"I suspect it could be someone trying to start a rival show," said Fan Yang, who has a hit off-Broadway show called The Gazillion Bubble Show "I'm not ruling out any options."

Yang may have a point given the amount of fluid taken from his residence in Hoboken last month, the Toronto Star said.

"The bubble solution comes in 10-liter cans and there were 320 of them," Yang told the Star Friday. "Why would you steal them if you didn't know what was inside?"

Yang, who also calls Toronto home, uses a fluid specially made in Hong Kong with a lead time of around six weeks.

It appears that ordinary soap won't do the trick for Yang, who has made a name for himself creating massive bubbles that have encapsulated such large objects as an elephant and the entire audience at a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

The Star said the Gazillion Bubble Show is going on using the fluid that wasn't stolen, but plans for a tour of Japan depend on Yang getting a new supply in time.