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T h e U n o f f i c i a l
C i r q u e d u S o l e i l N e w s l e t t e r
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Issue #42e "Somewhere between the air and imagination" March 2005
=======================================================================
We're off and running again!
Welcome to another exciting issue of Fascination. We have been working
extra hard behind-the-scenes prepping for CirqueCon 2005 and the
premiere of the new show in Montreal, which we'll be in attendance
covering! However, this month we toiled with ways to provide a better
web presence for Fascination! instead of using Yahoo Groups, and we
think we have it. Currently you can find our new home on the web at
the following temporary address < http://www.azlance.com/~richsi/
Cirque/FanClub/ >, but soon you will be able to access Fascination!
via < www.CirqueFascination.com > gaining access to our back issues,
certain historical columns and much, much more. So come take a look at
our new home and let us know what you think!
This month we continue our three-part review of KÀ, Cirque du Soleil's
newest permanent production at the MGM-Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Wayne attended a "preview performance" and shares his insights on all
aspects of this "finished" production. If you've yet to see KÀ and
aren't bothered by spoilers you'll want to read Wayne's Review, with
The Tribes and Peoples of KÀ and a scene-by-scene synopsis.
In another only-in-Fascination! Exclusive, we take a look at
"Delirium," the dance-remix companion disk to the chill-oriented
"Solarium," soon to be issued by Cirque du Soleil Musique!
And in our final exclusive of the month, we continue our series about
auditioning for Cirque du Soleil. Keith and his wife LouAnna received
the opportunity to observe the audition process and share their
experience. Fascination! proudly presents the second part of this
four-part series. Remember, you can read the full experience only in
Fascination!
Also, there's only one more month before CirqueCon Montreal 2005; are
you ready? There's still time to join us for Cirque 2005! For
information on our exciting "cirquey" weekend, please visit us at:
< http://www.CirqueCon.com >.
We hope you enjoy this issue of Fascination!
/// EXPANDED ISSUE: Once again the LA PRESSE section is bursting at
the seams with a number of expanded articles for you to read, such
as: two pieces from 60 Minutes/CBS News... one on KA and the other
on what would become The Beatles LOVE ("Viva Cirque du Soleil" and
"Fab Four du Soleil"), an article from Austin 360 about Varekai, as
it was making its way there ("Primer of the Peculiar"), and last,
but certainly not least, an interesting article from Special Events
Magazine on a Cirque Inspired Party someone threw. Interesting! ///
- Ricky
===========
CONTENTS
===========
* Cirque Buzz -- News, Rumours & Sightings
* CRQ-TV -- Cirque on Television
* CRQ.NET -- This Month in Cirque Club
* LA PRESSE -- Cirque in the Press [EXPANDED]
* Itinéraire -- Tour/Show Information
* Didyaknow? -- Facts About Cirque
* Le Spectacle:
"New Kid on the Block: KÀ, Cirque du Soleil's Fourth
Resident Show in Las Vegas (Part 2 of 3)"
By: Wayne Leung - Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)
* Cirque Musique:
"EXCLUSIVE! Preview of the Delirium CD!"
By: Keith Johnson - Seattle, Washington (USA)
* Télémagik:
"Living it Up: A La Nouba DVD Review (Part 2 of 2)"
By: Ricky Russo - Orlando, Florida (USA)
* Behind the Curtain:
"Who Has What It Takes? (Part 2 of 4)"
By: Keith Johnson & LouAnna Valentine - Seattle, Wash (USA)
* Expanded Selection:
"The Technical Aspects of KA"
By: Total Productions Magazine
* Parting Quote
* Subscription Information
* Copyright & Disclaimer
=======================================================================
CIRQUE BUZZ -- NEWS, RUMOURS & SIGHTINGS
=======================================================================
Cirque Lawyers take note! No, wait, maybe not
----------------------------------------------
As we've documented in these pages, Cirque du Soleil is
protective of their intellectual property, including their name
and variations thereupon. They even took Neil Goldberg,
producer of such shows as "Cirque Ingenieux," to court for his
use of the word "Cirque." Cirque du Soleil lost (the judge
ruled the word "cirque" was a "generic" word, not subject to
protection), so Goldberg can continue to use the word "cirque"
anywhere he likes (and does, as a look at cirqueproductions.com
attests).
But there's another "Cirque" on the web, having nothing at all
to do with circus. Type "cirque.com" into your browser and up
pops the website for Cirque, Inc., the developer of Glidepoint
technology. Glidepoint is the technology behind most of the
mouse touchpads used in laptop computers (where moving your
finger across a pad guides your pointer across the screen).
More interesting is why they named their company "Cirque, Inc.".
According to the website, the founders incorporated in Salt Lake
City, UT in 1991 and named their company "after the snow cirques
of the Wasatch mountain range." According to dictionary.com, in
English "cirque" means, "A steep bowl-shaped hollow occurring at
the upper end of a mountain valley, especially one forming the
head of a glacier or stream." Of course, we all know what it
means in French! [Source: Cirque.com, Cirqueproductions.com,
dictionary.com, Keith Johnson]
Luc LaFortune Honored
---------------------
Luc LaFortune, the lighting designer for all of Cirque du
Soleil's current productions was recently honored with the USITT
(United States Institute for Theatre Technology) Distinguished
Achievement Award in Lighting Design. The honor will be bestowed
during the USITT 2005 Conference & Stage Expo in Toronto,
Canada, which runs from Wednesday, March 16th to Saturday, March
19th). The Lighting Commission will host LaFortune at its
special award session (March 18th), where he will share
highlights of his design career and philosophies with a focus on
his work with Cirque du Soleil. Throughout his career, LaFortune
has created lighting for Peter Gabriel, the Eagles, No Doubt,
Gipsy Kings and Salto Natale (a Swiss circus). His designs have
also earned him accolades including the EDDY Award for Cirque du
Soleil's "O" (1998), and he was named LDI (Lighting Dimensions
International) Lighting Designer of the Year in 1994.
[Source: Entertainment Design, USITT; Ricky Russo]
CIBC Contest
------------
Canadian bank CIBC, the presenting sponsor of Cirque du Soleil
Canadian tours, is having a contest for Canadian residents! And
we note the grand prize offers something Cirque hasn't
officially announced yet.
Open a new personal checking or savings account at any CIBC
branch before April 29th and you're entered to win. In addition
to giving away 100 Umbrella/Fire Within DVD/"Le Best of" CD
packs, 50 iPod minis with 5 Cirque CDs, and 2 Sony 42" Plasma
TV/DVD player/Cirque DVD packs, the six "Grand prizes" include:
- 3 trips to Toronto to see Cirque 2005
- 2 trips to Las Vegas to see "O"
- 1 trip to * Paris* to see Alegría
Until now, we weren't aware Paris was on Alegria's itinerary.
But now we do! For more info, see < http://www.cibc.com/ca/
features/cirque-contest.html > [Source: cibc.com, Keith Johnson]
=======================================================================
CRQ-TV -- CIRQUE ON TELEVISION!
=======================================================================
* CIRQUE-A-THON
-------------
Network: BRAVO (USA)
* April 22nd (Friday)
08:00pm -- Varekai
10:00pm -- Dralion
* April 23rd (Saturday)
12:00am -- Varekai
02:00pm -- Nouvelle Experience
03:00pm -- Varekai
08:00pm -- La Nouba
10:00pm -- Alegría
* April 24th (Sunday)
12:00am -- La Nouba
02:00pm -- Saltimbanco
03:00pm -- Dralion
09:00pm -- La Nouba
11:00pm -- Saltimbanco
* NOTE: Check your local listings for complete information. Schedule
is subject to change.
=======================================================================
CRQ.NET -- THIS MONTH IN CIRQUE CLUB
=======================================================================
(By: Keith Johnson)
-------------------------
The seven finalists for the Cirque du Soleil And Me contest have
appeared! These are the winners of the seven previous weeks, with one
Grand Prize Winner destined to win the Cirque du Soleil experience of
their dreams - so cast your vote until March 20! There is also an
article about the tent raising (in freezing temperatures) for Cirque
2005 in Montreal. And Press Releases announces the appointment of
Aldo Giampaolo as head of the Theatre Shows department, who will
manage the 100-city arena show.
But the tastiest piece this month isn't even in English, technically.
Gilles Ste-Croix, one of Cirques' founders, talks about early Cirque
in a six-part series of video excerpts. This is worth watching even
if you don't know French - he walks in on stilts and talks to
attentive Cirque employees during what looks to be a lunch hour. His
narrative is, fortunately, translated into English. The last
installment is a riot, discussing one of the few animals in Cirque, a
duck under the care of Mr. "No Animals" himself, Guy Laliberte!
The boutique is blooming with new colors, such as light greens and
blues, reflecting their new spring collection. They also have a new
series of necklaces based on show acts; Quidam contortion, Mystère
cube, O Trapeze, Alegría manipulation, even Varekai Icarus in his net!
They vary in price though, with some going for $165.00. As if that
weren't enough, they also debut several new bags and backpacks.
In Cirque Club marketing messages:
Kevin, a Varekai artist, talks about leaving Texas: "Almost four
months have gone by since our arrival in Texas with Varekai, and we
have enjoyed our visit immensely! We started with Dallas and Houston,
and came to Austin in late February for the last leg of our stay. One
of the most amazing things that we have come to appreciate about Texas
is the incredible changing landscapes, from bayous and forests to
prairies and windswept plains. Our stay in Austin also marked
important changes for several of our veteran artists and technicians,
who will be leaving Varekai for other horizons later this month. At
the same time, three new artists joined the troupe, and despite
butterflies, delivered a flawless premiere in Austin just two weeks
ago. Texas has touched our hearts, and we can only hope that we've
left a lasting impression on yours as well."
Above text courtesy of Cirque Club.
=======================================================================
LA PRESSE -- CIRQUE IN THE PRESS [EXPANDED]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------
"Viva Cirque du Soleil"
From: 60 Minutes / CBS News
-----------------------------------------------
Just when you think you've seen it all, along comes a new Cirque du
Soleil.
For 20 years, a band of French-Canadians has been re-inventing the
circus, creating shows that are ever more magical, daring, exotic,
stylish, and sophisticated.
But its biggest productions are in, of all places, Las Vegas the
land of the glitz.
As Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, Cirque du Soleil doesn't just
dominate entertainment in Las Vegas. It's also changing the city's
entire economy.
Las Vegas has been transformed by a circus with a French name. Cirque
du Soleil has four permanent shows up and running on the strip.
The first was "Mystere." It was so successful packing crowds in for
two shows a night that they opened a second, "O," and called it
Cirque in water.
Then, there was a third show, the R-rated "Zumanity," and now a
fourth, "Ka," in which not only do performers fly, but so does the
stage.
Cirque, headquartered in Montreal, is run by its founder, Guy
Laliberte. "It's pretty good," he says of the group's success in Las
Vegas. "For a little frog from Montreal."
It's pretty good for a guy who began as a street performer in
Montreal, stilt-walking and breathing fire for tips. Twenty years ago,
he put together his first traveling tent show. Today, he's sole owner
of a global showbiz empire that includes 3,000 employees, about 700-
750 performers.
Laliberte says there are 10 shows, including tent shows, up and
running -- and three are in preparation.
Cirque's tent shows, each one completely different from the next, tour
all around the world. But the most elaborate, over-the-top productions
are in Vegas. Every night, roughly 10,000 people pay between $60 and
$150 apiece to see their shows.
"Cirque du Soleil put an entirely new face on entertainment in Las
Vegas," says Bobby Baldwin, a top executive with the MGM/Mirage hotel
chain, Cirque's business partner in Vegas. "Ka," the newest show, is
at the MGM Grand.
"I think when all the money is counted, it's gonna be about $185
million, for one show," says Baldwin.
There are entire hotels in Vegas that have been built for less than
that. Most of the money went to build a huge new theatre just for
"Ka," with a giant moving stage that weighs 175 tons, powered by
super-computers and super-hydraulics.
Just like the acrobats, the stage itself contorts into a boat, a
beach, and a battleground. Cirque spent four years and millions more
to develop the show, an epic tale of war in which the staging is so
elaborate and the stunts so risky that 170 behind-the-scenes
technicians are needed to support the cast of 80.
"These shows are designed to last forever. Some people, they say,
'Well, the Broadway show ran 32 weeks or 18 weeks. 'Mystere' at
Treasure Island has been running for 14 years," says Baldwin.
Back in 1990, bringing 'Mystere' to Vegas was a big gamble. At the
time, entertainment in Vegas consisted of fading stars, comedians and
a couple of guys with white tigers.
"Our approach was very simple. It was about creating a universal
language," says Laliberte. "A show that will be attractive toward
every people coming from all over the world. And that was a big
thing."
"I said, 'What language?' And they said, 'It's Cirque du Soleil
language,'" says Baldwin. "So everything they do is different. And at
the beginning, that's what made it so scary as an investment."
Before Baldwin was a casino executive, he won the world series of
poker. Some of Cirque's own people had their doubts, like Gilles St-
Croix, the vice president of Creation.
Did he think it was a crazy idea? "In '89, I went to Vegas for the
first time. I was in Vegas and I said, 'What am I doing here, this so
far away,'" says St-Croix. "So foreign and so far away from
everything.
And Guy said, 'We will not do a show like Wayne Newton.
We will do a show like Cirque du Soleil.'"
That first Cirque show, "Mystere," was a sellout within 10 days of
opening. It was the beginning of a sea change for Las Vegas that
hasn't stopped."
The profile of the "typical" Las Vegas visitor has changed
dramatically over the last couple of years. Retirees from Middle
America, who play the nickel slots, don't come to Vegas anymore. With
Native-American and riverboat casinos popping up across America, they
can find slot machines closer to home.
Today's Las Vegas visitors are wealthier, younger, more international
and far more sophisticated.
"We had contributed this city to grow culturally, artistically," says
Laliberte. "We had proved that people could be sophisticated."
Casino owners in Las Vegas used to practically give away show tickets,
hotel rooms, and food, just to lure people to the slots and the
tables. But that strategy doesn't work with the new breed of visitor.
"They're very finicky as to what they eat, where they sleep and what
kind of shows they go to see. And before they didn't care," says
Baldwin. "They just wanted to play blackjack or shoot dice and get out
of town."
But they didn't have shows like "O", with all of its "how'd they do
that" numbers. There's 1.5 million gallons of water on that stage, and
all of the costumes have to be replaced every couple of months because
the chlorine eats away at the Lycra.
"I think people plan their trips, particularly vacations, with the
idea that "O" or one of the other Cirque du Soleil shows will be on
the itinerary," says Baldwin.
And that has turned the entire economic equation of Las Vegas on its
head.
"I make just as much money off of you as a company, whether you gamble
or you don't gamble, because most of our revenues are non-gambling,"
says Baldwin. "In the Bellagio hotel, 60 percent are non-gambling, and
40 percent are gambling."
He adds that "we make money off of everything," which includes shows,
restaurants and the incredible shops.
Cirque, however, makes a bundle, too. Under their deal with MGM, they
keep 50 percent of all ticket revenues for every show.
"So you're a billionaire," Stahl tells Laliberte.
"That's what they say," says Laliberte, who still runs his empire from
French-speaking Montreal, where he may have the largest laboratory of
circus arts in the world. Twenty full-time talent scouts scour the
planet for the best benders, flyers, bouncers and spinners, and then
bring them all to Montreal to teach them the "Cirque way."
They find talent in the smallest circus in Romania, and the biggest
stadium in Athens from the Olympics. "It's a second life for those
people," says Laliberte.
Some of their most talented performers are behind the scenes in the
workshops, where every costume for every show is sewn by hand. They
dye and paint the fabrics themselves, hand make the wigs and
headdresses, and even the shoes.
It's pretty obvious that Laliberte likes to control every aspect of
his shows, and in his contracts with MGM in Las Vegas, he demands it.
Did they give him 100 percent artistic freedom? "It's not about
giving. It's about, that's a non-negotiable thing," says Laliberte.
"But they accept that right at the beginning."
Baldwin says he has "zero control of the creative." But Cirque
continues to deliver shows that sell out night after night.
