A Chat With Michel Laprise

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The first time Michel Laprise encountered a Cirque du Soleil show, he was a young boy in Québec City. Exploring a Downtown market with his father, Laprise was tempted by, as he puts it, “a strange kind of music.”

“I was a kid following a pied piper,” he says. Laprise stumbled across one of the performance troupe’s early shows. “Back then, there weren’t any security or guards. I went right up to the canvas tent and lifted it up.”

What he saw changed his world.

Québec City, as Laprise describes it, is a place where “Everyone wears the same shoes; a very suburban place,” but the show’s diversity—and excitement—spoke to him.

“I told my dad I wanted to see the show that same night. I saw it again the next night,” he says. “I went off to boarding school after that, but if it were up to me, I would’ve seen that show six times in a row.”

The memory of Laprise’s first Cirque encounter faded—“Life happens,” as he puts it. But shortly after completing drama school in London and Milan, he was given an opportunity. The Montréal-based performance group was looking for a talent scout, and Laprise, with his intimate contacts in the world of theater, fit the bill.

“I thought I’d do it for a few months and see the world,” he says. A decade and a half later, he is one of Cirque’s rising stars.

Laprise is now helming his first full-throated Cirque du Soleil show. One of its “Big Tent” productions, which travel from town to town, Kurios will be stationed at Dodger Stadium from now through Feb. 7. While the style of Cirque has become ubiquitous—even the subject of parody—Laprise sees this production as a return to form for the revolutionary performance enterprise.

“I want to get back to what made Cirque original. We were street performers at first,” he says. Acts working the streets have a different—and usually more demanding—set of goals. Unlike a traditional show, your audience does not expect that you’re coming, they do not have to pay attention, and you must alter the course of their day—get them to stop and enjoy your art—before you get any compensation. At its soul, street performance is about surprising and delighting an audience, because, as Laprise puts it, “Your livelihood depends on it.”

Cirque du Soleil, which was founded in 1984, has very much outgrown its spontaneous roots. With residencies dotting Las Vegas, and a cavalcade of performers awing audiences on almost every continent, it’s one of theater’s most successful ventures. How does a group so familiar surprise the jaded?

“I drew from the unusual,” says Laprise, adding that the new show’s twist on a Steampunk aesthetic—a mix of Victorian works and sci-fi whimsy—was inspired by turn-of-the-century optimism.

“The late 19th century was a time of wonder, when people were becoming more in touch with their humanity,” says Laprise. “Suddenly, with the gramophone, music could travel. Electricity seemed magical. I see our time as a parallel of the Victorian age,” he explains.

The story of Kurios, like most Cirque shows, was long in development. Laprise says that a typical show takes two years of planning—never mind the actual rehearsals—before it comes into form.

The story of Kurios follows an inventor who has amassed an impressive amount of trinkets, most of which he does not understand. In an attempt to unravel their meaning, he opens a portal between our world and another dimension. But instead of traveling elsewhere, the inventor is greeted by a string of otherworldly creatures, each of which embodies a facet of discovery—wonder, joy, trepidation and imagination.

“I want the audience to leave the show questioning their reality,” says Laprise. “At one point we have a number involving chairs, and they’re used as props in a dance. I want the audience to come away and look at something that ordinary, and think about it in a different way.”

Laprise, who currently lives in Montréal, represents a renaissance in Cirque du Soleil. With its ever-expanding list of residencies, drawing upon a list of musical influences as diverse—and profitable—as Michael Jackson and The Beatles, the company has become a staple of North American Theater. As its Vegas roster grows, the company is investing in off-the-wall shows like Kurios, whose main influence, as Laprise puts it, is “French Steampunk”—an aesthetic that doesn’t even return relevant results on a google search.

Laprise, who is openly gay, began working at Cirque as a talent scout, reorganizing the interview process to highlight the best and most spirited performers. Laprise thought the gig would only last a few months, but he stayed with the company for a few years. After becoming familiar with the inner workings of the company, Laprise asked Guy Laliberté, the founder and creative director of Cirque du Soleil, for the chance to direct his own show.

“He told me, ‘Are you crazy?’ which of course was a great vote of confidence,” says Laprise. Laliberté made him the Special Events Designer, which covered Cirque’s more commercial venues—unveilings at Microsoft, integrations with Québec City’s 400th anniversary—before assigning him a touring show.

Laprise also served as a creative director for Madonna’s 2012 Super Bowl halftime show, and directed her MDNA Tour.

“Madonna is hysterical. When my accent was bigger,” says Laprise, whose way of speaking very much pins him as a French Canadian, “she would crack up when I spoke. She sends me flowers on my birthday. She’s a very smart performer.”

This is the first of several shows he has planned for Cirque du Soleil, and its run so far has been a success. Though it’s not customary for a director to travel with a show, Laprise makes a point to show up to as many performances as possible.

“More than anything I’ve been involved with, this show recharges my batteries,” says Laprise. When asked what he wants audiences to take away from the show, he’s concise. “I want them to feel as if anything is possible. I want them to feel joy.”

With a show as breathtaking and unique as Kurios, Laprise is sure to succeed.

{ SOURCE: Frontiers Media | https://goo.gl/DSVawd }