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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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http://www.CirqueFascination.com
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VOLUME 22, NUMBER 4 May/June 2022 ISSUE #214
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Welcome to the latest edition of Fascination, the Unofficial Cirque
du Soleil Newsletter.
* * * LE GRANDE EXPERIENCE RELAUNCHED * * *
"O" by Cirque du Soleil reintroduces the premium VIP package, La Grande
Expérience, where guests are submerged into a world of wonder during
the show. The one-of-a-kind offer is now on sale for $500 (including
all taxes and fees). Guests can reserve their experience at
CirqueDuSoleil.com/O or at the "O" box office. The behind-the-scenes
experience begins with an intimate pre-show reception with hors
d'oeuvres, followed by a guided video tour and an exclusive meet and
greet with "O" artists. Guests will take in elevated views of the
water-inspired masterpiece from the privacy of a lavish VIP Suite with
a gourmet treat and private cocktail service with champagne. To
commemorate the unbeatable evening, guests are gifted a champagne flute
and their photo with the cast. Inspired by infinity and the elegance of
water, "O" combines incredible acrobatics and synchronized swimming to
create an experience like no other. The breathtaking production is
known around the globe for its award-winning physical feats and
elemental acts inside a 1.5-million-gallon pool expertly crafted to
dazzle audience members from every angle. All La Grande Expérience
dates (both early and late performance times) are based on
availability. "O" by Cirque du Soleil currently performs at Bellagio
Resort & Casino Wednesday through Sunday at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. with
tickets starting at $79. For more information and to purchase tickets,
please visit cirquedusoleil.com.
* * * MAD APPLE PREMIERES! * * *
Mad Apple the newest Las Vegas production from live entertainment
leader Cirque du Soleil celebrated its mad debut at New York-New York
Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on May 27th. Mad Apple is a high-energy
cocktail of comedy, music, dance and high-flying acrobatics that
delivers New York's wildest night out under the Vegas lights. Notable
entertainers and athletes joining to fête the new production on opening
night included: GRAMMY Award-winner Anderson .Paak, Vegas Golden
Knights players Reilly Smith, Deryk Engelland, Shea Theodore and
Laurent Brossoit; and Discovery+'s Ghost Adventures stars Aaron Goodwin
and Jay Wasley.
Featuring stand-up comedy, a first in a Cirque du Soleil show, Mad
Apple's headlining comedians Brad Williams and Harrison Greenbaum, and
freestyle comedy rapper Chris Turner entertain guests with on-the-spot,
often rowdy improvs. Featuring a live musical tour-de-force celebrating
the best of NYC music past and present led by musical director Xharlie
Black, five lead vocalists and a five-piece band; six daring acrobatic
acts; and 48 cast members from around the world, the show blurs the
lines between circus, live entertainment and New York nightlife
culture.
"We are thrilled to get the joyous Mad Apple party started in Las
Vegas," said Simon Painter, Mad Apple's co-creator and executive
producer. "From the moment guests enter the theater, they are whisked
away to one of the most beloved cities in the world with a show that
fuses hilarious acts from multiple comedians and daring acrobatics with
the entertainment and eclecticism of New York City. It's a crazy
celebration straight away, and we can't wait for guests from around the
world to see it."
Eric Grilly, Cirque du Soleil president of resident and affiliate show
divisions, said, "Mad Apple is a completely new approach to Cirque du
Soleil entertainment. It's an action-packed experience designed for
today's audience, who increasingly want to consume entertainment as
they do content in an exciting, highly compelling and ever-shifting
manner. With Mad Apple, you never know what's coming next from
vocals, off-script comedy, and live music with our horns and drum line
to acrobatics all wrapped in an incredibly fun party atmosphere that
differentiates it from other shows."
Mad Apple entertains guests before the show even begins. Forty-five
minutes before the curtain rises, guests are welcomed into the theater
for a pre-show party with a modern-day Studio 54 vibe complete with
boozy libations at the DownStage and UpStage Bars, flair bartenders,
up-close magicians and entertainers, and live music. The set of Mad
Apple takes audiences through all five boroughs of NYC from Uptown to
Downtown, to the tips of skyscrapers and everything in between.
Featured at the top of the stage and shown throughout the show is a 31-
foot-long crown structure inspired by Lady Liberty's signature
headpiece. The star of the set is the DownStage Bar, which acts as a
functioning bar pre-show, then is transformed into the stage at
showtime. Guests will notice the Chrysler Tower as the backdrop to the
DownStage Bar. Two bars on stage the UpStage Bars are designed to
look like an upscale NY club and available to guests during the pre-
show party. Approximately 600 bottles lining the UpStage Bar are filled
with an illuminated LED liquid that changes colors throughout the show.
Co-created by Simon Painter and Neil Dorward, Mad Apple is the first
show in collaboration between Cirque du Soleil and The Works, Painter's
company that was purchased by Cirque du Soleil in 2019.
Enjoy a couple of articles about MAD APPLE's premiere, within!
So, shall we get into it?
/----------------------------------------------------\
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| < www.cirquefascination.com > |
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| Realy Simple Syndication (RSS) Feed (News Only): |
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\----------------------------------------------------/
- Ricky "Richasi" Russo
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CONTENTS
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o) Cirque Buzz -- News, Rumours & Sightings
* La Presse -- General News & Highlights
o) Itinéraire -- Tour/Show Information
* BigTop Shows -- Under the Grand Chapiteau
* Arena Shows -- In Stadium-like venues
* Resident Shows -- Performed en Le Théâtre
o) Fascination! Features
* "Cirque Goes MAD - a Collection of Articles
Celebrating MAD APPLE's PREMIERE
* "The Last Two Years, Part 3: 'The Sun Rises'"
By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
o) Copyright & Disclaimer
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CIRQUE BUZZ -- NEWS, RUMOURS & SIGHTINGS
=======================================================================
***************************************************************
LA PRESSE -- General News & Highlights
***************************************************************
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Cirque Du Soleil's LA Comeback (Or, How To Train
As A Circus Performer, Even In A Pandemic)
{Apr.27.2022}
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This spring, Cirque du Soleil began a recurring residency with L.A.
Live that will include annual stops at the Microsoft Theater for the
next five years. The first of those Cirque shows to land in Los
Angeles is a revamped version of Cirque's Ovo.
The characters in Ovo are anthropomorphized insects. The show follows
the insects' fascination with a large egg ("ovo" is the Portuguese
word for "egg"), all the while exploring life cycles and love. Ovo
emphasizes the bright colors of real insects, utilizing performers
ranging from acrobats to contortionists.
The show makes use of an international crew, with members representing
17 different nationalities.
One of those performers, Gianfranco Di Sanzo, started out as a
juggling street artist in Uruguay. He practiced while traveling around
the world, including to the United States, but eventually he moved
into aerial acrobatics.
Di Sanzo at one point found himself in Brazil without a coach, so he
began watching videos on YouTube and training with a friend. This new
discipline ultimately brought him to the attention of Cirque, which
hired him in 2017.
Now he works in human trapeze as an aerial cradle performer, tossing
female partners at a height of 30 feet from the ground below and
doing it across 20 feet of open air, according to Di Sanzo. He said
that he finds the work to be a big, interesting challenge. In Ovo, he
portrays a large scarab.
TRAINING FOR THE CIRCUS IN A PANDEMIC
Cirque du Soleil's experience relies on live, in-person spectacle
which meant the pandemic had a particularly outsized effect on their
shows. The team is excited to be back after two years, the longest
pause in the show's existence.
Like so many performers, Di Sanzo struggled when COVID-19 took that
work away from him. He found himself becoming depressed.
"To be honest, the first year was really hard," Di Sanzo said. He
faced frustrations watching gyms open then close again, unsure of the
path forward.
So he brought the work home Di Sanzo and his partner built a 15-
foot-high aerial apparatus next to their house, soldering it together
themselves. That gave them the ability to hone their skills while away
from the venues where they usually perform. Di Sanzo also conducted
his weight training out in the street.
Di Sanzo's teammate John Peter Añon, the assistant head of sound, also
longed for live shows during the performance shutdown.
"This pandemic was really rough, to be away from what I love so much,"
Añon said. He's originally from Venezuela and moved to North America
to pursue this career. He expressed a mixture of excitement and
hesitation while he's happy to return to entertaining live
audiences, the work can be stressful with its repetition day after
day, he said.
"People will have bad days, but those good days are more than the bad
days," Añon said.
CREATING THE SOUND OF OVO
Ovo has a Brazilian-themed sound, according to Añon, with elements of
samba that includes seven musicians working on the show, including
several Brazilians. Speakers are placed around the audience to envelop
them in the audio textures created by the musicians and sound
designers.
Añon got his start studying show production in college a shift from
his original plan, which was to become a nurse.
"Growing up, I'd always been into rock and roll and played in bands,"
Añon said.
But after taking some jazz classes as a minor, he threw himself into
pursuing the world of live music shows. He got his first internship
working on the Warped Tour, then began to move from one tour to
another. Añon went from traveling between tour stops by bus to running
shows on a cruise ship and even working for Disney On Ice, before
finding his way to Cirque du Soleil in 2018.
"I always wanted something bigger, and then better I've been
shooting for the stars," Añon said. "I found here that they really
push you, give you the tools necessary, and all the training necessary
just to evolve into a better technician."
Now he's training to move from sound into becoming an automation tech
operator, which means he'll be responsible for helping all those
acrobats fly. The training and growth Cirque offers is what brought
him back after multiple pandemic shutdowns.
"It's not just the music that I love, it's not just sound it's just
show business," Añon said. "Going from city to city, starting with
nothing with an empty arena, with an empty theater, with an empty
parking lot. And putting something up that wasn't there before."
For those who want to follow in his footsteps, either in sound or live
show production, Añon encourages people to volunteer or do
internships.
"My first gigs, they were all internships and they were all
volunteer," Añon said. "I have learned more from people than I have
from my school. I've had good mentors along the way."
His other secret to success: when you don't know something, tell
people you don't know, he advised, adding that you should keep your
head down and stay humble.
"People would rather work with somebody that knows what they're doing
but is humble, rather than a know-it-all and is just really hard to
work with," Añon said.
WHAT MAKES PERFORMING OVO IN LOS ANGELES SPECIAL
One of the challenges and advantages of being based in a big city
such as Los Angeles is the sheer number and variety of entertainment
options, Añon said.
On the one hand, it's provided more opportunities to go out and see
shows he wouldn't be able to access as easily in many other places.
But it also means more competition.
"It makes me try harder than I have before, just because there's other
shows that people can go to, that people can spend their money on,"
said Añon, noting how hard it can be to stand out from the crowd.
Still, he seemed confident that Ovo gives audiences their money's
worth.
He's made friends with people from other shows and said he loves
having them come see what he does.
"I want to show off my show. I want to say, Wasn't that cool? Don't
you wish you were a part of this thing that we're doing here?'" Añon
said.
"Our act, it's impressive you will have tension, and you will get
into it," Di Sanzo said. "This act is more poetic, and you will feel
different, there is more acrobatic stuff you get tense, and then you
go Ohhh, it's nice, it's safe.'"
{ SOURCE: LA ist }
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What will CDS look like as it recovers?
{May.06.2022}
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Cirque du Soleil is slowly but surely returning to life, though it's
still very much in an identity crisis.
The most famous modern-day circus came close to disappearing in 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic dealt what could have been a mortal blow to the
Montreal-based creative company, forcing it to shutter all 45 of its
shows around the globe and lay off nearly 5,000 employees, which
represented 95 per cent of its staff. Then it had to seek bankruptcy
protection.
Those were dark days for the outfit founded in 1984 by fire breather
Guy Laliberté and a ragtag group of Québécois hippies in Baie-St-Paul.
The company's revenue dropped to zero overnight, and it was unclear
when the Cirque would be able to raise another big top or return to
the stages of Las Vegas.
The Cirque survived, but not without a few radical changes. Following
a drawn-out legal battle, the previous owners U.S. equity firm TPG
Capital, China's Fosun International and the Caisse de dépôt et
placement du Québec lost control of the company and it was taken
over by a group representing the creditors, notably including Catalyst
Capital Group, Sound Point Capital, CBAM Partners and Benefit Street
Partners.
Then longtime Cirque CEO Daniel Lamarre stepped down in December 2021,
replaced by Stéphane Lefebvre, who was chief operating officer. Many
openly wondered why the financial guy was taking over an organization
that has always been about creativity and bold artistic choices.
Cirque shows are finally returning. It began last June with the
reopening of Mystère and O in Vegas, and now there are five Cirque
shows on stage in that city, including Kà, The Beatles Love and
Michael Jackson One. There are also five touring shows, with three
more to come this year. One of those is Kooza, which is set to open
May 12 at the Big Top in the Old Port and run there until Aug. 14. It
is the first Cirque production in Montreal since 2019.
But this is a stripped-down version of the Cirque. That's only 13
shows in all, down from 45 before the pandemic. La question qui tue
is: Where is the Cirque headed post-bankruptcy protection? And what
kind of Cirque will it be?
In a recent phone interview, Lefebvre said those are precisely the
questions he's grappling with in his new job.
First off, he insists the new owners are not really having a big
impact on what the Cirque is doing.
"I think this company needs to reaffirm its creative leadership," said
Lefebvre. "In certain markets we hadn't been there for two years pre-
pandemic, which means we haven't been in certain markets for four
years. So there's a real need for us to go back and show the world, to
show people in all of our markets, that we exist that we're
relevant."
One of the first new shows will be Mad Apple, which is set to première
this month at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
This is not a traditional Cirque creation it stars comedian Brad
Williams and features a slew of songs about New York played by the
house band, along with acrobatics, dance and comedy.
"MGM (which owns the New York-New York Hotel and Casino) was looking
for that kind of content at the theatre, where people would stick
around," said Lefebvre. "You go there, you have an amazing experience
before the show and you stick around after the show. We'll have some
DJs.
