“The Last Viewings of ZED”
By: Steve Long – West Hartford, Connecticut (USA)
It’s hard to believe that I’ve seen ZED for the last time. Those last viewings on August 11 and August 13, 2011 were wonderful. There had been a couple of casting changes and a couple of artists were absent from their group routines but the show was still strong. The aftermath of the March earthquake in Tohoku did result in a major change to the show, however, the deployment of an airbag below the high wire act, just in case the stage and high wire started shaking in the middle of the act. It’s one thing to consider the odds of an earthquake shaking things while you’re a couple of stories above the stage, it’s another to have a major quake followed by numerous major aftershocks bringing into focus the actual possibility of an earthquake induced fall.
The resident creative team, most of whom were involved in the superbly realized change of ZED from a two-act show to a one-act show, once again worked their magic with the process of deploying and then taking down the airbag. Someone seeing the show for the first time would have had no idea that anything had changed from the first days of performance. The change had the added benefit of emphasizing the character of the Shaman and his role in creating the world of ZED. His actions bringing out the airbag carried over into more activity on the Shaman’s part as he brought the other aspects of the ZED world into being.
I think I have seen about 20 different Cirque du Soleil (CDS) shows and while I acknowledge that seeing live performances is a very personal thing, one person may love a show that another person sees as just ordinary – for me, ZED is one of the strongest shows, residential or touring, that CDS is currently presenting. The creation of the world of ZED was well done, the artistic base of the show is strong enough to weather changes in cast and acts. I think ZED could have challenged Mystere in terms of longevity. But on December 31, 2011 it will be done.
ZED was the product of a particular artistic purpose (to create a residential show in Japan) and the product of a particular collection of artistic talent and insight at all levels of creation and performance. I look forward to the day when artistic purpose and artistic talent once again combine to create a show that I would travel to the far side of the world to see again.
Afterthoughts
The Oriental Land Corporation (OLC) press release talked about a review of the business conditions for their collaboration with Cirque du Soleil (CDS). As it was OLC that made the initial announcement of the closing and as the Tohoku disasters were so fresh in our minds it was easy for me to assume that this was a decision primarily made in Japan in reaction to the difficulties the country was facing.
After my visit to Japan, though, it struck me that Cirque du Soleil may have had reasons to question the value of continuing ZED as well, such as a change of business plans and the increasing cost of operating in Japan.
During CirqueCon 2007, Orlando!, when ZED was in development in Montreal, we learned of a plan to build a number of Cirque du Soleil theater spaces using the La Nouba Theater as a template. This would allow the possibility for shows to rotate among theaters. There was also the move to create permanent resident shows outside North America, starting with Macao, Tokyo and Dubai.
Cirque Theatre Tokyo, the host space for ZED, was the only other theater built using the LaNouba stage footprint, the Dubai show never materialized and no other locations were added to the list. Now what we’re seeing are shows developed for existing theater spaces with an emphasis on increasing the overseas touring model, both by finding new venues for existing shows and creating new shows that will travel internationally from early on in the tour, with the intent to perform in venues of various sizes, not just big tops. With this shift in business plan could come a shift in support for shows created under the old business plan, especially shows that are running into difficulties, like an increase in operational expenses.
When ZED was being developed the returns were probably generated using a Yen exchange rate of something a little better than 100 Yen to the U.S. Dollar. When CirqueCon 2008, Tokyo! occurred the rate was about 97 Yen to the U.S. Dollar and it kept dropping as time went on. For the first half of 2011 the exchange rate was in the low 80’s and in August, when I went over, it was trading just under 77 Yen. If the CDS artists and staff were being paid in Yen, then Cirque du Soleil was having to pay more in Dollars to achieve the same amount in Yen. If the pay was in Dollars converted to Yen then CDS was having to provide financial supplements so that people could live. The cost of OLC provided services was also increasing in Dollar terms.
OLC might have had reasons other than the earthquake damage and the reliability of electricity, I’m thinking attendance. Not just attendance at performances of ZED, but attendance at Tokyo Disneyland Resort overall.
I’m not sure how CDS approaches repeat attendance at its shows. How much of the total audience for a particular show is going to be one-time only guests? How much will be people returning a few times to see the show again? How much will be passionate fans purchasing seats at locations all over North America, or even all over the world? For the various Disney parks though I’m fairly certain that there is an emphasis on bringing the same visitors back again and again over time.
In the early afternoon of August 16, I returned to the Tokyo DisneySea park in Tokyo Disneyland Resort, having first visited it in May of 2010. The park was crowded, popular rides had waits of 150 minutes, many other rides had waits of 50 minutes. At the Mediterranean Harbor, a large body of water for the staging of extravaganzas just inside the main entry to the park, people were already gathering for the afternoon performance of “The Legend of Mythica.” This involved a dozen or more tricked out motorized barges, with a dozen decorated skidoo type watercraft running around, easily a hundred cast members in full costume with synchronized choreography at locations all around the Harbor. No sign of anything being held back in terms of production values. There was also a nighttime program called “Fantasmic!”, which involved different tricked out motorized barges but less cast members as the nighttime aided the visual technology. Again, there was no sense of anything being held back in production. In fact in a September article in the Japan Times online it’s noted that attendance had started to return in May of 2011 with July attendance matching that of the year before. (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110902f2.html). Neither of these extravaganzas were staged during my visit in 2010 and it’s likely that next year there will be something entirely different plying the waters of Mediterranean Harbor. To bring back the Guests, all the Disney parks need to create new things for the Guests to see and enjoy on repeat visits. It’s possible that, even as they were creating a special ticket, (a full fare ZED ticket with a reduced cost ticket to either Tokyo DisneyLand or Tokyo DisneySea) OLC was wondering how long a show that does not change could bring repeat business to a place that changes on a regular basis.
Both Oriental Land Corporation and Cirque du Soleil were probably reconsidering their long term commitment to ZED well before March 2011, and the Tohoku disasters gave them an opportunity to sit down and review the long term viability of the show in light of far more than the damage resulting from the natural and man-made disasters that had impacted the country.
For me, ZED was the primary reason to make the journey out to the Tokyo Disneyland Resort every year since 2007. That doesn’t mean I won’t visit the next time I’m there, just that visiting won’t have the priority it had before. I’ll be focusing on Cirque du Soleil performances at venues closer to home.