"It is important for us to make sure that every creation we'll be
doing, we're doing in Vegas are distinctive, from one to the other
one," says Laliberte. "Because then we start to copy ourselves. In
Vegas, there's two type of people. There's the people who create, and
the people who copy. And I don't want to be somebody who will copy."
You'd think they've finally reached their limit, with four shows in
Vegas. But they're actually working on a fifth, set to open next year.
It'll be "Cirque Meets the Beatles." Laliberte has made an
unprecedented deal with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and the widows
of John Lennon and George Harrison, to do a production based on the
most famous music of our time.
"You know, the Beatles were one of the biggest things that happened in
the last century," says Laliberte. "It's a serious thing. It's a risky
thing. It was not about bringing back the Beatles. But their spirit
will be there. That's for sure."
Now, Laliberte's creative team is brainstorming, and Cirque's scouts
are searching the world for performers who can bring the songs to
life.
"We discovered in India, in Agastan, a little contortionist. And all
the number is done while they are carrying little bowl with a little
candle on their forehead. While they're doing all their contortion,"
says St-Croix. "And it's so meditative, I would say, to have this tiny
little girl who does that. And she climbs a rope while she's doing it.
And it's just whooo."
He says he needs four little girls. "And which song is that supposed
to illustrate," asks Stahl.
"'Sun King' and 'Here Comes The Sun,'" says St-Croix.
"Have you reached your point of saturation, if you have a fifth show
with the Beatles," Stahl asks Laliberte.
"I don't think so," says Laliberte. "I think there's a lot of other
types of shows that we could do [in Las Vegas]."
"People say that you're a real gambler," says Stahl.
"Always been. All my life," says Laliberte. "[Las Vegas] it's the
perfect place for me."
-----------------------------------------------
"Fab Four du Soleil"
From: CBS News
-----------------------------------------------
Two of the biggest names in entertainment, The Beatles and Cirque du
Soleil, are banding together to create a powerhouse theatrical
production at The Mirage hotel-casino to replace the legendary
Siegfried & Roy act that closed more than a year ago.
This is the first time The Beatles have teamed up to do a major
theatrical partnership after carefully guarding its popular music for
decades, said Neil Aspinall, managing director of the band's Apple
Corps label.
The deal for the joint venture was reached this week between Cirque du
Soleil, Apple and The Mirage, said Bill McBeath, the hotel-casino's
president and chief operating officer. The yet untitled show is
expected to cost more than $100 million and should be ready in about
20 months, he said.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Aspinall said a Las Vegas
marriage with Cirque du Soleil was "too good of an opportunity to pass
up."
The Beatles had been approached with many theatrical proposals, he
said, but none offered the creativity and innovation for which Cirque
du Soleil is regarded.
French for circus of the sun, Cirque du Soleil is known for its
acrobatic performances that blend athleticism with music and artistry.
More than seven million people saw its shows around the world last
year.
Aspinall said other offers amounted to nothing "more than a stage
production with cover versions" of Beatles songs, not something that
would burnish The Beatles' musical legacy.
Other locations, London, New York and Tokyo also were considered but
none could match Las Vegas' appeal and its massive influx of tourists.
The city is expected to top 37 million visitors this year.
"That helped tip the balance," Aspinall said.
Another draw was The Mirage's commitment to building a new theater.
McBeath said the theater, under construction since August, will hold
about 2,000 people and offer 360-degree seating.
The theater replaces the one in which the German illusionists
performed for about 13 years before Roy Horn was nearly killed Oct. 3,
2003, by one of his tigers. Since the mauling, The Mirage has been
without its signature act.
The show not only fills a major entertainment void at The Mirage, the
megaresort that helped redefine Las Vegas, it adds another high-dollar
extravaganza to bolster the city's pitch as the entertainment capital
of the world.
Caesars Palace built Celine Dion a $95 million theater for her "A New
Day" show, which Concerts West produced for $30 million. "The Phantom
of the Opera," one of the most successful shows in the history of
Broadway, is coming to The Venetian hotel-casino in 2006; and the Tony
Award-winning musical "Avenue Q" will open in September 2005 at the
Wynn Las Vegas resort.
Cirque du Soleil recently announced a new $165 million show at the MGM
Grand called "KA."
Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte didn't reveal much about the
90-minute Beatles show, other to say it would contain the Canadian
company's famous acrobatics and be a celebration of Beatles music.
Laliberte said the two groups, although using different mediums,
complemented each other.
"They did with words what we did with images," he said. "It's
timeless."
Laliberte said he began discussing the idea about four and a half
years ago with George Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001.
"George and Guy shared the same vision. They planned to utilize the
extraordinary creativity of the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil to
produce an uplifting moment in time," said Olivia Harrison in a press
release.
The remaining Beatles will help shape the production, though Paul
McCartney and Ringo Starr will not appear in the production. Yoko Ono
and Olivia Harrison also will collaborate on the project.
"How excited can I get? The Beatles, Cirque du Soleil, an incredible
venue in Las Vegas what could be better?" said Starr in the press
release. "I'm looking forward to the first show 'cause I'm going to be
there and I hope you are too."
The songs to be used in the show are undecided, but Cirque du Soleil
will have complete access to The Beatles' musical archive. Other show
details remained closely guarded.
"That's a tough one," Aspinall said. "It's still a work in progress."
McBeath said he expects the combination to supplant the popular
Siegfried & Roy spectacle, which generated $44 million in annual
revenue.
"We had anticipated Siegfried and Roy closing out their career at the
end of the 2005," McBeath said.
It turned out Laliberte had the perfect pitch.
"It was a home run," McBeath said. "There was no equivocation as to
whether this would be successful or not."
The investment should improve the fortunes of the aging Mirage, a
gilded hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip that Steve Wynn opened in
1989.
"I think this show is the most important statement The Mirage could
make after 15 years," McBeath said.
This is Cirque du Soleil's fifth show in Las Vegas, and Laliberte
suggested it wouldn't be the last. He called Las Vegas a gold mine.
"If I can be producing 10 shows, I'll be producing 10 shows."
It will a homecoming of sorts for The Beatles. The band last played
Las Vegas in 1964, playing two performances at the Las Vegas
Convention Center.
-----------------------------------------------
"Primer of the Peculiar (Varekai)"
From: Austin 360
-----------------------------------------------
Sure, Cirque du Soleil is weird. It's also a huge, successful business
with its own language
The blue and yellow Grand Chapiteau has landed. And with it, the
weirdness has arrived. And yes, also the jaw-dropping acrobatics, the
fantastical costumes, the spectacular clowning and the soaring music.
Thursday night, under its trademark striped big top tent, which
billows at the former Robert Mueller Municipal Airport site, Cirque du
Soleil opens "Varekai," the second Cirque show to land in Austin.
During the past 20 years, the Montreal-based company has grown from a
couple dozen alternative street performers to a billion-dollar, global
enterprise with 10 shows currently in production and an 11th set to
open this spring. And it's achieved this thanks to its own brand of
entertainment spectacle that combines all types of acrobatic and
circus acts along with both classic and experimental theater concepts
as well as world music. And it's all wrapped in Cirque's own trademark
New Age-ish philosophy.
Like other Cirque du Soleil shows, "Varekai" combines the usual
dizzying circus acts with a loosely constructed story: A young man --
Icarus? -- falls from the sky into a kaleidoscopic magical forest.
After all kinds of fantastical things happen, it appears that he teams
with a beautiful woman to live happily ever after.
Or something like that.
It's hard to get at what any Cirque show ultimately means. The
phenomenon is elusive, vague, often deliberately obscure. Much of the
time, it's downright weird.
So how to crack the weirdness code? Perhaps talk to the people behind
it.
MAKING IT CIRQUE, NOT CIRCUS
Nicolette Naum is the Directrice Artistique -- or Artistic Director --
for "Varekai."
The Directrice Artistique is not to be confused with the Auteur et
Metteur en Scène (director and writer), the Directeur de la Création
(director of creation) or with the Coordonneteur Artistique (artistic
coordinator). Within Cirque's complicated and fuzzy structure, every
role is distinct though those distinctions confound.
The Auteur et Metteur en Scène is essentially the person who has the
initial story or concept of a new show. The Directeur de la Création
is the person who develops that overall concept, aspects of which --
lighting, costumes, sound, choreography, music -- are then developed
by specialists. The Coordonneteur Artistique travels with the show,
watching every performance to make sure all goes exactly to plan --
all the time.
At least each performance needs to be sort of exactly as planned.
Really, Cirque performances are not always the same. There are no
traditional understudies in a Cirque cast and, thus, if injury or
illness strikes a performer, acts must be adjusted or swapped out with
alternative acts. Also, when new performers join the cast, the show is
sometimes tweaked around their individual talents.
As Directrice Artistique, Naum travels to see "Varekai" in every city
it plays in to "take the pulse of the show," she says in a thick
French Canadian accent, often times throwing in French words when
English does not serve her maddening circumlocutions. "The show is
alive, it is organique and it is always changing a little."
But it cannot change too much. Naum, herself a former actor in
alternative theater and circuses, must manage a fine line between
keeping "Varekai" consistent but making sure it always feels fresh.
"We need to give the performers -- some of whom have done over 1,000
shows -- space to breathe and bring their own caractère to the show,"
she says. "At the same time, the show, it cannot go in a direction
that is off the track."
Naum is part psychological counselor for the performers, part artistic
motivational coach, part corporate quality control specialist (Cirque
is, after all, a very specific brand). And, oh yeah -- Naum is also
part promoter, which is why she came to Austin to do interviews a
month before the "Varekai" opening.
"Basically, I accomplish everything by talking to people -- the
performers, the artistique coordinator, the creators, the musical
director," she says.
In other words, she is a negotiator. Or perhaps a politician.
THE HUNT FOR THE UNUSUAL
Rick Tjia is a very grounded and down-to-Earth guy. That's made even
more impressive considering he travels the world scouting for people
who have esoteric and sometimes downright bizarre talent who might
want to run away and join Cirque du Soleil.
A Florida native, Tjia trained as a dancer and as a musician from a
young age. He embarked on a career as a professional dancer when he
was still in his teens. In 1988, he landed in Central Texas and danced
with Ballet Austin for two years. "Austin is still one of my favorite
cities in the world," Tjia says.
After circling through Los Angeles, Tjia ended up in Montreal with the
high-octane modern dance company, LaLaLa Human Steps. Touring with the
company internationally for eight years, was exhilarating, he says,
and physically exhausting. After settling in Montreal and pursuing his
musical career, Tjia found his way to Cirque and his current job as a
Dépisteur, or talent scout.
There are 11 such scouts working for Cirque at any given time. Five of
them scour the world for acrobats. Tjia is among the half-dozen who
seek out other kinds of performers: musicians, actors, dancers,
clowns, mimes and nonacrobatic circus acts.
In truth, he's looking for people who do a little of everything.
"We shoot ourselves in foot the sometimes," Tjia says. "The show
creators ask for people with absolutely unique artistic skills. And so
we find them. But then two years later, that person decides to leave
the show and we have to find someone who also has those unique
talents."
For example, currently, Tjia is looking for an oboe player who can
also play the medieval flute, tenor and alto saxophone and the
didgeridoo. And the person must be willing to perform in costume and
make-up, while doing a little acting. Cirque shows typically have
musicians on stage or occasionally strolling around or through the
audience.
"Ultimately what we look for in performers is charisma," he says.
"Just skill and technique are not enough. People have to have that
extra little spark."
Actually, Tjia is scouting for a lot more people than just an
oboe/sax/medieval flute/didgeridoo-playing musician who can act. While
performers stay with Cirque for varying amounts of time, there's a
constant need for new talent and Cirque tries to keep a pool of
several hundred performers from which they can pull at any time.
Tjia travels the world several months a year. He checks out festivals
of all kinds -- theater, music, dance, Renaissance-themed festivals.
He taps into local arts groups to suss out their connections. In
Austin, he's met with Casey Monahan, director of the Texas Music
Office, and South by Southwest director Brent Grulke. He's caught
shows at the Hole in the Wall and the Continental Club. "I came here
because I know the territory and I know Texas has good musicians," he
says.
After scouting a new territory, Tjia sets up auditions. For two weeks
in March, he'll spend eight to 10 hours a day in Houston auditioning
people one at a time. A Cirque audition is not the cruel three-minute
exercise you'd see on "American Idol." Tjia and his colleagues spend
several hours with each of the candidates, testing their skills, their
character as performers, their individual vibe, their creative
flexibility. And the advice he gives to people auditioning? "Be
prepared for anything," he says with a sly smile.
And perhaps be prepared to do that anything in full face make-up and a
kooky costume.
PARLEZ VOUS CIRQUE SPEAK?
The first thing Cirque singer Isabelle Corradi says when contacted by
the press: "What I like about singing for Cirque is that I can sing in
an invented language and you can reach everybody in the world with
it."
Wow. Now that's the byproduct of a PR machine. A week before,
backstage at a late January show in Houston, I told a Cirque press rep
that I wanted to talk to someone about the language Cirque singers
employ. And here is a singer spinning an answer to my question before
I've even asked it.
Sounding both foreign and familiar, the libretto that laces every
Cirque shows sounds like every language in the world and also like
absolutely no language in the world. Unlike the limited phonetics of,
say, jazz scat singing, or even simple fa-la-la-ing, Cirque-speak
incorporates a myriad of linguistic sounds: deep gutterals, singy-
songy dipthongs, rolled r's. It's a rich enough palette of sounds that
it gives the impression that it is a real language.
But it's not.
Corradi is actually a good person to talk to about Cirque-speak. Next
month she will celebrate her 10th anniversary warbling in Cirque
productions. The daughter of a French Canadian opera singer, Corradi
was born in Italy before the family moved back to Montreal, where
Corradi grew up. She learned to sing from her mother and performed in
musical theater before joining Cirque's "Alegria" 10 years go. She
then moved on to "Saltimbanco," and three years ago joined "Varekai."
Corradi confirms what no one else from Cirque has been able to tell
me: That, indeed, there is a written libretto that singers must
memorize and yes, it's in a Cirque-specific gibberish. But she
declines to speak or sing a phrase or two. To be fair, Corradi tells
me that "Alegria," which came through Austin two years ago, includes
some words in Spanish, Italian and French ("alegria" is Spanish for
happiness), but the rest of the show is sung in Cirque-speak.
"It's like whenever you learn a new language," Corradi says about
learning Cirque-speak. "You just have to dive right into it."
Yes, but if you sing in a real language, even if it's a foreign
language to you, the words actually communicate some meaning to
somebody. If all you're singing is gibberish, then ...
"What I do is try to make a story to go behind the words," Corradi
explains in her lilting French Canadian accent. "That way there is
more weight and emotion behind what I sing. I sort of make up an
alternative libretto in my head that helps me stay in character. In
'Varekai,' my character comes from the realm of the angels and I have
to remember to sing as if I'm telling people about the realm of the
angels."
Telling people, that is, in a language that makes no sense. Angels,
perhaps, were never meant to be understood.
Then again, perhaps a Cirque du Soleil show is not meant to be fully
understood. Its elusiveness, its mystery, is its great appeal.
And, folks, that's entertainment.
# #
"We need to give the performers -- some of whom have done over 1,000
shows -- space to breathe and bring their own caractère to the show.
At the same time, the show, it cannot go in a direction that is off
the track." -- Nicolette Naum, "Varekai" artistic director.
"It's like whenever you learn a new language. You just have to dive
right into it." -- Isabelle Corradi, on singing in the Cirque-speak
that sounds like every language in the world and also like absolutely
no language in the world.
Among the latest challenges for Cirque du Soleil talent scout Rick
Tjia is finding an oboe player who can also play the medieval flute,
tenor and alto saxophone and the didgeridoo. And act.
-----------------------------------------------
"A Cirque Inspired Party"
From: Special Events Magazine
-----------------------------------------------
"It's a circus in there!" That's the response you might have gotten if
you had asked any one of 4,000 attendees just what was going on inside
Salt Lake City's Salt Palace Convention Center one evening last April.