It's a richer experience before and after the show.
"It does have acrobatic acts in there, but it won't be competing with
our other shows in Vegas."
The little secret behind the Cirque's near-death experience is that
while the company was dealt a ferocious blow by the pandemic, it was
already in big trouble before there was a single COVID case in North
America. Many believe the major issues started when Laliberté sold the
company in 2015 for US$1.5 billion to the consortium that included TPG
Capital, Fosun and the Caisse. They started creating more and more
content, which critics felt watered down the Cirque's brand.
In 2020, Cirque co-founder Gilles Ste-Croix told the Montreal Gazette
things changed when Laliberté sold.
"Already last year we could see that there were some problems," Ste-
Croix said at the time. "They were putting out many, many shows, and a
couple of them didn't work out.
"It was a question of how they were going about the development.
Having so many shows out on the road
demands lots of money to
finance, hoping to make a buck out of it. But it didn't work out that
way, and they were, I'd say, stretching to finance all this debt and
finally COVID came and it stopped all the revenue."
A source close to the creditors group that took over the Cirque told
the Gazette in 2020 that the Cirque's debt increased from $300 million
to $1.2 billion in the five years following Laliberté's sale. There
were also a few high-profile failures in that period, most notably
R.U.N, a Vegas show that was supposed to be permanent but closed in
less than five months and cost investors $60 million.
"This company took some risks pre-pandemic, and some worked and some
didn't," said Lefebvre. "Just to be clear, if there was no pandemic, I
don't think the company would have gone through this (bankruptcy
protection) process. I don't think this was ever an option. It was all
due to COVID.
"We had some success. We had some good acquisitions. But we did some
shows that didn't work.
We have to learn from that. I think it's the
way we manage risk. This company has to take creative risks, but
within some financial boundaries. And that's something we learned
so
not spending too much money on something that is further from our core
business."
In the end, it's about recreating the magic that first turned people
on to the Cirque, and everyone including Lefebvre knows that is harder
to do today. People already know what the Cirque is, and they also
have more entertainment options than ever before.
"People have changed their relationship to entertainment throughout
the pandemic, rightly or wrongly," said Lefebvre. "People have become
familiar with certain types of media
people have got used to
consuming entertainment through Netflix and other platforms. And
people have seen amazing things.
"At the Cirque, we need to be more creative than we've ever been. I
was talking to our employees and the creative production team recently
about innovation. Innovation doesn't just mean technology it's this
idea of coming up with new experiences. So people would see with a new
production things on stage that would be new, not something people
have seen at Cirque du Soleil many times in the past. It's about
giving people a richer experience."
{ SOURCE: Brendan Kelley; Montreal Gazette }
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Student magician takes his talents to Cirque du Soleil
{May.09.2022}
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A Quinnipiac University student is heading to Las Vegas this week to
kick start his career in a year-long magic showcase with Cirque du
Soleil, a dream he has been anticipating since high school.
Unlike many magicians, senior entrepreneurship student Thomas Salta
did not pursue magic from a young age. Rather, his interest was
spurred after a high school football injury freshman year left him
sitting out on the sidelines and he was inspired to learn sleight of
hand tricks to keep himself busy.
"I was very energetic and a person that needed to be stimulated
always," Salta said. "So when I couldn't move because I hurt my hip
I
was able to move my hands and learn sleight of hand and stuff like
that, so that's how it started."
While magic began as a simple pastime, more and more people learned of
Salta's hobby, including his teammates while he was injured. His first
"show" occurred inadvertently at one of their games, drawing in huge
support and sentimental responses.
"I got put on the spot to do it and the next thing I knew, I look up
and there's 100 people surrounding me, stopped watching the game, and
started chanting my name," Salta said. "It felt amazing, and people
came up to me after the game
it actually connected with people on a
personal level."
Salta then began to perform on a small scale within his community at a
local ice cream shop called Saugatuck Sweets and would donate any tips
he received to charity. However, he quickly took on larger and larger
opportunities.
"From there, it upscaled. I would do gigs and the next big thing was
Connecticut's Got Talent. I was a winner of that, and that led to
performing with magician Michael Carbonaro on stage, which was huge,"
Salta said. "That still freaked me out because I was only doing it for
like three or four years."
By the time Salta came to Quinnipiac he already knew that he was
committed to pursuing magic in the future, and received a great deal
of support on campus as well.
"Whenever you see someone who is passionate about something, and it
also happens to be fun to watch, who wouldn't want to see someone do
what they love and succeed doing that," Salta said. "I've been
fortunate, they're very supportive."
The dreams of making magic a career became a reality when Salta was
offered a job to work with Cirque du Soleil after graduating this May.
Salta will mostly be performing close-up magic on a more personal
scale, which is exactly what he envisioned doing.
The show called "Mad Apple" begins May 12 at the New York-New York
Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
"The plan is to go out to Vegas, and obviously there's no better place
to be as a performer, especially doing magic," Salta said. "So I'm
just here for the ride."
{ SOURCE: Q30TV }
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ENCHANT CHRISTMAS Taps Former Cirque Du Soleil Business
Head Jerry Nadal As Chief Operating Officer
{May.10.2022}
----------------------------------------------------------
Enchant Christmas-the fastest-growing live-entertainment concept in
America, and on the road to major expansion throughout the U.S. this
fall-has named Cirque du Soleil pioneer Jerry Nadal as chief operating
officer as the growing holiday extravaganza prepares to unveil an
expanded series of 2022 dates in key cities throughout the U.S.
"To have a legendary entertainment executive like Jerry joining our
team ensures our future success and the tremendous growth trajectory
we are on," said Enchant Christmas founder and CEO Kevin Johnston. "To
see a lighting business that began in my tiny garage in Canada 10
years ago grow to a one-of-a-kind event millions of people look
forward to attending each year is so amazing."
Featuring a unique display of over 4 million lights-produced on over
15 acres-Enchant Christmas presents a holiday-themed adventure light
maze, ice skating, a minus 14-degree Ice Lounge and a European-styled
holiday shopping marketplace featuring artisans, craftsmen and
culinary treats from around the world.
Nadal, who spent 21 years as an executive with the Cirque du Soleil
organization and most recently served as interim president and CEO of
Nevada Public Radio, is looking forward to the journey ahead. "I'm
thrilled to join Kevin and this team. Lightning can strike twice or in
this case more appropriately 'lighting,'" he said. "Cirque introduced
its unique brand to audiences, and Enchant is another of those very
special live-entertainment concepts people everywhere love."
Founder/CEO Johnston said, "Last year Enchant hosted over 1 million
guests in four major cities despite the challenge of COVID, and we are
building on that amazing success more than doubling the number of
events we will host in U.S. markets this holiday season."
Since 2016 Enchant Christmas has partnered with prominent venues and
major league sports stadiums including Washington D.C.'s Nationals
Park, Las Vegas Ballpark, St. Petersburg, Florida Tropicana Field,
Seattle T-Mobile Park and in Dallas at Texas Fair Park. The 2022
Enchant slate of cities will be announced over the next several
months.
{ SOURCE: Broadway World }
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How to Put Creativity at the Center of Your Strategy
{May.13.2022}
----------------------------------------------------------
Daniel Lamarre is the executive vice chairman of Cirque du Soleil, a
position he took after serving for nearly two decades as the circus
and entertainment company's president and CEO. He is the author of,
Balancing Acts: Unleashing the Power of Creativity in Your Life and
Work, which describes how others can unleash Cirque's creative
management techniques, even if they're not in the business of clowns
and acrobats.
HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius sat down with Lamarre in this episode
of our video series "The New World of Work" to talk about:
* Reviving the company after a disastrous Covid-inflicted shutdown of
Cirque's operations and painful layoffs.
* His decision to leave a comfortable position as TV network CEO to
"run away" and join the circus, and what it taught him about being
true to his own values and ambitions.
* The surprisingly analytical side of Cirque, which relentlessly
tweaks and perfects its show formulas based on continuous audience
feedback.
YOU CAN WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE:
https://youtu.be/8-abrTJenek
"The New World of Work" explores how top-tier executives see the
future and how their companies are trying to set themselves up for
success.
* * *
ADI IGNATIUS: Daniel, welcome to the show.
DANIEL LAMARRE: I'm so happy and honored to meet you today. And it's a
great, great time to talk about creativity and how we're going to
innovate. So I'm blessed to have the opportunity to talk with you
today.
Q. Just to set context, could you talk a little bit about Cirque du
Soleil's mission and maybe how you came to the company?
This company started with a bunch of street performers begging at the
corner of the street and, move forward 10 years later, I had the
opportunity to join the company when I thought the brand was ready to
explode globally. And that's what I've been doing for the last two
decades.
Q. You come to Cirque du Soleil, it has a mission, it has some initial
success, but as you said, you're trying to develop it, to scale it, to
blow it up globally. Talk about that, the challenge of taking
something that people love, because it is unique and maybe they love
because it's small, taking that brand and making it big.
DANIEL LAMARRE: And two famous teachers from your school, from
Harvard, have described it in their Blue Ocean Strategy as we have
developed a new category of show and I truly believe that's what
happened and that's how we've been successful. Because if you try to
describe a Cirque show, it's very difficult. You will probably start
by saying, it's not a circus show. It's not dense, it's not
theatrical. And I would say that it's a blend of all of that and at
the end of the day became a very unique global brand called Cirque du
Soleil.
Q. We were talking before the show, and I said that my family fell in
love with Cirque du Soleil, we were living in Hong Kong and we saw a
couple of shows, and couldn't believe them. This would've been in the
1990s. It was, as you say, such a departure. You mentioned that the
authors of Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne had
highlighted Cirque du Soleil as an example of an innovative company.
And their whole idea is that you find a blue ocean, an undeveloped
market that's brand new, you create a whole new category. So do you
have any advice for people who aren't in the circus business, how to
find an open space that's not being addressed already by business?
And really, the motivation for me to write a book was that I was
motivated to promote creativity because that's what I've learned. I
had the opportunity through all those years to observe amazing
creators, such as our founder, Guy Laliberté, but also international
people like James Cameron and the Beatles, and watching them work has
changed my personal and my professional life and really made
creativity the forefront of everything I do. And today that's what I
want to do. I want to promote creativity because I take a very radical
stand, which is that without creativity, there's no company, there's
no organization. And I truly believe that.
Q. How do you manage creativity?
First and foremost I think it's very important that you create an
environment that nurtures creativity. You have to have your core
business central in everything you do, and in your environment. In our
case, the founder hired me a clown called Madame Zazou, and Madam
Zazou became a symbol of what we are. And internally every day I used
her to remind our employees what our core business is. I'm not
suggesting that everybody is hiring a clown. I'm suggesting that
everybody find the right symbol to bring out the core of what they do,
a reminder of the purpose they have in life as an organization.
Q. So Ed Catmull, who was the very successful creative leader at Pixar
for years, he was similar to you trying to unleash extraordinary
innovation and creativity with each movie. But at the end of it, he
almost wanted to kind of wipe everybody's brains clear so that with
the next project, they didn't fall back into, "Well, this is how this
company does things." That there was a freshness with every project.
Is that something that you think about as you're creating new shows?
First and foremost, I don't think of Cirque du Soleil as a hierarchy
organization, and that's why every time we produce a new show, I will
create a cell with all of our creators and artists. I will say to all
the administrative staff to stay away from them. I don't want them to
think about some HR policy or some financial issues. I want them to
really breathe and sleep and eat, just thinking about making our next
show very innovative, very entertaining. And that is very, very
important that every show create an entertainment breakthrough. And
that's the challenge I give to the team every time we start a new show
Q. And you've had an amazing record of success. There are probably
some shows that were not a success. Are there one or two examples you
could talk about that didn't work and maybe what you learned from
that?
I think it's very, very important that you understand that you take
risk and sometimes you fail. And in our case, I remember we wanted to
reinvent Vaudeville as we did with circus. And unfortunately using the
brand of Cirque du Soleil was a big mistake because people were
expecting to see an acrobatic show. And there was some learnings from
that. And we took the time to do the postmortem and to evaluate why it
didn't work. To make my long story short, the reasons why it didn't
work is that we couldn't bring the brand of Cirque du Soleil on a
Vaudeville show. That was counterproductive. And that's something that
we've learned and we will always remember, you cannot put your brand
on any type of shelves or in some situation or any type of product or
services. So be very, very respectful of your brand.
Q. You can stretch your brand, but you don't want to stretch it so far
that it's not who you are. So you're talking about creativity,
encouraging creativity, sustaining it. I'm sure there are people
watching this who say, "Yeah, okay, fine. This is a circus company. I
work for nothing that exciting." How is your message relevant to the
large number of viewers we have who don't happen to be in the circus
business?
We are blessed because Cirque du Soleil is a creative powerhouse. But
my point is more fundamental than that. My point is, it doesn't matter
for what company or what organization you are working. You cannot use
an excuse that you're not creative enough. If you're not creative
enough, it's because you are not putting that priority in the
forefront. I can challenge anybody in any type of organization. You
can be creative in your employees' communication. You can be creative
in your marketing. Most importantly, you can be creative in
redesigning and innovating the way you are shaping your new products
or your new services.cThere is no excuse. Creativity has to be at the
forefront, because if you don't do that, then one day you will wake up
and you will discover that your competitors have an edge on you and
then you're in trouble. So don't wait for that. Just make sure that
you are nurturing your creativity within the organization to keep your
edge, to keep your leadership in whatever sector you are.
Q. You're drumming up all that creativity within and trying to bring
it out and celebrate it. How do you bring in the voice of the
customer, of the consumer, as you're in this creative mindset?
