In addition to speaking with Hassan and Leona, who flew in last week for her song rehearsal, Robin Leach had an opportunity to also speak with Jerry Nadal, Senior VP of Cirque’s Resident Show Division. He revealed that the new show TORUK-The First Flight inspired by James Cameron’s Oscar-winning “Avatar” may be coming to Las Vegas soon…
Q. What is the process of selecting an artistic director to take control of the entire show?
Our assigned producer really knows all the casts and crews of Cirque here in Las Vegas. Now that we’ve done this three times, there is a lot of interest in it. We had 12 submissions this year for directors, and we ask them to come up with the show concept. We interview everybody, and they lay it out. This year, Hassan’s just jumped to the top of the pack. It really resonated. We thought that we could easily see his story being on the Smith Center stage.
Q. Other than the fact that it’s his personal story, what is the setting?
It’s set in a village where we have one of the “One Drop” projects running. It’s village daily life. It’s a take on “Alice in Wonderland.” Hassan told us when he was a kid, they were constantly drilling wells looking for water. But once a well is drilled out, they don’t fill it in after it’s empty. So you’ll see an image at the beginning of the show where all these women are standing around a hole. He told us there’s a lot of wailing because a kid fell into the well, and, more often than not, they died.
Q. And that explains Mice from “Black-ish”?
Yes. He’s the kid, and he falls down the well, then it’s his story. He tries to get out of the well coming across all these areas, stories and regions. It allows us to go after telling the story of what things are like with and without water.
Q. It’s interesting that it is 50 Cirque characters this year and 50 people from other shows in Las Vegas. Is this the first time you’ve gone outside the Cirque family?
We’ve had other guest artists over the past few years, but not to the extent that we do this time. There’s a lot of interest in the project for people who live in Las Vegas who want to donate their time. That’s huge.
Q. How much money have you raised to date from these “One Drop” one-night-only shows?
In three years, we’ve raised $17 million. This year, our goal is $7 million. Last year we did a little over $6 million.
Q. Hassan told me that one of the contract points in his agreement was that running water came to the village where he went and lived with grandmother.
Yes, absolutely. Once again this is a very ambitious undertaking. It’s more ambitious than staging one of our own Cirque residencies. There’s more time to do those. This is all volunteer, and we get to rehearse it in bits and pieces and dribs and drabs because everybody is working on other shows. We really only get two full run-throughs with everybody together at the same time, and then, bang, we’re on — it’s show time. It’s nerve-wracking every year, but the payoff is fantastic. It’s worked somehow really well the past three years.
Q. It’s always been a success, so why the decision to leave a Cirque theater and go to the Smith Center?
We really wanted to broaden the regional appeal of the foundation. I think by keeping it at one of our theaters, it’s still MGM and so centric. By putting it at the Smith Center, we have more people interested in buying tickets as it has become a community event. It allows us to talk about the One Drop Foundation outside everything else that we’re doing and all of our own trappings. We’ll bring the artistic and creative down there with us to do it. It’s a magnificent space, as you know. I can’t wait to see how they’re going to fully utilize it. I know we will.
Q. There’s a sadness about rehearsing in the “Zarkana” theater as it’s about to end its run and become a convention center. “Zarkana” vanishes from your Las Vegas lineup. Will there be another Cirque show for Las Vegas?
I’m sure at some point down the road. We’re refreshing the shows now, and I think as other contracts expire, we’re always in discussion with MGM about what’s the next thing coming? Is that still making money for us? The rest of the lineup is doing very well, so nothing immediate. But that’s not to say … not maybe in Las Vegas, but with MGM going to Springfield and Washington, D.C., we’ve been talking to them about other opportunities in other places that they’re going. They’re a good partner for us, but we’ll probably see another show here at some point. We’re exclusive in North America to MGM.
Q. What’s the newest Cirque show corporately?
We have “Toruk: The First Flight” based on “Avatar” as an arena show. You sit in that arena, and you don’t know where all this stuff is coming from. The projection mapping and changing scenery, it’s as if the movie has come to life. Its director, James Cameron, was very involved in the process
Q. Is there a possibility that it could come to the new T-Mobile Arena?
MGM executives have gone to see it. It could easily get I think a two-week booking here. It’s too big for Mandalay Bay, so it would either be MGM Grand or the new arena because it takes up the entire space.
Q. Your founder, Guy Laliberte, sold Cirque last year, so a new corporation owns the company. Is Guy still involved?
Yes. We have other owners running the business piece of it, but they very wisely kept him on the creative end, which is really what he loved anyway. He’s been around for all of it, which is great to have. When you’re on a new show, you see him a lot. People on the new shows will see him more, or when we’re refreshing a show, he’s around more for his creative input. For the “One Drop” shows, though, he says he never wants to see it until it opens. That can be a little gut-wrenching.
Q. Have the new owners given their blessing for the “One Night for One Drop” shows to continue here?
They completely support it, all of the One Drop initiatives, in fact. They came and saw the show last year and are very supportive of it.
{ SOURCE: Robin Leach, Las Vegas Sun | http://goo.gl/3amFzB }
