WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY
VINCENT PATTERSON
Cirque du Soleil, in partnership with Elvis Presley Enterprises, a CKX, Inc company, is thrilled to unveil today its latest resident show Viva ELVIS(tm), at ARIA Resort & Casino(tm) at CityCenter in Las Vegas.
Viva ELVIS, a harmonious fusion of dance, acrobatics and live music, is a tribute to the life and music of Elvis Presley. Nostalgia, modernity and raw emotion provide the backdrop for his immortal voice and the exhilaration and beauty of his music.
Created in the image of The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll – powerful, sexy, whimsical, truly unique and larger than life – the show highlights an American icon who transformed popular music and whose image embodies the freedom, excitement and turbulence of his era.
Significant moments in his life – intimate, playful and grandiose – blend with timeless songs that remain as relevant today as when they first hit the top of the charts. Viva ELVIS focuses on the essential humanity of the one superstar whose name will forever be linked with the history of Las Vegas: Elvis Presley.
“On a creative level, it was extremely stimulating to draw our inspiration from this musical icon,” said Guy Laliberté, Founder of Cirque du Soleil. “Viva ELVIS showcases the raw energy and pure talent of Elvis and highlights the exhilaration and beauty of his music on a grand scale.”
“It makes perfect sense that Elvis should live on in Las Vegas, where his iconic status was cemented,” said Robert F.X. Sillerman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CKX, Inc. “When we teamed with Cirque du Soleil, we knew that any show they created would match Elvis’ larger-than-life presence. So we were pleased to open the vaults at Graceland and make available to Cirque du Soleil historic archival materials, recordings and concert footage that would help them create a show that will carry Elvis’ legacy into the future.”
“An evolutionary destination designed to transform Las Vegas at its core, CityCenter is larger than life, just like Elvis himself,” said Bill McBeath, President and COO of ARIA Resort & Casino. “We want to bring the element of fun to ARIA, the centerpiece of CityCenter. Viva ELVIS will bring the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll back to Las Vegas for millions of his fans and create a buzz that will enable his persona to attract untold numbers of new followers.”
“Elvis has always been in the forefront of new, contemporary entertainment and technology,” said Priscilla Presley. “I believe Viva ELVIS continues this and reaches out and expands his legacy in a new, creative and exciting way.”
“The show’s acrobatic elements, set designs and other artistic components are part of an overall creative vision designed to showcase the timeless music of Elvis, his unique voice and unequaled talent as a performer,” said Gilles Ste-Croix, Senior Vice-president of Creative Content and New Project Development at Cirque du Soleil.
“The unique strength and power of Elvis was in his voice,” said Vincent Paterson, the show’s Writer and Director. “I was greatly inspired by the originality and complexity of this musical legend. What I tried to paint, in all humility, is the show he might have created today.”
THE CREATIVE TEAM
Artistic Guide Guy Laliberté
Artistic Guide Gilles Ste-Croix
Writer and Director Vincent Paterson
Director of Creation Armand Thomas
Musical Director and Arranger Erich van Tourneau
Set Designer Mark Fisher
Costume Designer Stefano Canulli
Acrobatic performance Designer Daniel Cola
Acrobatic Equipment
and Rigging Designer Guy St-Amour
Lighting Designer Marc Brickman
Image Content Designer Ivan Dudynsky
Sound Designer Jonathan Deans
Choreographers Bonnie Story
Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo
Mark Swanhart
Catherine Archambault
Props Designer Patricia Ruel
Makeup Designer Nathalie Gagné
SET DESIGN, ACROBATIC EQUIPMENT AND PROPS
The lines between scenery elements, acrobatic equipment and props in Viva ELVIS are not always clear – and that, according to designer Mark Fisher, was a deliberate choice.
The design of the Elvis Theater has a conventional proscenium layout reminiscent of an opera house. The stage is wide and the backstage area and wings are vast. They have to accommodate the large-scale set elements and the need for speed in changing scenes imposed by the rapid pace of the show.
The sides and the rear of the stage are fixed areas while the center is composed of 16 platforms, separated into 12 sections which can rise to a height of ten feet. Depending on the scene, the platforms may at various times in the show support performers, singers, dancers or set elements. The widest platform measures 18 feet by 80 feet and is raised by four powerful motors 26 feet below the stage.
In the image of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll
“Elvis has transcended reality and become a kind of mythic figure,” says Mark Fisher. “So his reappearance in Las Vegas has to be done on a scale that reflects that status.”
Mark Fisher’s designs illustrate many of the most significant events in the life and career of Elvis, notably for the following scenes:
Show Opening Scene
The opening number features a giant jukebox. The chrome and gloss black structure is 70 feet wide and 22 feet high with dance platforms on two levels. It incorporates a 50-foot tall video screen.