People will be surprised to see how an organization like us is so
analytical. Every night, every show, we are asking the customer to
react. And if for whatever reason we see that there is an act that is
not liked as much as the others, we're just going to take it out and
we're just going to replace it by a better act. So it's very, very
important that you are listening all the time. Listening to your
customer in priority, but also listening to your employees. You have
to send a clear signal to your employees that you are on the lookout
all the time for new ideas, new suggestions. And that's what we're
trying to do here at Cirque, is listen to our customer, but also
listen to our employees and mobilize them behind the mission, mobilize
them behind our new shows that we also share the credit when we have a
big success.
Q. There's a passage in your book where you talk about when Guy
Laliberté, the founder of Cirque, brought you into the company and you
were already very successful in the PR and events business. And I
think it was your parents who thought, "What? Run away and joined the
circus?" Talk about how do we make these big life-changing decisions?
How did you make that decision and what can we learn from that?
Obviously my parents, even my wife at the time, were not really
excited about me leaving my job. I was the CEO of a TV network, and
they were very proud of that. And the one thing that triggers the
change is when Guy Laliberté said, "Daniel, I read that you wanted to
be international, and it won't happen to you with this Canadian TV
network. If you want to be international, you have to join a circus."
And that was the trigger for me. So you have to be true to your value
and through your ambition. And even if it was a tough decision for me
to join the circus, it was an easy decision when I learned and I
realized that to become international, that was the right platform.
And then after that, everything became clearer for me, and obviously I
never regret that because I had the opportunity with Guy to travel the
world and promote this most important global brand. And I strongly
suggest that when you are in front of a new opportunity, you should
think about what's your ambition. Where do you want to be five years
from now? And I guess the answer will become clearer and your decision
process will be much easier.
Q. That's great advice. Let's fast forward. You have this period of
sensational growth, expansion, and then COVID hits and live
performances are not possible. Obviously the company is hit hard. You
end up with a new investor structure. So can you talk about how you
survived that period and where the company is now?
That was a nightmare. That was the toughest period in my life, and I
know it was for a lot of people in different sectors. But in my case,
within 48 hours, I came from 44 shows to zero shows, went from a
billion dollars of revenues to zero revenue. And my purpose in life, I
took great pride in creating jobs for artists, and then I end up in a
situation where I had to let go, not only 2,000 artists, but all of
our 5,000 employees. That was a disaster, and for 15 months, I was
struggling to make sure that the company can remain alive. So imagine
the meeting. You're meeting with the bankers, you have to tell them,
"I have no revenues. I have no shows. And by the way, I need $375
million more to sustain the relaunch of our company." The only reasons
why I got their support and why I'm here now so happy about the
outcome is the strength of the brand. It's the brand that saved the
company, because the bankers were convinced that the brand will make
this company successful after the crisis, and that's exactly what
happened.
Q. I'm going to go to some audience questions. And George, who is
watching on YouTube, asks how creativity can be implemented in our own
lives, in our personal lives? What personal strategies can we follow
to unlock that kind of creativity that you talked about?
I think it's important that we're beasts of habit, and that's what you
have to fight first. You have to do things differently all the time
and you have to find ways to be inspired by reading more, by visiting
events, by talking to inspiring people. People that I had the
opportunity to meet, like the Beatles and James Cameron and others,
have changed my life because they brought me some fresh air. They
brought me some new ways of seeing lives. And kill your habits, think
differently and make your life much more fun by meeting people that
are inspiring, by reading more. And at the end, which is also very,
very important, spend the time to reflect. We don't spend enough time
reflecting and I strongly suggest that you do. And that's what I've
learned and that's why my life now is fulfilled by more creativity.
But at the end of it, much more fun.
Q. We take for granted now that there is a Cirque Beatles show in Las
Vegas and that it's amazing and so many of us have seen it. Talk a
little bit about the process of getting the Beatles and their
representatives to agree, which was pretty difficult.
For many, many years, all the live entertainment companies were
chasing the Beatles to do a show with their catalog, their music
catalog, and nobody succeeded. And it took me two years of my life
negotiating with them because it was not about money. It was about
making sure that we will respect their brand. And after spending quite
a bit of time with the four of them, including Yoko at the time, we
showed them respect by working the creative process side by side with
them and not positioning ourselves as the salesman of their
intellectual property, but we position ourself as true creative
partners. And that's why at the end of ethe day, it ended up being an
amazing adventure. Not only did we loved it, but so did they, because
they understood that we were two creative power forces that could work
together and make something fantastic. And that's why I'm so proud of
that achievement.
Q. In the book there's more detail, more granular detail about that
process. Two people have asked pretty much the same question. How do
you filter ideas? What is the creative process to pick a show idea, to
decide the theme of the next show or shows that you're considering?
We have a very specific creative process. It starts with three people.
It starts with the director of the show, the creative director and the
production director. And we give them a general mandate about what we
are looking for in term of the new show. The three of them come to us
and present to us a first synopsis of what the show should be. And
then when we agree to the general concept of the new show, then we
will add to that three person team probably 17 more, like costume
designer, music designer, set designer, 20 people all together,
working together to define the exact content of the show. One thing
that is very, very important in that process is we have regular
checkpoints to make sure that the mandate we give them at the
beginning of the process is respected all along, and they're not
losing themselves with other directions than the one we're hoping for.
It's an organic process. It takes between 18 to 24 months to come to
fruition from the day you start to the day of the opening. And we're
very respectful of time because it takes time to produce a good show,
as it takes time to develop a new product, a new service. And that's
our process.
Q. When Cirque du Soleil was first out there, it was so different from
anything we'd seen and it was amazing. Is it harder now to impress
people since you've already stretched the envelope so much? Do they
want more, more, more? Is it harder to impress them now?
It is. It is because the expectations are much higher. That's why we
have a huge challenge to remain relevant. And the way to do that is by
investing a lot in research and development. And that's what we do. We
work in collaboration with a lot of universities around the world. We
work with big companies, such as Samsung and Microsoft and others. We
are in the lookout all the time, not only for new ideas, but for new
technologies. Human performance will remain the core of what we do,
but we will expand in new digital platforms. We will expand on new
technologies that are going to enhance the human performance. But it's
an ongoing challenge and you cannot be complacent and think that the
formula you have right now will last forever because it won't. You
have to reinvent yourself all the time and that's our biggest
challenge, yes.
Q. Richard in Italy has a question that really asks about what you
just said about new digital platforms. Do you have any plans to
perform in the metaverse?
It's a world obviously, it's a universe that we are definitely
exploring as we're going through right now. One thing I want to be
clear, we will remain a live entertainment organization because that's
what we are great at doing. But on the other hand, through the crisis,
we have developed a platform called Cirque Connect that has allowed us
to keep our brand alive by showing different content on Cirque
Connect. So now we're going to go through metaverse and other
technologies, other types of platforms that are available to us, and
then we will have to define what kind of artistic content we're going
to bring there to remain very, very relevant to that new universe of
technology. And yes, that's something we are definitely going to
explore.
Q. All right, we will watch this space. By the way, I love the fact
that we're getting questions from quite literally all over the world.
And here's one from Finland, from Jerry. Ultimately, how do you
measure success?
First and foremost, we have the NPS, which is the net promoter scores.
Say simply what we measure is, "Are you going to recommend our show to
your friends and family?" And that satisfaction level is very, very
important. And that's something that we measure. So the first
criteria, the most important one is the satisfaction of our customer.
Then is how it impacts on the brand. Is your brand declining, or is
your brand growing? And that's something we measure on a regular
basis. And obviously the financial impact is also important because
you need to be profitable if you want to remain alive, but if you want
to have the right financial resources to make sure that you can
continue to invest in new shows. Those are the three criteria that we
look the most.
Q. Jacqueline, who was watching on YouTube, notes that you said you
share the credit when there's a success. So her question is, what
happens when there's a failure or things don't go as well? How do you
process that with your teams?
At the end of the day, if you're the CEO of the company, you are
responsible for the failures. You have to tell to the group that
that's first and foremost your failure, that you accept it, but more
importantly, that you're going to learn from it. Then you invite them
to learn from it as well. And that's why it's important you have to go
to a postmortem, a good evaluation to define what we are going to
learn from that failure. And you have to understand that you have to
take risk all the time. You have to mitigate risk. You have to measure
risk. But you cannot be afraid of taking risk because you had one
failure. Yes, you have to have more success than failures if you want
to remain alive, but you should take the time it takes to learn from
your failure.
Q. Other than your book, are there any other good books you can
suggest on this topic of creativity?
Yeah. There is a book obviously of Catmull that you talk about. I
think it's a great one, the guy from Pixar. I would also recommend to
read the book from Bob Iger, from Disney. I think it's a great book as
well. Those two books put a lot of pressure on me because they were
really, really great with two amazing organizations.
Q. In a similar vein, here's a question from Julia from Boston: who
inspires you?
A lot of people inspire me, obviously our founder Guy Laliberte, but
also a guy like James Cameron. I was so, so rewarded to work with him
on the live show that we did about Avatar. I was impressed by his
intellectual curiosity. When he came to visit our creative center here
in Montreal, I thought he will stay for an hour, he stayed for four
hours because he wanted to know everything about our creative process.
When Elon Musk went to visit our show, Kurios, in Los Angeles, he
stayed three hours after the show, same attitude. He wanted to know
everything about the technology we use, everything else. So the kind
of people that are very, very impactful in our world, I've learned in
watching them that the intellectual curiosity is probably something
that had really inspired me to be now more focused and more curious
when I have the opportunity to meet with people like that.
Q. Omar in Egypt asked how do you envision the future of
entertainment, not just Cirque du Soleil, but more generally the
future of entertainment in the next 10, 15, 20 years?
There are two schools of thought. One is saying, the future is only
going to be through technology, new platforms and live entertainment
is going to be absolute. The other school of thought is after the
crisis, people understand now that it's also important that you are
going to see shows with real human beings. I personally believe that
the two schools of thought are good. There will be more and more
artistic content on new platforms, but I think live shows will remain
a very, very popular form of entertainment, and that's why we're
pursuing both at the same time in order to benefit from the new
platforms, but remain a creative force for live artistic content.
Q. Not everyone on your team is a creative, and there's a question
from Shahid on LinkedIn, how do you balance? You've got the creative
people and you're always talking about them, but some of your stars
are operational people working quietly to make sure things happen.
How do you balance that?
Obviously, it's a challenge today because creativity is at the
forefront of who we are and we are perceived as a creative force, but
the reality is we're also logistically amazing because we tour with
150 people for each show around the world with 50 trucks of equipment,
and in each city, you have to be local because we are a retail outlet
in a city for two to three months. So those people are very, very
important, and you are right in saying that we have to spend also the
time to recognize their contribution to the success of the show,
because they are integral in the success of the show. It's more like
an internal challenge than an external challenge, but we're doing
that. We're doing that because they deserve our credit. I always say,
today is the employees' night in Montreal where we're going to show
our new show to our employees, and that's the kind of event that we
use to, again, thank our employees for their contribution to the
success of the show wherever they are in our organization.
Q. We talk a lot about what the proper role of a CEO is, with a
complex company, and we have a question from Sri Lanka about when you
were CEO, how did you spend your time? How did you spend your day?
What were your priorities?
The good news is I had a great team and because I had a great team, it
allowed me to be able to focus on mobilizing our employees. I think
that's the number one responsibility of the CEO, because if the
employees don't believe in what you do, you're bound to fail. So that
was my number one priority is I love to go and walk in the building
and go to the studio and meet with people, and more importantly,
listen to them, because you learn a lot by listening to your
employees. You go in a city where we're presenting a show, our
employees have been there for a month. They know more about what's
happening in that city than I do from my office in Montreal. That's
something I spend a great deal of time of doing. Then after that,
obviously reviewing the business model and spending a lot of time in
the new business and new shows development, because this is very, very
important. But again, nothing more important than mobilizing your
employees behind your new priorities, behind your new objectives.
Q. Can you give us a hint about your next show?
First of all, I have to tell you that I'm very, very proud of our new
show at Disney in Orlando, because we played with the intellectual
property of Disney, that was a tribute to the animation of Disney, and
this is a great show. We're also working right now on two new shows.
One is going to be about music. That's going to be an arena show that
is very impressive, and our new big top shows, we are going to shake
up the entire environment within the tent that I hope is going to
bring the customer experience to a new level.
* * *
ADI IGNATIUS: All right. So we've gone over time a little bit. There
are a lot more questions, but I think we have to wrap this up, but
Daniel Lamarre, thank you very, very much for being on the New World
of Work.
DANIEL LAMARRE: Thank you to you. That was an honor to be here. Thank
you very much.
{ SOURCE: Harvard Business Review }
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Cirque Returns with an Exuberant Revival of its hit Kooza
{May.19.2022}
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The revival of the Cirque du Soleil's Kooza is just what the doctor
ordered.
The show marks the world-renowned Montreal circus's return to the big
top in Montreal for the first time since the pandemic shut down all
Cirque shows around the world. The Cirque bosses made a wise decision
to reintroduce the brand ici with a reboot of this super exciting show
that first wowed audiences here in 2007.
Kooza is pure Cirque. It doesn't bother with any of the goofy hippie-
dippie storylines that pulled down so many shows after Kooza. It
doesn't try to reinvent the Cirque with BMX bikes or action thrills
and spills or Cirque-on-ice silliness. It goes back to the essence of
the Cirque du Soleil, back to the magic that helped this troupe of
street performers win over the world back in the 1980s and 1990s.
Kooza is all about breathtaking performances from acrobats,
contortionists, high-wire artists, and an incredible variety of circus
artists from around the world. There is nothing even approximating a
dull moment and this fast-paced, eye-catching show had the opening-
night crowd on their feet Wednesday under the Cirque Big Top in the
Old Port.
The show began with the sending in of the clowns and these clowns were
funnier than ever, playing up the Buster Keaton-like comedy that was
an early Cirque trademark. More than a few folks in the front row
ended up covered in popcorn.
