exude sensuality and beauty as they glide across the stage. They are fiercely protected by the Strong Man.

Tamir/Little Tamir

Always available and ever helpful, Tamir is like a magical fairy who appears when he is needed, only to suddenly disappear when he has fulfilled his mission. Dressed in a distinctive gold coat, quilted white trousers and a bowler hat, his wide grin and sparkling eyes are windows into his generous souls.

NOTE: During the original North American Tour, the role of Little Tamir was preceded by the "Little Comedian" — a miniature version of Slava Polunin’s clown performed by his son, Ivan Polunin. When Slava and Ivan left the show in 1995, the "Little Comedian" was temporarily replaced by Little Tamir, and by 1997 Little Tamir had become a permanent fixture in the show, played by Batjargal Batmunkh.

The White Singer is the storyteller who echoes in song everything she sees around her. She sings of melancholy and despair, of joy and happiness. Her luminous white gown is exquisite – underneath a bodice and skirt-frame adorned with jewels and pearls, is miles of flowing crinoline. In her dress and long white gloves, she moves like a delicate porcelain doll in a jewelry box.

The Black Singer is the White Singer’s alter ego. While she too expresses in song the atmosphere of Alegría, there is wickedness about her. In her elegant black dress, which mirrors that of the White Singer, she hides many secrets in her dark heart.

The clowning in Alegría is, as in the old days, very European, very theatrical, with a strong underpinning of melancholy. The clowns are witnesses to the passing of centuries, the social commentators of Alegría. Reflecting the eternal spirit of mankind, they are grounded and realistic, telling little stories of everyday life with friendship and folly, where everyone is a hero, or where anyone can fall in love and suffer a broken heart. These clowns are visionaries and philosophers of absurdity; endearing, comical and child-like, they turn the world into a circus. Their presence is felt throughout the production as their humour heightens, lightens, links or disrupts the artistic flow of the tale.

North American Tour (1994-1995)

For the original North American Tour — Slava Polunin, Ivan Polunin (his son), Dmitry "Aga" Bogatirev, Iryna "Boom" Ivanitska and Serguei Chachelev — poignantly portray death ("Martyr" - Slava dies comically at the beginning of the show, pierced by a myriad of arrows), friendship and folly ("Birds on a Wire" - two clowns pretend to be birds pirched on a long wire [Scene took place following Fast Track], and "The Shadow" - the clowns have a 'strange' encounter), whimsy ("Plane" - where Aga does tricks with a toy airplane on a string attached to his hair and Boom plays with a small hoop [Scene took place in the Jeux d'Enfants interlude following Synchronized Trapeze]), Love Lost ("Snow Storm") and the classic clowning motif of people befuddled by the most mundane of matters ("The Mess" - one of the clowns accidentally pops a balloon, so he brings the other two clowns out to see if they could help out, but the entire situation spirals out of control when they start throwing paper, garbage bags, confetti, and gigantic balloons all over the stage. Before they're through, they confronted a full-blown hurricane that sent confetti, seemingly miles of toilet paper, and the clowns themselves hurtling into the audience.

Japan & Hong Kong (1996)

While Slava Poulnin (and his son) would leave following the conclusion of Alegría's North American Tour, Yuri Medvedev hired on and would take on Slava's Snow Storm act. Dimitry Bogatirev and Serguei Chachelev would continue to tour with the show. All three (or four) would continue with "Birds on a Wire", "Shadow", "Plane", and "The Mess" in addition to "Snow Storm".

European Tour (1996-1998)

Dimitry Bogatirev and Serguei Chachelev leave; Yuri Medvedev is joined by Cirque alum Michel Deschamps. "Birds on a Wire", "Shadow" and "Snow Storm" would stay, but "The Mess" and "The Plane", as well as any other Aga-Boom related clown act was gone. New was "Fire", a spoof of the fire/knife act (a clown - Yuri - has a small lit candle with which he deftly moves in a circle and slides under his outstretched leg. Then, he snuffs out the flame with his finger, realizing only then that the fire is hot.

Beau Rivage (1999-2000)

Michel Deschamps leaves Alegría at the end of Europe to join La Nouba (funny enough, with Serguei Chachelev, who toured with Alegría in North America and Japan/Hong Kong). Yuri Medvedev is joined by mischief loving Leonid Leikine ("Ay! Ay! Ay!") and Valery Keft. These clowns performed "Rain", which involves a lonely clown as he makes his way through the rain to find the sun; "Balloon" was concerned with the struggles between two individuals; and "Flowers", which symbolized romance and friendship (one of the clowns tries to ask someone out with a bouquet of flowers, but gets interrupted by the other clowns. When his date refuses he becomes sad, but the other clowns give him flowers of their own, and afterwards they dance off the stage.

Back Under the Big Top (2001-2009)

Leonid Leikine and Valery Keft would leave Alegría following its Beau Rivage engagement to take up the waters of "O", replacing - strangely enough - Dmitry "Aga" Bogatirev and Iryna "Boom" Ivanitska who had earlier left Alegría for "O" themselves. Nikolai Terentiev (2000-2003), Vladimir Olshansky (2001-2002 for Australia and New Zealand, then May-Sep 2004 in New York City, Philly and Toronto), Anton Valen (2002-2007), and Marcos Casuo (2004-2009 would join Yuri Medvedev for the relaunch tour. During this period the clowns performed "Noose" (as seen on the DVD, where one of the clowns finds a dangling strap and tells the other two to come onto the stage, the two walk into the stage carrying a rope, while the one clown directs them to avoid the strap. Later it's revealed that the clowns were carrying a noose, and they try to put it on they're necks much to the objection of the one clown. They try to do it to the audience but are yelled off by the other clown), "Birds on a Wire", "Fire", and others (including scenes with paper airplanes, with the addition of Marcos Casuo.)

The Arena Tour (2009-2013)

Yuri Medvedev would offically retire following Alegría's big top tour, leaving all clown spots open. These would be filled by Pablo Gomis Lopez, Pablo Bermejo Medina, Jesse Buck, Aaron de Casmaker and Maxim Fomitchev (who took over Yuri's look and role).