Guy Genis, owner of Los Angeles-based Eventmakers, which produced the
closing-night gala, along with eight other convention events, for a
Utah-based multi-level marketing organization, says the gala's Cirque
du Soleil theme, with its French influence and global appeal, was a
natural choice. "It was an international audience from 42 countries
around the world," Genis says. "We wanted to showcase an ethereal,
sensual-type atmosphere, and that's what Cirque is famous for."
LIGHTS OUT
Eight months of preparation and constant communication with client
representatives, including five trips to Utah, eventually brought
Genis and his crew of 75 Los Angeles-based staff to the convention
center. With approximately 100,000 square feet of venue space to fill,
Genis says he and his staff were grateful for 48 hours of prep time.
Still, last minute challenges put their ingenuity to the test. Genis'
lighting vendor had to bring in additional equipment when he
discovered that shutting off lights in one area of the venue caused
lights in other areas to go down, thanks to a wiring grid that hailed
from the time of the convention center's construction.
But, for Genis, "The toughest thing was that the client was giving
away a PT Cruiser and two jet skis, and we only had one hour to get
them from one end of the convention center to the other--and it had to
be done by hand."
WALKING TALL
On event night, "wherever guests looked in the room, our goal was to
have something going on," Genis says. "Right when the guests came in
at seven o'clock, we had entertainment mingling in the crowd,
including stilt walkers and futurized robotic entertainers in silver
costumes on scooters that lit up, talking to people through voice
modulators."
Three satellite stages decorated with spandex cones designed to
emulate rays of the sun showcased balancing acts, contortionists and
clowns. At eight o'clock, a Cirque du Soleil-style parade stilt-walked
into the room, and was followed by a trampoline act, and an aerialist
show that featured five performers soaring above the crowd on white
chiffon. All the while, guests moved freely through the room,
socializing and sampling items from "over 600 feet of buffets,"
according to Genis.
As for the hand-hauled car and jet skis--they were raffled off, along
with a $40,000 black pearl necklace, by the event's emcee. But only
after he had been unwrapped from a piece of elaborate material in an
audience-pleasing stunt Genis refers to as a "Cirque-style reveal."
TAKE A SEAT
Genis says he wouldn't hesitate to do an event like this again--with
one small but crucial change. "The one thing I would have done
differently is the seating," he says. "We suggested to the client that
we wanted to have seating for everybody, because in multi-level
marketing, almost always, everyone scurries to get a seat and claim it
as their property." However, the client requested only about 30
percent seating, and Eventmakers ultimately fulfilled their wishes.
In light of the dash for few seats during the lengthy and
entertainment-heavy event, Genis says he'd provide abundant seating
next time--and a next time is more than likely. "We always use
Eventmakers because everything always turns out wonderfully," says the
client company's global events manager. "This [event] was incredible.
We absolutely loved it."
Bounty of Buffets
ITALIAN STATION
Caesar Salad
Pasta
Foccacia and Bread Sticks
Tiramisu
ORIENTAL/ASIAN STATION
California Rolls
Potstickers
Vegetable Egg Rolls
Pork and Chicken Skewers
Fortune Cookies
CARVING/UTAH STATION
Roast Baron of Beef
Smoked Breast of Turkey
Corn Bread Muffins and Rolls
Red Jacket Potato Salad
Apple-Cranberry Streusel
TROPICAL STATION
Coconut Chicken Tenders
Fresh Tropical Fruit Display
Coconut Shrimp
Crawdaddy Cakes
Hawaiian Maui Chips
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
MEXICAN STATION
Chicken Quesadillas
Shredded Beef Burritos
Black Bean Taquitos
Seven-Layer Mexican Salad
Cinnamon Churros
Key Lime Mousse
Eventmakers
10727 Riverside Drive
Toluca Lake, CA 91602
818/762-3911
www.travelgroupusa.com
=======================================================================
ITINÉRAIRE -- TOUR/SHOW INFORMATION
=======================================================================
[Touring Shows]
Alegría:
* Fukuoka, Japan:
Dates: Feb 9, 2005 to Apr 3, 2005
* Nagoya, Japan:
Dates: Apr 20, 2005 to Jun 12, 2005
* Osaka, Japan:
Dates: Jun 26, 2005 to Aug 8, 2005
* Tokyo, Japan: TBA
* London, UK: Royal Albert Hall
Dates: Jan 5, 2006 to Jan 29, 2006
Cirque 2005:
* Montreal, Quebec, Canada -- Jacques-Cartier Pier
Dates: Apr 21, 2005 to Jun 19, 2005
* Quebec City, Quebec, Canada -- Galeries de la Capitale
Dates: Jun 30, 2003 to Jul 17, 2005
* Toronto, Ontraio, Canada -- Ontario Place
Dates: Aug 4, 2005 - Aug 28, 2005
* Minneapolis, Minnesota -- TBA
* San Francisco, California -- TBA
* San Jose, California -- TBA
Dralion:
* Barcelona, Spain -- Esplanada Norte
Dates: Mar 17, 2005 to May 15, 2005
* Rotterdam, Netherlands -- TBA
Dates: Jun 3, 2005 to Jun 19, 2005
* Oostende, Belgium -- TBA
Dates: Jul 21, 2005 to Aug 14, 2005
* Zurich, Switzerland -- TBA
* Bilbao, Spain -- TBA
Dates: Nov 18, 2005 to Dec 4, 2005
* Seville, Spain -- TBA
Dates: Jan 12, 2006 to Jan 29, 2006
* Valencia, Spain -- TBA
Quidam:
* Melbourne, Australia -- The Oval at Melbourne Park
Dates: Mar 4, 2005 to May 1, 2005
* Adelaide, Australia -- Bonython Park, Port Road
Dates: May 12, 2005 to Jun 5, 2005
* Perth, Australia -- Langley Park
Dates: Jul 1 , 2005 to Jul 17, 2005
* Singapore -- TBA
Saltimbanco:
* Birmingham, UK -- StarCity Junction 6, M6
Dates: Feb 24, 2005 to Mar 27, 2005
* Paris, France -- Boulogne Billancourt
Dates: Apr 8, 2005 to May 26, 2005
* Sao Paulo, Brazil -- TBA
Varekai:
* Austin, Texas -- Former Mueller Airport
Dates: Feb 24, 2005 to Mar 27, 2005
* Pittsburg, Pennsylvania -- Heinz Field
Dates: Apr 9, 2005 to May 8, 2005
* Baltimore, Maryland -- TBA
Dates: May 19, 2005 to Jun 19, 2005
* East Rutherford, New Jersey -- Meadowlands Sports Complex
Dates: Jun 30, 2005 - Jul 17, 2005
* Columbus, Ohio -- Arena District
Dates: Aug 11, 2005 - Sep 11, 2005
* Hartford, Connecticut -- TBA
* Charlotte, North Carolina -- TBA
* St. Petersburg, Florida -- TBA
* Miami, Florida -- TBA
[Resident Shows]
La Nouba:
* Two shows Nightly - 6:00pm and 9:00pm
* Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark Sunday/Monday
* Location: Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando (USA)
* 2005 Dark Dates:
-- February 6th - 9th -- August 28th - 30th
-- April 3rd - 6th -- October 9th - 12th
-- June 5th - 20th -- November 13th - 15th
-- August 14th - 17th -- December 4th - 13th
Mystère:
* Two shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 10:30pm
Beginning June 13th: Except Sundays; 4:30pm and 7:30pm
* Performs: Friday through Tuesday, Dark Wednesday/Thursday
Beginning June 9th: Wednesday - Sunday, Dark Monday/Tuesday
* Location: Treasure Island, Las Vegas (USA)
* 2005 Dark Dates:
-- January 3rd - 18th -- July 10th - 12th
-- February 6th - 8th -- September 12th - 20th
-- March 13th - 15th -- November 13th - 15th
-- May 16th - 24th
"O":
* Two shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 10:30pm
* Performs: Wednesday through Sunday, Dark Monday/Tuesday
* Location: Bellagio, Las Vegas (USA)
* 2005 Dark Dates:
-- February 20th - 22nd -- October 16th - 18th
-- April 18th - 26th -- December 5th - 20th
-- August 22 - 30th
Zumanity:
* Two Shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 10:30pm
* Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday
* Location: New York-New York, Las Vegas (USA)
* 2005 Dark Dates:
-- February 7th - 10th -- August 15th - 18th
-- April 18th - 21st -- October 10th - 13th
-- June 8th - Jun 16th -- December 7th - 22nd
KÀ:
* Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 10:30pm
* Performs: Friday through Tuesday, Dark Wednesday/Thursday
* Location: MGM Grand: City of Entertainment, Las Vegas (USA)
* Note: One show nightly at 8:00pm from Nov 26 to Dec 7.
* 2005 Dark Dates:
-- January 24th - 27th -- June 6th - 7th
-- February 1st - 4th -- August 1st - 2nd
-- March 23rd - 31st -- September 9th - 13th
-- April 1st - 14th -- November 14th - 15th
=======================================================================
DIDYAKNOW? -- FACTS ABOUT CIRQUE
=======================================================================
IN THEIR OWN WORDS - Questions and answers from people we've had the
honor of meeting and talking with in the last three years. While we
can't reveal identities, since several of them still work for Cirque,
we think some of the things they have to say would be interesting to
fans and aspiring artists and musicians.
We asked someone involved in Cirque's early years - What's Guy
Laliberte like?
"He's passionate, kind of crazy, very creative. A very hard worker, a
workaholic. He used to be very close to the artists. He was like a
big brother, but the bigger and bigger the company got the less and
less people could reach him. He's omnipresent. But now people don't
know him. Also he has no time."
=======================================================================
LE SPECTACLE:
"New Kid on the Block: KÀ, Cirque du Soleil's Fourth
Resident Show in Las Vegas (Part 2 of 3)"
By: Wayne Leung - Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)
=======================================================================
PART II: The Story of KÀ:
=========================
----------------------------------------------------------------------
** SPOILER WARNING **
This article will be choc full of spoilers, so for those who have yet
to see the show and want to keep its contents a surprise I suggest you
skip through to the end. Also, I am writing this article based on
preview performances of the show, and the information contained herein
may no longer be completely accurate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dramatis Personae
The Tribes and Peoples of KÀ
----------------------------
The characters of KÀ inhabit a world of many tribes and factions.
These tribes are largely segregated from each other and some tribes
are in conflict with others. The story of KÀ brings together the
different peoples of this world to meet their collective destiny.
The Empire: A noble, proud and peaceful society which represents the
pinnacle of civilization in the world of KÀ. The Empire is the height
of art, culture, and education. They have developed a graceful and
majestic form of martial arts which its combatants practice.
The Twins - A boy (Cheri Tabushi Haight) and a girl (Jennifer Kimberly
Haight), they represent the hope for the future of the Empire. Heirs
to the throne, they are raised to be educated and noble but also
skilled in combat. The story of KÀ is the story of the twins as they
fulfill their respective destinies.
The Emperor (Valentin Ganev) - He is the monarch of the Empire and
father of the Twins. Dressed in luminous robes, the Emperor has a
regal air.
The Empress (Ekatarina Bogdanova) - She rules by the side of her
husband, the Emperor, and is the mother of the Twins. Her elaborate
dress references the Peking Opera, and the weeping tree design
embroidered on her sleeves suggests a slight melancholy to her
character.
The Nursemaid (Teuda Bara) - The Twins' guardian, she is charged with
watching over and caring for the Twins in their young age Somewhat of
a surrogate mother, her relationship with the Twins is one of mutual
loyalty and love.
The Court Jester (Kleber Conrado Berto) - The Fool of the court, he
shares a special bond with the Twins. He dances and entertains but is
also an agile acrobat and possesses strength and courage beyond his
role as a jester.
The Valets (Anatoli Akerman, William Ferreira Amaral, Cbastien Tardif)
- Servants of the Imperial Court, the Valets are a mischievous and
bumbling trio who constantly get into trouble. They play off each
others' stupidities like the Three Stooges.
The Imperial Guards - Practitioners of the graceful and noble form of
martial arts developed by the Empire, the Imperial Guards
ceremoniously protect the Emperor and his Court. The guards are
dressed in Asian-inspired robes with the Empire's tree insignia across
the open chest for the men, and long flowing robes hanging from the
upper-body for the women.
The Archers: A malevolent underground society. Comprised of factions
of archers and spearmen living deep beneath the surface of the Earth
in caves, the bottoms of their faces are obscured with muzzles, and
they have emblazoned intricate tattoos all over their bodies. The
Archers mine a rare element that can be processed into powerful
explosives for weapons. They have mastered the art of aerial combat
and fly from scaffold to scaffold in their underground mines. Their
society is built on war, destruction and dominion by force. They will
stop at nothing to conquer the world of KÀ and enslave its
inhabitants.
The Evil Counselor (Jörg Lemke) - Leader of the Archer Tribe,
architect of its deadly arsenal of destruction and strategist behind
the Archers' plans for domination. He is the brains of the Archer
Tribe.
The Counselor's Son (Miro Lacasse) - A brilliant designer of weapons
and war machines and practitioner of the Tribe's Aerial combat
techniques, the malignant, jealous and petty son of the Counselor is
being reared to succeed his father at the helm of the Archer Tribe.
The Chief Archer (Viken Kayabalian) - The stone-cold and imposing
General of the Archers' forces, he directs the archers and spearmen
during their strategic attacks. He commands the respect and loyalty
of his troops. If the Counselor is the brains of the Archers, the
Chief Archer is the brawn. The only glimpse of his heart is shown in
his love for his daughter.
The Chief Archer's Daughter (Noriko Takahashi) - A femme-fatale, the
irresistibly beautiful, tough-as-nails daughter of the Head Archer is
desired by all of the men of the Archer tribe. She continually spurns
their affection but knows how to use her sexuality to get what she
wants from them The many spider-like references in her costume
suggest she is a black widow, although underneath her brazen exterior
she secretly yearns for a virtuous life and the love of one who is
pure of heart.
The Mountain Tribe: A tribe of white fur-clad mountain-dwellers who
descend from the heights to fish and scavenge for food. They are
agile climbers and mountaineers. Their deceptively primitive
appearance gives no hint of the fact that they are actually brilliant
engineers and inventors.
The Forest Tribe: An ancient, mysterious and mystical airborne people
who inhabit the treetops of the forest. A majestic tribe gifted with
the ability of flight, and masters of aerial combat, they are a
peaceful society but will fight to free those enslaved and oppressed
by the Archers.
Firefly Boy (Igor Zaripov) - The young, handsome leader of the Forest
Tribe; he swings from the treetops like Tarzan. His heart of gold
compels him to fight to uphold the good in the world.
The Animals: The animals in the world of KÀ are sentient, possessing
human-like characteristics and are a benevolent presence. Some of the
animals we meet in KÀ include a pair of crabs, a starfish, a turtle, a
giant grass-hopper, a snake and a caterpillar.
Synopsis
--------
Pre-show animation:
The ushers who greet the audience are part of the pre-show animation;
they are courtiers in the Imperial court, and are "in character",
chatting and interacting with the guests while they seat them. The
cavernous showroom suggests that we are in an underground cave or mine
Large fireballs periodically leap from the abyss at the front of the
theatre. Atmospheric sound effects, dissonant chords of music and
guttural whispers can be heard throughout the theatre (played through
the personal sound system embedded in each theatre seat).
Slowly, the Archers creep out onto the catwalks. They have a fearsome
demeanor as they jump from catwalk to catwalk flying from level to
level and set about their work in the mine. The theatre is aflutter
with activity with Archers flying about when the Evil Counselor
emerges and slinks across the ledge of the pit where he is joined by
his son. They are about to discuss the rare element which the workers
are mining when some hapless audience member flashes a camera in their
faces The Counselor's Son pulls the inconsiderate guest from the
audience onto the ledge of the abyss, confiscates his camera and
tosses it into the void where it erupts in a fiery flash. The same
fate befalls the guest's cell phone when it starts to ring and, when
he is about to light a cigarette, the guest himself is thrown into the
void!
With a tap from the Evil Counselor's percussive sticks, the Archers on
the catwalks erupt into a series of battle cries, the lights dim and
the show begins.