The gigantic Blue Suede Shoe that appears on the stage is 29 feet long, weighs 7,000 lbs and is made of steel and fiberglass.
Got A Lot of Livin’ To Do
The set for the Got A Lot of Livin’ To Do features seven trampolines and the whole structure was inspired by Elvis’ love of fairgrounds, which he would visit with his friends after hours. The structure weighs some 30 tons and takes up the full 78-foot width of the stage, is 23 feet deep and 32 feet tall.
Jailhouse Rock
The challenge for Mark Fisher was to come up with a set for Jailhouse Rock that would reference the iconic set used in the film, but at the same time be original and fresh. He based his new design on the technical requirements for a circus art called “marche inversée.” The structure incorporates ten tracks for acrobats to walk upside down, attached by their feet, while dancers perform right side up on other levels. The 82,000-pound set is 60 feet wide, 45 feet deep and almost 40 feet tall. Up to 36 artists appear on it at the same time.
Viva Las Vegas
Used in the last few songs in the show, this set captures the glamor of Las Vegas with a huge ceremonial staircase as its central feature. Pavilions on the sides house the musicians, and decks above the pavilions serve as stages for the dancers, jugglers and other circus artists.
To complete the glamor and provide the show with a climax, there are two beautiful gold-leaf sculptures of Elvis in iconic poses from the peak of his popularity in Vegas.
The predominant color of the whole set and theatre is gold in a reference to the baroque era as well as to Elvis’ own identification with gold as the universal symbol for the wealth of kings, and as a stylized reference to all of his gold records.
Acrobatic equipment – larger than life
Given its larger than life scale – as befits a show about Elvis – some of the acrobatic equipment could be considered part of the set design, too:
- A tubular aluminum structure measuring 45 feet by 18 feet that supports two acrobats who represent Elvis and his twin brother who died at birth, is instantly recognizable as a guitar.
- A huge 15,000-pound structure that consists of five fixed bars and two sets of parallel bars on three levels, does not so much dominate the stage as blend with Mark Fisher’s overall design for the Return to Sender sequence, which represents Elvis’s army training.
- Two large hoops – symbolizing Elvis and Priscilla’s engagement rings – are seven feet in diameter. Two acrobats perform on each hoop.
“‘Larger than life’ are the watchwords that inspired our acrobatic approach to Viva ELVIS,” says Daniel Cola, the show’s Acrobatic Performance Designer.
A few more details
- The superhero characters and the set for Got A Lot of Livin’ To Do were inspired by the Marvel comics that Elvis had read since he was a boy.
- The giant lasso used in the Western sequence is 40 feet long, and three giant “cowboys” representing Elvis complete the decor. They are made of fiberglass and measure 35, 31 and 17 feet high.
- The American flag used in the Return to Sender scene is made of genuine long underwear and boxer shorts, and has only 48 stars because Elvis entered the service in 1958, the year before Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to the Union.
- The wedding cake is a scale replica of Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding cake.
- The curtain and the stage floor are decorated with golden disks that recall the 151 Elvis Presley albums, singles and EPs that went gold, platinum or multi-platinum in the USA.
THE COSTUMES
The Rock’n’Roll Rebel
Elvis Presley defined the image of the Rock’n’Roll rebel in the ’50s and ’60s, first with pink and black suits, then with leather jackets, black pants, a pompadour hairstyle and a casual manner. This iconic image, which embodies all the excitement, turbulence and the ideal of freedom of the era, is still on the cutting edge 50 years later.
Flirting with the look of the Elvis years
The Viva ELVIS costumes are inspired by Presley’s life, his entourage, his concerts and his films. The fabulous imagination of ’50s and ’60s America, which was expressed through the cinema, advertising and magazines of the time, was a source of inspiration for costume designer Stefano Canulli. But his work is neither a reproduction of stereotypes and details of the period, nor is it a retro aesthetic.
“I flirted with the look of the Elvis years through an approach that is both classic and graphic,” says Stefano. “I brought to it a contemporary touch that reflects the vitality of the era. I’ve borrowed from 1950s design and sublimated it to create a world of eclectic Technicolor lines to come up with a dynamic fantasy that highlights the body.”
Costume Closeups
- Offset printing was used to create the anatomical patterns on the comic book superhero-inspired costumes in the Got a Lot of Living To Do number.
- The Western scene, features printed solid colors on a sponge mesh fabric that is rarely used for clothing, but extremely useful for its properties of rigidity and flexibility. The cuts are emphasized with contrasting colors, while the cowgirls’ costumes feature fake fur tutus in a cowhide pattern.
- Synthetic paper material was used to create the romantic ‘letter dresses’ of the late ’50s.
