On Monday, Robin Leach posted a Q+A with director Mukhtar O.S. Mukhtar, who is helming Cirque du Soleil’s third-annual “One Night for One Drop” benefit spectacular for the second consecutive year, this time on March 20 at “The Beatles Love” Theater in the Mirage. Mukhtar talked in-depth about the storyline that continues from the first “One Drop” in “O” Theater at Bellagio in 2013 and second show at “Michael Jackson One” Theater in Mandalay Bay last year. Now, he continues the conversation with One Drop exec Catherine Bachand:
“Robin, let me emphasize this again. We do ‘One Night for One Drop’ because the fact is one child dies every 20 seconds somewhere in the world going without water. It’s 4,000 a day. That’s more than five filled jumbo jets falling out of the sky a day.”
Q. A very sad but powerful illustration of the problem with the lack of water in the world. What did you think of this preview with these two aerial acrobats who are going to be the stars of this year’s show?
I actually get really emotional before events like today because it really reconnects me with not only the concept of “One Night for One Drop,” but also the fact that there is so much talent and passion going into putting on this event. These guys have 10 shows a week, and on top of that they have to imagine a whole new act, practice it in their own hours, on top of the training that they do for their own show, which I think is three hours per day.
It’s a big challenge for them to perform in a 360 venue like this one. For all the artists, it’s going to be a challenge. It’s something when you’re used to it, but when you leave a different venue to come here …
Q. This is year three. Remember the very first time in year one, you said it was one-night, one-time only. It’s now gone to a second year and a third year, so it looks set as a permanent fixture?
Well, I would never take it for granted. I think this is; because all of the employees are so committed, that’s the only reason we can have this event. It’s also because we have a partnership with MGM Resorts and Cirque du Soleil.
We have more and more committed, all volunteers in their own way. During the year whether you’re doing PR communications, info graphic stuff, you get to work on ‘One Drop.’ I think what it did for the employees, it really brought them all together to deliver something bigger than themselves and connected them to the higher purpose. That’s what Cirque is doing by committing so much to water globally.
Q. Year One was in the “O” Theater, Year Two in the “Michael Jackson One” Theater, and now the third one is in “The Beatles Love” Theater. You’re going to run out of theaters by year eight, so does Guy let you bring the tent back where it all started for him?
We might have a surprise to announce for 2016. Our idea is to engage the whole community. I think through these events, we’ve brought new audiences here to the theater. It shows them also what the capability of the venue is. Mukhtar will be able to use this in ways that it’s never been used before. The idea is to really surprise and please the audience, just like the first year at the “O” Theater.
We were able to use that stage to create mountains and elevation, which you actually can’t see in the “O” show. I think here we’re going to see things that will blow your mind.
Q. If he gets his way?
He will. There’s no one to say that he can’t. Creating a new Cirque show costs millions of dollars, but this one is done on the dime just because people contribute all their time and talent. They all give, and we have technical donations from all sorts of people.
Q. It’s so special, couldn’t it be more than one night and still be special? Couldn’t it run two weeks? Couldn’t there be an opportunity for it not to just be one night, or does that upset all the other productions? If you had a Cirque tent at the Rock in Rio site or MGM Resorts Village opposite the Luxor, then you could do two weeks?
It’s a good question. It’s a question for Cirque. What the capacity of the market is to have a whole new show, it certainly would take away from the special … I mean, it’s called “One Night for One Drop” because it is just for one night. It’s still more than 2,000 tickets that we have to sell for that special night putting on the show and everything that comes with it.
I think for everyone who buys those VIP tickets, there’s a sense that you’re part of something unique. You know what it’s like when you watch something magical happen right in front of your eyes, like you’re kayaking and you see a whale jumping; You have to really pay attention because this moment is actually never going to happen again.
That’s the feeling I want everyone in that room that night to have. That feeling that what you’re watching is a manifestation of a company coming together to change the world, and pay attention because it’s not going to happen again.
Q. The two previous shows raised $11.3 million?
Yes, and in addition with our overall first generation of programs, we helped 655,000 people. One Drop when we started our first water-access programs, they were all done in sort of pilot mode, and we were reaching anywhere between 20,000 to 50,000 beneficiaries per program.
Now because of the new business model, so all the partnerships we’re developing within the sector, the work that we do in the field in Central America and Africa and India, because of our model of partnership and leverage and with local governments, corporations and other sector players, we are able to deliver programs that now reach 655,000 people.
So the scale and scope of our program have grown tremendously because of those partnerships and the way we operate.
Q. In your own words, please explain to the people in Nevada who think this problem only exists in India, therefore,” “I don’t have to worry about it. It’s never going to affect me.” How do you address that on a local or state level?
The World Economic Forum that just concluded in Davos, Switzerland, identified water as the top challenge risk of the century for humanity. It’s a risk not only for developing countries, but for developed countries, as well. There are a lot of diseases being spread because of the lack of water, bad water.
There’s a lot of political instability, the fact that we’re keeping half of the African continent busy carrying water all day whereas productive time could be freed to generate so much revenue.
Q. How does that affect people in Nevada and Las Vegas? People don’t think we have a water problem. Tell me why we have a water problem. Tell me why we’re going to have a water problem.
Well the problem is that we’re taking from the water shed and underground water reserves. Way more than the reserve is able to replenish itself. The problem is when you have years like we have had in the past few years where you do don’t have a lot of snow pack, the problem is that the water reserve is not replenishing itself. The levels are lower, and it’s dramatic.
It’s as important for people in Las Vegas and Nevada to worry about it as for people in India. It starts at home; it starts with us. We take it for granted until it stops running from the tap. You wake up one morning and you don’t have water. I think we have to figure out ways to manage the resources better. We have very water-intensive industries that could do a whole lot better in using new technologies.
The water that we save, the community here in Las Vegas, are credits that we get back to use more water from the Colorado River. Every single drop that we save is important and has a real impact. The economy here is so tied with the Colorado River that it represents $9 billion. If the river was not there, our economy would be poor by $9 billion. I don’t think people realize how tied we are to water.
If you don’t have water here, everything is going to close up. Look at big cities like what’s going on in Brazil and Sao Paulo. They now have water only three days a week. What do you do the rest of the time? The idea is to be smart enough that in Las Vegas we never get to that state. So we recycle, reuse and replenish so we never run out. Everybody has a role to play.
{ SOURCE: Las Vegas Sun | http://goo.gl/8I0Vp9 }