Scene 1: The Journey Home/The Pageant/Siege of the Archers
Angelic vocalizations fill the air as rays of light emanate from the
abyss We hear the distinct sound of children laughing and playing.
Suddenly we catch our first glimpse of the magnificent Sand-Cliff Deck
which rises from the deep as a ship. Imperial Guards flank either
side of the ship and row. The Twins are happily play-fighting on the
deck. The ship's deck raises above the audience's eye level and
several key characters are revealed within as the massive deck
revolves; the Valets, the Chief Archer's Daughter and the Twins'
Nursemaid who is busily finishing the ceremonial robes that the Twins
will don for the reception that awaits their homecoming.
The ship docks. The Emperor, Empress, Court Jester and other members
of the Imperial Court appear at the back of the stage on the Tatami
deck which slides forward to meet the ship. The Court celebrates the
return of the Twins by staging a magnificent pageant. The Imperial
Guards engage in a graceful and synchronized martial arts
demonstration as the Sand-Cliff deck revolves, showing the group from
different angles. The spectacular effect mimics a panning camera move
in a film. The Imperial Guard's Lady Officer takes centre stage to
perform a solo martial-arts routine where she dances with the Court
Jester and juggles flower sticks.
It is time for the Twins to resume their studies. A Valet brings a
large pile of books but instead of reading them he juggles them to the
amusement of the court. Finally, the Twins serenade the court by
playing a sweet, evocative melody on their flutes.
As the orchestra strikes an ominous chord Archers invade the aisles of
the theatre and the catwalks. They draw their bows and poise to
strike. An arrow hits the stage; the Archers' siege of the Empire
begins Pandemonium engulfs the Imperial court. The Emperor is
fatally wounded. The Twins scream in terror as they witness the
assassination of their mother, the Empress.
Scene 2: Parting of the Twins/The Storm
The surviving members of the Court desperately flee as the palace
burns to the ground. The Court hopes to escape by means of a small
sailboat, but in the confusion that ensues the Twins are separated.
The Girl sets sail on the boat with the Nursemaid, the Valets and
several Imperial Guards. The Boy and the Jester flee by land with the
Archers in pursuit.
We follow the Girl and watch as her boat sails into a fierce storm.
We hear the choir singing ominously. The small boat rocks violently
as the Girl, the Nursemaid, the Valets and other occupants hold on for
dear life. The waves aggressively toss the boat about as if it were a
toy. Several Imperial Guards are dramatically tossed overboard. The
ferocious winds rip off the boat's sail. Finally, the boat capsizes.
The Twin Girl desperately climbs to the topof the mast as the boat
sinks into the deep.
Scene 3: Underwater
As a soft piano and cello duet plays we hear a splash and see the
Nursemaid drowning in the water. A trail of projected bubbles follows
her body as it sinks into the deep. With another splash we see the
Girl determinedly swimming downward. She rescues her Nursemaid and
pulls her back up toward the surface.
Scene 4: The Archers' Den
The scene changes and we are now inside the den of the Archers. A
battalion of spearmen in ranks perform a synchronized dance to
demonstrate their deadly prowess. We meet the Chief Archer and begin
to sense the uneasy power balance that he shares with the Evil
Counselor. We are also introduced to the Chief Archer's daughter who
is the object of every Archer's desire, including the Counselor's Son.
She spurns the attention of the men and relishes the role of "daddy's
little girl". Meanwhile, the Counselor's Son demonstrates a model of
the Death Machine that he has designed to refine the rare mineral that
the Archers mine into a powerful explosive compound that can be used
to kill and destroy all that stand in the Archers' path to conquest of
the world.
Scene 5: The Beach
The Sand-Cliff Deck rises from the void and its entire upper surface
is now covered in sand (actually ground cork). We see the Girl and
Nursemaid lying unconscious on the beach. Suddenly two large puppet
crabs (flexible performers in full-body puppet costumes actually crab-
walking to animate the crabs) emerge from the sand and wake the Girl
and her Nursemaid. The Imperial Court's three valets swim up to the
storm-tossed beach. The group reunites and proceeds to explore the
beach discovering and interacting with an array of whimsical
creatures; a starfish, a sea-turtle and a spiny caterpillar. The
exiles eventually leave the beach and continue on their journey.
Scene 6: Lantern (Shadow Puppets)
Once the group leaves the stage, the Sand-Cliff Deck tilts toward the
audience and all of the sand from the beach is dumped into the void.
When the deck reaches full-vertical we see the Boy and Jester emerge
from the wings and venture across the front ledge of the void. They
have been fleeing the Archers and are in need of rest. The Boy's hand
was injured in the melee of the palace siege and the Jester sets down
the lantern he is carrying to examine the Boy's injured hand. The
shadows created by the characters' hands are projected by the lantern
onto the vertical deck behind them. The Jester notices this and
proceeds to comfort the Boy by coaching him into creating an elaborate
series of shadow puppets on the wall; a dog, a dove and a cat. This
sequence pays tribute to the first ever form of technology-based
storytelling and the fact that the actors perform a simple shadow-
puppet show in a multi-million dollar theatre is somewhat ironic.
Though simple, the sequence is one of the most touching in the show
and serves to illustrate the strong bond and relationship the Boy
shares with the Jester.
However, the moment of respite is short-lived as Archers soon appear
and the pursuit begins anew. The Boy and Jester flee.
Scene 7: The Mountainside/Attack of the Archers/Ice-slide
The Sand-Cliff Deck tilts to an angle; a projection suggests that it
is now an icy slope. The Girl and her entourage arrive at the foot of
the mountain and cautiously proceed to climb the dangerously slippery
slope. Suddenly, the group is ambushed by Archers who fire arrows
onto the icy cliff and proceed to pursue our heroes. The Ice slope
begins to rotate while the Archers continue to embed arrows into its
face. The characters use the arrows as holding points for acrobatic
manoeuvres as they slip and slide about the face of the rapidly
rotating deck. During the course of the thrilling sequence the
Nursemaid slides off the edge of the deck into the abyss, the three
valets are captured by the Archers and the Girl is rescued by a couple
of fur-clad Mountain men. The pursuing Archers all eventually slide
off the wildly spinning deck and drop into the void. At the end of
the scene the deck tilts to full vertical becoming a "cliff," and the
final Archer drops to his death in the void.
Scene 8: The Blizzard/Treetop Chase
Snow falls gently from the sky as we see the Nursemaid unconscious on
the Tatami deck which slides in underneath the vertical cliff. She is
discovered by two Mountain men who help lift her (and their cargo of
freshly-caught fish) up the cliff in a large sling. The Nursemaid is
reunited with the Girl. The two Mountain men scale the vertical wall.
At the front of the void, a large palisade of wooden posts, suggesting
treetops, rises and we see the Chief Archer's Daughter playing in the
snow. Several Archers join her, brazenly leaping from post to post.
As always, the Archers flirt with the Chief's daughter, continuously
vying for her affection, and as always she spurns their attention.
When the Archers sense the approach of the Boy and the Jester, they
crouch behind the posts and hide. The Archers ambush the Boy and
Jester and a battle ensues. The Boy and Jester valiantly battle the
Archers but are outnumbered. The Jester falls into the void, and the
boy is captured. The Chief Archer's Daughter watches as the Boy is
carried away.
Scene 9: Mountaintop Refuge/Archers Attack
Still vertical, the cliff descends half-way into the void and we see
the encampment of the Mountain men perched on top of the cliff. The
camp consists of a teepee and small fire. The Nursemaid and Girl
emerge from the teepee and interact with the Mountain men in a brief
moment of levity.
However, the group's rest is short-lived; the Archers once again fill
the aisles of the theatre and fire on the group. The Girl and her
Nursemaid are frightened but the Mountain men have a clever plan for
escape.
Scene 10: Flight of the Bird
The Mountain men usher the Nursemaid and Girl into the teepee and,
surprisingly, the sides of the tent fly up and the teepee turns into a
large Leonardo Davinci-esque flying machine. With a Mountain man on
either side flapping the wings the Bird takes flight and the group
sails directly over the heads of the audience, venturing as far as
half way to the back of the auditorium. The Girl dangles precariously
underneath the bird and performs a series of aerial cradle skills.
The Bird sails into the wings of the theatre and away from the
attacking Archers.
Scene 11: Captivity/Lovers/Dance of the Magic Flute
Back inside the lair of the Archers, the Counselor's son oversees
construction of the massive Death Machine that will process the mined
ore into deadly weapons. Lifts rise at the front of the void to
reveal the captives from the Empire, now slaves housed in round
hamster wheel-like cages. The Boy is brought into the lair and thrown
into one of these cages. The Chief Archer's Daughter comes to see the
Boy. She reveals the flutes given to her by her father as a souvenir
of the raid on the Empire. They are the Twins' flutes. The Archer's
Daughter gives the Boy a flute and he plays a sweet, evocative melody
for her. She is enchanted by the Boy's song and leans toward him.
The Boy sneaks a kiss. The Archer's daughter is smitten, she has
fallen in love with the Boy but is conflicted. Their love is
forbidden and she has a duty to uphold to the Archers. After a moment
of hesitation she opens the cage and allows the Boy to escape. He
leaves her with a kiss and gives her his flute as a token of his love
for her.
Love fills the Archer's Daughter's heart for the first time and she
performs a beautiful dance with the flute (an intricate baton
manipulation routine).
The Counselor's son has secretly witnessed the entire scene. He
collapses to his knees in anguish; his heartbreak galvanizes his
resolve to destroy the Twins and the last remaining hope for the
Empire.
Scene 12: The Forest
Hanging vine-like structures and columns fly into place from the
wings. They evoke the lush foliage of a dense forest canopy. The
Firefly Boy swings in the air and performs an aerial straps routine.
Meanwhile Forest men are swaying and jumping from large swinging
Chinese poles and creatures descend on the large columns, among them a
giant winding snake. Singer Beth Quist is perched on a hanging vine
and sings an exotic melody while playing a small hand drum.
The Twin Girl appears to have fallen from the Mountain men's Bird and
we see her falling through the forest canopy. She is rescued by the
Firefly Boy.
Scene 13: The Slave Cage
We return to the Archers' Den where the Death Machine has been
completed and the enslaved former citizens of the Empire (including
the captured Nursemaid and Valets) toil away in the mines.
The jealous and vengeful Counselor's son, designer of the Death
Machine, now senses he has enough support and admiration amongst the
Archers' forces to stage a coup. Having had his heart broken by the
Chief Archers' Daughter he captures the Chief Archer and assumes
command of the Archers' forces.
The Counselor's Son's fiendish Death Machine (Wheel of Death) is
powered by slaves running in hamster-wheel cages on both ends of a
long rotating pendulum arm. We recognize the two slaves in the Wheel
of Death as former members of the Imperial Court. While operating the
machine, the slaves escape out of the cage and brazenly taunt their
captives by performing elaborate and dangerous stunts on the moving
Death Machine.
The enslaved Empire is inspired by the courage of the two slaves and
while the Archers are distracted by the events, the Empire rises up
and revolts against its captors. The bravery of the two slaves in the
Wheel of Death begins to turn the tide in the war. In the confusion,
the Chief Archer's daughter is able to rescue her father from
captivity.
Meanwhile, in the course of their separate adventures the Twins
reunite and joyously celebrate their reunion. Together they will
fight for the freedom of the Empire.
Scene 14: Drums of War/The Final Battle
The Girl has enlisted the help of the Firefly Boy who rallies the
Forest people to the aid of the Empire. As the drums of war echo
throughout the theatre the Twins, the Firefly Boy and the Forest
people suit up and prepare for the final battle.
Our heroes stand on the ledge of the void. The Sand-Cliff deck, now
serving as a battlefield, rises and on the opposite end we see the
forces of the Archers, now under the command of the Counselor's Son,
in attack formation.
The deck tilts to near-vertical (approximately 80° from horizontal).
We will watch the battle from an overhead view. The approximately
twenty combatants are all rigged to harnesses and suspended from
individual flying winches. As they jump, fly and land on the
battlefield, projected patterns radiate outward from their landing
spots The forces launch into their attack. A chaotic battle ensues
with combatants making flying leaps through the air. When it looks
like our heroes are on the verge of winning the Archers unleash flash-
bombs and push their line forward. Our heroes reform their ranks and
resolvedly fight through with all of their might and, despite their
disadvantage, they are able to defeat the Archers' forces by sheer
determination.
As the battle ends we see the Evil Counselor rushing to the aid of his
wounded son who is lying on the battlefield.
Scene 15: Epilogue/Finale
The lights fade up and the Tatami Deck slides forward. We get the
sense that some time has passed and we relish in the resolution of the
story. The Twins are reunited with each other, their Nursemaid and
their Valets. The Empire is restored with the Twins as the rulers.
The Boy has wed the Chief Archer's Daughter. The Girl has married the
Firefly Boy and is now pregnant. The Chief Archer, now dressed in a
ceremonial Imperial robe, presents his bow and breaks it over his knee
signifying his new dedication to peace.
A moment of tension arises as the Counselor and his son arrive at the
celebration. The Son bears what looks like an explosive device.
However, the device is not a weapon but rather a firework. In a
glorious gesture of peace and reconciliation the Counselor's son
illuminates the skies over the Empire with a magnificent pyrotechnic
display. The Counselor and his son have realized the error of their
ways and are determined to act now in the name of peace. The Death
Machine rises from the void, except it has been converted to a
beautiful spinning windmill of fire. The Court Jester emerges from
behind the machine.
The peoples of the world of KÀ have been united, peace pervades the
land and the civilization can live in peace and harmony.
END OF PART TWO
----------------------------------------------------------------------
** END OF SPOILER WARNING **
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Issue: We finish our look at Ka with final impressions and
opinions.
=======================================================================
CIRQUE MUSIQUE:
"EXCLUSIVE! Preview of the Delirium CD"
By: Keith Johnson - Seattle, Washington (USA)
=======================================================================
Cirque fans have been waiting months for the other dancin' shoe to
drop. We've heard of a 2-CD/DVD set originally scheduled for last
fall called "20 Years Under The Sun." And we've heard it would
contain the previously released chill remix-oriented "Tapis Rouge:
Solarium" CD (originally a VIP tent gift, then re-released in the US
with a new cover on November 23, 2004), as well as "Delirium," a disk
of dance remixes of Cirque du Soleil music. We were also wondering
what the mentioned DVD content might be. When it didn't make its
original Fall 2004 release date, we wondered if the "Delirium" part of
the deal might have fallen through. And when "Le Best Of" made its
appearance in October, we were concerned the project was abandoned.
That concern was to put to rest throughout the fall and winter, as
tracks from Delirium started appearing on UK-produced 12" vinyl
singles. First to appear was "Aborigenes Jam" remixed by Francois K
with Eric Kupper. Then came "Emballa" from Louie Vega featuring
Jaffa, followed by "Kumbalawe" from Roger Sanchez (which, as we
mentioned last month, is the hit of the bunch making the Top 10 on
Billboards Club Play List). Finally, a Tiesto remix of "Mer Noire"
arrived with an Alain Vinet and Quicksound take on "Africa" as the
flip side.
Now, thanks to a kind source, we've gotten word that Solarium/Delirium
will be released as a two-disk set (no word on any DVD content though)
this May. According to our source, the set comes in a nice book-style
package that is "very striking."
In addition, our source clued us into a special performance tied into
the CD sets release! On Saturday, March 26th, some time between 3pm
and 11pm, near the pool of the Doubletree Surfcomber Hotel in Miami,
FL, Cirque du Soleil Musique will celebrate the release of
"Solarium/Delirium" with an exclusive live performance with guest DJ
Alain Vinet. Also appearing that night will be Louie Vega and Eric
Kupper, who also contribute to the Delirium set, among other
performers.
