The creators of Cirque du Soleil worked yesterday to create an alley-like atmosphere to represent Les Colocs and the band’s late singer Dédé Fortin, who died tragically in 2000.
Director Jean-Guy Legault, who is on his fourth tribute show with Cirque, focuses on the unifying aspect of the music of Les Colocs. “We’re in an alley party, we did not call them alley cats for nothing, they were very close to people, near the street, in a very inclusive, almost communal universe. So, we wanted to recreate this universe in which they created, in which they met and which corresponds to the universe of the band.”
As for the three previous shows in this Cirque tribute series, musical director Jean-Phi Goncalves made the musical arrangements of “Juste un p’tite nuite” from the original 13-piece Coloc soundtracks, such as: “Dédé”, “Passe-moé la puck”, “Juste une p’tite nuite” and pieces from more recent albums “Les Colocs”, “Atrocetomique”, and “Dehors novembre”.
In addition to the recorded music that will punctuate the 13 paintings of this acrobatic musical show, we will be able to appreciate the talent of the American dancer Jason Nious, a fan of body percussion , who participated in Cirque’s Kà and Zarkana shows. With microphones placed on the wrists and feet, he will produce sounds with his body, which will intermingle with percussion. We see him here on the left, rehearsing with some of the 27 artists in this production.
The circus artist Alexis Vigneault repeated yesterday his aerial number made from a suspended lamp in front of the stage. A number he will do on the piece The answering machine , above a mobile platform turned to the public. In an urban setting made of various metal structures, pipes and lampposts, on which we find graffiti. “There will be a lot of collective numbers,” said acrobatic designer Émilie Therrien.
The makeup of designer Florence Cornet, wrapped in mystery, is part of this universe of alleyway desired by the director Jean-Guy Legault. “It’s as if the girls had spent the night with their make-up ,” she says. With a dirty and outdated side. The girls will have makeup splashes , while the boys will have scratches in the face, a way to evoke alley cats. The dancers and acrobats have about an hour and a half to make up.
The designer of the 150 or so costumes of Just a Little Boy, Sébastien Dionne (Stone, tribute to Plamondon), was in the same direction as his colleagues by creating what he calls “a studied street look.” “We imagined a gang of roommates who wear what’s in the closet. Everyday clothes, inspired by the grunge period, that they will exchange during the show, tells us who is now working with the costume designer Daisy Simard. Because it’s a bit like that, the lives of roommates.”
{ SOURCE: La Presse }
