Onstage they are star-crossed lovers Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan in the new spectacular “For the Record: Baz” opening in previews at Light in Mandalay Bay on Friday. Offstage, Ruby Lewis and Ciaran McCarthy are enjoying a real-life romance, but they’ve got a serious, three-strike warning for theatergoers when their 360-degree, immersive theatrical concert experience opens June 26.
Ruby, who plays Daisy in the part rock show, part musical theater, part nightclub spectacle, has been a member of the Los Angeles company of For the Record for the past three years in 10 of its productions . She’s appeared in “Desperate Housewives” and “Rules of Engagement” and recently toured starring in the Queen rock theatrical “We Will Rock You.”
Ciaran originated the role of Gatsby in the L.A. production of “For the Record: Baz” and appeared in the John Hughes and Quentin Tarantino theatrical mashups too. He appeared on “NCIS: Los Angeles” and toured in “The Wedding Singer.”
On Monday, the cast was in the final run-throughs before getting ready for today’s dress rehearsals in makeup. Last-minute adjustments were being made to lighting cues and video-wall scenery. The 90-minute production has an ensemble cast of true triple threats and a knockout six-piece band for audiences to take a wild, captivating ride through the cinematic and musical films of Australian director Baz Luhrmann.
“Romeo + Juliet,” “Moulin Rouge” and “The Great Gatsby” are threaded together in love to collide in the concert mashup with an epic soundtrack.
“Turning popular cinema into immersive entertainment is the perfect match for Las Vegas in a hot nightclub,” said Scott Zeiger, president of Cirque du Soleil theatrical that’s bringing “Baz” to Mandalay Bay.
Earlier when the cast moved to Las Vegas, I interviewed lead actress Ginifer King for an inside look at the custom-stage-designed show that will envelop audiences in a wild, nightly celebration. Just how wild will this underground spectacle be?
It became a major part of my conversation with Ruby and Ciaran:
This looks incredibly complicated, Ruby, doing a theater show in a nightclub.
This is like testosterone nightclub. Steroids nightclub.
Q. What’s it like working inside Light?
It has its challenges, but it’s basically everything we’ve ever wanted the show to be. It’s meant to be immersive, and this place makes that so possible. Besides having 3D elements like rain, it really gives the audience a full sensory experience, which is what we always wanted to be able to do.
Q. I was watching the lighting scene with all the candles just now. Is that an altar?
Yes, that represents Juliet’s altar when she takes the dram of poison and kills herself.
The two of you are a couple in the show and real life. Let’s talk about the relationship in the show first. You are what to him in the show?
I play Daisy Buchanan, so we really do get to be very close during the show and have some intimate moments. We are told that we have really fine chemistry, so that was good to hear! I’ve heard interviews where actors say they don’t have good onstage chemistry with their significant others for some reason even though they’re together, so we really pat ourselves on the back.
Q. Are you acting, Ciaran, or are you just being real?
It’s real. She’s great and she is really open and vulnerable, and it’s pretty much Ruby when I see Daisy onstage. She gives me the things that I see every day, and I react to that.
Ruby: A lot of times in the scenes in the show, the characters are experiencing loving being together and feeling fortunate to be together. So it’s very easy for us to feel fortunate to be together in that moment. That’s why it seems so real.
Q. Did the two of you meet in the show, or did you know each other before the show?
We met as a result of theater, but it wasn’t this For the Record show. We were doing “9 to 5” in a regional theater production.
Q. And then both of you were hired for this show?
Yes. I had been doing the For the Record shows for several months when I met him, and I thought he was just a perfect fit for the company as a triple threat. I brought him to see one of the shows; he fell in love with it. He submitted a tape, and it was a no-brainer. He was hired. I didn’t have anything to do with that, though!
Q. So you meet in regional theater, you get him interested in “Baz,” and now, Ciaran, how do you avoid being on top of each other day and night?
I think communication is very important. We try to approach it with a very encouraging positive. We don’t give each other notes. We don’t tell each other how the other could improve their performance. It’s the No. 1 rule in relationships and acting.