The live band was front and centre, blasting soulful grooves as the
performers did their stuff. A six-piece band and two singers provided
the soundtrack from a raised platform at the back of the stage.
Things got rolling in the first half with the three Mongolian
contortionists, but the first early highlight was American straps
specialist Haley Rose Vileria, who wowed the crowd, at one point
hanging by the back of her neck. Just before the intermission, the
show hit another big moment with the high-wire act in which the
performers sword-fenced, then rode their bicycles on the wire because
well that's just the way Cirque du Soleil performers roll.
The first real show-stopper came in the second half with the Wheel of
Death. A pair of performers did incredible things as two giant spheres
rolled around the stage, powered into overdrive by surging hard-rock
music. Viktor Levoshuk from Russia had everyone on the edge of their
seats as he piled one chair on top of another, then pulled off amazing
acrobatics balanced on top of what looked like a mighty fragile
collection of chairs.
Did I mention the dude on stilts who was fired off the teeterboard and
somehow ended up still standing? Yeah, it was that kind of night.
It was fun and inspiring. The Cirque works best when the Cirque does
what it knows best: stunning feats on stage that are all about getting
the crowd on their feet.
Kooza doesn't over-think it. It's all about the joy and excitement of
amazing performers doing amazing things. It reminded many of us why we
fell in love with the Cirque du Soleil in the first place. Our circus
was nearly destroyed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's risen from the
ashes and if opening night is any indication, people are ready for
this kind of fun under the big top.
{ SOURCE: The Montreal Gazette }
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Robert Juliat Cyclights Play Key Role In Drawn To Life
{May.20.2022}
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Drawn to Life, the first collaboration between Cirque du Soleil, Walt
Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering, has opened in
Disney Springs, Florida where Robert Juliat DALIS 860s take center
stage with an impressive 80 x 45-foot cyclorama. ACT Entertainment is
the exclusive distributor of Robert Juliat lighting in North America.
In Drawn to Life the stage is transformed into a giant animation table
where drawings come to life. The art of classic Disney animation is
reinterpreted through Cirque du Soleil's innovative design and
costuming, mesmerizing acrobatic performances and dazzling
choreography and combined with all-new Disney animation and an
original score. Drawn to Life is the new permanent show at Disney
Springs, where the previous production from Cirque du Soleil ran for
18 years.
Montreal-based Lighting Designer Martin Labrecque is using 58 DALIS
860 300w LED asymmetric cyc/wall wash luminaires for the show. The
fixtures deliver powerful, smooth coverage and a huge variety of
pastel and saturated colors.
"I had used Robert Juliat DALIS LED footlights on an opera, but this
was my first time using the DALIS cyclights," says Labrecque. "I'm
quite a fan of Robert Juliat equipment in general and was impressed by
the footlights. But for Drawn to Life' I had a giant cyc with two or
more scenic layers in front of it to light and I had to get all the
colors I wanted to use. The DALIS 860s are powerful and bright and
the optics so good that I went all in with them. The cyc was the
centerpiece of my design, and we built a top-notch rig around it."
About half of the DALIS 860s are mounted on top of the cyc
illuminating the massive backdrop like a soft box to backlight scenes.
The rest of the DALIS fixtures are on the floor to light the cyc from
the front.
Labrecque explains that classic multiplane animation, in which
multiple layers of elements were shot on glass to give a three-
dimensionallook to animated scenes, inspired the lighting techniques.
"There are four or five tracks in front of the cyc so we can layer
scenic paintings just like shooting multiplane animation. We can
light the paintings from the front so they are opaque or light them
via the cyc so they are translucent. And we can change their color.
The DALIS 860s give us the power we need to do all this: Even when
we're using saturated colors on multiple layers in front of the cyc we
still have light left."
An additional DALIS 860 fixture is mounted on a moving truss so it can
be positioned wherever needed. "We can do interesting gradients of
color with this light," Labrecque notes. "In the Dreams of Color'
sequence about the artists who painted the animation cels, we create a
gradient of eight or nine colors on the giant cyc."
Drawn to Life opened last November, and Labrecque reports that the
DALIS 860s "have been performing perfectly with no issues at all for
ten shows a week."
{ SOURCE: Live Design }
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A Circular Design Refreshes Cirque Du Soleil Classics
{May.24.2022}
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FUZION by Cirque du Soleil is, as the name suggests, a fusion of some
of the Canadian troupe's best moments. These highlights from previous
shows are woven together around three characters following their
destinies through this strange world. Mikki Kunttu, international
lighting, video, and set designer and frequent Cirque du Soleil
collaborator, has re-imagined the new world for these well-known
highlights.
Q. This production is based in Saudi Arabia, where is it staged?
The venue is called King Abdullah Sports City, also known as The
Shining Jewel, and it is located 30 km north of Jeddah. FUZION is
staged at the basketball arena that is located just next door to the
main football stadium.
Q. What was your main source of inspiration on this project?
The theme of the show was "The Best of Cirque," so the inspiration was
really in the visual language of Cirque and especially in the classic
big-top setting. The design wanted to bow to the tradition of Cirque,
but at the same time I wanted to take advantage of the technical
possibilities within such an arena. So kind of big-top inspired, but
without the technical restrictions of a big top.
Q. Circles feature heavily in the lighting and stage design.
Yes, indeed, circular form is very central to the design. The circular
shape for the stage comes from the idea of creating a similar intimacy
and spirit that you'd have in a big top. Though the performance space
is large, no seat is too far and we do not have "bad" seats in the
audience. The VIP seats embracing the stage are very close to the main
performance area and that's really optimal for clown acts for example.
As far as perspective is concerned, it's not only upstage/downstage
depth I'm considering with this stage. The depth in height becomes a
very important factor with all the aerial acts and also the wheel of
death. This, again, relates directly to lighting and how the rig is
layered and organized in space. I don't really see any difference with
sets, lighting or video. They all create the same thing, the three-
dimensional space in relation to time. Yes, one is constructed of
plywood or whatnot and the other is pixels, but what counts is the end
experience and I'm not really interested in what the technique is.
SEE SOME PICTURES FROM THIS PRODUCTION HERE:
https://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=14488
But back to the design
After the main stage was conceived, which was
decided to be a 14m-diameter circle with a 10m-diameter turntable and
some circular stairs around it, the background and the band riser
formed themselves naturally around this theme of circularity. In the
middle of the circular RP screen hangs the main set piece, "The Donut"
(as I call it), that is a mix between a gold, bronze, and metallic
structure that both splits the RP in two areas (one inside and one
outside The Donut) and also has 60 pcs of JDC-1 strobes inside it. The
idea was to make The Donut work as a lit set piece as well as a
massive source of light, sort of the sun of the stage if you like. And
I wanted to both start the show and end the show with this Pink Floyd-
style, larger-than-life brightness. So the light in The Donut is
really my Marc Brickman tribute!
Q. Can you walk through your fixture choices for the two trusses and
also the sidelights?
For lighting positions I have two straight standard backlight trusses,
two circular trusses above the stage, a circular horseshoe truss above
the VIP bleachers and a FOH truss that also horsehoes around the hall.
The sidelights are on their own ladders, two sets SL and two SR. Two
clusters of nine PRG Icon Edge fixtures hang just onstage of the main
PA. I do not have a lot of floor units on the show, I generally do not
like seeing lighting fixtures on stage when I look at the performers,
and especially for this show I wanted to have a very clean stage. I
tend to say, "If I want to see fixtures, I go visit a rental shop."
Q. What are your workhorse fixtures that you like to use?
MK: I'm really quite flexible when it comes to choice of fixtures. I
look at the quality of the gear, but also often we need to balance it
with budget, availability, and really the stock of the rental company
who got the show. So a lot of times you'll end up with the best
possible compromise. That's just the way it works and I'm fine with it
as long as the gear is in good clean shape and it has been properly
prepped and maintained. This show was a big BMFL show with mainly Robe
BMFL Blades and BMFL WashBeam fixtures in the rig. The BMFL range has
become the workhorse of our industry and the quality of the light is
really really good. I'm a big fan of the washbeam fixture.
Q. You are an old hand at designing for the circus now. Can you share
your guidelines, designing for aerials for example?
Designing for circus acrobats is different to anything else within the
performing arts. The difference is that real factor of danger that is
present every time certain acts are on stage. So my aim is to work
together with the artists and the trainers in order to establish a
happy marriage of working conditions for the acrobats and the visual
narrative of the show. I tend to believe if you started your design
process taking the right perspective, these are one and the same thing
and the safety factor is often delivered naturally. In technical
terms, what the special character of aerial circus means, I try to shy
away from LED-faced washlights such as B-Eye, Quantum Wash and so on,
as they have multiple lenses each and their blinding is therefore very
difficult or impossible to control. For this type of circus act I like
to keep to flat front lens old-school fixtures whenever possible.
Q. There is a beautiful green malachite effect on the backstage wall,
I can't tell if this was a projection or a lighting effect.
One of the most successful parts of the design is exactly this. The
Donut sinks in with the lighting and projection on the back wall so
nicely that at times it is really impossible to say what is a concrete
set piece and what is content. In most of the scenes the background is
a mix of video content, The Donut, and the lighting on The Donut and
around it.
Q. At the top of the show there is a Bedouin tent onstage lit from
within, and then the tent disappears. How did you illuminate it?
The disappearing tent is one of my favorite effects. The tent for me
is like a "dream of a big top" that our main characters are searching
for and trying to grasp. The tent is a very thin fabric that only
hangs by thin ropes in the air and it covers all of our turntable, so
the diameter is around 10m. At the top of the show, our whole cast is
inside the tent, but you do not see them as the tent is only lit from
outside. As we kick into the opening of the show, the tent is removed
by a super fast sniffer and at the same time we drop our big kabuki
right behind it revealing the whole stage and the cast and getting
into the introduction of characters with the first number. I just love
the poetry and magic of how the big tent disappears from stage in a
blink of an eye. The lighting for the tent is fully from outside and
it is really really simple, just a little blue from here and there and
a nice dimmer effect to build up the suspense getting into the moment
of the big reveal.
Q. What was the biggest challenge on this show?
This show was conceived under lucky stars as we did not really have
any major show stopping problems. With circus you don't have any full
programming days, it is all done on overnights through the production.
That takes a lot of concentration from all the crew and days tend to
be super long and you really need to keep yourself focused and try to
rest what you can. I think my biggest challenge in Jeddah was the fact
that I lost my sleep for some reason and slept like three to four
hours a night for five weeks.
Q. What is your favorite part of the design on this show?
I think what is there really serves the show and no element is there
just for it's own sake. Every element builds the big picture of the
performance and I believe both the sets and the lighting succeed in
supporting every act we put on stage. I loved working with Mukhtar.
[Mukhtar Omar Sharif Mukhtar]. He is such a respectful, considering,
talented director and a beautiful soul. I cannot stress enough how
much I appreciate this way of working where everyone is respected as a
person and as a human being and as a professional. I would say
Mukhtar's way of working, this type of teamwork, that just radiates
the love everyone from the cast to the creatives to the crew has for
their own craft, is really my favorite part of this particular
creation. It's all about the people and what we do and how we are
together.
Q. What are you working on next?
I just finished preprogramming MUV, a show that Cirque is opening in
Andorra this summer. I'm doing sets and lighting design for this one
as well, and it is exciting to get back to Andorra, which is such a
beautiful destination.
Gear List
GLP Impression X4 @ 350w 82
PRG Icon Edge @ 470w 72
Robe BMFL Washbeam @ 2kw 59
Robe Robin BMFL Blade @ 2kw 127
Chauvet COLORado Batten Q15 @ 197 36w
ETC Source4 LED 36deg @ 140w+cyc adapter 15
PRG GC Bad Boy Spot @ 1.4k 4
JDC-1 Strobes 60
Creative Team
Marie-Josée Adam Executive Producer/Head of Creation
Stefan Miljevic Creative Director
Mukhtar Omar Sharif Mukhtar Show Director
Mikki Kunttu Lighting and Set Designer
Madeleine Bernatchez Props Designer
Hugo Montecristo Music Director, Composer and Arranger
Germain Guillemot Acrobatic Performance Designer
Audrey Toulouse Make-up Designer
Nicolas Vaudelet Costume Designer
Mark Vreeken Sound Designer
John Cartin Acrobatic Choreographer
Geneviève Dorion-Coupal Acrobatic Choreographer
Olivier Goulet Video Content Designer
{ SOURCE: Live Design Online }
----------------------------------------------------------
Brad Williams brings comedy to center stage of Mad Apple'
{May.25.2022}
----------------------------------------------------------
Inside the redesigned Zumanity Theater in Las Vegas' New York-New York
hotel and casino, you'll be transported to one of the wildest nights
of your life in NYC, without having to deal with the TSA. "Mad Apple"
is the first new Cirque du Soleil show on the Strip in more than two
years, and on May 26, comedian Brad Williams, a veteran of the L.A.
comedy scene, is taking center (gigantic) stage. As the lead comic of
this big-budget show, he has the same goal as when he's in L.A. or New
York making people laugh.
Q. Congrats on the show and moving to Vegas! It's so different to live
there than to visit.
Brad Williams: Yeah, I'm really digging it so far. There's plenty to
do and I love seeing all the little things in Vegas you don't see when
you're on the Strip. I've also seen people in Vegas that I haven't
seen for months, and we both live in L.A. Everybody comes to Vegas to
go big so it's interesting working here. While people I want to see
are in a vacation headspace, I'm having a seltzer. Honestly, I've been
in Vegas a few weeks and I've probably done more drinking than I
should.
Q. That'll wear off soon now that you're an honorary local. Vegas is
talking about "Mad Apple," but we'd rather hear you talk about it.
"Mad Apple" is the craziest night you could ever have in NYC. Street
performers, musicians, singers, comedians, hip-hop stars, a Brazilian
strongman and, by the way, the craziest acrobatics you've ever seen.
