Michel Laprise, the talented director and writer of the new Cirque du Soleil show, brings something new to Chicago this summer. Kurios-Cabinet of Curiosities has started swinging.
Laprise created his own company, Theatre Pluriel, right out of school before becoming a talent scout for Cirque. In 2006, he was the special events designer for the troupe. He became involved in the opening ceremonies for the Montreal Outgames then lived a gay man’s dream of working with Madonna not only once but twice for her half time show and MDNA concert tour.
Windy City met him while in town recently to talk about his first time directing a Cirque touring show.
Windy City Times: Hi, Michel. What is your background? You speak several languages?
Michel Laprise: I speak two and a half. English, French, and Spanish. I want to learn Russian as well. We have a lot of Russian artists and I have respect for that culture.
I was a theater director in the past but I wanted my life to be more. I went randomly on the Cirque du Soleil website. They were looking for someone to travel the world and audition the artists. Prior to the interview I read books and tried to learn everything about the circus.
I went to the interview and it was the most fantastic interview of my life, apart from this one. Instead of lasting one hour it lasted over two hours. I started to work there and auditioned a lot of artists. I did have them audition as a group then as a two audition workshop. I would give feedback to the artists and work with them. I wanted them to get something valuable out of the process. Even if they were not selected everyone felt happy and respected. Told a few to come back in a few years and work on things. They would come back and shine.
It was a human approach to auditioning and it paid off. People asked me to direct a show and I went to the co-founder and asked for the position. I was moved to the special projects department, which was small at the time and I started to do shows there.
WCT: You not only directed but wrote this show Kurios. Tell readers what it is about.
ML: The show is about technology and optimism set in the second half of the 19th century. There were a lot of things happening and many discoveries like the gramophone so the music could travel. This was the first time in human history that you could have an orchestra in your room. It was a tremendous, joyful revolution. The telegraph allowed people to communicate in real time. The railway system and electricity was developed. Those inventions brought people closer together and connected them. This is my way to talk about that era.
I told my team I wanted people that exit the big top to think everything is possible because we are humans and creative. We can do more together than we can do alone. People leave the show with a smile and it’s an informed smile. They see things that they don’t think humans can do and there is a very joyful feel to it. The music is very special.
WCT: What is the exact story?
ML: It is about a seeker, a scientist that wants to create a machine to travel in another dimension but something goes wrong and what happens is people from the other dimension come into his world. They transform his cabinet of curiosities. He’s a little bit crazy. He lives in a cabinet which are the ancestors of museums. Those people coming from the other dimension brings life to the specimens of this cabinet. Magical things happen and it changes his life.
I think it is a metaphor. When you really connect with circus arts your life is transformed. When I see that humans can do that then I can meet my challenges in everyday life. To me it is a constant inspiration and the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. Working with acrobats they have a generous form of art and are not self-centered. Acrobats bring joy to the audience. This is why I think we are popular. I come from the theater world where the rooms are sometimes half empty. That is because the audience does feel a reason to be there. Theater is the best form of art.
WCT: How was it working with Madonna for her tour?
ML: The reason why she liked me, I think, when we did the Super Bowl together is because I can tell a story and create a phenomenon with context a ritual. Theater is fundamental but we forgot over the years the basic roots of theater. It becomes literature onstage and I think we go wrong when we do that.
With Cirque, the text is the body of the people so it speaks to a very broad audience.
WCT: I read you did the Outgames in Montreal. How was the experience?
ML: Great! It was important for me to do that not only because I’m a gay man but because I wanted to support the idea that Montreal is a diverse city that welcomes different cultures. I love that city. I was fortunate to work with a Quebec diva, Diane Dufresne, who is still very big in France and foreign countries. She is a very theatrical woman but like a very scared animal. She was not used to be directed but I showed her the story and was gentle with her. She swore that she would never perform again a song about becoming crazy but we did it in a playful way and she was phenomenal in a stadium full of 80,000 people.
WCT: Toronto has an amazing Pride. Did you attend?
ML: Yes, and by the end of the weekend I thought that I could move there. Everything was so well done. It was raining but attended by a lot of people.
WCT: Where does Kurios go after Chicago?
ML: We go to Orange County, Los Angeles, Atlanta and then New York. We just heard that the show is so popular in North America that they will extend it to three more cities, so almost a full year. We have been breaking records and getting good reviews.
They will keep working hard. We have a traveling artistic director to make sure everyone gets their full attention. This show is blessed. I think it is because we built it with love. The artist is put in the center of the artistic process. To me that is important because people can tend to over direct an artist. They should be given the responsibility to own the show. What I appreciate is the number of injuries is very limited. Almost no one gets hurt in the show because they are all very focused. They are committed; this group is exceptional.
{ SOURCE: Windy City Times | http://goo.gl/zUKAm3 }
