Issue #136: MAY 2015 – Released!

Welcome to the latest edition of Fascination, the Unofficial Cirque du Soleil Newsletter.

There’s no mistaking what’s on everyone’s mind this month – and what the hot topic is in this month’s news section – the sale of Cirque du Soleil to TPG Capital, a Texas-based private equity fund; Fosun Capital Group, a privately owned fund manager based in Shanghai; and La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a long-term institutional investor that manages funds primarily for public and para-public pension and insurance plans. What would the sale mean for the future of Cirque du Soleil? Would shows close? Would the Headquarters move? Would the company lose its artistic credibility? What about the Theme Park? Would anything be the same? While it’s too soon to tell (the deal is fresh and doesn’t close until the third quarter), for now the Head-quarters will remain in Montreal, Daniel Lamarre will remain CEO, Guy Laliberte will remain as a creative consultant, so for the moment it is business as usual. At this juncture we have no idea how the sale may affect Cirque’s current or future shows. So, in the immortal words of Deeda (Amaluna): NO PANIC! However, we know from the press releases that the Cirque is once again going to focus expansion efforts in China, so we’ll likely hear about their plans for that region of the world very, very soon.

We here at Fascination remain cautiously optimistic about the whole affair to be honest. Change can be a good thing, and we do feel that Cirque du Soleil could benefit greatly from new partners/owners as they could offer fresh insights – depending on how involved they’ll want to be in the day-to-day at the company’s HQ (which we’re betting they won’t be.) Still, perhaps they can nudge the Cirque back into plussing the shows they have running currently, rather than taking away from them. Amaluna comes to mind with some of its recent changes (the addition of Static Trapeze and now Dralion’s Hoop Diving act seems interesting) could help re-make that show, which I think was hurt greatly by its recent cuts, and yet changes to Varekai and the retirement of its Icarian Games act are getting the exact opposite response. Although we have heard great things about the show’s new Synchronized Tumbling act (and can’t wait to see it in action), it’s the loss of yet another “signature” act from the show (both Water Meteors and Triple Trapeze were retired during the show’s conversion from Big top to Arena.) And with the shortening of segues and other character moments to outright deletions and reductions in skill sets of the remaining acts, it’s hard not to have certain reservations about where Varekai is headed.

But getting back to Cirque du Soleil as a whole: the big challenge is going to be the company’s planned second push into China. Part of the problem with their first appearance (ZAIA) was that Cirque really resisted catering to local Chinese tastes, as an article in Bloomberg pointed out (which you can read inside). And it’s certainly a sentiment we here at Fascination shared as well: ZAIA didn’t work because it was too much Cirque and too little Chinese. Dragone’s House of Dancing Waters works because in addition to being acrobatic (which China is known for), it’s also big and bold. It took chances that have paid off handsomely for Dragone and his company. His “Han Show”? Bolder yet! Have you seen the trailers and teasers? Impressive! It is my belief that Cirque du Soleil’s next China efforts are going to have to be as big and bold as “O” was to Las Vegas in 1998. You certainly can’t replicate that now, but, the vision and the drive? That they’re going to need. Whatever they do in China now will have to be bold, and it’s going to have to be unique. Perhaps “TORUK – The First Flight”, Cirque du Soleil’s AVATAR-themed show will be their bold statement, as the show is rumored to tour China following its North American Tour due to start on November 20th.

All the news associated with the sale of Cirque du Soleil has been specially collected for ease of perusal. You’ll find it in the area marked “Special Engagement — Cirque Cashes In / Sells Out”.

But while the sale of Cirque du Soleil to investors is big news, there are other things to consider too. Amidst the mêlée “TORUK: The First Flight”, Cirque du Soleil’s trip into the world of AVATAR, was also announced, due to debut (for previews) this coming November in the state of Louisiana before holding its gala premiere in Cirque’s home-town of Montreal. TORUK – The First Flight, inspired by James Cameron’s AVATAR, a live experience by Cirque du Soleil, envisions a world beyond imagination set thousands of years before the events depicted in the film. The word Toruk, in the Na’vi language, refers to the great leonopteryx, the mighty red and orange predator that rules the Pandoran sky. Central in Na’vi lore and culture, this fascinating creature is crucial to the Na’vi clans’ sense of destiny and inter-connectedness – and is about to be ridden for the very first time by a Na’vi. It sounds intriguing! Learn more about it in our FEATURES section this month. I was skeptical at first but the more I see of this show, how the stage might be setup, and everything else, makes me re-think everything I ever thought about this venture. My mind remains open!

Also in our FEATURES this month is a quick peek at LE GRAND CONCERT’s DVD/Blu-Ray release. How does it compare to the broadcast versions we were able to see? It blows it away! But not without a couple caveats. Check the review within for more. Additionally, the Wall Street Journal had a fantastic article about safety at Cirque du Soleil, which we included this month as a special. While it focuses a lot on the Sarah Guillot-Guyard incident, there’s much more to be learned not only about the accident but about safety as well. It’s a fantastic read! Keith Johnson gets a little audience participation with TOTEM.

As always we also have the posts made to Cirque’s Facebook pages, and updates to Cirque’s touring schedule. Oh, and don’t forget to pick up Issue #5 of “The Chapiteau-Fascination! Magazine” here: < http://issuu.com/thechapiteau/docs/tcfmag_issue_5 >.

So, let’s get started!

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