This is the first Cirque show that has comedians, and we have
multiple, with some that do magic. One of the comedians is Chris
Turner and his thing is going out and getting five suggestions from
the audience. Then he does this freestyle rap, off the dome, and it's
different every night because it incorporates the suggestions. People
are saying the most random sh and he incorporates it well. It's
amazing and if you're wondering what he looks like, he looks just like
what you'd expect. A white guy from London.
Q. This is a lot to process. Give me more.
"Mad Apple" is kinda like Cirque for ADD. What would you like? Do you
like acrobats? Cool. Here's some acrobats. Oh, you don't like
acrobats? OK, wait five minutes, some singers and dancers are gonna
come out and do something amazing. Oh, you don't like that? Well,
first of all, you're wrong. Now here's a stand-up comic. Because it's
a Cirque show, people might think the comedy will be watered down, but
anything goes. Simon [Painter, co-producer of "Mad Apple" and founder
of the Works Entertainment] recruited me for the show and I was like,
"OK, do I need a script, or do you want me to do something?" He goes,
"You're the expert on being funny. Just go be funny. That's it."
Q. How did all of this even happen? And, follow-up, what happens after
your three-month run?
The producers had been watching tapes of comics, and they kept coming
back to me like, "This guy! This is the vibe we want. This is the tone
we want." My manager always describes my stand-up as "huggable and
lovable," so while I'm saying horrible things onstage, you still kind
of like me? I guess that fit, so the Cirque team came to see me at a
show in Phoenix and right after they were like, "You're the guy." My
contract is for three months but it's not necessarily three months and
I'm gone. It's three months and then we'll all look at it and make
sure everyone is happy and I'm enjoying being there. So far, it's
awesome! It's nice to be somewhere where you know that the people
really want you there. That's how they make me feel. They're
fantastic.
Q. Sounds like a dream job. How does the Vegas Strip audience feel to
you?
I started off with some COVID stuff, and I didn't know how that was
gonna go because I do generally know who's in the audience of a comedy
show. I don't know who's in the audience of a Cirque show, so that's
different. But so far, no complaints! The people seem to get what
we're trying to do and the party we're creating. In our atmosphere,
the performers and the audience are all friends, and we're out in New
York City seeing some cool sh. Like, oh my God, did you see that?
That dude just juggled his brother! Also, before the show even starts,
our stage is a bar. You can walk up and get a drink from two working
bartenders, and there are magicians walking around. Then, when the
show actually starts, a lid comes down from the ceiling and goes on
top of the bar. And that's our stage, so we're performing at the bar
where you just ordered a drink. Our stage is a Transformer, and the
show starts as soon as you walk in the door.
Q. Your stand-up is pretty high-energy, but this is Cirque. In my
head, you can eat whatever you want, exercise a little and burn it off
during the show.
Yeah, well, I've started doing yoga. The stage I'm used to is like, 8
feet by 8 feet. This is not that. It's so massive that we have a taxi
that drives on it and an Empire State Building that transforms into a
"Wheel of Death." I have a huge stage and I like to use it, so I have
a couple bits where I'm running all over. One of the No. 1 selling
points for Cirque, being that I'm almost 40, is that they hook you up
with physical therapy. And the therapists are amazing. Whatever you
got, they'll fix it. I was like, free? Oh my God, yes! Sign me up!
"Mad Apple" supplies everything. I forget I work for this
multimillion-dollar corporation. It's so different from stand-up,
where you're pretty much on your own and you get what a club provides
you. Stand-up comedy is a lonely lifestyle. There are a lot of lonely
planes and hotel rooms, so it's fun to be part of a cast. And we're
rooting for each other. There are so many ridiculously talented people
in this show, and no one pushes each other down. Everyone wants
everyone to do well and do the most kick-ass show possible. It's a fun
experience, I'm loving it.
{ SOURCE: The LA Times }
----------------------------------------------------------
Cirque will hold its cards, for now, with Mad Apple'
{May.27.2022}
----------------------------------------------------------
Cirque du Soleil has opened "Mad Apple" at New York-New York. Enjoy
it. The company is not planning a new production on the Strip anytime
soon.
The Strip's six-pack of original Cirque productions is now "Mystere,"
"O," "Ka," "Michael Jackson One," "Love," and now "Mad Apple." Blue
Man Group, a Cirque acquisition, continues to perform at Luxor. The
company is also partners in "America's Got Talent Live!" at Luxor.
Cirque Executive Vice Chairman Daniel Lamarre surveys the Strip and is
fine with that collection. For now, at least.
"Right now, all of our shows are doing great," Lamarre said at the red
(or, pink) carpet walk before Thursday's "Mad Apple" premiere. "As
long as it's going how it is now, there is no need for an extra show
in Las Vegas. But we've always got ideas."
By design, "Mad Apple" is the smallest-scale residency show that
Cirque has ever presented on the Strip. There is no lake-sized stage
(as in "O"), 50-foot-tall rotating stage (as in "Ka"), or troupe of
zombies performing over the crowd on aerial harnesses (as in "MJ
One"). The company has no interest in wagering $62 million on an
original production, as it did in "R.U.N" at Luxor, only to pack up
after 4½ months.
But new shows can remedy old failures. So can fiscal recalculation.
"Mad Apple" is reportedly about a $7 million production. The show it
replaced, "Zumanity," was originally a $66 million investment, or $20
million if you don't count what was spent on design and construction
of the beautiful theater "Mad Apple" has inherited.
Through the maze of creation and calibration, Lamarre remains a Cirque
visionary. He reviews new business opportunities for Cirque, with
Stéphane Lefebvre (Lamarre's chosen successor) promoted as the
company's CEO and president in December. Cirque President Eric Grilly
is the company's highest-ranking official in Las Vegas.
Through the changes in the company's management roster, Lamarre says
the days of grand designs are not totally over for Cirque. "Mad Apple"
hits the spot for a themed show at New York-New York, but the company
remains committed to developing spectacles for Las Vegas.
"I think we'll have both types of shows," Lamarre said, referring to
the smaller and larger concepts. "Some shows work in markets like
Hawaii, Miami, and those destinations. Our big Cirque shows work in
huge markets, New York, London, Tokyo. There are two types of shows
and two types of markets. The only city that can afford them all is
Las Vegas."
Cirque has inherited a pair of significant partnerships over the
years, outside of their long-running business arrangement with MGM
Resorts International.
Phil Ruffin bought Treasure Island, home of "Mystere," in 2009. That
show, of course, continues to run to strong response. And MGM is in
the process of selling The Mirage to Hard Rock International, where
The Beatles "Love" has performed since 2006. The sale should be closed
the second half of this year.
"Love" has been extended to perform at The Mirage through 2023. The
existing contract between Cirque and Hard Rock would need to be
extended for "Love" to continue to run on the Strip. Hard Rock's
owners are planning to take down the hotel's famous volcano and build
a guitar-shaped tower, which (duh) would ideally match the Beatles'
branding and imagery. But "Love" is reportedly selling only between 30
and 40 percent of capacity in its pandemic reopening. Those numbers
are a concern no matter how groovy the show is.
These are all decisions to be made over the extended future of Cirque
on the Strip. Cirque has shown it can be flexible, on and off the
stage.
"MGM will remain our partner of choice, for sure," Lamarre said. "MGM
opened the door for Phil Ruffin, and now has opened the door (at) Hard
Rock, so now we have two new partners. This has all been through our
partnership with MGM
And we now we have the luxury of looking at new
business. We are always looking forward."
{ SOURCE: Las Vegas Review Journal }
----------------------------------------------------------
This ice skater plays it cool in CRYSTAL
{May.31.2022}
----------------------------------------------------------
Cirque du Soleil's "Crystal" arrives in Boston Wednesday for 15 shows
at Agganis Arena after a three-day run this month at Amherst's Mullins
Center. Cirque du Soleil performers are known for their acrobatic and
aerial feats, but "Crystal" is the company's first production on and
sometimes above the ice. Michael Helgren, who appears in the show,
is a former competitive skater who performed for Disney On Ice before
coming to Cirque du Soleil. I sat with Helgren to talk all about the
rigorous process of preparing for a Cirque du Soleil show.
Q. I'd love to hear a little bit about your background as a figure
skater.
I was a competitive figure skater until I was 19, when I turned
professional and started doing shows. I've been touring professionally
for 13 years. I've been to over 45 countries. I represented the US
internationally and nationally, when I was competing. I got to the
senior level of competitive skating, which is the highest level you
can reach.
Q. How has Cirque du Soleil been?
As a performer and an ice skater, Cirque du Soleil is the dream.
"Crystal" is the first on-ice Cirque du Soleil production, so it's a
once-in-a-lifetime experience and opportunity.
Q. What was the preparation process like for the show?
They send you to Montreal, and you go through all kinds of different
classes. I went through three days of just makeup training because the
makeup that we do on the show takes us about an hour, so you have to
learn every step. They send you through some physical fitness tests.
They test your strength, they test your endurance, they test your
flexibility, all kinds of things, just to make sure that you're set
when you arrive to the show and you're ready to perform. They really
do a good job of taking care of us, physically. We have two athletic
trainers that travel with us on tour. It's a really nice luxury to
have someone taking care of your body and making sure you're at your
peak performance.
Q. What was it like learning the specific "Crystal" choreography?
I actually do something which is pretty unique in the show. I'm on
what's called swinging pendulum poles. I'm on one side of the pole,
and on the other side of the pole is one of the acrobatic flyers. We
create speed, and then at the highest point I push off of the pole and
the flyer backflips off and lands on the ice. I've never worked with
acrobats, so to learn their timing, to learn how they train, it was
really inspiring.
Q. After taking a couple of years off due to COVID, what's it like to
go back and dust off all those old steps?
It's surprising how quickly it comes back into your body once you hear
the music. The second the music comes on, it's crazy how your body
just remembers what to do. It was actually a bit easier than I
anticipated.
Q. What can you tell me about "Crystal" itself?
A lot of Cirque du Soleil shows are a bit outside the box, and they
make you really think, but the beautiful thing about "Crystal" is that
everyone is able to follow the story at any age. The two main
characters are Crystal and her reflection. Her reflection is showing
Crystal she can be anyone who she wants to be, she can act however she
wants, and it takes her through a journey of self-discovery.
Q. What can you tell me about your own role within the show?
Being an ice skater on a Cirque du Soleil show, we are featured a lot.
We have a specific act, a big pair number in the show that we call
"Courtship." I'm featured in that, and I'm also featured in a number
called "Tap Dance." There's four single skaters on the ice, and we're
challenging each other, and at the end we all have a tap dance. I get
to be a part of almost every scene, and I get to actually watch the
acts as they happen right in front of me, and just like the audience
I'm in awe with these acrobats. They're phenomenal. Every night they
impress me, and I'm more inspired and more motivated to work harder
and to be better at my own craft.
Interview has been edited and condensed.
{ SOURCE: Boston Globe }
=======================================================================
ITINÉRAIRE -- TOUR/SHOW INFORMATION
=======================================================================
o) BIGTOP - Under the Grand Chapiteau
{Alegria INAL, Koozå, Kurios, Luzia, Bazzar}
o) ARENA - In Stadium-like venues
{Crystal, Corteo, Messi10, OVO}
o) RESIDENT - Performed en Le Théâtre
{Mystère, "O", LOVE, MJ ONE, JOYA, X: The Land of Fantasy,
and Mad Apple}
NOTE:
.) While we make every effort to provide complete and accurate
touring dates and locations available, the information in
this section is subject to change without notice. As such,
the Fascination! Newsletter does not accept responsibility
for the accuracy of these listings.
For current, up-to-the-moment information on Cirque's whereabouts,
please visit Cirque's website: < http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/ >.
