======================================================================= ______ _ __ _ __ / ____/___ ___________(_)___ ____ _/ /_(_)___ ____ / / / /_ / __ `/ ___/ ___/ / __ \/ __ `/ __/ / __ \/ __ \/ / / __/ / /_/ (__ ) /__ / / / / /_/ / /_/ / /_/ / / / /_/ /_/ \__,_/____/\___/_/_/ /_/\__,_/\__/_/\____/_/ /_(_) T h e U n o f f i c i a l C i r q u e d u S o l e i l N e w s l e t t e r ------------------------------------------------------------ E X P A N D E D I S S U E ------------------------------------------------------------ ======================================================================= VOLUME 9, NUMBER 7 OCTOBER 2009 ISSUE #69e ======================================================================= Bonjour et bienvenue! Greetings and welcome to another addition of Fascination!, the Unofficial Cirque du Soleil Newsletter. We have a wonderful issue in store for you this month - an exclusive interview with Violaine Corradi, composer of three Cirque du Soleil productions to date (Dralion, Varekai and ZAIA)! Our very own Keith Johnson tracked her down via phone from Seattle all the way to Macao for this very special phone interview. Don't miss it in our FEATURES section! As always we have a number of goodies to explore as a clip of interesting and intriguing articles, pictures and videos were shared with the fanbase through Cirque du Soleil's various social widgets. In turn we have collected those to share with you, which you'll find in our OUTREACH section. Well, that about wraps up this intro. Now, onto the issue! Join us on the web at: < www.cirquefascination.com > Realy Simple Syndication (RSS) Feed (News Only): < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?feed=rss2 > - Ricky "Richasi" Russo =========== CONTENTS =========== o) Cirque Buzz -- News, Rumours & Sightings o) Itinéraire -- Tour/Show Information * Touring Shows -- Productions under the Big Top * Resident Shows -- Performed en Le Théâtre * Venue Shows -- Arena & Seasonal Productions o) Outreach -- Updates from Cirque's Social Widgets * Club Cirque -- This Month at CirqueClub * Networking -- Cirque on Twitter, Facebook & MySpace * Telemajik -- Cirque on YouTube & Television * Gatherings -- CirqueCon, Celebri & More! o) Compartments -- A Peek Behind the Curtain * Didyaknow? -- Facts About Cirque * Historia -- Cirque du Soleil's History o) Fascination! Features *) "Violaine Corradi: Working for Joy" By: Keith Johnson - Seattle, Washington (USA) {Issue Exclusive} *) THE BEATLES: "From Me to You" [EXPANDED] A Special Reprint from the Wall Street Journal *) Interview: David Pelletier – Mystère Bassist [EXPANDED] A Special Reprint from FretSpot o) Next Issue o) Parting Quote o) Subscription Information o) Copyright & Disclaimer ======================================================================= CIRQUE BUZZ -- NEWS, RUMOURS & SIGHTINGS ======================================================================= Saltimbanco Falters? {Sep.02.2009} ----------------------------------------------- We’ve often wondered how well an arena show does during its brief stops and now the Columbus Dispatch, a news source in the Columbus, Ohio area where Saltimbanco stopped recently, sheds a little light on that subject - unfortunately it’s not a bright one. * * * Cirque du Soleil’s recent tour of Saltimbanco didn’t do as well as previous Cirque productions in Columbus. The French Canadian art-circus show sold 25,851 tickets during its two-week run in mid-August at Nationwide Arena. More than 75,000 people saw Cirque’s Dralion here in 2003, and about 84,000 attended Varekai in 2005 — both in monthlong tent runs in the Arena District. More than 61,000 people saw Corteo, which had a monthlong tent run in 2007 at the Ohio Expo Center. Although the poor economy has affected ticket sales, Cirque du Soleil plans to continue its pattern of visiting Columbus every two years or so, according to Reggie Lyons, media manager for Cirque touring shows. "It was lower than our expectations," Lyons said, "but the economy is affecting the entertainment business across the country." {SOURCE: The Columbus Dispatch} OVO: "A High-Flying Flea Circus" [EXPANDED] {Sep.03.2009} ----------------------------------------------- Flea circuses were traditionally mere sideshows to real human circuses, but with Cirque du Soleil's new show, these mini- athletes and their buggy brethren finally show their stuff in the centre ring. And you don't even need a magnifying glass to see their tricks. Ovo, the Quebec circus powerhouse's latest touring production, gives us an infestation of acrobats, strongmen and contortionists dressed as insects. There are, for instance, six little red ants juggling giant slices of kiwi and mini cobs of corn with their feet. It's like a dramatic recreation of Toronto's recent garbage strike, without the horrible smell. As impressive as that fancy footwork and the diabolo-spinning firefly are, Ovo does cement my general feeling that watching people throw objects in the air is never going to be as exciting as watching objects throw people in the air. The sublime, soaring pleasures in Ovo include daring young bugs on flying trapezes as well other suspended equipment like the banquine, Russian swings and ropes. My favourite aerial antics involved a couple of love bugs who emerged from a cocoon of fabric and engage in a swooping butterfly romance. The most jaw-dropping, however, was the concluding act that combines trampolines with rock climbing, a real don't-try-this- at-home moment. Liz Vandal's colourful costumes look like caterpillars, fruit flies and other household pests crossed with superheroes. Or super-villains in the case of the spider, which performs the most impressive individual act - blithely riding a unicycle upside-down on a "slack wire," a not-so-tight rope that droops between two posts. Stick insects that came lumbering in on stilts were particularly impressive to watch, even though they provoked an unfortunate flashback to the Ents in the Lord of the Rings musical. The grasshoppers' ingenious costumes came with extra legs attached. (The contortionist insects, on the other hand, only seem to have extra legs attached.) Ovo has a plot that, unusually for Cirque, is fairly easy to follow. A Foreigner Fly with an egg strapped to his back stumbles upon this insect world. There, his egg is lost and he falls in love with a sassy Ladybug. He must do battle