- The striped prison uniforms in the Jailhouse Rock scene were given a futuristic look with silver piping.
Production Details
- For the first time at Cirque du Soleil, some of the costume accessories use flocking – coating a surface with fibers to give it the appearance of velvet.
- For the final scene of the show, almost all the artists are wearing a variation of the famous Elvis jumpsuit. There are approximately 50 of them, using a total of 250 yards of fabric in a fiery kaleidoscope of colors. Each is decorated with embroidered images that evoke the world of Elvis – objects, food, animals, personal effects and so on.
- Urethane foam wigs recreate the Elvis hairstyle in a Japanese manga comic strip interpretation.
- The showgirls’ costumes are decorated with colorful feathers printed on transparent acetate to create the illusion of a plume of crystal feathers.
- The costumes are ornamented with some 100,000 crystals.
- The show calls for more than 450 pairs of shoes and 150 custom wigs.
- There is a total of nearly 400 Viva ELVIS costumes, employing some 1,500 components such as shoes, wigs and dresses.
THE MUSIC
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Viva ELVIS highlights the music of an American icon who changed rock and roll forever. Elvis Presley created an art form for the masses with his voice, his movements and his provocative image as the herald of adolescent rebellion in the 1950s and 1960s. His music was an explosive mixture of rhythm and blues, gospel, country and the music of the South that brought rock and roll to the forefront of popular music.
Evoking the spirit of Elvis in a contemporary perspective
By creating a reinterpretation of the music of Elvis, Cirque du Soleil set out to present the songs of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in a contemporary form that evokes the spirit of Elvis in every way.
“What would the songs of Elvis be like if he were doing them for the first time today?” asks Musical Director and Arranger Erich van Tourneau. “With all humility, I set out to evoke the soul and the spirit of Elvis Presley, while building a bridge between his music and future generations of fans.”
A fusion of Southern music and the culture of rock
The styles of Viva ELVIS move from Delta blues to rockabilly, soul to gospel, through Dixie and Southern folk music. Some of the songs even evoke garage rock and punk, steeped in waves of hip-hop and urban music. But one thing is certain and remains consistent: the sound of Viva ELVIS is pure rock.
Tapping into the rich catalog of Elvis
One of the biggest challenges was to establish a balance in the selection of songs. The score had to include enough of Elvis’s hits but not be a simple “best-of” playlist. Some of the songs were chosen to fit the narrative of the show, but above all it was Presley’s boundless energy and his disarming charisma that dictated van Tourneau’s choices. “I wanted to highlight his rebel side, recall his sexy and provocative facets and seize the powerful and charismatic Elvis you see in the documentary Elvis ’56 and Elvis, the television broadcast of his 1968 comeback concert,” he says. One thing’s for sure: choosing thirty songs from such a rich catalog of work by the greatest songwriters of the era was as delicate a task as it was challenging.
Sampling and textures
Armed with tens of thousands of samples of Elvis’s voice, Erich van Tourneau, assisted by Ugo Bombardier, often wove several sequences and colors into the same songs, sometimes changing the key. In creating his remix, Erich was looking to accentuate and boost the emotional charge of the songs. For example, he incorporated ragga rhythms into King Creole, and urban and hip-hop sounds into Blue Suede Shoes. But in all such cases, the watchword was to be respectful of the spirit of the original recordings.
The voice of Elvis
The live singers in Viva ELVIS are all female; the only male voice is that of Elvis himself – on the grounds that only Elvis could possibly do justice to Elvis when it came to portraying his vitality and seductive charm. Isolating his voice on the original recordings was a major technical challenge, because his voice and the instruments were almost always recorded on the same tracks.
A few more details
- Before starting work, Erich van Tourneau and Ugo Bombardier reviewed and recorded 914 authorized and unauthorized albums and countless films, concert recordings, interviews and home recordings – a job that took more than 3,000 hours!
- 17,765 samples of Elvis songs – the raw material of the show – were made during the process of creating the musical score.
- In addition to the four female singers, the team of nine musicians consists of a drummer, a bassist, two guitarists, a pianist, a trombonist, a saxophonist, a trumpeter and a percussionist.
SCENE DESCRIPTION
BLUE SUEDE SHOES
One of the seminal songs that propelled Elvis to fame, Blue Suede Shoes opens the show with raucous abandon, featuring a dynamic ensemble of 30 dancers and 24 acrobats boogying, bouncing and flying through the air. A giant jukebox adorns the stage until a giant blue suede shoe rolls on. The eight-piece band and four female singers energize a showcase filled with Elvis imagery, colorful graphics and vintage footage of euphoric fans.
DON’T BE CRUEL
This number pays tribute to Elvis’ fantastic recording career and the sheer volume of his work. Twenty-four dancers take the stage for the classic song, featuring glittering images of flying gold records on eight LED panels, and six enormous RCA and Sun gold records lowered from the rafters.