Alegría-In a New Light:
Portland, OR -- Jun 16, 2022 to Jul 17, 2022
Sacramento, CA -- Jul 29, 2022 to Aug 28, 2022
Koozå:
Montreal, QC -- May 12, 2022 to Aug 14, 2022
Gatineau, QC -- Aug 26, 2022 to Sep 25, 2022
Kurios:
Toronto, ON -- Apr 14, 2022 to Jul 10, 2022 [RESTART]
Washington, DC -- Jul 29, 2022 to Sep 25, 2022
Atlanta, GA -- Oct 6, 2022 to Dec 24, 2022
Rome, IT -- Mar 22, 2023 to Apr 30, 2023
Milan, IT -- May 10, 2023 to June 25, 2023
Luzia:
Geneva, CH -- May 28, 2022 to Jul 3, 2022
Alicante, ES -- Jul 14, 2022 to Aug 21, 2022
Zurich, CH -- Sep 20, 2022 to Oct 23, 2022
Madrid, ES -- Nov 4, 2022 to Dec 18, 2022
Bazzar:
Sao Paulo, BR -- Sep 8, 2022 to Oct 16, 2022 [RESTART]
------------------------------------
ARENA - In Stadium-Like Venues
------------------------------------
CRYSTAL - A BREAKTHROUGH ICE EXPERIENCE:
Newark, NJ -- Jun 16, 2022 to Jun 19, 2022
Philadelphia, PA -- Jun 24, 2022 to Jun 26, 2022
St. Catharines, ON -- Jun 30, 2022 to Jul 3, 2022
Providence, RI -- Jul 7, 2022 to Jul 10, 2022
Cleveland, OH -- Jul 15, 2022 to Jul 17, 2022
Elmont, NY -- Jul 21, 2022 to Jul 24, 2022
Brideport, CT -- Jul 29, 2022 to Jul 31, 2022
Albany, NY -- Aug 4, 2022 to Aug 7, 2022
Montpellier, FR -- Sep 14, 2022 to Sep 18, 2022
Rotterdam, NL -- Sep 22, 2022 to Sep 25, 2022
Leipzig, DE -- Sep 30, 2022 to Oct 9, 2022
Nuremberg, DE -- Oct 12, 2021 to Oct 16, 2022
Cologne, DE -- Oct 19, 2022 to Oct 23, 2022
Hanover, DE -- Oct 26, 2022 - Oct 30, 2022
Munich, DE -- Nov 3, 2022 to Nov 6, 2022
Frankfurt, DE -- Nov 9, 2022 to Nov 13, 2022
Oberhausen, DE -- Nov 16, 2022 to Nov 20, 2022
Malaga, ES -- Dec 11, 2022 to Dec 18, 2022
Lisbon, PT -- Dec 22, 2022 to Jan 1, 2023
Pamplona, ES -- Jan 4, 2023 to Jan 8, 2023
Lausanne, CH -- Jan 25, 2023 to Jan 29, 2023
Stuttgart, DE -- Feb 22, 2023 to Feb 26, 2023
CORTEO:
Antwerp, BE -- Jun 22, 2022 to Jul 2, 2022
Dublin, IR -- Jul 6, 2022 to Jul 10, 2022
London, UK -- Jul 13, 2022 to Jul 17, 2022
Nice, FR -- Jul 21, 2022 to Jul 24, 2022
Aix-en-Provence, FR -- Jul 27, 2022 to Jul 31, 2022
Palma de Mallorca, ES -- Aug 5, 2022 to Aug 14, 2022
Vilnius, LT -- Aug 25, 2022 to Aug 28, 2022
Krakow, PL -- Sep 1, 2022 to Sep 4, 2022
Gdansk, PL -- Sep 8, 2022 to Sep 11, 2022
Bratislava, SK -- Sep 15, 2022 to Sep 18, 2022
Vienna, AT -- Sep 21, 2022 to Sep 25, 2022
Nantes, FR -- Sep 29, 2022 to Oct 2, 2022
Manchester, UK -- Oct 5, 2022 to Oct 9, 2022
Glasgow, UK -- Oct 12, 2022 to Oct 16, 2022
Birmingham, UK -- Oct 19, 2022 to Oct 23, 2022
Berlin, DE -- Oct 27, 2022 to Oct 30, 2022
Copenhagen, DE -- Nov 3, 2022 to Nov 6, 2022
MESSI10:
Buenos Aires, AR -- Mar 9, 2023 to Mar 26, 2023 [RESTART]
OVO:
Victoria, BC -- Jun 16, 2022 to Jun 19, 2022
Kamloops, BC -- Jun 23, 2022 to Jun 26, 2022
Prince George, BC -- Jun 30, 2022 to Jul 3, 2022
Red Deer, AB -- Jul 7, 2022 to Jul 10, 2022
Edmonton, AB -- Jul 13, 2022 to Jul 17, 2022
Regina, SK -- Jul 21, 2022 to Jul 24, 2022
Saskatoon, SK -- Jul 27, 2022 to Jul 31, 2022
Winnipeg, MB -- Aug 3, 2022 to Aug 7, 2022
Loveland, CO -- Aug 26, 2022 to Aug 28, 2022
Colorado Springs, CO -- Sep 1, 2022 to Sep 4, 2022
Denver, CO -- Sep 8, 2022 to Sep 11, 2022
El Paso, TX -- Sep 15, 2022 to Sep 18, 2022
Fort Worth, TX -- Sep 22, 2022 to Sep 25, 2022
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE...:
Boston, MA -- Nov 25, 2022 to Dec 11, 2022
---------------------------------
RESIDENT - en Le Théâtre
---------------------------------
Mystère:
Location: Treasure Island, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Friday through Tuesday, Dark: Wednesday/Thursday
Variable Nightly - 7:00pm and/or 9:30pm
2022 Dark Days:
o) May 13 thru 17, 2022
o) July 22, 2022
o) September 9 thru 13, 2022
o) November 8 & 11, 2022
"O":
Location: Bellagio, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Wednesday through Friday, Dark Monday/Tuesday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
2022 Dark Days:
o) June 19 - 22, 2022
o) August 21, 2022
o) October 9 - 12, 2022
o) November 30, 2022
o) December 1 - 13, 2022
KA:
Location: MGM Grand, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark Thursday/Friday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
2022 Dark Days:
o) June 8, 2022
o) August 10, 24, 31, 2022
o) October 6 - 14, 26, 2022
o) December 14, 2022
LOVE:
Location: Mirage, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Tuesday to Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
2022 Dark Days:
o) June 21, 2022
o) July 5, 2022
o) November 1, 2022
o) December 31, 2022
MICHAEL JACKSON ONE:
Location: Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Thursday through Monday - Dark: Tuesday/Wednesday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
2022 Dark Days:
o) August 18 - 22, 2022
o) October 17, 2022
o) December 5 & 12, 2022
JOYÀ:
Location: Riviera Maya, Mexico
Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday
X: THE LAND OF FANTASY:
Location: Hangzhou, China
DRAWN TO LIFE:
Location: Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Florida (USA)
Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday
Two Shows Nightly - 5:30pm and 8:00pm
MAD APPLE:
Location: New York-New York, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Friday through Tuesday, Dark: Wednesday/Thursday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
Age Requirements:
- Children under 16 not permitted.
- Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult
=======================================================================
FASCINATION! FEATURES
=======================================================================
o) "Cirque Goes MAD - a Collection of Articles Celebrating
MAD APPLE's Premiere in Las Vegas
o) "The Last Two Years, Part 3: 'The Sun Rises'"
By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA
----------------------------------------------------------
"Cirque Goes MAD - a Collection of Articles Celebrating
MAD APPLE's Premiere in Las Vegas
----------------------------------------------------------
'MAD APPLE' CHANNELS NYC'S ENERGY IN LAS VEGAS
Las Vegas Magazine - May 25, 2022
Cirque du Soleil's magical productions on the Las Vegas Strip
celebrate classic elements of circus, avant-garde artistry and some of
the most famous music in the world. But the company's new show breaks
ground by celebrating a place.
And not just any place. Mad Apple is an energetic tribute to all
things New York City, appropriately performed in the gorgeous, 1,200-
seat theater at New York-New York Hotel & Casino. Loaded with
acrobatics, music and comedy, Mad Apple began preview performances
earlier this month and marks its grand opening just before Memorial
Day weekend.
"It's a fun night out and a celebration, a great place to come have a
drink and enjoy some incredible entertainment inspired by the greatest
performers in the history of New York," said producer Simon Painter.
Mad Apple was designed to blur the lines between circus, live
entertainment and the nightlife culture of the iconic city. The
spectacular acrobatics we know so well from Cirque du Soleil are a
major part of the show, Painter said, but so is stand-upfrom a
variety of performers including star and host Brad Williamsand music,
recalling artists from Billy Joel and Run-D.M.C. to George Gershwin
and Lady Gaga.
"The soundtrack of New York City is really central to this show, and
we have some unbelievable singers who really made me say, Wow!' many
times when I auditioned them," Painter said. "Acrobatically, it's
still really strong, and that talent should stand on its own. And yes,
there is some more adult comedy. It's a bloody fun night out, but it's
also a beautiful show."
Williams is a familiar face for Las Vegas audiences, a comedy
powerhouse who has performed at various venues on and off the Strip.
Mad Apple is an entirely different adventure for him, which is why
he's so excited about it.
"Even if you're used to seeing other Cirque shows, which are
spectacular, this is special, because normally you'd have to go to
different shows to see comedy, acrobatics and music like this,"
Williams said. "Now you can go to Mad Apple and see all of that, and
it obviously works with the whole theme at New York-New York. I feel
like anything can happen in that city, and it'll be the same for this
show."
The unique space has been renovated to bring the audience closer to
the performers than ever before in a Cirque show, adding interactive
elements. Don't be late to this one; you'll miss the exciting preshow
that incorporates the brand-new bars that have been installed in and
around the theater.
"I would put the preshow up against any show in Las Vegasmagicians
walking around the theater doing incredible magic before the show even
starts, and a bar where you can walk up and get a drink, which will
morph into the stage," Williams said. "If that doesn't start things
out with a bang, I don't know what will."
* * *
CIRQUE SCALES BACK THE SPECTACLE IN 'MAD APPLE' PREMIERE
The Las Vegas Review-Journal - May 29, 2022
"Mad Apple" is at once a new Cirque show, and an acrobatic exercise in
ownership.
The first Cique show to open in more than two years owns its place in
the Las Vegas universe. From the top, the show needed to be themed for
New York-New York, to keep with the resort's immutable Big Apple
theme. "Mad Apple" totally committed here, with its New York-flavored
acts, skyline backdrop and such touches as a yellow cab cruising
across the stage.
The show is performed under Lady Liberty's crown, and also employs a
"disco apple." This is a very large, mirrored, apple you might have
seen in Studio 54 that is the show's signature, spherical effect.
"Mad Apple" also had to be responsibly conceived. Or, at least costing
less than $10 million to develop. "Mad Apple" owns its place in the
Cirque pantheon. This is not another of the company's expensive,
colossal Strip productions. It's not "O," and certainly is not set up
as such a pricey, or especially risky, endeavor.
The show owns this reality, too. The fact that Cirque is so allergic
to another large-scale collapse is actually a joke in "Mad Apple."
Comic Harrison Greenbaum (whose set is among the show's many
highlights) told Friday's crowd, "If we make it to Saturday, we will
have outlasted R.U.N!'"
And that sense of humor is invaluable in "Mad Apple" which comes off
as a tight, high-velocity hang in an impressively revamp. Cirque is
living in reality with this show, but also asking you to suspend
belief and buy into this madcap night in New York.
"Mad Apple" has put a premium on comedy. The show comedians are very
funny (which is helpful), but also uniquely skilled and appealing.
Greenbaum brilliantly dives into a single sentence: "I just got
engaged to a girl from Nebraska," adding, "That's a fun sentence to
say, because different parts are surprising to each of you."
Brad Williams has already found a groove with his diminutive stature,
continually joking, "My parents always said I'd end up in the circus,
and they were right!" And in thanking Cirque for hiring him, "We've
never seen a midget in a circus before!"
And nobody on a Vegas stage does what the freestyle-rap comic Chris
Turner does. Friday he mashed such subjects as Samuel L. Jackson, a
dwarf in a pub, Dr. Who, Vladimir Putin and pregnant strippers.
(Later, in a great callback, Williams showed up to angrily demand who
called out the dwarf suggestion.)
In presenting three top comics, producer/director Simon Painter is
leaving the funny to the pros. No script is assigned to this group.
They say whatever they want. Greenbaum relishes that freedom with,
"Hey, we have one seat open, out of 1,200. Or, as we call it, the
reverse Criss Angel!"
(Thinking through this, Angel and Cirque can generate mutual marketing
buzz from some open feuding, after Angel mocked Cirque during the
"R.U.N" closing and also has tweaked the company in the opening of his
latest, "Amystika," at Planet Hollywood. Pass the popcorn, we say.)
MIGHT AS WELL JUMP
As a Cirque vehicle, "Mad Apple" has more than its share of circus
acts. The company is still the industry leader in recruiting
performers from around the world, and (in the case of accomplished duo
straps act Sarah Knauer and Stephen Brine, formerly of "Absinthe")
just up the street.
The Ethiopian foot-flipping (popularly called icarian games) team of
Tamrat Ayalew and Tomas Alemu, known as the TT Boys, has brought the
crowd to a standing ovation in each show I've seen. The show employes
one of the best hand balancers in the world, according to whatever
international body ranks hand balancers, Valentin Chetverkin. Mr.
Chetverkin has maybe negative body fat as he teeters atop a replica of
the Chrysler Building. Next week, he performs without his safety line,
which was attached Friday (need to get back to see this).
Another crowd-pleaser is hair-hanging aerialist Danila Bim. I call her
a "hair-ialist," a term that has not caught on. But her skyward,
spinning act reminds of the great aerial artistry in "Zumanity," in
that same theater. And heads up to the comics, Bim's husband, fellow
performer Wayne Wilson, is totally bald. Something to work with there
The acrobats come at you in droves, with the Mad Apple Acro Dunkers
slamming ABA-styled, red-white-and-blue basketballs in a fantastically
aggressive trampoline segment. The disco apple carries another aerial
routine. A modified Wheel of Death is rolled out, single-wheel
apparatus compared to the five wheels used in "Ka" at MGM Grand.
OF PACE AND TIME
The segments are connected and backed by a cracking backing band led
by music director Xharlie Black (famously the great-grand nephew of
music legend Nat King Cole). We have column fave and trumpet great
Isaac Tubb in this mix, and (spoiler alert) a keytar is also involved.
The live music and assembled singers are invaluable to the acts,
presenting a sense of urgency and energy to a show that still runs at
least 20 minutes longer than it needs to. For all of its fast pacing
and impressive acts, "Mad Apple" is still clocking at more than 85
minutes.
Know this going in, as there is also a pre-party amid the stage's
wonderfully conceived cocktail bars. This starts about 45 minutes
prior to showtime, included in the ticket price and experience. And, a
disco party, under the disco apple, is also being developed for after
the late show.
The original "Mad Apple" concept was to connect the main show to these
bracketing parties. It's a little complicated, and it's not there yet.
For that concept to work, the show needs to shrink to about 75
minutes. Maybe shorter. The crowd needs to know the pre-show is
germane to this New York experience that's the reason Cirque built
the new main bar at the front of the stage. And if you want to play
Tony Manero after the show, plan your time accordingly. That's another
half hour, at least.
Frankly, we're unconvinced the show will be whittled any further than
it is now. Why bother at this point, if you haven't made those
decisions over three weeks of previews? The show is now formally
opened and dialed in, playing to happy crowds.
"Mad Apple" is not the Cirque we've come to know over the years, and
that's all right from here. It's a good time with a fresh and fun
cast. You'll walk out impressed at all the thought and talent Cirque
packs into a show, and that's what it's all about.
