A bug's life: It's a small world of wonder at Cirque du Soleil's Ovo

The immersion into the bug world at Ovo starts with a feast for the senses — and I don't mean your eyes. Inside the big top, in addition to a shady, porous set, there's also a soundtrack of crickets and other nature sounds and the subtle scent of flowers.

And that's before the lights go up.

Honestly, going in to Ovo I didn't really know what to expect, other than bugs and the vague promise of a love story that also centers around the titular egg. The premise sounds hokey, but I knew not to underestimate Cirque du Soleil. My faith was rewarded with a show that was entrancing, entertaining and thoroughly unique.

The bug aspect is best appreciated in the interim moments when a variety of creatures are on the stage — crickets hopping around, spiders slowly crawling, ants darting in a row, all interacting and creating a rich tapestry of expression and movement to focus on. (Even the live band, which plays a steady succession of light bossa nova tunes from the edges of the stage, is dressed as roaches.)

It's in these in-between moments, where the bugs lie around, tease each other or even play peek-a-boo, that the illusion of an insect world is most lively.

But what really makes Ovo spectacular are the breathtaking acrobatic performances. Divided into seven acts, the show opens with the impressive juggling feet of a sextet of adorable Asian ants. Lying on their backs (and occasionally on each other), they spin and toss kiwi drums back and forth with only their feet and really set the tone for the evening with a sense of whimsy as well as wonder for the superhuman feats.

The ants are followed by a creature that juggles spinning disks on a string (he was talented but not very exciting) and a pair of aerial acrobat butterflies that awed me. Sometimes I wonder if CGI and special effects can deaden real acts that should amaze, but a pair of ethereal figures in white gauze hanging from a rope by a leg or a foot and spinning around the room never fails to impress.

The trapeze swingers were fun (even if making a group of big, burly Russians into scarabs seemed a little forced), but of the late acts, the spiders were the stars. A trio of lithe contortionists earned oohs and ahhs, with one balancing beautifully on a single hand at certain points — an act topped only by the incredible slackrope walker, who balanced and hung on the rope even sometimes as it swayed back and forth, topping off the act by balancing on the rope while upside-down and riding a unicycle.

For the final performance, layers of the stage were removed to reveal a giant wall, and the crickets (sans enormous hind legs) appears, jumping over it and onto it (in true bug fashion) with trampolines when not performing flips and other stunts in the air. The omnipresence of the crickets throughout the show made their star turn a little less exciting but the wall feats were astonishing.

If I haven't really mentioned the plot — that's because it's performed in vignettes throughout the acts by a trio of bug clowns. I've previously voiced my opinion on clowns, and while these three were mostly cute and likeable and led some fun crowd interaction, I still found them tedious at times.

Still, I did feel I was on the inside of a bug's life at times. Ovo is a lighthearted romp, and I like it best when I think of the setting and the insect characters as a vehicle in which these brilliant performance artists can shine.

Ovo opens in Houston at the Sam Houston Race Park Thursday and runs through April 20.