ONE NIGHT WITH YOU
An epic-sized guitar, a symbol of Elvis’ love of music and his larger-than-life persona, serves as an imaginary playground for Elvis and his twin brother Jesse Garon, who died at birth. The song is a duet between a female singer at a piano and Elvis himself.
ALL SHOOK UP
Gospel music was at the very core of Elvis’ artistry. This powerful rendition of an Elvis classic, performed by one of the singers in a rich setting of colorful stained glass imagery, lends the dance number a Southern revival feel.
SAVED
Elvis loved singing gospel more than any other musical genre. In fact, each of his three Grammys was for a gospel recording. This euphoric number combines dance with acrobatics.
GOT A LOT OF LIVIN’ TO DO
Full of thrills and daring feats, Got A Lot Of Livin’ To Do is a trampoline number inspired by street acrobatics and Elvis’ fascination with comic books, amusement parks and superheroes. Seven acrobats in stylized superhero costumes defy gravity in a stunning cavalcade of synchronized jumps, leaps and bounces.
HEARTBREAK HOTEL
A ballad of love, sorrow and separation, Heartbreak Hotel features four dance couples – the men dressed as army officers and the women wearing airmail envelope dresses. They are torn between loyalty to country and their emotional ties to their loved ones.
LOVE ME TENDER
A duet sung by Elvis and a female singer is underscored by a montage of still photographs and newsreel footage of Elvis’ two years in the army.
RETURN TO SENDER
Boot camp as performance art – a large ensemble cast of dancers, acrobats and marching band musicians puts on a dizzying array of hip hop moves, and high-bar calisthenics. Backed by a gigantic American flag made of whimsical stars and stripes, the sharp, compelling movements are emblematic of precision, pride and patriotism – all highly distinctive characteristics of Elvis himself.
ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT
This aerial pas-de-deux features a soldier and his girlfriend in a dreamy ode to their love and devotion – and their efforts to stay together during his tour of duty by writing to each other.
WESTERN SCENE
Musicians gather around a campfire in a reference to the style and camaraderie of the ’68 Comeback Special, and perform a medley of songs on acoustic instruments while two cowboys spin their guns and twirl their lassos in a playful routine.
BURNING LOVE
A cascade of movie clips pays homage to Elvis’ Hollywood career. The live band rocks the house and punctuates classic dialogue delivered by the King.
BOSSA NOVA
A young guy triumphantly shows off at a party by building a tower of eight chairs and topping it off with a one-arm handstand.
KING CREOLE
New Orleans sets the tone for this lusty rendition of the title song from one of Elvis’ best-loved films. It’s Reggae, it’s Calypso, it’s Cajun, and above all it’s fun as a female singer is accompanied by Elvis in a visual feast of stop-action film clips and dance.
JAILHOUSE ROCK
Jailhouse Rock marked the pinnacle of Elvis’ movie career. It’s also the centerpiece of Viva ELVIS. A dramatic, mysterious entrance gives way to a high-octane dance and acrobatic fusion performed to the pulsating beat of the familiar anthem. In a tribute to the original film sequence, the iconic prison set is dramatically updated in a number that flips the world upside down.
IT’S NOW OR NEVER
The sensuality of the tango and the sophistication of a lounge song connect with the audacity of an innovative pole performance featuring eight female performers and the four men they seduce.
CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE
Home movies of Elvis and Priscilla’s courtship lead into footage of their marriage ceremony. A singer performs a duet with Elvis atop a replica of their wedding cake to accompany graceful ballet dancers and roller-skaters.
LOVE ME/DON’T
Two seven-foot hoops – scale replicas of Elvis and Priscilla’s engagement rings – descend from the grid for two couples to perform a sensual cerceaux act to a rocking arrangement of Love Me. A female singer and guitarist join the party for Don’t.
VIVA LAS VEGAS
Showgirls wearing colorful plumes parade down the central staircase of a spectacular stage set framed by two gold Elvis statues. All the other cast members are wearing shimmering reinterpretations of classic Elvis jumpsuits as a medley of songs pays tribute to the glitz and sparkle of Elvis’ Vegas years.
SUSPICIOUS MINDS
Suspicious Minds opens with a soulful riff and builds to a thunderous finish. A couple caught in a trap of passion and anger express their feelings for each other in an energetic acrobatic dance. Once the duo is reconciled, the set fills with performers emerging at the top of the staircase in fringed jumpsuits, recreating Elvis’ signature stage
moves.
HOUND DOG
The entire cast brings the show to an unforgettable finale with a dynamic, modern celebration of the song that marked Elvis’ rise to fame.
{ SOURCE: Cirque du Soleil Press Room }