* * *
CIRQUE DELIVERS WITH 'MAD APPLE'
Las Vegas Weekly - June 2, 2022
The rambunctiously fun grand opening of Mad Apple at New York-New York
on May 26 made it official: This is the age of the variety show on the
Las Vegas Strip.
Pro sports events and superstar residencies have been grabbing the
spotlight latelyand pushing the Vegas entertainment experience into
colossal venues. But something gets lost in all that bigness, a sense
of salience, or maybe just that feeling that anything can happen.
Whatever that is, you'll find it fully restored at the three variety
shows produced by Spiegelworld, starting with the comedy juggernaut
Absinthe; and in brand-new productions on and off the Strip inspired
by that company's sensibilitiesMiss Behave's Mavericks at Cheapshot
on Fremont Street, Rouge at the Strat and Cirque du Soleil's Mad
Apple.
These modern spins on a traditional genre are funny and sexy; they
splash excitement across the stage through daring acrobatics and other
inspired physical feats; and everything is tossed in a flavorful salad
dressing of inappropriateness. That's the sauce.
Cirque is certainly not known for the sauce, but you'll be impressed
by how much gets drizzled into Mad Apple. As soon as it gets going
when last call is announced for the three bars on the stage(!)the
emcee will likely unleash a few F-bombs as he ushers in the first
performer. By the time stand-up comedians Brad Williams and/or
Harrison Greenbaum take the stage, you'll have completely forgotten
you're at a Cirque show. (Also, both are terrific.)
Mad Apple is sardine can-packed with performance. Several sequences
are visually and aurally overwhelming. One scene offers two different
acrobatic duos simultaneously flipping and flying, while musicians,
singers and dancers layer a live soundtrack of NYC-inspired tunes
through the 1,200-seat theater. There's freestyle rap from Brit
transplant Chris Turner, stunning vocals from musical director Xharlie
Black and his crew, and signature Cirque excitement when an acro-
troupe dunks basketballsand themselvesthrough various hoops. Be
ready for a whirlwind 80 minutes.
Mad Apple is different, but Cirque has created shows like this before.
There's a full-circle feeling to this production in this venue, where
Zumanity ran for some 17 years. Spiegelworld, which will bring a
fourth show to the Strip in 2023, walked the path carved by Zumanity
and expanded on its tone, humor and sexuality, all risqué for the
times. Now naughtiness is necessary, seemingly employed in every
production show on the Strip.
Make no mistake, Mad Apple is in its own lane, a different take on
this style of show. Most importantly, it's fun and it feels wild,
which is exactly what Cirque wanted and what audiences appear to be
craving these days.
* * *
BREAKING DOWN WHAT MAKES 'MAD APPLE' SO DIFFERENT
Las Vegas Sun - June 6, 2022
"Mad Apple" opened for preview shows at New York-New York in mid-May
and celebrated its grand premiere on May 26 in front of an energetic
audience including many celebrities and Las Vegas entertainment
industry figures. It's definitely recognizable as a Cirque du Soleil
show, but it's definitely different from the company's other
successful productions currently running on the Strip.
There's an emphasis on music, but the show doesn't celebrate specific
artists as is done in "Michael Jackson ONE" and "The Beatles LOVE."
The new show is packed with comedy, but its sense of humor is a far
cry from the family-friendly clowning in "Mystère" at Treasure Island
or "O" at Bellagio.
"Mad Apple' is a completely new approach to Cirque du Soleil
entertainment," Eric Grilly, president of resident and affiliate show
divisions, said in a statement. "It's an action-packed experience
designed for today's audience, who increasingly want to consume
entertainment as they do content in an exciting, highly compelling
and ever-shifting manner. With Mad Apple,' you never know what's
coming next."
Co-created by Simon Painter and Neil Dorward, the fast-paced, New York
City-themed show is the first collaboration between Cirque du Soleil
and The Works, Painter's company that was acquired by Cirque in 2019.
That fresh perspective certainly helps "Mad Apple" stand out from
other Cirque productions in Vegas, and distinguishes it from other
variety shows on the Strip. It hits the stage Friday through Tuesday
at 7 and 9:30 p.m. and tickets are available at madapplelv.com.
There are several elements Las Vegas audiences have never seen before
in a Cirque show, and they're all tons of fun:
There's a bar onstage. Actually, there are three bars on the stage,
all of which are accessible to the audience for 45 minutes before the
curtain rises. And there's quite a bit of informal entertainment from
some of the cast members during this pre-show period, which goes a
long in setting up the free-flowing, cabaret vibes this show is a
wild night out.
There's stand-up comedy. Two hilarious comedians frequent Vegas
performer Brad Williams and Harvard College Stand-Up Comic Society
founder Harrison Greenbaum took the stage and performed their very
different stand-up acts, as themselves, not as characters. This
element is both an homage to the great comedy clubs of New York City
and a tip of the hat to the traditional Vegas variety show that
allowed individual entertainers to shine without a script or plot. And
there's a fair amount of raunchy humor involved in "Mad Apple,"
particularly from Williams. You'll laugh so hard, you'll forget you're
at a Cirque show.
There's a hair-aerial artist. Acrobatic aerial performers are standard
in Cirque's works, particularly in "Zumanity," the former inhabitant
of this New York-New York Theater for almost two decades before the
pandemic. They might swing from chains, hang from hoops or dangle from
silks, but the "Mad Apple" act is an awe-inspiring sky dancer who goes
hands free because she's suspended by her hair. You have to see it
to believe it, and even then it's hard to wrap your head around
what
she's wrapped her head around.
There's a slam-dunk contest. An army of acrobats takes the stage for a
rousing routine of trampoline jams into an actual basketball hoop, and
then they shift things up, flipping and flying toward the audience,
catapulting themselves through slightly larger hoops. It's incredibly
exciting, very unexpected, and a great example of the sensory overload
that happens throughout "Mad Apple." Live musicians, singers and
dancers often flank the circus-style performers, creating a visual
spectacle that overwhelms in the best way possible.
------------------------------------------------------------
"The Last Two Years, Part 3: 'The Sun Rises'"
By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
------------------------------------------------------------
On July 15, 2020, Cirque du Soleil announced that it had entered into
a new "stalking horse" purchase agreement with Canada-based Catalyst
Capital and a group of its existing first lien and second lien secured
lenders, sidelining TPG, Fosun, and the Cassie. The Cirque had new
owners! (Catalyst is a private equity firm run by Toronto financier
Newton Glassman that specializes in buying the secured debt of
undervalued or distressed companies.) At first glance, it's an anti-
climactic end to a saga that Cirque founder Guy Laliberté predicted
would be a "battle royale" for control of the entertainment giant. But
a drama did play out behind the scenes one Catalyst said tested the
creditors' resolve as Cirque's former owners maneuvered against them
to try to keep control of the company. "We're pretty excited about the
future," Catalyst managing director and partner Gabriel de Alba said
in an interview with The Globe and Mail, in which he discussed the
sale dynamics and how Cirque's new owners are thinking about the
potential for their investment. "What we bring is
a fresh set of
eyes to challenge the historical thinking and come up with more
optimal ways to run the business while still protecting the creative
core from Quebec."
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
Catalyst started building its position in March, Mr. de Alba said. He
wouldn't say what it paid but Cirque debt was changing hands for
between 40 and 50 cents of the face value of first-lien debt at the
time. (First-lien debt-holders are the first to be repaid, ranking
above all other lenders.) When Cirque failed to make interest payments
in late March on its first-lien credit facilities, and TPG and its two
partners moved to transfer some of Cirque's trademarks and
intellectual property into a separate holding company they controlled
in exchange for a $50-million loan, lenders faced their first test. As
Catalyst saw it, TPG was trying to jump from being an equity investor
to achieve creditor standing with direct access to some of Cirque's
collateral. "That is not appropriate because that movement of assets
has specific restrictions, especially when a company is on the verge
of insolvency, which was the case," Mr. de Alba said. He said he took
on a leadership role within the first-lien lending group, giving them
"conviction" in a negotiating strategy to win back the collateral and
have their debt recognized for its full value. TPG had said the asset
transfer was approved by an independent committee at Cirque and that
it was essential as collateral for the $50-million loan from the three
owners, which it called "emergency financing" that would otherwise be
unavailable given the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The
creditors eventually put up the money in a commitment backstopped by
Catalyst.
A second surprise came when Cirque filed for bankruptcy protection and
unveiled an initial bid by TPG, Fosun and the Caisse for the company
that offered US$300-million to restart the circus troupe while paying
lenders a fraction of what they are owed. Behind closed doors, the
lenders were already in talks with Cirque on their own bid, with
negotiations taking place even during the weekend before the filing,
Mr. de Alba said. "Maybe what they were hoping to do was to test if
the lender group
had the willingness and the ability to recapitalize
the company and put new money in," Mr. de Alba said. "And I guess they
were thinking that CLOs, because they have these structural
limitations, were not going to be able to commit to funding the amount
required for the reopening plan."
The formal sales process for Cirque started with five qualified
bidders, including offers from the TPG shareholders and the first-lien
creditor group, according to the latest report by Ernst & Young,
Cirque's court-appointed monitor. Two other bidders joined shortly
afterward, the monitor said. In the end, no one was able or willing to
match the Catalyst-led offer. Recapitalizing Cirque gives the company
the leeway to move through the pandemic and emerge reinvigorated while
bringing employees back, according to Mr. de Alba. He said Cirque will
focus first on reopening its permanent shows in Las Vegas. But
Catalyst is looking beyond Cirque's traditional model of selling
tickets for live performances.
A big part of the new ownership's plans for the circus troupe involves
monetizing its unique brand of entertainment by delivering it into the
home digitally. "You've seen that Disney is bringing some theatrical
shows to [its subscription-based, video-on-demand service] Disney+,
like Hamilton', with great success," Mr. de Alba said. "I foresee
that Cirque shows can also be part of these types of streaming
platforms." [At the beginning of the shutdown, Cirque du Soleil
embraced its online platforms by launching a new digital content hub
called CirqueConnect, through which the company opened its vault of
live show recordings and other endeavors through 60-minute specials,
virtual reality experiences, content series and tutorials, music
videos, and other family-friendly fare to great success.] Cirque will
also partner with industry leaders working on non-scripted
entertainment, Mr. de Alba said. "There are a lot of options that were
never explored outside the live event business as well as they could
have been," Mr. de Alba said. "The digitization of the content and the
[intellectual property] is certainly something that will feed into the
next evolution of Cirque du Soleil."
Making Cirque viable means taking lessons from the mistakes made under
the previous ownership, while emphasizing the main elements of past
success such as the Las Vegas shows, Mr. de Alba said. "It's an
understanding of the core drivers of the business while at the same
time having a very disciplined approach to investing capital," he
said.
The closing of this recapitalization marked a significant milestone
for Cirque du Soleil, as it provided the Company with a solid
foundation for a successful relaunch, which included driving the
business through enhanced fan experiences, a concerted drive into new
key markets, backed by roll-out plans for cutting-edge new products
and licensing opportunities. Additionally, Cirque du Soleil was
pleased to confirm that Daniel Lamarre would remain in position as
President and Chief Executive Officer of Cirque du Soleil
Entertainment Group, as well as continue to sit on the Company's Board
of Directors. "I am grateful for the trust our new owners have placed
in our management team. I am prepared to contribute, along with the
new stakeholders, to build upon the successes of the past, apply
discipline to our operations and growth and fulfill our mission to
bring Cirque's extraordinary artistic vision to audiences around the
world. Together, we have already begun laying the groundwork for the
relaunch of Cirque du Soleil and are excited to enter the next chapter
of Cirque's history," said Daniel Lamarre.
As part of this transaction, Cirque du Soleil also announced the
appointments of Jim Murren and Gabriel de Alba as Co-Chairmen of the
Board. "We are honored to have Jim Murren and Gabriel de Alba Co-
Chairmen of the Board and look forward to leveraging their deep
business knowledge to take the Company to new horizons," said Cirque's
President and CEO, Daniel Lamarre. "For the past 20 years, Jim has
been a true partner and has tremendously contributed to the success of
the Company. Likewise, Gabriel, as a skilled investor with significant
turnaround experience, will bring to the Company a deep understanding
of the Canadian and international business worlds, and his leadership
and experience will be invaluable for Cirque's relaunch."
Jim Murren Co-Chairman of the Board
Chairman, Acies Acquisition Corp.
Former Chairman & CEO for MGM Resorts International
Gabriel de Alba Co-Chairman of the Board
Managing Director & Partner, Catalyst Capital Group
Steven Justman Member
Operating Partner, Abry Partners
Stephen Ketchum Member
Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer, Soundpoint Capital
George Kliavkoff Member
President, Entertainment & Sports, MGM Resorts International
Daniel Lamarre Member
President & CEO, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group
Anna Martini Member
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, CH Group
Aaron Meyerson Member
Principal, Qualia Legacy Advisors
Charles "Chip" Rini Member
Managing Director, CBAM Partners
In the afternoon of his company's sweeping announcement, Lamarre was
asked, simply: Are we going to be able to sit together at a Cirque
show on the Las Vegas Strip one year from now? "Yeah, oh yes, yes,"
Lamarre said in a phone chat from Cirque's Montreal headquarters. "If
you'd asked me the same question a few weeks ago, I would have been
very pessimistic, but not today."
Lamarre said the three new vaccines on the horizon would allow Cirque
to perform in theaters at full capacity when the company does start
its relaunch in 2021 and into 2022. The general blueprint would be the
distribution of vaccines in the U.S. beginning in December, followed
by a loosening of restrictions into 2021 (first quarter would be the
dream scenario), then the start of reopening Cirque theaters on the
Strip.
