“Quidam in Seoul: a Website Review”
By: Richard Russo – Orlando, Florida (USA)
On March 29, 2007, Quidam will once again make history by becoming the first Cirque du Soleil show in history to premiere in a new region: this time in the city of Seoul in the South on the Korean peninsula.
Earlier this year it was also Quidam that broke international ground by becoming the first Cirque du Soleil show to be seen in the Middle East – in Dubai, United Arab Emirates – now currently playing to sold out audiences.
With these stops, Quidam is quickly becoming one of Cirque’s “most traveled shows,” an honor conclusively given previously to Saltimbanco for having traveled not only the longest (from 1992-2006,) but for also having opened up so many new and exciting regions. In its travels Saltimbanco was the first to open up all of Europe not just London & Paris like Cirque Réinventé (in 1995,) visit Australia & New Zealand for the first time (in 1999,) and, of course, South America (in 2006.)
Now that Saltimbanco has had its final curtain call, it appears Quidam has stepped forward and taken up the mantra to continue exploring new territories and opening up new ports of call for Cirque du Soleil. And we couldn’t have picked a better show to introduce to new audiences!
So, let us now take a look at the website for one of these new ports of call – Quidam in Seoul – which you’ll find at the following address: http://www.quidam2007.co.kr/.
About Quidam
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Quidam, which comes from the Latin for “a nameless passerby” marks Cirque du Soleil’s ninth production, premiering in Montreal on April 23, 1996. Since then it has been heralded as one of Cirque du Soleil’s quintessential productions, showing us that we are all Quidams. “It could be anyone, anybody,” the show’s programme allows. “Someone coming, going, living in our anonymous society. A member of the crowd, one of the silent majority. One who cries out; sings and dreams within us all.”
In the world of Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam, the one who cries out is Zoë, a young girl who fumes because she believes she’s seen everything there is to see, experienced all there is to experience. For her, the world has lost all meaning. Her anger, sharp and unforgiving, shatters her little world and soon she finds herself in the universe of Quidam. Within this universe she finds she is not alone – Zoë is joined by a joyful companion (Target) and a more mysterious character (John) that will attempt to seduce her with the marvelous, the unsettling, and the terrifying.
The Website
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An image of the show’s iconic poster, featuring a Quidam in mid-stride, brolly open and over his head, against a blue clouded sky with the show’s logo in red, accompanied by two selections: ENGLISH and KOREAN awaits visitors to this language-specialized website.
Selecting KOREAN will take you to the meat of the site, and you’ll be offered the following five selections: “Quidam in Seoul,” “Cirque du Soleil,” “Multimedia,” “Tickets,” and “Opinion.” We’ll explore each one of these in order.
QUIDAM IN SEOUL
There are six sub-sections here: “About Quidam,” “Acts,” “Creators,” “Big Top,” and “Our Sponsors.”
“About Quidam” – features a brief two-paragraph introduction to the concept and theme of the show (in Korean Hangul only,) in front of a menacing image of Boum-Boum.
“Acts” – features descriptions of each number that performs in the show accompanied by a thumbnail sized image of each. The Aerial Contortion in Silk artist appears as a backdrop.
“Characters” – showcases four main characters from the show – Zoë, John, The Target and Boum-Boum, and briefly provides a description of each – however, Quidam himself is most notably absent from this list. Behind them, the character Funny Bunny standing on its hands.
“Creators” – highlights the various creative souls, such as: Guy Laliberté (Guide), Franco Dragone (Director), Gilles Ste-Croix (Director of Creation), Michel Crête (Set Designor), Dominique Lemeux (Costumes), Benoit Jutras (Composer), Debra Brown (Choreographer), Luc Lafortune (Lighting), Francois Bergeron (sound), and Nicolette Naum (make-up re-designer). An image of Zoë’s father reading his newspaper suspended in mid-air accompanies the page.
“Big Top” – features a great full-color image of the Swirled Grand Chapiteau as a backdrop and two pictures of the big top (although, at the time of this review, only one image was viewable.) Some text also appears below the two images; I would assume facts and figures about the Big top itself; however, it’s in Korean and thus unreadable to this reviewer.
“Sponsors” – rounds out the first menu’s options and functions as a link page to the sponsors of Quidam in Seoul, which are: MAST Entertainment, SBS, IMM Investment Corp, LG, Infinity, Shinhan Financial Group, and Air Canada.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
There are two selections here: “About Cirque du Soleil” and “Facts and Figures.”
“About Cirque du Soleil” – is your standard brief history of Cirque du Soleil: from Les Echassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul and Le Club des talons hauts through to today. Accompanying Cirque’s painfully brief history is a wonderfully motion-captured shot of Target and her long-stemmed sparklers.
“Facts and Figures” – features nine (9) bulleted factual points about Cirque du Soleil and Quidam, but unfortunately it’s all in Korean Hangun, so it is unreadable by this reviewer. The Diabolo Girls are featured as this page’s backdrop.
MULTIMEDIA
“Multimedia” is a stand-alone option, but here you’ll find two short films in Windows Media format: the first, a 1:52 long trailer featuring a montage of scenes from the Quidam DVD scored to Réveil; and the second, a 1:43 long piece on the raising of Corteo’s swirled big-top. The Spanish Web performers serve as the backdrop for this page.
TICKETS
While the rest of the site is in Korean, the Tickets page is the only one you’ll also find translated in English. From here we can see the performance schedule, ticket information, seating chart and all other pertinent information, such as:
o) Duration: March 29, 2007 through June 3, 2007
o) Site: Jamshil Olympic Complex Square
o) Performance Schedule:
.) Weekdays @ 8:00pm (no shows on Monday)
.) Saturdays @ 4:00pm and 8:00pm
.) Sundays @ 1:00pm and 5:00pm
o) Tickets:
.) Category 1 (R) – 110,000 KRW
.) Category 2 (S) – 77,000 KRW
.) Category 3 (A) – 55,000 KRW
.) Tapis Rouge – 200,000 KRW
o) Box Office:
.) Ticketlink: (02) 3774-2564
.) Interpark: (02) 1544-1555
.) Group Tickets / Tapis Rouge: (02) 541-3150
OPINION
Under this option there are three more: “Notice,” “News & Reviews,” and “Freeboard.” Since these options are features in the Korean Language only, I am unable to determine their exact content; however, “Notice” appears to be web site update notices, “News & Reviews” is just that – news and reviews about the show and tour, and “Freeboard” appears to be a comment and discussion area for the tour and show.
SITE MAP
The site also features a nice SITE MAP (accessible from the Korean front page,) which will quickly take you to any one of the features I have discussed. And as a backdrop: the single jump ropers (how’s that for synergy!)
So there you have it. The website for Quidam in Seoul is probably one of the less sophisticated language/region specific sites for a show’s tour that I’ve seen, but there’s no denying that it does the job for which it was built: getting the word out to the public about the show.
