The concept of merging The Beatles with Cirque du Soleil began life many years ago in perhaps one of the unlikeliest of places: in Cirque founder Guy Laliberté’s Montreal living room. There, as he was visited by Beatle George Harrison after a Formula One Race there, the two struck up a conversation and hit upon bringing a Cirque-style show to London based on “Yellow Submarine,” the Beatles’ psychedelic 1968 animated film. There were no real details agreed to during that meeting, and Harrison died shortly before any agreements could be made.

Unwilling to give up on the artistic merits of a marriage between The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil, Laliberté later convinced Paul McCartney, Ringo Star and Yoko Ono to take in some of Cirque’s productions as an incentive, eventually obtaining permission from them to use Beatles music in a show concept. What that concept would be was as yet unknown, but in the end everyone involved agreed “Yellow Submarine” was too 60s-themed; everyone wanted something a little more current - LOVE.

Using the master tapes at Abbey Road Studios, Sir George Martin and Giles have created a unique soundscape for LOVE. "We wanted to make sure there are enough good, solid hit songs in the show, but we don't want it to be a catalog of 'best of's'," said Sir George Martin. "We also wanted to put in some interesting and not well-known Beatles music and use fragments of songs. The show is a unique and magical experience. I think [we’ve] achieved a real sense of drama with the music, the audience will feel as though they are actually in the theatre with the band. People are going to be knocked out by what they are hearing!" said Giles Martin.

LOVE evokes the exuberant and irreverent spirit of The Beatles. "When we embarked on this extraordinary adventure in 2002," said Gilles Ste-Croix, Show Concept Creator and Director of Creation, "we set out to create a timeless, three-dimensional evocation of The Beatles music. Drawn from the poetry of the lyrics, we developed a preliminary concept that explored the content of the songs in a series of scenes inhabited by real and imaginary people. I wanted to create a Beatles experience rather than a Beatles story, taking the audience on an emotional journey rather than a chronological one, exploring the landscapes and experiences that have marked the group's history."