The showcase is part of a convention called M3 ("Miami, Music,
Multimedia" - m3summit.com), which states it is "the only gathering in
the United States to merge music, technology, art, fashion, and
multimedia as an integrated lifestyle. Part festival, part trade
show, and part industry confab, M3 brings together business leaders
with forward-thinking consumers to celebrate the future of
entertainment." The Easter weekend convention combines "Buzz-worthy
music, art, technology, and multimedia presented in state-of-the-art
environments," with "High-profile forums for the introduction of new
products, fashions, and ideas to an international audience of industry
professionals and music lovers." M3 is attended by "Artists,
producers, music company executives, advertising directors, film and
television music supervisors, fashion designers, video game creators
and serious fans. What they each have in common is a desire to both
work and play hard, and they share an insatiable appetite for pop
culture and the latest art, entertainment, fashion and gear." Sounds
like a bunch of scene-meisters to me!
Which might be why Ian Tremblay and the Cirque du Soleil Musique
division decided to host Saturday night's "Sunset Session." Again
from the website; "Produced in a beautiful, pool-side, beachfront
environment and featuring state-of-the-art sound, video, and
multimedia, the M3 Sunset Sessions present A-list artists alongside
the most exciting new talent from around the world. The line-ups push
the boundaries of electronic and urban music, highlighting top DJs,
turntablists, and live performances."
But wait, there's more! How much is this killer confab, including
this special evening concert? A mere $180.00 if you buy your
membership by March 20th (after that it's $285.00). But a limited
number of $20.00 "Sunet Session" tickets are available for Miami
Cirque fans at www.wanttickets.com.
* * * - A.P.B. - ALL POINTS BULLETIN - TO ANYONE WITHIN THE SOUND OF
MY WORDS - Are you in Miami? Want to check this out and report back?
Contact us!! Info at the end of the newsletter. End of Bulletin. . .
Normally for us that would be it. We, like you, would have to wait
patiently for the May release of the two-disk set to get our complete
taste of what's only been hinted at in the vinyl releases to date.
But what if an advance copy were to make its way into our hot little
hands? What would an intrepid reporter do, to what lengths would we
go, to get the information to you, our valued readership?
Bless EBAY.
There you can find almost any Cirque collectible you want. We've seen
one-of-a-kind experiences and even original Cirque character mask
props there (though neither was actually sold, see our past issues for
details). EBAY, at one time or another, features everything from
currently offered products to rare items from Cirque's beginnings, and
occasionally glimpses into its future. Which leads to this months
exclusive preview of the dance-remix "Delirium" CD, from a preview
copy purchased there.
The CD came with no packaging other than a list of tracks. The CD is
even stickered "Not For Production" and was duplicated on a gold CD-R
blank.
Now here's where Yours Truly is out of his league. I'm not a club
hopper, dance fiend, or highly knowledgable about the DJs or remix
styles featured here. So I couldn't even begin to tell you how these
remixes fare against other offerings from these DJs and producers. I
don't even know what kind of "style" most of these are in, and must
embarrassingly admit I don't know my "house" from my "deep house" from
"trance." There are several in the Cirque-fan-verse much more
qualified to comment on these tracks. But I have the CD and they
don't - thank Visa! So I shall press on with my impressions of this
soon-to-be-released 62:09 long set, and the reader will pardon if they
are not as knowledgable as they might be.
The approach here is certainly different than Solarium, which featured
down-tempo "chillout" remixes of Cirque songs. While that disk might
have been a more appropriate sell for the upscale Cirque target
audience, Delirium presents Cirque music with a heavy dance beat in a
mostly continuous mix from beginning to end, clocking in at 127-133
bpm (beats per minute) throughout.
1. Emballa from Varekai (6:22 - 127 bpm) - Louie Vega featuring Jaffa
- We start out with energy, as this Varekai track gets a nice latin-
style remix. Much of the vocal is preserved here, making it more of a
"song" than some of the others. It doesn't sound much different than
the Nitin Sawhney-produced "soundtrack" version, but takes on more of
a tropical flavor.
2. Querer from Alegria (6:05 - 127 bpm) - Julien Jabre - A samba!
What a different approach! Francesca Gagnon's original vocal comes
shining through. Though I must admit I'm so used to the original that
hearing these lyrics in this arrangement is a bit unsettling. Again,
much of the lyric is used, giving this version a more complete feel.
Hand claps and a pipe organ-sound keyboard also pique interest.
3. Kumbalawé from Saltimbanco (7:51 - 129 bpm) - Roger Sanchez - This
is one of the standout tracks of the bunch, well deserving of its
place on the Top 10 Club Play List. A basic funky beat is soon
followed by a deep male voice chanting "Koom-ba-la, ja-koom-ba,"
followed by the title word with a long echoing tail. A keyboard
accentuates the bassline, pulling you deeper in. Sounding like a
voodoo priest the chanting continues, augmented only by the title word
sung by the chorus from the original song. There is no real "song" to
be found here, only tribal groove. Entrancing and powerful. Wait, I
have to listen to it again....
4. Aborigenes Jam from Dralion (6:42 - 132 bpm) - Francois K/Eric
Kupper - The pace picks up here with samples of African-sounding
percussion comprising much of its backbeat. More electronic in its
pulse, this utilizes much of the female vocal during its breaks. It's
nice, but after the power of Sanchez' Kumbalawe, this just kind of
lies there.
5. Poiknoi from Saltimbanco (6:41 - 131 bpm) - Sasha - Going even more
electronic, brings in some of the strings and female vocals from the
original and surrounds it with swirling percussion. The song breaks
the beat in the middle, almost presenting the chorus in its original
form, surrounded by an echo chamber. I have a preference, such as it
is, for songs that don't lose their beat for long periods, so I can't
say I'm attracted to this too much, though it is pretty.
6. Africa from O (8:48 - 127 bpm) - Quicksound with Alain Vinet -
Quicksound is a Montreal-based percussion/performance collective and
here they collaborate with fellow Quebecer Alain Vinet on a tune
that's a favorite of remixers (appearing here in its third
incarnation). I can't see the attraction here, as there is no real
"song" to remix, just a vocal and kora playing. But that must be it,
as is allows the remixer free reign. Here I feel it doesn't work -
the vocals don't seem to "fit" inside the beat, and the kora from the
original doesn't add much. The percussion is nice, featuring an
interesting digiridoo sound, but otherwise this doesn't click with me.
7. Terre Aride from O (6:10 - 126 bpm) - Jori Hulkkonen - Is this a
remix? Really?? I can hardly tell. A bit of vocal chanting and bit
of the male throat singing is all that connects it with the 0
original. I can't recognize this at all. It just goes on for six
minutes without taking any interesting directions. A mis-fire.
8. Spiritual Spiral from Dralion (6:44 - 134 bpm) - Carmen Rizzo -
Deep drum percussion takes center stage here as the pace quickens
towards the last two selections. With no forefront beat dominating
the mix you have to listen deeper to get the rhythm. Hammered
dulcimer samples from the original make an appearance as does a
filtered version of Erik Karol's vocal. The filtering lends an
interesting aspect to the tune and keeps the ear attuned.
9. Mer Noire from O (6:44 - 133 bpm) - Tiesto - A heavy beat slams to
the forefront to announce the final song on the disk. More digiridoo
sounds come next, followed by the angelic original chorus female
vocals. We return to the more complete song form, with much of the
original, including several of the exotic instruments, used here.
This would be my favorite were it not for the complete breakdown in
the middle, for more female solo vocalizing from the original. As if
that weren't enough, it takes another :50 for the beat to return after
that! Yes it's pretty and nice and all, and the beat is still there
in the background, but is a break of that length necessary? The
return of the beat is joyous but short, until the song finally brings
the album to a close.
And that's it! The first, exclusive look at the Cirque du Soleil
dance remix album. On the whole, I find both Solarium and Delirium
fun to listen to depending on mood. There are (of course) hits and
misses on both. Now if only Cirque du Soleil Musique could finally
get beyond the "remixed by/interpreted by/inspired by" kick they're
currently on and concentrate on show soundtrack albums that actually
represent the shows they come from.
But we'll get to that next time.
=======================================================================
TÉLÉMAGIK:
"Living it Up: A La Nouba DVD Review (Part 2 of 2)"
By: Ricky Russo - Orlando, Florida (USA)
=======================================================================
Title: La Nouba DVD
ISBN: 1-4049-6954-3
UPC: 0-43396-09054-5
Video: 1:78:1 Wide screen
Audio: English 5.1 / 2.0 (Defaults to Dolby Stereo 2.0)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese
Run Time: Approx 90 Minutes
When I sat down to review the La Nouba DVD, I did so with a bit of
apprehension. Of all the Cirque du Soleil shows I've seen live (and
I've seen them all except KÀ), La Nouba is the one I've seen the most.
At last count I've seen La Nouba live 10 times; it was also my first
live Cirque du Soleil experience. I fondly remember my first viewing
in the spring of 1999. Thus La Nouba is the show I am most familiar
with -- its acts, its theme and its music -- thanks to the looming
presence of its permanent Grand Chapiteau. So when it came time to
watch the DVD of the production and review it for our faithful readers
I wasn't very excited. I didn't know then how wrong I would be.
Disc Two -- The Special Features (continued)
--------------------------------------------
It's 30 minutes before showtime and people are being let into the
lobby of the Cirque du Soleil theater, Doug White (bicycles) is
checking out his gear, Krystian Sawicki ("Le Titan") is receiving a
massage to his hamstrings in an unusual way -- someone is standing on
his legs, Isabeau Proulx Lemire (singer) is practicing in the
theater's stairwell, and the Les Cons are finishing up their makeup.
It's almost showtime... what's going on behind the scenes?
In the previous installment I spoke about the filming of the
production itself (on disc 1), as well as some of the smaller special
features available on disc 2: a "Les Cons" featurette, the "La Nouba
Photo Gallery," and a section featuring Cirque du Soleil previews and
promos for various current and upcoming products. Now, I wish to turn
my attention to what I consider the "meat" of the special features:
the "Meet the Musicians" and "In-Depth Interviews" selections.
In "Meet the Musicians" we are introduced to Isbeau (the singer),
Benoit Glazer (Conductor, Trumpet Player, Keyboards), Cliff Schwartz,
Benoit Lajeunesse (Violin, Mandolin) and Benoit Jutras (Composer). To
be honest, I was hoping for another "Meet the Artists" section like
Alegría and Varekai. I liked that everyone got his or her moment. When
I first saw this was just going to focus on the musicians rather than
the entire cast I was disappointed. But after watching this
featurette, I felt I knew a lot more about the musicians and their on-
stage lives.
For example, did you know that Benoit Jutras was still writing and re-
writing the score to La Nouba two weeks before its premiere? "I am a
bit of a control freak," Jutras admits, writing all the arrangements
himself. Or that one of the musicians was caught by Guy Laliberte
resting during the show when he was not called upon to play? The
interviews were intriguing, open, honest and fun. Its focus allows the
subjects to breathe and tell me more.
In the In-Depth Interviews section you dive behind-the-scenes with
select La Nouba characters, cast and crew reliving some of their most
cherished moments of the Production.
We first meet Elena Day, who plays the Green Bird. "My character is a
watcher," she says. "She watches the action of others, wishing she
could be part of it." Throughout most of the production the Green Bird
is an observer, hoping to become one of the "amazing, beautiful,
flying beings" that she sees around her. Unfortunately for her, she's
a flightless bird who may or may not understand her own special
qualities. "I think what's so special about her," Elena says, "is that
she's just beautiful in her own way." Elena enlightens us on how she
found the character's motivation and how she's able to showcase that
persona twice a night, five times a week. Fans might be interested to
know how she came up with the "death scene" that is now a famed part
of the Balancing on Chairs performance -- "I had just bought my car
that day," she says, "and I was real angry about the process... I just
took [the moment] over the top, and just started screaming and
freaking out. The audience loved it [so] we kept it!" Sadly, Elena Day
is no longer with La Nouba, but she will always be part of that which
we all sometimes strive: to be more than what we are. -- "I think
she's hysterical when she gets really angry."
Next we hear from Power Track artist Chrissy Van Fleet who spent 13
years in gymnastics to prepare her for this position; she speaks about
doing the same thing each and every day. "Sometimes it's easy to lose
focus... but the way that we try and keep that motivation is to
remember the experience I had first [watching] the show and to give
that back to the audience." She speaks of that first viewing
completely wowing her. Recall when I asked about fans Cirque Rituals?
Chrissy speaks of some her fellow mates adhere to just prior to going
onstage: "there are small things that we do, little handshakes, hi-
fives, [and] claps. [There is] a little special thing probably with
everybody as we're going into the building... before we start our
act." And has she fallen victim to any embarrassing moments? "I walked
right off the stage one time," she says, speaking about her role as an
urbanite during the production's opening number. How do you recover
from such a blunder? "You blush, get up and walk back," she
exclaimed. What about her mates? Oh yeah... "[Our] biggest tumbler
doing a triple [flip] actually went flying into the audience, and his
catchers, who went to hold him back... they went into the audience
too!"
"You name it [and I'll] ride [my bike] over it," says Doug White,
Extreme Mountain Bike Rider. He's ridden over dump trucks, barns, all
kinds of small buildings, busses and "all kinds of cool stuff," or so
he declares. Doug likes to have fun with his performance and tends to
look around at the audience, he admits, though no one has attempted to
grab him while in the audience. He's very serious when it comes to the
Bicycle Jump, however. "Pavel is my hero," he says of the Les Con who
lies down with the unknowing spectator during the Bicycle Jump. "He
lays there and doesn't flinch 10 times a week." To Doug, this is the
most serious and most important part of his performance, and
thankfully there hasn't yet been an accident during the jump. "It's in
my contract that I'm not allowed to hit Pavel," he says candidly. "So
far I've kept my job!" There have been touchy situations, however. One
time Doug peeked over the lifts as the stagehands waved up at him not
to jump down, as he always does to end his act. The lift, which would
normally be about 7 feet down, was down 11 feet. What did daredevil
Doug White do? He jumped in anyway... "The show must go on!"
"The danger is always there," says Andrei Roublev, flyer in the Flying
Trapeze number. He speaks about his experiences with La Nouba,
including an accident that almost put him out of the show permanently:
he dismounted with another flyer but landed atop him, knocking him out
for 1 minute and was out of action for two weeks! He was also asked
what went through his mind as he performed. His response? "It's hard
to describe... but the [feeling] of flying is the most important for
me."
Carlos Marcio Moreira, from Brazil, fills the uncanny shoes of The
Walker -- the man in the green bowler hat with a unique strut. He's
the next member of the La Nouba cast we hear from and he shares with
us some candid insights into his character. "He comes from nowhere. He
feels so much what he sees in front of him. He has sensitivity; enjoys
so much. [He's] surprised by what he sees. [He's] happy." And just
like his alter ego, Carlos needs the response from the audience to
perform in top form; he loves to see the smiles of the audience. And
how does he get his audience to smile? By his walk of course...
inspired by none other than the king of the silent era, Charlie
Chapman.
The man behind Pierrot Rouge, the character in red, is Wellington
Lima. Also from Brazil, Wellington became an acrobat at the age of 11,
doing martial arts and dreaming of going to the World Championships of
Trampoline someday. His inspiration came from another artist in
Brazil, strangely enough, who was jumping onto buildings. Instead of
jumping onto buildings, Wellington somersaulted into coconut trees!
The PowerTrack/Trampoline number is where Wellington gets to shine,
bringing a burst of energy unmatched anywhere. During his interview he
speaks candidly about the creation of the number, which he performs
with Krystian Sawicky's "Le Titan" character. He says the idea of the
wall was to have a fight between him and Le Titan, a kind of duel
between two powerful foes. Which would be better? During the first
part of the act we see this duel, a sort of competition between them;
but as the number continues, the two come to a mutual understanding
and even salute one another. And what they do together seems to defy
logic. Those who have seen La Nouba know that the performers tumble
into the building's windows... has Wellington ever missed one? "In the
five years," he says, "four our five times!" then smiles. I guess it's
all part of the show.