The pandemic rendered a specific reopeningtimeline impossible at this
point. But Lamarre said the re-launch of shows would likely begin
first with "O" at Bellagio and "Mystère." The plan for which order the
shows would continue to resume is not set, but Lamarre listed "Love"
at Mirage, "MJ One" at Mandalay Bay and "Ka" at MGM Grand. Shows would
reopen every two weeks or so, ideally. Each production would require
two months of rehearsal time, and cost several million dollars to
return to the stage. "We will have to lose some money, at first, to be
able to make money," Lamarre said.
"The most important thing right now is we have hope at the end of the
tunnel," Lamarre said. "If we can start distributing vaccines as early
as next month that gives me a lot of optimism for Las Vegas. To be
able to reopen with the same number of seats in our theaters would be
an amazing bonus for us."
By January 2021, vaccines for COVID-19 began rolling out from Pfizer-
BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson. These vaccines were found
to be "highly protective against severe illness, hospitalization, and
death due to COVID-19", and so the global community slowly started to
open back up.
INTERMISSION IS OVER
On April 21, 2021, Cirque du Soleil announced that the "Cirque du
Soleil sun is rising" as the company marked the reopening
announcements of four of its most iconic shows after being closed for
more than a year due to the pandemic.
Mystère will return to its stage at Treasure Island on June 28, 2021,
and "O" will mark its first performance on July 1, 2021. LUZIA will
return with an engagement at Royal Albert Hall in London starting
January 12, 2022, while KOOZA will be presented under the iconic Big
Top in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic starting November 25. In
addition, Cirque du Soleil Events and Experiences, the company's fully
integrated international turnkey creative and artistic content
solution provider is ramping up operations.
"This is the moment we have all been waiting for," said Daniel
Lamarre. "Almost 400 days have passed since we had to take a temporary
hiatus, and we have been anxiously awaiting our return to the stage. I
am so proud of the resilience of our artists and employees who
persevered during the most challenging times with stages dark around
the world for so long. I just can't wait to see the lights go back
on."
And then it made even more announcements
The Beatles LOVE, a Cirque du Soleil creation and co-production with
Apple Corps Ltd., will reopen at The Mirage on Aug. 26, 2021. Michael
Jackson ONE by Cirque du Soleil, in collaboration with the Estate of
Michael Jackson, will reopen its exclusive residency at Mandalay Bay
Resort & Casino on Aug. 19, 2021. Alegría, Cirque du Soleil's
emblematic production, will be in Houston, Texas, under the Big Top at
Sam Houston Race Park as of Nov. 18, 2021. KOOZA, a production
acclaimed by more than eight million spectators and critics around the
world will perform at the Old Port of Montreal as of April 28, 2022.
"This is only the beginning. We look forward to sharing more exciting
news in the coming weeks," added Daniel Lamarre.
But while shows like "X: The Land of Fantasy" in Hangzhou, China had
been operating since June 3, 2020 and JOYA in Mexico since July 3,
2020, others would not make a grand return as Cirque du Soleil
eventually restarted. Amaluna and R.U.N were two of the first
casualties of course, but over time, we'd hear about others.
On November 16, 2020, Cirque du Soleil informed the cast and crew of
Zumanity about its permanent closure. "Zumanity was a groundbreaking
departure for Cirque du Soleil when it opened in September of 2003,"
said Daniel Lamarre. "We are forever grateful to the extraordinarily
talented cast, crew and staff who helped make Zumanity an
unforgettable experience for more than 7.25 million guests." After
wowing audiences with more than 7,700 shows, the last performance of
Zumanity took place on March 14, 2020 before it was shut down due to
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zumanity wasn't the only resident show that would get the axe. On
January 20, 2021, Cirque du Soleil announced on its Facebook page that
it would not be opening NYSA on the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin as
originally planned. "Due to the current situation and uncertainty, we
have unfortunately made the difficult decision not to resume the
creation of NYSA. We thank you for your enthusiasm." NYSA was to be a
modern tale that followed the story of Nysa, a fearless young woman
who longed for adventure and open skies. "Her curiosity and courage
will give her the power to step into the unexpected and fly towards
new worlds," the initial announcement stated. "Inspired by youth and
its desire to push the boundaries and aspirations for a better future,
the character looks to the outside world for a sense of what life
could be if she let her imagination soar and if she allowed herself to
take risks." NYSA was originally scheduled to open on October 28, 2020
but was pushed back to October 27, 2021 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
It was now officially been canceled.
The Cirque would go on to solidify its commitment to the other
resident shows, however:
Contract extensions for "O" at Bellagio, The Beatles LOVE at The
Mirage, KÀ at MGM Grand and Michael Jackson ONE at Mandalay Bay have
been signed. Additionally, Treasure Island and Cirque du Soleil have
recommitted to Mystère with a contract extension of up to 10 years!
More than 70 million visitors have experienced Cirque du Soleil shows
in Las Vegas since Mystère opened in 1993 and Cirque du Soleil looks
forward to continuing that legacy when the shows return safely to
their theaters.
Then, for the second year in a row, Cirque delayed "Under the Same
Sky". The world premiere had been scheduled for April 23, 2020, then
pushed to April 2021 by the COVID-19 pandemic (and creative
difficulties), was again postponed to spring 2022. However, as Cirque
du Soleil's resident shows in Las Vegas got back on their feet and
plans to restart touring shows began to gain traction in the last half
of 2021, "Under the Same Sky" was not on the list. In fact, neither
was TOTEM, AXEL, or VOLTA. These shows were quietly scuttled as plans
moved forward. DRAWN TO LIFE would make its debut, MESSI 10 would
perform in Riyadh, TWAS THE NIGHT would return for Christmas, and
BAZZAR, OVO, CRYSTAL, CORTEO, and KURIOS would all get future tour
dates. Things we're looking up.
CIRQUE GETS A NEW CHIEF
On Tuesday, November 30, 2021, Cirque du Soleil named Stéphane
Lefebvre, a chartered accountant who has been Cirque's operations
chief (COO) for the past year, as its chief executive officer (CEO),
effective Dec. 1. He replaced communications specialist Daniel
Lamarre, who will take a step back into an executive vice-chairman
role after two decades at the helm.
"The two of us went to war together" to pull Cirque out of the COVID-
19 crisis, Mr. Lamarre said in an interview ahead of the official
announcement. "And now we're looking for Stéphane to bring the company
to the next level." They'll maintain that teamwork now, with Mr.
Lefebvre, 54, in charge of daily management while Mr. Lamarre focuses
on business development and relationships with key partners such as
casino operator MGM Resorts and Disney.
Mr. Lefebvre joined Cirque du Soleil from aircraft simulator maker CAE
Inc. in 2016 in the wake of the change in Cirque ownership. He was
finance chief for four years at Cirque, leading three acquisitions as
well as its post-bankruptcy recapitalization. The soon-to-be-CEO is a
known quantity at Cirque and liked by its creative teams because he
has an appreciation for the value of their work, Mr. Lamarre said.
Other colleagues describe him as a sweet and easygoing person with a
sharp mind. Lefebvre insists he's not just a money guy. "My background
has more than just the financial aspects of management," said
Lefebvre. "I've been working in different businesses. Since I joined
Cirque du Soleil six years ago, I've been involved in different parts
of the business, not only the financial part
including the strategy
of the company and including its operations. "And I've done that in my
previous career as well. I worked for an amazing company called CAE
and I was highly involved in operations. I am a (chartered
professional accountant) by trade but I've got more than just finance
in my background. I have a lot of interest in arts and what the
creative team's capabilities are.
One of my favorite meetings was
when we reviewed creative content for upcoming shows and I have the
pleasure and benefit of having an amazing creative team."
"While there was no specific timeframe for me passing the baton after
20 years building this amazing organization, I feel privileged to have
contributed to the rebirth of Cirque du Soleil and feel now is the
right time," Lamarre said in a statement. "There is no doubt in my
mind that Stephane Lefebvre, after being instrumental in the relaunch
of our operations, is the ideal next leader to take Cirque du Soleil
forward to the next stage in its evolution as a company founded on the
conviction that the arts and business, together, can contribute to
making a better world," he added.
Recapturing revenues and clawing back profitability remain colossal
challenges for the Cirque. Openings have been staggered but the
company plans a more aggressive schedule of touring show relaunches
starting next year. Ticket sales have been stronger than expected too,
with pent-up demand fueling an initial surge, the two senior Cirque
executives said. Still, they acknowledged the fragility of the global
health situation and said they are pushing cautiously, going only into
countries and cities with high vaccination rates and rigorous sanitary
measures. "Financially, we're in really good shape right now," Mr.
Lefebvre said. He said Cirque started the year with about US$180-
million in cash for operations and also has access to untapped credit.
Lefebvre has promised a seamless transition at the top of the company
as its stable of live shows worldwide continue to reopen. "It is an
honor for me to take the lead of this Quebec flagship company, one of
the largest contemporary live entertainment producers of the world,"
said Lefebvre in his own statement.
Asked if realigning the company's executive structure was a condition
of the purchase, Lamarre said, "Not at all, and by the way, this was
my recommendation. If I would have decided to remain as a CEO, I
would. But my decision was to make sure that we ensured the stability
of the company for the next 10 years. I'm not getting younger! I
really pushed for that transition plan to be in place because I'm not
looking short-term. I'm looking mid-term. There's only one way to
learn to be a CEO, it's to be a CEO and that's why I thought Stéphane
moving in as a CEO, and counting on my presence full-time for a while,
I think is the best scenario." Lamarre added that the board insisted
that he remain as Executive Vice Chairman.
Lamarre said he's most proud of his role in stabilizing the company
through the shutdown of all of its operations in March 2020. He has a
book coming out in January, "Balancing Acts," chronicling his time
with the company. And his hand-picked successor is a prominent, new
power player on the Las Vegas entertainment scene.
LESS IS MORE
Credit ratings agencies such as Moody's have expressed concern about
the extent to which Cirque's business is centered on Las Vegas, where
its partnership with MGM counted for an estimated 35 per cent of its
US$950-million in annual pre-pandemic revenue. But Mr. Lefebvre sees
it as a steady source of cash flow, a financial anchor of sorts that
the company can build out from as it relaunches shows in other cities
in the months ahead.
What might put Moody's more at ease is the fact that Cirque itself
said it would be doing less shows than before, while embracing its
super markets'. "The reality now is, and we made it very clear with
our new owners, maybe it's better to have fewer shows and focus on
having a stronger presence in strong markets," said Lamarre.
He cited as an example of this that they will now have a new show in
Montreal every year, rather than every two years, which was the case
in the past. (The Cirque just signed a new 10-year deal with the Old
Port to have a new show every year.) Cirque du Soleil also plans to do
the same thing in Toronto, Los Angeles, and London. "So the 10 super
markets we have, we can go there every year," said Lamarre. "Only that
will change the financial model of Cirque. You have Vegas that gives
you a lot of stability. Then if you add 10 super markets that adds
another layer of sustainability." And, of course, Las Vegas. Lefebvre
has been conferring with Cirque Senior Vice President Eric Grilly and
Vice President of Operations Matt Nickel in Vegas. The company's next
planned production is a New York-themed show at New York-New York, in
the former "Zumanity" theater.
Aside from that production, there are no formal plans for a new Cirque
show on the Strip in 2022. As Lefebvre said, "In the near term, we'll
continue working on certain front-end marketing initiatives that we
have launched in this year, together with MGM, to help support our
growth in the box office." By the time the NY-NY show launches, Cirque
will present five shows in MGM Resorts International hotels.
"Mystere," at Phil Ruffin's Treasure Island, is the lone exception. "I
will be continuing to nurture the relationships with our great
partners MGM Resorts, AEG, Disney, [and] Vidanta." Lamarre said of his
new role, which is a full-time position. "I will also be involved in
new business development."
"I've taken up this challenge with a dose of humility, because this
company has been through such a rough period," Lefebrve said. "We've
been in the trenches these last 18 months. Thank God, we can count on
the amazing team in Vegas that supported the relaunch of the
operations. I certainly feel privileged now, just having seen people's
reaction to coming back into theaters and seeing our shows.
"That makes me feel extremely excited about the future."
However, by the time Cirque du Soleil began opening up more and more
(just as global economies breathed a sigh of relief), a more
infectious variant of COVID-19 reared its head Delta a more
transmissible and harder hitting version of the disease. Although more
of a concern for unvaccinated individuals at first, Delta's appearance
didn't slow the company's resurgence down any. And even though pubic
vaccination rates weren't as high as hoped (all performers and
associated persons had to be vaccinated), there seemed to be a light
at the end of the tunnel for all this.
But then an even easier transmissible variant appeared Omicron
that even seemed to evade the protections from the available vaccines.
Public infection rates soared over the holidays, runs of TWAS THE
NIGHT in New York City, ALEGRIA: IN A NEW LIGHT in Houston, and more
were canceled as performers caught the disease.
And so while Cirque du Soleil may have announced that "Intermission is
Over"
the pandemic and its effects still linger on. What will 2022
bring? At this point, all bets are off.
{fin}
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COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER
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Fascination! Newsletter
Volume 22, Number 4 (Issue #214) May/June 2022
"Fascination! Newsletter" is a concept by Ricky Russo. Copyright (C)
2001-2022 Ricky Russo, published by Vortex/RGR Productions, a
subsidiary of Communicore Enterprises. No portion of this newsletter
can be reproduced, published in any form or forum, quoted or
translated without the consent of the "Fascination! Newsletter." By
sending us correspondence, you give us permission (unless otherwise
noted) to use the submission as we see fit, without remuneration. All
submissions become the property of the "Fascination! Newsletter."
"Fascination! Newsletter" is not affiliated in any way with Cirque du
Soleil. Cirque du Soleil and all its creations are Copyright (C) and
are registered trademarks (TM) of Cirque du Soleil, Inc., All Rights
Reserved. No copyright infringement intended.
{ Jun.17.2022 }
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