With Cirque du Soleil’s rapid expansion into the world of audio/visual media, its partnership with Bravo and the ambitious marketing of its media division to overseas outlets, it seems that the supply of Cirque television programming cannot keep up with demand. Every one of Cirque’s current touring productions has been filmed for television and now, for the first time ever, one of its resident shows goes under the lens. The decision to film La Nouba, the resident show at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida is a bit of a surprise. Until recently the company had publicly stated that it would not film any of its resident productions while they were still playing, presumably due to contract stipulations with host companies and fear of lost revenue from lower ticket sales. But against the odds, Cirque du Soleil Presents La Nouba was broadcast on Sunday, May 30, 2004 on the Société Radio-Canada (the French language CBC in Canada).
Before I proceed to review the program I have an admission to make. La Nouba is the only current Cirque production I have not seen live. I know, for shame! And I call myself a Cirque fan. My meager student budget, the three-in-one-Cirque City value of Las Vegas and my general aversion to all-things Disney has meant that I have never gotten around to seeing La Nouba, most of my comparisons will be made to the bits of La Nouba I have seen from the “Inside La Nouba: From Conception to Perception” documentary/infomercial video release of 2000.
With the generally mediocre quality in the filming and editing of many other Cirque shows it comes as no real surprise that the quality of the La Nouba television special is hit-and-miss.
The La Nouba video is produced by the same Cirque du Soleil Images team that produced the previous specials; Executive Producers Martin Bolduc, Vincent Gagné and Rocky Oldham and Producers Yolande Riccioli and Dorthy Dickie. It is directed by David Mallet (who also directed the videos for Quidam and Dralion) and co-edited by Nick Morris (who directed the videos for Alegría and Varekai). Consequently, the style of the filming and the editing is very familiar, which is not necessarily a good thing.
It is often said that you have not seen a Cirque du Soleil show until you have seen it live on stage. The video productions are no substitute for the real thing. However, I understand that the videos are intentionally created as separate entities from the live shows and I am willing to give the directors some room for artistic exploration. Many fans have observed that the editing of the past few filmed Cirque shows is reminiscent of a music video. This is also the case with La Nouba; the editing is fast and the focus of the video shifts rapidly. However, given the fact that the stage is always alive and full of characters (more so in La Nouba than in most other Cirque shows) and that La Nouba is very much inspired by and created for the MTV generation, the music video-style editing seemed an appropriate stylistic choice for this film as well as being a necessary technique to keep up with the frenetic pace of the live show.
As with previous videos the director sometimes makes use of trick-camera work in an attempt to put the spectator “in” the show; a flipping camera follows a tumbler down the power track, the German Wheel rolls over the camera and trapeze artists fly toward the camera with arms outreached as if the viewer were the catcher. Most of the gimmick camera angles provide a unique perspective of the acts and the director takes care not to overuse them. However, the same cannot be said of the instant-replay slow motion which is used profusely throughout the video. The editors also have an annoying habit of frequently cutting away from the main action; the opening parade scene is substituted by a montage of clips from the show the viewer is about to see, the Power Track and Trampoline finale is chopped up to include “flashbacks” of tricks the viewer has just seen. Slow motion is even used during some interstitial sequences for no apparent reason; slowing the ballet dancers down does nothing to improve the presentation of the show, and once an acrobat completes a trick it is replayed again up to three times in slow motion. I found this editing to be unnecessary and very distracting since cutting away from the live action disrupts the flow of the scene.
Another gripe I have about the filming (and this is not exclusive to the La Nouba video) is the redesign of the show’s lighting. From what I’ve seen of La Nouba the show has always appeared very dark; for the filming large arrays of extra lighting were used and the result is an overly bright, washed-out scene for most of the show. The dramatic contrasts between light and dark in the original lighting design are ruined and everything looks too bright. It also doesn’t help that on several upward-looking angles spotlights shine directly into the camera.
Despite the film’s shortcomings there are definitely some positive aspects. La Nouba, being a resident show, is already a television-friendly 90-minutes in length, therefore the show is presented virtually in its entirety on the video.
The performance itself is superb. Highlights include a new 3-person version of the high wire act, BMX bicycles and Aerial Cradle (two acts not featured in the “Inside La Nouba” video), an alternate version of the Diabolos act featuring three performers instead of the usual four (possibly an attempt to differentiate it from the very similar act already featured in the Quidam video) and a Power Track and Trampoline finale that is among the most spectacular acts ever created by Cirque du Soleil.
The live arrangements of the music are spectacular and the score has never sounded better. I especially enjoyed Sisandra Lewis, the featured female singer, who possesses a voice as powerful as Zumanity’s Lonnie Gordon and with the beautiful tonality of Varekai’s Zara Tellander.
But overall I feel that the video is lackluster and doesn’t provide a good representation of the live show. It lacks the cinematic flair of the Quidam video and I honestly think that the filming of clips from the show for the Inside La Nouba documentary (directed by Eamon Harrington) were more evocative and effective at conveying the style, spirit and energy of the show.
However hope is not lost! Some fans may recall that the original broadcast release of Varekai also had many rough edges that were thankfully smoothed over for the DVD release. Because La Nouba has a shorter running time than the touring shows there should be ample room on the upcoming DVD to include many extra features. Many scenes in La Nouba would benefit from the ability to view them from multiple angles. And more importantly, the original video for Varekai was re-edited for its DVD release greatly improving the flow and presentation. I’m hoping the same will be done for La Nouba and that what I have seen so far is merely a work-in-progress.