"Laughter is all that motivates us," says Michel Deschamps (Balthazar
the Clown), our final La Nouba cast member. "It's a direct link with
the public." Deschamps, who speaks only French, had this to say about
his character: "Balto is a naive clown. He can get angry too depending
on the situation, but it's always a childish anger. He's like an 8-
year old kid. My partner Sergei is maybe 5-years old [and they're]
roaming through the show together and experiencing all sorts of
things." He is asked whether being paired with Sergui (who is from
Russia and also deaf) cultivated any problems? His response, "At first
our interactions were minimal. We put on our costumes, went to a
studio and dreamed up situations. We just improvised and improvised.
Soon, after rehearsing maybe a week, we could see it working out. We
were going to be a team." And a team they are, performing twice a
night, five nights a week. "Clowning might be hard work," Michel says,
"but to me it's pure relaxation."
In conclusion, the La Nouba DVD is far from perfect. Cirque is still
missing the boat on many of its special features -- How about a
commentary track with the creators? How about more of a behind-the-
scenes documentary on how La Nouba was created? How about including
"Inside La Nouba" as a special feature? Alas, even if the disc was
missing the fabulous "Meet the Artists" section, what we do have with
the "Les Cons", "Meet the Musicians" and "In-depth Interviews" with
select artists I found the two-disc set to be a great addition to my
Cirque du Soleil DVD collection and would recommend every fan add it
to theirs!
=======================================================================
BEHIND THE CURTAIN:
"Who Has What It Takes? (Part 2 of 4)"
By: Keith Johnson & LouAnna Valentine - Seattle, Wash (USA)
=======================================================================
In Part 1 of our series (last month) we discussed the background of
the audition process, talking with Richard Dagenais - Head of
Auditions and Logistics, Casting (our host), and Anne-Marie Duchène -
Artistic Scout. Here we resume our exclusive look at a Cirque du
Soleil audition as the second, crucial day for the dancer candidates
truly begins.
NOTE - We have PICTURES taken during our visit for you to see! Just
go to < http://www.azlance.com/~richasi/Cirque/FanClub/ > and look at
"Issue Fotos" for Issue #42.
9:47am - "Kumbalawe" from Saltimbanco plays on the sound system as
people continue to warm up.
The kinds of artists Cirque is looking for is heavily influenced by
what the creative teams and artistic directors of a show are looking
for. For example, Richard explains, Dominic Champagne is one of the
creators of Varekai, along with the rest of the creative team (Andrew
Watson, choreographer Michael Montanaro, composer Violaine Corradi,
and so forth). "Once the show is up and running there's an Artistic
Director that will keep the artistic integrity of the show alive.
Dominic is not going to go on tour with the show, although he might
visit once in a while and give his comments."
"Our scouts meet with the artistic directors and get to know them,
their tastes, what they're looking for. So when they are in an
audition they're not seeing artists through their own eyes but through
the artistic directors' eyes. It's difficult but that's what they
have to do, to see whether these people are going to be able to
satisfy what the artistic director is looking for. You have to strike
a balance between your own opinion, your taste, and putting yourself
in a room with somebody watching a movie that has never met those
people."
"When you're touring with Cirque, and you're going all over the world,
your endurance, personality, focus, availability, generosity -
everything counts," notes Anne-Marie. "When you see that [in a
candidate] from the get-go you say, "OK, this is the one." You have
to keep a global picture of everything that's going on with each
artist, so you maintain an open mind knowing there are all these
categories. My job is to present artists to creative directors, so
I'm the link between the artists and the creators. I say, "We don't
have a profile that [this person] fits, I just want you to look at
her." Then, if an artist gets signed the scout is so happy. "Oh did
you see? That's my artist! My audition!" (Laughs)
"There are certain profiles we need that are challenging to find,"
Richard continues. "We have about 20% turnover in artists every
year." Is 20% annual turnover of 720+ artists high? "For a dance
company it's not uncommon. It's also normal for us. Some people want
to retire, others get injured, some we don't renew their contracts.
Some people switch shows; that's how we can keep some of them for 10-
15 years. So all of that put together counts for 20%. When you have
120 artists in a [ballet or theater] company and only two shows it's
different than when you have 720 artists, 10 shows and new creations
[as Cirque does]. We scout the whole world for acrobats and artists
and sometimes it gets a little bit difficult, you wonder where you're
going to find people. And you don't have to find just two, you have
to find 20 or 40 or 100. It grows and grows and it makes it very
challenging for us. That's what makes it exciting, that challenge."
Cirque fans are familiar with high-profile artists switching shows,
such as Olga Pikhienko going from Quidam to Varekai. Does it happen
often? "A little bit, not a lot. There comes a point where an
artist, for one reason or another, wants to do something different.
It's something we encourage because we can keep our artists longer,
which is a good thing for us."
The constant need for artists keeps Richard and his group busy. "A
year ahead we do an audition calendar with the scouts, decide where to
go during the year. Four to five months ahead of time we look at the
number of candidates we have to evaluate in a territory. Do we need
to do marketing, such as in the paper, to attract more? We book
studios and hotels about 2 months out. We then look at all the demos;
do we have the possibility of a good evaluation? If they're complete
they're put in the database and about 1 month out we invite them to
audition. We also look through the profiles of the candidates, to see
if we have a lot of specialty dancers or just general dancers."
How many people might view an audition tape or demo during the
process? "We have scouts who will evaluate demo tapes. For musicians
and singers it can be an outside evaluator, somebody who's not
necessarily with the casting team. They will work with the scout to
help choose the people that we will invite to the auditions. If
there's an opening the tape will be presented to different artistic
directors and the director of the show. We might also show it to the
choreographer. So that's about five. And the Artistic Director of
the show makes the final choice."
We asked Richard how auditions are handled for the various disciplines
Cirque is looking for. "[For dancers,] the first day is basic dance;
movements, vocabulary. The second day [which we're witnessing] is
more specific movement, and we also do acting exercises with them.
It's a lot of fun with dancers because it's all physical." And the
search for dancers takes Cirque around the world. "The thing with
dancers is that they travel. We're in Seattle and we have Brazilian
dancers (as well as a person from Toronto). We go to Berlin and we
see Canadian dancers. So we go where they are but they also come
where we go."
What about actors? "For actors the process is similar. The first
day, they present us a 3 minute act which will show us who they are
and what they do. The second day we do more elaborate acting
exercises."
"Singers and musicians are done in a sound studio because we need good
quality recordings. With singers we bring them all in the first day;
we can see 20-30 per day. We give them 10 minutes to do 2 or 3 songs.
We have an expert singer evaluator who evaluates technique. If they
get called back we'll give them specific things to work on. Either
specific things from our shows or other styles of music we want to
hear from them so they choose their own songs. For that we use a
pianist." But there aren't many positions for singers, are there?
"There aren't that many slots for singers, but the database needs
people for emergencies and other situations. We always tell them they
might be called next week or maybe in the next year or two. And we
keep following up with them so we know where they are and their
availability. But we'll know that they fit what we're looking for."
"Musicians are different in that there's no callback. We book
individual appointments and can see about 8 a day. It takes 45
minutes to 1 hour to evaluate musicians. We need to know if they can
play well and play in the style we're looking for. A lot of them play
at least two instruments and have solid technical training; it's not
only what we're looking for, it tends to be what we get.
"Musicians are a treat to audition. To see them dance, or hear them
sing or play. That makes it difficult if we have to tell them we're
not going to keep them in our database. We know they're talented but
they just don't fit." I noted that many of the musicians in Cirque
shows are from Canada. "We have a lot of Canadian musicians because
there are a lot of great musicians [in Canada]. We have a lot of good
ones in our own back yard, why not take them?"
What about the circus arts disciplines? Is there one area of the
world that excels? "For circus arts, Eastern Europe has a big circus
history. It's a question of cultural and social tradition. In some
of the gymnastic disciplines Eastern European countries have a bigger
pool. Europe has a big circus culture; for example there are hundreds
of circuses in France."
9:53am - Anne-Marie kneels on the floor as the candidates gather in a
semi-circle. She talks about what will happen during the day, going
one step at a time. "It's up to all of you," she tells them, "to show
the audition team who you are. To take risks. Allow yourselves to
enter the unknown. And, most importantly, have fun."
9:58am - Charmaine conducts warm-up exercises, helping stretch muscles
so they won't get injured. Following her lead, the group kicks legs
high in the air, effortlessly achieving what my wife LouAnna and I
have difficulty with in aerobics class. Their amazing strength and
flexibility is evident as they move. But they have been doing this as
their lives' passion for years, even decades.
10:16am - Charmaine leads them in another dance exercise to music from
a dance class CD. Several tracks from the CD are used during the
morning for various exercises. LouAnna snaps several pictures under
less than ideal circumstances; perched on a chair on top of a large
box, she has to crane her neck close to the glass separating us from
the audition room.
What kind of career can a dancer have in the high-pressure world of a
Cirque du Soleil show? "Acrobats and dancers have short careers,"
Richard explains. You age out of the discipline, but not necessarily
out of Cirque. Because we have ex-dancers or acrobats that have
progressed into character roles. When you're a dancer or acrobat you
learn all these acting skills and you're able to transpose that into
acting."
The challenge lies not so much physically as mentally. "For a dancer
from a ballet company that is used to doing 100 shows a year, that has
to learn a dozen ballets a year, it's very challenging and it's always
different. When they come to Cirque it's the same show 374 shows a
year, 10 shows a week - it's tough. Dancers have to really think if
that's what they want."
"It's kind of like doing a Broadway show. Some dancers find it too
repetitive, some love it. You have to find the right person and they
have to keep themselves motivated. It's a different approach because
you don't get challenged and motivated because you're doing something
new, you have to find it somewhere deep in your role. Once they
understand and grab that it becomes challenging and motivating for
them. But it's a new mindset."
What kind of experience is Cirque looking for in dancers? "The most
useful kind of experience with regards to dancers is stage experience
in front of an audience. You learn a lot in front of an audience; you
have one shot to give them the experience you're supposed to give
them, to leave an impression. It's different than being in a studio;
the studio is your kitchen, you can make a mess there. But in the
hall it's different."
"There's not one kind of specific experience we need. We need
classical dancers for La Nouba and Mystere. We need African dancers
for Dralion and Zumanity. We have a lot of modern dancers - such as
the Green Lizards in Mystere. We have Indian dancers in Dralion, an
exotic dancer in Zumanity. We don't close our doors to anything."
The Cirque casting website makes mention of this as well. "Your
background may be in one of the great traditions or in one of the new
dance forms; you may be unconventional, on the fringe, or totally
outrageous; your dance may come from near or far; whatever the case,
put your best foot forward!"
Richard describes a case in point: "Zumanity goes to show that you
never know what will be needed. A couple of years ago we got a demo
tape of a pole dancer - "Oh my God, look at this!" - Back then, we
couldn't use it. Then a few years later they came to us and said, "Do
you have any pole dancers?" "Oh, we had a great one!" And we had to
scramble to find that videotape and contact information."
10:25am - Charmaine stops and discusses another music selection with
Richard, selecting a solo bongo track. The candidates, having warmed
up, start removing jackets and overshirts, bearing muscular arms and
taut stomachs. As we continue talking, Charmaine is teaching moves,
counting out time and beating out the count with claps of her hands.
The most important key to unlocking the door to an audition with
Cirque du Soleil is The Demo Tape. "A lot of artists don't know how
to put a demo together. They'll send a demo with a piece of paper
saying, "I'm the fourth one from the left," and there are 60 dancers
on stage. So we tell them to go to the website and see what we're
looking for. If you give us a good demo it gives us a chance to see
who you are. But if you're in a group of people on your tape we don't
know. In that case we usually ask for another demo."
Cirque has spent a considerable amount of time analyzing and refining
their demo/audition approach. For Richard this meant placing a
priority on refining the pre-selection process. Instead of having
general auditions that involved a whole bunch of people Cirque knew
nothing about, they went to invitation-only auditions. Now, "We don't
see as many people as we did before, but the number we keep has stayed
about the same. So the percentage of people that we keep has
increased quite a bit. In New York, we had 65 dancers audition and we
kept 6." Here they have 27 and will probably keep around the same
number.
He also knew that Cirque needed to better the communication with the
candidates about what was needed on their demos. "[We needed to] ask
for more precise things on the demos to have a better evaluation and a
better idea of their technical level and their artistry. Because our
needs are so specific, we don't want to waste the time of the people
who do come in, spending money flying and so forth that might not
correspond to what we are looking for. So it was important to look at
ways to improve that pre-selection. Now instead of dealing with 65
people we deal with 27, it's much easier, less stressful."
One of the things they stopped doing was making general requests for
demos in their audition publicity materials. "We realized that people
stopped reading after, "Send us a resume and demo," and didn't go any
further. So they would never go to the website
(www.casting.cirquedusoleil.com) and find out what we really needed,
they would just send us incomplete material. So now we say, "Our
auditions are by invitation only. For more details, go see the
website." So they go and see exactly what they need to send. And
it's starting to work because the number of complete files that come
in has greatly increased compared to what we'd gotten before. We
don't get so many of the "I'm the third one from the left" demos
anymore. We're starting to see results, and it's encouraging."
Indeed the Cirque casting website, under "How to Apply," has very
explicit instructions on what is to appear in demos for all of their
disciplines. Take the requirements for a demo from a classically-
trained dancer, for example: Two-minute presentation to the camera;
Pirouettes - basic, attitude, arabesque, à la seconde; Fouettés;
Jumps: tours en l'air, jetés, petit and grand Allegro; Pointes; Adagio
showing flexibility, strength and extension; Flexibility: split (side
and front), back bend; Three-minute solo choreography in studio; a
solo segment in performance. Or, this one for actors: Presentation to
the camera: (2 minutes); Excerpts from a performance or rehearsal (10
minutes) or an original scene (3 minutes); Characters. Show us 4 to
12 characters in short interludes (15 seconds to 1 minute) on stage (8
minutes).
Anne-Marie agrees that being more specific has helped, adding, "We're
honing down on people's skills. Hopefully the word will get around
that the auditions are tight, we're serious, we're gonna push you, you
gotta give it up, and really get artists that are exquisite or have
really special skills and are generous."
10:35am - The team divides the candidates into groups of three and has
them perform the dance they were learning, but facing the ever-present
video camera. In direct comparison to each other, candidate's
strengths and weaknesses become evident. The woman of an Argentinean
dancing couple, while doing a stretch on one leg, bobbles the move;
her balance isn't very strong. In our first prediction of the
morning, LouAnna suggests she will soon be cut. But there are more
factors than technical talent the Cirque team is looking for. She has
something else to offer, as we will soon find out. Besides, she
survived the first grueling day.
We ask Richard if the people we're seeing will all make the final cut,
after the culling of half the troupe yesterday. "There are some
people [here today] that are in a gray area, a few question marks. At
the end of the day we have to ask; if we presented these people to an
artistic director, do we think that this person would corresponds to
what the AD is looking for? If we think they do, then we're sure."
"We try not to make an opinion too quickly. Yet there are some
[people] that are obvious. Our process is very subjective. Because
our taste is our taste, we are influenced in certain ways that the
artistic director will never be influenced until they actually meet
the artist, if they ever do. They have to see it through a camera
lens, while we have a personal interaction with them. Sometimes it's
funny because you go back home and you look at the tapes and you start
to doubt. "How come that's not the person I saw?" That's why we have
our technique and why it takes two days. We need a lot of material,
we need to give them a chance to really shine and be able to put on
camera the talent that we see. The camera needs to be able to capture
it, and it's not always easy. It's like when you see a live show on
TV, it's not the same feeling. And that's one of the difficulties
that we deal with."
END OF PART TWO
Next Issue: We witness some improve exercises - and final cuts are
made.
=======================================================================
EXPANDED SELECTION:
"The Technical Aspects of KA"
By: Total Productions
=======================================================================
FEBRUARY 2005 SEES THE OPENING OF CIRQUE DU SOLEILS MOST CHALLENGING
AND AMBITIOUS PRODUCTION TO DATE. DIANA SCRIMGEOUR REPORTS EXCLUSIVELY
FROM REHEARSALS AT THE MGM GRAND IN LAS VEGAS ON THE ASTONISHING
DESIGN THAT REDEFINES THE TERM STATE-OF-THE ART.