Ruby: I think the show in Los Angeles is such a creative outlet and joy for both of us. We get to go together, experience it together, and then we get to come home and talk about how much fun it is and how fortunate we are to have this showcase. It’s become a mutual joy.
Q. Is it tough to separate it when you go home after you’ve been in love for 90 minutes publicly?
Yeah, we’re in what we call the bubble. It’s hard to get out of the bubble, especially if there’s not a whole lot else going on.
Q. How long have the two of you been together?
Since January 2013. We’re not married yet.
Q. Have you thought about a Las Vegas wedding?
The more weddings I go to, the more I think about eloping, but my mom would be so upset!
Ciaran: Being an actor and artist is always so challenging. I think we want to have a good solid job or two underneath our feet when we take that plunge. A couple of TV shows wouldn’t hurt.
Q. So your reaction when you heard you were moving to Las Vegas with the show was what?
Excited! We have been wanting to see this brand explode nationally. It’s such a cool concept, there’s nothing like it anywhere, and we thought what a great place to expose what we’re doing. What a great platform in one of the greatest entertainment capitals of the world to see this new, exciting, cutting-edge brand enter into entertainment.
Q. In Los Angeles, you have four rotating director’s shows, and here in Las Vegas we get the best? Is that the idea?
I think it’s the best one. I think it’s the best concept, the best conceived, and I also think that Baz Luhrmann’s films work the best together. It’s a mashup. I think this is the best-constructed show we have. I think it’s the cleanest and has the best art.
Ruby: It’s gut wrenching. People come, and they don’t realize just how emotional they can become seeing live theater. I think it takes people by surprise.
Q. This is new theater? This is theater to get kids back into theater because nightclubs have stolen them away?
Yeah. I fear for the regular proscenium theater because immersive theater is where it’s at. Attention spans are getting smaller, and people want to feel like they’re in it, and that’s exactly why this brand is taking off. Not only is it just creatively brilliant, but also it lets you be a part of it. Even as far as allowing people to take photos and hashtag them, even that becomes part of the experience.
Q. I’m not being overly dramatic, but what wrecked normal theater — nightclubs or social media?
I don’t know. I blame video games!
Ciaran: It could have been both. It’s becoming a high art. It’s like theater as we know it, musical theater, what we grew up learning and loving is almost becoming like opera in terms of it becoming an elite thing to do. You put your nose up about going to the theater. That’s not how it was created. It was for the people, the masses, the blue-collar entertainment realm.
Q. How do you think Las Vegas theater audiences who are tuned into Cirque du Soleil are going to react and relate to this?
I think something that this show has that some Cirque shows may not have is the through line and the storyline in which you immediately attach to these characters and you go through the journey with them; a full story arc. People forget how much they love storytelling.
It’s easy to watch tricks and to be in ooh and ah over people who are doing death-defying stunts, but what we do is we get in there and we get down to the emotional core of why people love the theater and entertainment. They can relate to it. And relive movies. People love these movies; they love quoting them.
Q. But how do you deal with a rowdy audience drinking and partying at the same time?
Ruby: We embrace it, and we encourage it.
Ciaran: We ask the audience to be respectful, and generally they are. They know the moments when they can jump in and say a line or sing along with a song, and we encourage it. In many ways, it works our improv muscles because we have to be on guard that people are going to be willing to play, and we want it. It reminds them that they’re involved; they’re part of this.
Q. So it’s a little bit like “Rocky Horror” with the audience screaming along at the movie?
Ruby: Yes, absolutely, and it can throw you off.
Ciaran: It can depending on what’s happening. I remember one time we were in a big fight scene with Daisy, Gatsby and Tom, and then someone’s cell phone kept going off. We’re used to it, we’ll move on, but at one point our Tom Buchanan turned around and said, “Alright, who’s got the phone?” He stayed in character, and it became this whole ordeal to try to find the phone because this woman lost it, and it was constantly ringing through the whole scene.
The audience loved it and just started howling, and we get right back into it and we go. That happens all the time. It makes the audience feel like they’re really a part of this. Just don’t be belligerent; pick and choose the times when you blurt out. When Tina is dying, it’s probably not the best time to start screaming.
