Welcome to the latest edition of Fascination, the Unofficial Cirque du Soleil Newsletter.
It’s official! Luzia is coming for a 2024-2025 national tour, visiting Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney. These performances will highlight the 25th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil in Australia.
It’s been a big year for Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. This year marks the 10th Anniversary of Michael Jackon ONE at Mandalay Bay, the 25th Anniversary of “O” at Bellagio, and the 30th Anniversary of Mystère at Treasure Island. Recently, Cirque du Soleil celebrated another milestone – KÀ at MGM Grand celebrated 8,000 performances on Saturday, September 23rd! “8,000 shows on the Las Vegas Strip is an astounding accomplishment, made possible by our incredibly talented cast and crew over the past 18 years,” said Eric Grilly, President, Resident Shows Division and Affiliate Shows Division at Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group. “We look forward to many more years of astonishing audiences with the incredible story of KA.” Since the show opened, more than 960,000 fireballs and 720,000 pyrotechnic devices have been fired and over 880,000 arrows have been shot through the air. There are also more than 500 props and seven puppets in the show. It took artists and crew members 1,300 hours just to create the crab puppet.
On September 4th, ALEGRIA: In a New Light, celebrated its 1,000th performance since premiere. And on September 24th, CRYSTAL celebrated a milestone too – its 1,000th. Since creation in 2017, CRYSTAL has performed in 20 countries and 137 cities.
Steve Aoki will take the stage as the headlining performer at One Night For One Drop at Marquee Nightclub inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Wednesday, Nov. 15. Additional performances by entertainment superstars Neon Trees, Just Kool Featuring: The Iconic Robert “Kool” Bell of Kool and The Gang along with The Legendary Mohamed Moretta and an appearance by artists from Cirque du Soleil, strip icon Lorena Peril and the ladies of FANTASY. Presented by MGM Resorts International, Cirque du Soleil and in partnership with One Night for One Drop’s official carrier Air Canada, the transcendent evening will be filled with dining, dancing and a specially curated tasting with fine wines and spirits from world-renowned estates. Steve Aoki known for his collaborations with Bulgari, BMW and BTS will perform for guests at this year’s highly anticipated event. The night’s entertainment headliners will help the crowd raise funds for the One Drop Foundation and contribute to ensuring sustainable access to safe water for millions of people around the globe. The evening will feature a live auction including the premiere item, LAFFITE AUTOMOBILI’s flagship model, LAFFITE LM1, the first “Le Mans-type” hypercar of the modern era to be produced for road use. Making history, LM1 will be the first of 24 produced from January 2025, specially designed by designers Fabrizio and Giorgetto Giugiaro (GFG Style Design Studio in Torino) engineered and manufactured in collaboration with L.M.Gianetti at their Torino production plant. Sir Jackie Stewart, OBE, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Race Against Dementia, offers a personal Formula 1 Experience at Silverstone during the 2024 British Grand Prix, perfect for any race enthusiast. In addition to the live auction, guests will have the opportunity to enjoy a specially curated wine tasting from the most coveted estates including Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite, Opus One, Domaine Faiveley and many more.
It’s a tale as old as time! A permanent Cirque du Soleil residency in the City of London has been a dream for the company ever since hopping the pond and finding success there with Saltimbanco in 1997. It has, as of yet, been unable to make that particular dream a reality. So the recent announcement that Cirque could soon have a permanent UK home at iconic London venue The Saville Theatre has certainly raised eyebrows here at Fascination. Located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the heart of London’s West End theatre district, the 110,000 sq. ft, Grade II listed the Saville opened its doors in 1931 with a play “For the Love of Mike.” It was subsequently home to live performances and known for hosting the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, The Who and Jimi Hendrix, before being converted to a four-screen cinema in its later years. Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group has confirmed it is exploring the Saville as its first permanent home in the UK. Perhaps this… (oh, I’ve lost count) time’s the charm?
Back in 2000, Fascination! explored a number of “what if” scenarios – announcements about shows, permanent locations, or other ideas that Cirque du Soleil intended to explored but were scrapped for various reasons – in a 7-part series; one of these articles spoke about the numerous times Cirque in London has come up over the years. (I guess I’ll have to update that one now…) So, if you’re interested in learning more about the history of Cirque residing in London, I invite you to read the except within this month’s issue. And if you’re interested in reading more about these what if possibilities, check out the entire series beginning in issue #199/200, August/September 2000.
Cirque du Soleil has a new project and it sounds pretty awesome! It’s called CIRQUE DU SOUND and it’s a sonic trip exploring creativity itself. “For decades, you’ve witnessed the boundless creativity, innovation, and imagination of Cirque du Soleil on stages across the world,” writes Maxim Potvin, Cirque du Soleil Blog editor. “Now, the creators behind Cirque are taking you on a new kind of journey through the theater of the mind!” Cirque du Sound is a sonic trip from the outer edges of the universe to the inner folds of humanity. Hosted by renowned director and Cirque du Soleil Creative Guide, Michel Laprise, Cirque du Sound immerses you in a series of profound dialogues with modern visionaries in art, science, nature, philosophy, and everyday wonder. And you can check out the first three episodes right now! Learn more in our CIRQUECONNECT (Outreach) section this month.
So, let’s get into it!
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