In 2004, Cirque du Soleil celebrated the 20th anniversary of its
conception in Quebec, where founder Guy Laliberté gathered together a
group of fellow street performers to "amuse audiences, see the world,
and have fun doing it". The Cirques mission has always been to invoke
the imagination, provoke the senses and evoke the emotions of their
audiences. In pursuing their dream over the past two decades they have
literally re-invented the circus, taking their unique combination of
acrobatics, mime and clowning enhanced by original music and
lighting to the far corners of the world.
Twenty years ago, 73 people worked for the Cirque du Soleil; today it
has 3,000 employees worldwide including more than 600 artists, and
Laliberté is still heading the company. The Studio, its international
HQ based in Montreal's Saint-Michel district, is the only creation and
production centre for the entire organization, where all the shows are
conceived and developed. The size of a Hollywood film studio, the
facility and its resources, and its dedication to training, are the
qualities that place the Cirque head and shoulders above any other
entertainment organization on Earth.
While the Cirques traveling shows form the bedrock of their
performance schedule since the Cirque began it has performed in 100
cities around the world, and by 2003 there were no less than nine
Cirque productions running on three continents, performing to more
than seven million people over the past ten years they have also
been developing residential shows in the US, particularly in Las
Vegas. The Cirque has a preferential agreement with the MGM Mirage
hotel group in Vegas, and currently has three highly successful
established shows running in theatres within the groups hotels:
Mystere at Treasure Island, the water-based O at Bellagio and Zumanity
at New York-New York.
However, the Cirques latest offering, KÀ, at the MGM Grand (in
preview from November 26, 2004 and opening in February 2005) is set to
top them all. The MGM Grand is a vast, 5,000-room mega resort on the
Vegas strip which has been undergoing a major makeover, and no expense
has been spared on custom-building its new $135 million theatre to
house KÀ and the productions extensive backstage training, dressing
room, workshop and office space.
MGM company officials believe it will usher in a new era of stage
production, and Gamal Aziz, MGM Grands president thinks the new
Cirque show will take the casino to new heights in profits. "It was
our intention to lead, not to follow," he said. "When you are a leader
you take risks. The bar has been raised to an extraordinary level."
KÀ combines acrobatic performances, martial arts, puppetry, multimedia
and pyrotechnics to illustrate the nature of duality. By applying the
visual vocabulary of cinema to a live spectacle, KÀ tells the vibrant,
epic saga of separated twin heirs a boy and a girl who embark on a
perilous journey to fulfil their linked destinies. As the plot
unfolds, danger lies in wait for them at every turn, with rock slides,
sea storms and death-defying exploits adding to the thrill of the
journey. Archers and spearmen hunt the twins relentlessly, as their
quest takes them through a succession of challenging landscapes from
a mysterious seashore through menacing mountains and foreboding forests.
The show's creative elements are essential to invoking the world of KÀ
and conjuring an entire empire onstage. The costumes for the
international cast of 72 artists have an Asian influence, as reflected
in the lavish imperial court costumes and robust martial artists'
warrior uniforms. Additionally, the mood is set by René Dupéré's
original score, which incorporates soaring melodies and richly
textured arrangements driven through an elaborate audiosystem that
literally surrounds the spectator in sound.
It is important to note that KÀ is very much a work in progress that
TP was privileged to preview in rehearsal. Inevitably, the production
will have been subject to a number of small changes by the time it
officially opens. As Production Manager, Stephane Mongeau has been in
charge of the production budget and the technical equipment budget
including the theatre construction. He is ultimately the man 'holding
the stopwatch', ensuring that the show is safe and ready for its
February opening deadline. He said: "Our goal is a 90 minute show, ten
times a week, two times a day, 470 shows a year for at least 10 to 15
years. We've brought in all new equipment, including a lot of
prototypes all the grids are brand new from Stage Technologies so
we've spent a lot of time on testing in situ. Even after two and a
half years if I could ask for one thing it would be more time!"
CONCEPTION
In 2002, Laliberté asked Guy Caron, a founding artist and long-time
director of Cirque productions, to embark on research for KÀ and be
its Director of Creation.
Said Caron: In 1987, we did a show called Le Cirque Reinvente, and
were credited in the press for changing the way to present a circus
show. With this show, because we already have three on the Strip, I
wanted to create something where the performance will be totally
different. So I researched about projection and traveled around the
world trying to find technicians, artists and new designers to help
us. Our vision was to use circus skills to put them on to an epic
story and come up with totally new ideas about the way to present it.
This is an important challenge for Cirque because we try to make an
epic story like a silent movie. It took Lord Of The Rings three films
that lasted nine hours. We do it in an hour and a half!
Trained as an acrobat and classical dancer, Lyn Heward, KÀ's Executive
Producer, is the guiding force behind activities related to creation,
production and artistic and technical follow-up for all Cirque shows.
She insisted: KÀ isn't an acrobatic show in the typical Cirque du
Soleil tradition. It uses the full human physical potential, still
incorporating our theatrical elements, but showing that its actually
human beings that control and dominate this set."
Laliberté hired Robert Lepage as the director; Caron brought all his
research to the table and they worked together to hire the creative
team. From the start it was obvious that the creation of this show was
going to involve extremely close collaboration between all
departments, and an extraordinary collection of talent was assembled
to head up the team. Carons research was drawn towards a strong
Eastern influence, which would be reflected in martial arts displays,
make-up and costumes, and given to the creators as the starting point
for their storyboarding and designs.
Lepage and Laliberté were contemporaries on the Quebec scene and knew
each other by reputation. This is the first opportunity they have had
to work together. Lepage observed:
"Guy wanted to start touching on puppetry, martial arts and have more
structure to the story-telling. He knew that I was foremostly a
theatre person and that I'd done some puppetry before, but also that
I'd worked with a lot of new technology.
"In my shows there's a lot of physical work and choreography, and one
of the difficult challenges of KÀ is to tell a story without a single
word being spoken. While the Cirque shows always have a through-
line, its always very poetic and vague, leaving freedom for audience
interpretation. Coming up with the story line for KÀ was very tricky,
because I was trying to see what kind of puppetry we could
incorporate. We finally decided to work with Michael Curry, who made
the puppets for The Lion King on Broadway [and worked on the Salt Lake
City Winter Olympics]. His puppets are very precisely modeled and he
came in with his own aesthetic and his own vocabulary."
Innovation of the human form in puppetry and costumes has long been
Michael Curry's speciality, although he's not entirely happy with the
term 'puppetry' "Weve called it everything from object manipulation
to figurative kinetics, but its like the garbage man calling himself
a sanitation engineer! To do this, you have to have the sensitivity of
a dressmaker, the engineering skills of an engineer and the aesthetic
sense of a sculptor."
Lepage was interested in a turtle for the sand, and this provided
Curry with the starting point from which he invented 13 creatures for
KÀ. "I love turtles anyway," he said, "so it was an immediate
connection and I intentionally tried to give him the sort of wisdom of
the ages.
Contortionists and people with very pliable bodies intrigued me. A
couple of my favorite creatures that I developed utilized the very few
people on earth who can do these moves: the crabs are really
exceptional in that there really are just a handful of people who can
do that. There's also the starfish for the sand scene and, in fact,
the sand and the forest creatures were my two main areas of focus.
"In the forest scene we also have the snake, a large acrobatic
scorpion and the stick bug from the Amazon. Then there are some small
magnetic worms that crawl, and our Potato Bug also makes an entrance."
One interesting creature in the forest scene has been dubbed the
Morning Glory. "It symbolizes procreation and the love between the
Firefly Boy and Twin Sister. They have a child, so I wanted something
sensuous, something that in an evocative way would describe their
connection and their procreation. The Morning Glory comes in like a
jellyfish entering the scene, but its completely organic like a
flower in the middle of an inhospitable environment. The forest is a
complex, vast scene that is hard to direct attention and focus, but I
think weve accomplished our objectives."
It was Lepage who gave KÀ its identity with fire. "I saw how the
vocabulary of O changed the standards of Vegas shows. And as a kind of
a joke I said, well, O is about water, so well do a show about fire.
It wasnt really a bad idea, because its an opposing show to O, and
one of the things that interested me most was fire's dual nature of
creation and destruction.
"Theatre started when people gathered round the bonfire but today,
fire is computers, its a microphone, cameras, projection, video
thats the bonfire that were dancing around now with our stories, and
I think you have to have that fresh attitude towards these tools."
ARCHITECTURAL CHALLENGES
Mark Fisher was invited to undertake the substantial task of re-
designing the entire theatre as well as the staging for the show. His
initial research was based on an ancient Japanese temple design that
led to his Post and Beam structures that flank the stage and the
sides of the new auditorium. Fisher's first task was to obtain an
agreement to re-design the theatre to provide a much more dramatic
space architecturally. A lobby arguably the most impressive in Vegas
was created to make a dramatic interface and processional route
between the casino and the theatre.
The painting of the Posts and Beams in the auditorium and the
galvanized corrugated steel land drainage pipes used to represent
trees in the forest scene, plus other intricate renderings within the
show, were executed by Montreal artist Christine Giguère. The work
took several months, with teams of assistants in both Montreal and Las
Vegas.
"Robert and I talked about how the show should have an Oriental
influence, and he wanted to create a show that worked with a kind of
cinematographic language. Scenes changing seamlessly from one scene to
the next with no delay, no curtains, but still achieve in those
seamless changes quite substantial changes of perceptual geography,"
said Fisher. "The other preoccupation from the beginning was that we
wanted to create this feeling of disorientation which was, in some
way, consistent with what we know now from the new visual language in
movies like The Matrix. As we were talking about how to translate
these large-scale forms of narrative, up came the idea of some sort of
very all-embracing architectural treatment to the room."
By October 2002, the framework was in place ... and then the script
changed. According to Fisher, "I saw in Roberts revised script that
the way to deal with it was to have two stages and be able to bring
them out in different directions into the void. You could seamlessly
transition between a group of people on stage A and they could go off
into the distance, and the people on stage B could come up from below
or whatever, and that became the pattern of it. So we completely re-
designed it, and came up with this new technical arrangement for
supporting the stage as it is now."
AUTOMATED DECKS
Key to the staging of KÀ is the surprise that the new theatre
dispensed with its old stage, leaving a void in which to present the
show. Said Lepage: "If you want to have a performance you cant walk
on a 60 foot pit. Even with the circus you always have the ground, but
here theres nothing but a hole. You have to invent every entrance and
your relationship to gravity is tremendously important. Either you
have a harness, wear a string, know how to fly or you come in on some
kind of plateau that brings you in. Theres nothing stable: theres no
solid ground or floor in this show, so all the scenic elements are
mobile.
"Its a very suspended world and whenever you want to take a step you
have security nets, you cant just walk simply from one place to
another. You have to think very hard about how you are going to
choreograph it. Every time you want to make a change in a scene you
have to go through all the departments, so its been extremely tough."
Instead of installing a new stage, two major, multi-tasking, automated
decks were built to move in and out of the void. Manufactured by
Tomcat USA and weighing 90,000lbs, the extraordinary 'Sand Cliff' deck
measures 50' wide by 25' deep and six feet tall. It consists of seven
steel main structure pieces, six aluminium I-Beam deck frames, 10
cladding frames, 10 catwalk components, three elevators, 18 nosing
deck frames and 15 aluminium acrobat rail frames. The entire deck had
to be broken down and shipped out on six flatbed trucks.
The deck was manufactured to sit on a centre hub in the theatre and is
moved into place on a cantilevering structure. The hub is 10' in
diameter and allows the deck to rotate and stand up vertically.
Inside the deck are three 5ft circular elevators that are used for
performers to exit and enter. There is also a tunneling system, show
and work lights, drive units for the elevators, high voltage
distribution panels, a lighting dimmer/storage area and peg actuators
within or inside the deck for performers and stage technicians.
There are 82 rod actuators that pop out of the deck surface for
performers to use to climb up the deck when in a vertical position.
When horizontal, the deck was built to hold synthetic sand (cork
granules) with all four sides actuating so that when the deck tips,
the sand can be dumped. There are also acrobatic rails on all four
sides, and the surface of the deck is a painted scenic treatment and
also contains a projection tile for use with show video projection.
Mark Fisher commented: "In the basement plant room there are six 250
horsepower pumps which therefore when theyre all running flat out,
put out 1,500 horsepower. They drive into a vast rack of accumulators
which allow them to pressurise nitrogen to about 3-4,000 psi so we can
get this huge volume of oil under pressure in the system and bring the
Sand Cliff deck up. It can basically travel the 40 feet at around a
foot per second, and an electric motor spins it around."
The Tatami deck upstage of the Sand Cliff deck is a cantilevering 35
sq. ft. platform that comes out 40 feet and travels downstage about 40
feet out over the void. The Sand Cliff deck can be either underneath
it, in front of it, level with it or above it each of these moves
are seen in the show. Around the stage are five smaller lifts /
platforms that also appear in different scenes.
Fisher analyzed the scripts in order to conceptualize this moving
machinery and consulted Lepage on how to get from one scene to
another. Said Fisher: "Robert wanted to do it in front of the audience
in real time so that it would make story-telling sense. The flow is
absolutely the key and between those transitions youve got three or
four minutes in which the crew have to do all of these remarkable
invisible scene changes. For example, take one little scene like the
one with the pillars that the acrobats jump over, and the Archers
Daughter, which sets the relationship between them. It was a typical
scene which I talked to Robert about where there were problems making
the story-telling work with the acrobatic performance. By coming up
with the structure that they now have, you get character development
for Archers Daughter, and the very good acrobatic performance by the
spearmen that you can applaud. Then you get a little bit of story-
telling, which is the moment when the twin brother is captured. All of
that is in about three minutes.
"The scenery for that is a 200 foot width of structure with these 10
and 15 foot high pillars on it which arrived in from Montreal in two
40-foot trucks. It has to deal with the sightline and the structure
that the pillars are on as well as the crash mats and everything for
the people to fall on. The technical crew have to move two semi-
trailers worth of stuff out of the lift between then and the next time
it all has to be cleared, so they have three and a half minutes to get
a colossal amount of stuff back into store, and they dont have very
much time to get it out! Those are the sort of things which are the
untold adventures going on down in the basement to make one little
scene like that."
How would Fisher compare this to the kind of effort that's prevalent
in rock shows?
"Take two trucks' worth of scenery? It would take even Jake Berry [U2
& Rolling Stones production manager] at least half an hour to get that
shit out of two trucks, and these guys get it off the stage in two
minutes. They practice it. Lyn Heward observes that you have to repeat
a motor coordination action at least 100 times before youre fluent
with it, and that's exactly what they'll do before the public see the
show."
RIGGING & SAFETY
"I've worked on a lot of shows, including O, but I've never pushed
things this far and I can't compare KÀ to anything that's gone
before," said Acrobatic Equipment and Rigging Designer, Jaque Paquin.
With Head Rigger Tony Galuppi about to take over his role, Paquin's
team totals 37 show riggers and 18 maintenance riggers who work flat
out to ensure that KÀ is, in sporting terms, match fit. There are two
grids the rigging is hung off the high 'steeple' grid at Level 157
(ceiling height), and the floating 'forest' grid is used to suspend
55,000lbs of hardware, such as the 'trees' and 'swing poles'.
Ultimately, safety is Paquin's main priority. He said: "It's like you
work with no floor, so the risk of people falling off, regardless of
equipment malfunction, is insane to some level. My job is to bring it
back into a controllable, safe environment, and our big considerations
are the nets. I use two safety nets the Sand Cliff net and the other
Tatami net, obviously to secure whenever the Tatami deck is out.
"Just the safety inspection of the equipment alone is a 24/7 exercise.
The performers have to place implicit trust in the engineers. I'll
make sure its safe but I can't help them when they're on the deck, so
they're responsible to a certain extent for their own safety. In the
forest scene we have 28 artists descending on the truss, and we rely
100% on the artist to clip in correctly. In the worst case scenarios,
however, throughout the theatre there are emergency stop buttons that
will stop everything moving."
LIGHTING DESIGN
The design process for KÀ has been a slightly different experience for
the Cirque's Lighting Designer, Luc Lafortune. "Working with Robert
has led to a much more theatrical way of doing things, something more
literal, with a sense of continuity," he commented.