Q. And you don’t mind waiters running around pouring drinks or people getting up to go to the bar?
Ruby: No. When we first started, it was a dinner theater.
Ciaran: When you first move from the traditional proscenium theater and you come into this environment, it is alarming. It’s way more collaborative than the typical proscenium show because there are so many other moving elements. So things like wait staff then become part of our team, and we start to become familiar with the guys pouring the drinks.
Q. So every night is completely different?
There’s a consistent show, but little touches here and there will definitely be different depending on the audience.
Q. Is that scary for an actor? Is that fun for an actor? Is it challenging? What is it?
It can be challenging. You want certain things from certain audiences. You want John Hughes audiences to be filling in the lines so I can turn around and I don’t have to say them because the audience already hit the punch line. It can be challenging, but it keeps you on your toes. Once you lose that idea of how it’s going to go and let the audience move you and take you, I think you become a better performer for it.
Ruby: The euphoria that I feel being onstage rather than being behind a camera is it’s a give and take between the audience, and this is the ultimate form of that. If someone is crying, you can see it so clearly, and it becomes an immersive experience for us, too.
Q. Finish this sentence in terms of the two of you onstage, then finish this same sentence with the two of you at home in the kitchen. Love is …
Daisy and Gatsby have quite a heart-wrenching situation, but it’s organic. They really do love each other.
Ciaran: I would say my character has a different love than you have. I would say my character can’t help but love you, therefore love would be obsessive, and in him it’s impossible because he thinks he has it, but he doesn’t. I liked him in the movie. I didn’t like her. I was like why wouldn’t you leave him? He doesn’t love you like Gatsby loves you.
Ruby: Her love is very impulsive and it’s fly by night and completely destructive.
Q. So we’ve got love is obsessive for Gatsby and love is fly by night and impulsive for Daisy, but now at home love is …
Ruby: Love is effortless.
Ciaran: Love is wonderful. It’s reciprocal.
Q. One final question. What do you do if your Las Vegas audience gets out of control? I mean they’re drinking. In L.A., you may stop drinking at 2 a.m., but here there is no stopping.
Ruby: Well there comes a point where our improv skills don’t work, and we have to get a security guard. There’s a policy. It’s like two strikes, three strikes you’re out. If you act up too many times, you’ve got to go.
Q. Can an actor tell that to a member of the audience?
Ciaran: Oh, absolutely. Third time we would tell a security guard it’s too much, they’ve crossed the line, either tell them to stop and if they don’t, they’ll be removed.
Q. That may well happen in Las Vegas!
It’s happened before. We encourage you to partake and have a good time, but just recognize the sense of the arc of the show. Our producers don’t like to call it theater — immersive experience is what they’re calling it.
Q. How’s everything going so far on this immersive entertainment project? Four days to your first preview. No complications?
It’s complicated. I mean that’s a 60-foot screen, so it’s got different types of video and different types of projections, so they have to come together, as well as the sound, as well as a brand new band, as well as a new stage and new environment for us because the staging is different than we do in L.A. We’ve cut some things in the show. We’ve fine-tuned the show. There are a lot of moving pieces and variables, and it is going to be epic. It’s just taking a second for all the pieces to fall into place.
Ruby: There are a lot of new technical elements that we’re having to juggle. Every time we see something come together, the excitement is just through the roof because we know the potential for this show is so great that people will feel like they’re in a dream.
Ciaran: There’s nothing in Las Vegas like this. We can’t wait until Las Vegas finds out what’s been building and brewing in L.A. because people who come see the show are obsessed. We have crazy fans who would follow the show anywhere, so we’re pumped to put it on in a much bigger scale. It deserves it. It’s so unique and very, very special.
Ruby: We’re sticking to the same formula and injecting a little more Las Vegas.
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“For the Record: Baz,” an evening inspired by the films and soundtracks of Baz Luhrmann, begins previews Friday at Light in Mandalay Bay, with opening night scheduled for June 26. Tickets start at $55 and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com.
Robin Leach of “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous” fame has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past 15 years giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.
{ SOURCE: The Las Vegas Sun | http://goo.gl/ccN2KQ }