The lighting crew amounts to 24 people the largest lighting crew to
date on a Cirque production. Lafortune: "There are lighting people in
that theatre 24 hours a day, doing one thing or another because they
are also in charge of anything electrical in the theatre. Jeannette
Farmer, our lighting director, has so much on her plate because she
has to respond to my needs and those of many others. Our show console
operator is on the back-up console naming and altering cues blindly
while I program live, so were able to do two jobs simultaneously,
which saves us a lot of time."
Well before any staging structure was in place, Lafortune started
collecting artwork and tried to characterize the various environments.
"I found theres always this sense of dichotomy the Emperors Court
vs. the Archers Den," he said. "With the Emperor Court I was looking
at pictures that were very light and I started writing down words like
paper, floating lanterns, delicate, thin, silk. It had an incandescent
character, hence the archers being at odds with the Emperors Court.
"The character of lighting would be a lot closer to HMI sources, so
thats how things started finding their definition. HMI is a large arc
source; when you turn it on it just kind of vibrates for a little
while, and then it comes up to temperature slowly, like the sources
you would find in a parking lot where the light is not flattering
because of the greenish tint and flatness. I chose those because the
archers' environment is not supposed to be inviting - they thrive on a
very disruptive aesthetic."Cinematic influences were often at the
forefront of design conversations, and Lafortune began to watch and
take notes about a wide range of movies.
"I looked at Orlando by Sally Potter, Dune and Blade Runner, which is
an obvious reference to anything thats post-modern industrial. So I
made a montage of clips from all of these films that defined the
character of the lighting for our show. I made numerous copies for a
lot of our people so that they could see where I was going, and so we
all converged. Once all of this was approved, then its just a matter
of finding out how, technically-speaking, we could now make this happen."
The lighting fixtures form a fairly conventional package, but there
are exceptions (see boxout for equipment spec). Its a huge rig "My
gosh, who are we not buying from?!" laughed Lafortune and counting
the Post and Beams and everything that is beyond the proscenium its
in excess of 3,300 fixtures. They include many lekos, conventionals,
HMI sources, and lots of very small sources that Lafortune integrates
into scenery. Beyond the proscenium there are huge 4kW, 6kW and 18kW
HMI fresnels that typically are used in the cinema.
Commented Lafortune: "There isnt really a conventional grid system
it's quite random and we're hanging fixtures anywhere we can! We knew
that for safety purposes the priority had to go to rigging. Luckily,
Jaque Paquin and our crews have worked together for quite some time,
so were always fairly capable of managing things.
Ive got the majority of lighting in the basement against the upstage
wall and just upstage of the proscenium at our catwalk position, which
is 55 feet up from what we call Level 100 [audience position], and
Level 70 which is 30 feet below - where all hell breaks loose
inbetween scene transitions.
"It's a major challenge because everything is in a constant movement
and its three-dimensional. I certainly havent had to do it before.
Despite the theatre being big, it doesnt have a lot of depth, so we
need fixtures that have a fairly wide aperture. Those big HMI fresnels
give us the output, but because they generate a tremendous amount of
heat that creates some difficulties when coloring them with gels and
keeping the gels cool.
"Another problem to overcome is that the distance between the lights
and the nets is 10 to 12 feet, because the nets have to give. The heat
of the HMIs can cause the nets to dry out, and that's not good! But
luckily theres a solution to every problem, its just a matter of
taking the time to find the right one. For each scene we light the
crash mat and/or the net in a generic fashion to make sure that the
full impact surface is lit. The nets work well when lit horizontally
because theyre transparent. If you come in from below you want to
make sure that your angle is not too steep because then the people are
blinded when they fall into the net.
"The experience weve had is that lighting people who fall in
silhouette always works for us. It works because we see the silhouette
fall against a screen of haze, and it also helps us light the surfaces
into which theyre falling. When we light from below in a back light
setting, its amazing because when youre looking at it from the
audience its perceived as a very dark setting, but if you look down
into the pit where the activity is, there's as much light down there
as in Wal-Mart®!"
Rather than focus lights from traditional theatrical positions,
Lafortune created many individual pockets of light. The proscenium
wall and side walls are all black, and he estimates there are 1,700
lighting fixtures just in the posts and beams in the house.
"I had to create a sense of depth and infinity which I did by lighting
from within the Posts and Beams, not from outside. This entailed
numerous lighting sources and we had to invest in these little LED
color mixing devices [from ColorKinetics] theyre not too obtrusive
and they allow us to get some of the color out of the posts, which is
something that Mark Fisher and I collaborated on. We wanted an
incandescent quality because that is the defining lighting character
for the Pageant, the Emperors Court."
Lafortune features more small LED fixtures inside the Sand Cliff deck.
"The lighting gives it a different presence," he said. "Its not just
a machine anymore, its something that has meaning. We integrated in
the deck some incandescent fixtures and some LEDs which give us a
certain blue-ish tint, and they are lightweight, which was an
important consideration."The Archers Den scene provides Lafortune
with his one chance to light everything. He explained: "We knew when
we were doing Archers Den that we wanted to be in a very industrial
setting. Instead of trying to create something industrial we just lit
the space for what it is, and as weve got all these hydraulic pipes
for the gantry we decided to light them for the scene, and it came
together magnificently.
"Typically, I use the environment as a canvas and paint it, exploiting
as many possibilities as the space has to offer. The stage is so big
and in certain instances I lit it so big that the actors were being
dwarfed, so we had to pull back on a lot of scenic lighting and bring
it back to a more human scale."
PYRO & SPECIAL FX
Smoke and haze are crucial to KÀ as they help to emphasize the depth
of the show, however, it was just as important that the effects
systems interfaced appropriately with all of the MGM Grand's house
systems and that was a project in itself!
Greg Meeh, who heads the seven person pyro and special effects
department, commented: "Weve got a wide range of equipment here
including liquid nitrogen machines from Interesting Products, 10 Ice
Foggers and glycol hot fog machines from MDG, and a Viper pump-driven
machine from Look of Germany, which promotes the industrial feel of
the Archers' Den. We also have six of the Interactive Foggers that
produce the cold, low-lying fog that's essential around the boat in
the storm scene. It's all controlled from a Strand console."
Flame Mortars (a system from Florida's Sigma Systems), dust
explosions, 'vicious flashes' and other effects from Le Maitre are
among those gracing the various scenes, culminating in the stunning
finale that Meeh described: "The pyro finale is a huge Catherine Wheel
that starts small and grows from about a 30 foot diameter to about 60
feet, with spark circles shooting around for 30 seconds. It's
manufactured by MDG and it's radio controlled, which is something I'm
always reluctant to do, but its our only option in this situation and
it's proved to be quite reliable."
PROJECTION
Holger Förterer, KÀ's interactive projections designer, uses three
Barco ELM R18 projectors to beam video and images on to the set. They
are fed content by three computers, each running Bespoke software
designed by Förterer and his programmer colleagues. Each of the
computers has dual 2.8MHz processors one for video processing and
image processing, the other handling virtual simulation and rendering.
The most startling projection moment in KÀ occurs in the battlefield
scene where the artists are on ropes and swing from the edge of the
pit to bounce off the Sand Cliff deck, where it appears that their
hands and feet are creating pressure on water. In reality, infra-red
cameras are used to identify their movements, sending the information
back to the computers, which then manipulate the image shown on the
deck's projection tile in interactive fashion.
Said Förterer: "It's a tracking technique that enables us to film the
scene with a camera and at the same time project on it so that the
camera does not see the projected image. In that way, we get no
feedback into interactive. Tracking has been used for decades but
were still just starting to explore the use of those techniques in
various ways. What we are able to create is one step further than
virtual reality we call it 'augmented reality'."
At other times, computer generated textures such as granite or marble
are projected on to the Sand Cliff deck; a projected rope simulation
is applied in the forest scene, and when there are bubbles projected
in the underwater scene after the storm, this is just one example of
how all departments are linked together on a cueing network.
"We hand our information while we are creating bubbles over to the
sound so they can create the sound at the right position. At the
moment that those pegs come out of the Sand Cliff deck, we trigger
sound effects. We have a network connection that allows our
departments to interact with each other's effects cueing, through the
use of a program called Max [enabling media information to be mixed
with network information] we can trigger sound on their side and
they can trigger lightning on the video, for example, by this open
network."
AUDIO
After working on the sound design for the long-running Siegfried & Roy
in the '80s, Jonathan Deans began his association with the Cirque with
Saltimbanco. He has since worked on all of the Cirque's residential
shows and following KÀ's launch he will be designing the sound for the
next epic a production based on the music of The Beatles.
When designing for KÀ, Deans was concerned with the actual working
space and installed Level Control Systems' (LCS) VRAS Variable Room
Acoustic System to alter the acoustics of the room. He explained:
"It's 1.9 million cubic square feet in this theatre, so dealing with
high energy sound as Cirque do for certain performances and then
silences, becomes something difficult to control in a room this large.
VRAS takes information from 40 microphones that are listening to the
room, and it helps us make it sound like an aeroplane hangar or as
intimate as a living room."
From the moment the 'pre-show' begins, the audience is "impregnated"
with unsettling sound and any preconceptions of what to expect
immediately evaporate. Said Deans: "As they come in, they can hear our
harpists playing these beautiful sounds and as they move into the
auditorium, the space comes to life in a weird way with industrial,
groaning, metallic sounds that might have been recorded 1,000 years
ago. Our intention is to completely envelop the audience and I need to
make sure that all the video work that Holgers doing is complimented."
The sound reinforcement system appears at first sight to be fairly
minimal in the context of the space. However, Deans advised that there
are loudspeakers everywhere. "We have two sets of Meyer line arrays
plus the old EFX sound system hidden in the ceiling, and the special
thing here is that there are two speakers built into every seat.
They're made by American Technology and the panels were custom built
for the Cirque. The aim is to deliver the same sound to every member
of the audience, and if you're not in one of those seats you're
missing a lot of the poetry. This has been done before in theme parks,
but it's certainly new in live entertainment.
"There are speakers in the basement, over the grid house, along the
sides and back of the auditorium, and additional sub woofers in the
ceiling that are coupled to the seats. The seats are in 16 zones that
we time-align to either the stage, the side, the ceiling or to
itself."
Deans chose digital modular consoles from LCS for control at the FOH
and monitor positions. "Im always looking at new technology and
luckily enough right now the industry is just exploding. The great
thing about the LCS boards is that four of us can control different
elements of the mixer, including sound FX, from laptops anywhere in
the room, via wireless remote. We also fly sound around using LCS'
Space Maps program and a mouse or joystick, assigning sounds to any of
the eight Meyer Sound Beam 2s that are positioned in a circle around
the house."
All of the musicians onstage and many of the performers are on
Sennheiser or Shure IEM systems. Said Deans: "As well as feeding them
the music, the stage manager is able to talk directly to each of them
and issue important instructions if necessary."
There are eight sound engineers working on KÀ, one of whom is
dedicated to RF.
"Frequencies are a hot subject for us," said Deans. We're operating on
about 293 frequencies because its not about the performers; its all
the technicians and the wireless-controlled stage scenic elements. We
also have to coordinate all the hotel and casino's frequencies as
well, which total around 600 and something. Otherwise there's a risk
that well have security coming through our PA system saying, trouble
on table two!"
Sound, says Deans, has become a 'language' for KÀ. "Technically, this
is new territory but we want the audience to become immersed in the
story. Total Production readers, because they are technical, will
dissect it and say Oh, was there a show there as well? But even then
theyll leave with their mouths wide open!"
ULTIMATE DELIVERY
Despite being accustomed to working on massive productions with
appropriately bloated budgets, even Mark Fisher's jaw has been
loosened by the scale of KÀ.
He commented: "By the time its finally open to the public, this will
have cost as much to prepare as the budget for James Camerons
Titanic. The producers are gambling at the scale of a very major
Hollywood movie on the proposition that you can put it in one theatre,
have it run for ten years, and achieve the same kind of box office
returns as a major movie.
"Grown men are in tears over the budget. Its around $165m at the
moment the show probably cost $65m and the renovation of the theatre
(including the major mechanical elements of the staging and scenery)
has swallowed about $100m." As Fisher rightly observes though,
ultimately, it's the artists who deliver the shows. "I would hope that
the major thing that engages the audience is the emotional experience
if the artists dont engage with the audience and entertain them,
the whole thing is wasted. In spite of this massive investment in
technology and ephemera, it is nothing other than a very sympathetic
background for them to perform with. And if thats what weve
achieved, then weve got it right."
SOUND & LIGHTING: KEY EQUIPMENT
The sound contractor for KÀ is Solotech, Inc. The system, as with the
lighting, brings together most of the world's major manufacturing
brands "the most appropriate equipment for each application" being
the watch phrase. In overview terms, the upstage and L/R pros line
arrays are Meyer Sound MILO with Meyer PSW2 and Turbosound TSW 721
subs.
Front fills are Nexo PS8s and Meyer M1Ds, M2Ds, UPA-1Ps, CQ-1s and
SB2s are used variously for fills in the rear and sides of the
auditorium, overhead, under the stage and for stage fold back (with
EAW AS300is). Overhead subs are Turbosound TSW 721s, EAW KF-850s
provide the overhead point source, and there is an ambient surround
system of EAW AS300is loudspeakers. The stage and surround systems are
driven by 16 Crown CTS2000 and 78 Crest (8001, 7301, 3301 & 7001)
amplifiers, and system processing is handled by Klark Teknik DN9848s
and EAW MX800i controllers. Both the FOH and monitor consoles are
modular, digital Level Control Systems (LCS) boards. The processing
racks, where necessary outside of the consoles' own internal DSP,
feature a TC Electronic TC6000, TC/Helicon Vocalworks and FireworX,
dbx 120A, and Presonus ACP-88.
In-ear monitoring is provided by Sennheiser (wireless) and Shure
(wired) systems with Ultimate Ears moulds. The microphone choice is
extensive the main wireless mic system is the Sennheiser EM3532-
U/SK5012-U combination. Vocal mics are Shure Beta 87As and other Shure
mics include Beta 98s and SM58s. Sennheiser MKH40s, Audio Technica
AT4040, Beyer DT290 headsets, Neumann KM100s, AK40s and AK50s, AKG
D440s, C747s, C418s and C419s, and DPA 4066s are also part of the
specification.
Supplied by Fourth Phase in Las Vegas, with cabling from TMB
Associates, the lighting rig includes intelligent fixtures in the form
of 12 Clay Paky Stage Profile Plus SVs, 20 Vari*Lite VL3000 washes and
12 VL3000 spots. Conventionals include literally hundreds of ETC
Source Fours of varying degrees (including 104 Source Four Parnels),
over 400 Altman Par 64s, more than 1,000 Mole Richardson Molefays and
Nooklights, 12 500W Strand Codas, 15 Altman Sky Cycs, 12 MR-16 mini
striplights, seven T-3 striplights and nine Altman 500W fresnels.
Arc sources and followspots are mostly sourced from Robert Juliat,
Arri, Selecon, Pani and Hubble, and special FX lighting features 16
Martin Atomic 3000 strobes, a 70kW Lightning Strikes, 11 Rosco Image
Pros, 18 City Theatrical EFX 3+, gobo rotators from Rosco and Gam, 526
ColorKinetics Colorblast 6s, 140 Wybron Coloram IIs, plus additional
items from McAllister and Encapsulite.
Control is via Strand 550i, 510 and 520 consoles and a pair of
Wholehog IIs for moving lights, and there are 24 Strand SLD 96-way
dimmer racks. Strand also supplied the electrical and DMX/Ethernet
distribution network.
=======================================================================
PARTING QUOTE
=======================================================================
"Do you illuminate the world or do you destroy it?"
-- Roberty Lepage, Creator and Director of KÀ
=======================================================================
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"Fascination!" is Ricky Russo, Keith Johnson, and Wayne Leung.
"Fascination! Newsletter" is a concept by Ricky Russo. Copyright (c)
2001-2005 Ricky Russo, published by Vortex/RGR Productions, a
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