with and befriend a clown-insect (which, the program tells me, is named Master Flippo) in order to win Ladybug's heart and get his beloved Ovo back. The Foreigner Fly - the individual performers are not named in the press materials - borrows a lot of his movements not from traditional clown, but from classic cartoons. He's more Bugs than a bug. At times he seemed to be channeling Mask-era Jim Carrey: While this made me want to pluck his wings off with a pair of pliers at first, I eventually found his attention- seeking antics somewhat endearing. Composer Berna Ceppas has added a pleasing electro-edge to Cirque's usual gibberish muzak. And humour too: La Cucaracha gets a sonic reference, despite the absence of cockroaches in the show. Deborah Colker, the Brazilian choreographer, is in charge of Ovo as writer and director. It's not entirely polished: Finicky dance elements she's added tend to slow down the action and sometimes draw focus away from the actual tricks on display, while the sightlines are not always perfect - at one point, a bug carrying a giant leaf briefly blocked my view of a group of tumbling red-and-yellow bugs. Really this is - I suppose literally - nitpicking. Ovo is another very satisfying Cirque du Soleil experience, the only downside to the feats on display being how they play havoc with your personal body image. After the media preview in Toronto, CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi tweeted of the contortions that "most of it made me feel fat." Me too a tad, but I try not to let it bug me. {SOURCE: The Globe and Mail} Alegria: "A Lovely, Vicarious Experience" [EXPANDED] {Sep.03.2009} ---------------------------------------------------- Perhaps, in some former incarnation, humans had wings and soared through the sky—or perhaps it’s because we are fundamentally such earthbound creatures that our hearts yearn toward the heavens and our bodies itch to fly free. The closest most of us can come, however, is watching others of our species break the bonds of gravity and swoop through the air with the greatest of ease. Cirque du Soleil’s “Alegria,” at the Times Union Center through Sunday, offers one of the most lovely vicarious experiences of flying you can get outside of a dream. It’s flight set to music, in a strange and magical world that almost makes you believe you could do it, too. As it celebrates its 25th anniversary, Cirque du Soleil has 19 productions running concurrently through the United States and the world (seven in Las Vegas alone). The Quebec-based company, which began as a group of street performers, has long since perfected its basic formula, which combines creative variations of traditional circus acts with sophisticated clowning, performed to live music from around the globe and set in an undisclosed location somewhere between a fairyland and a freak show. The set for “Alegria” (Spanish for “jubilation”) is a funhouse playground, with an arched top level above a stage that curves like a hallucination, sprouting staircases and slides and hung with glowing lanterns that look like miniature versions of Cinderella’s carriage. Two wide strips of floor slide away in the first act to reveal long trampolines, which catapult the performers into jaw-dropping strings of back flips and airborne somersaults. Trapeze artists swing, spin, catch each other and bungee-jump from elastic cords. Fire-twirlers toss burning torches as if they were batons, acrobats flip from beam to beam and contortionists bend and fold like spineless amphibians. The universe of “Alegria” is also peopled with kings who are half- beast, their glistening courtiers, a hunchback and herds of feathered sylphs. Younger audience members particularly enjoyed a pair of endearing clowns who communicate in a sort of squeaky Franglais. Cirque du Soleil was among the first, and is still among the best, to lay claim to that uneasy, intriguing place where the spectacular brushes against the grotesque, where humans do unnatural things no humans should be able to do—and the rest of us watch from the sidelines, our bodies in the seats, our spirits aloft on the flying trapeze. {SOURCE: The Albany Times-Union} Guy Laliberté to Broadcast from Space {Sep.03.2009} ----------------------------------------------- The founder of Canada’s Cirque du Soleil announced he’ll host a two-hour show from the International Space Station next month. Guy Laliberte, 50, made the announcement in Star City, Russia, where he is in training to become Canada’s first space tourist in a Sept. 30 launch, The (Montreal) Gazette reported Thursday. The Quebec billionaire reportedly paid $35 million to be on the mission. Laliberte said the Oct. 9 show would focus on climate change and water conservation and include live segments from 14 cities, starting in Montreal. The other cities are Moscow, Santa Monica, Calif., New York, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Marrakesh, Sydney, Tokyo, Tampa, Fla., Mexico City; Rio de Janeiro, Paris and London, the report said. Among the celebrities invited, but not confirmed, are Montreal- born astronaut Julie Payette, Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, U2, Shakira and Peter Gabriel, Laliberte said. The show is scheduled to be carried live in partnership with AOL.com and the onedrop.org Web site, the report said. {SOURCE: UPI} LVRJ Reviews KÀ... Again [EXPANDED] {Sep.04.2009} ----------------------------------------------- Mike Weatherford of the Las Vegas Review-Journal takes another look at Cirque du Soleil’s KÀ today. * * * See "Ka" again to remind yourself of the promise Las Vegas entertainment held in 2005. The sky’s-the-limit mentality wasn’t confined to high-rise condos and CityCenter. It also was clear that with Cirque du Soleil’s checkbook pointing the way, the Strip’s ability to custom-build a title was going to lead to some amazing places. After "Ka" showed us a stage no longer burdened by gravity, what was next? Strapping the whole audience to a motion simulator? Alas, Cirque’s Asian-fantasy epic set a high-water mark. With an admitted budget of $165 million — insiders say it went north of $200 million — "Ka" remains the costliest title on the Strip. "Love" came in at about $150 million in 2006, before the economy turned south. Last year, Cirque chairman Guy Laliberte made one thing clear about the upcoming Elvis show at CityCenter: It will be "very tight with the budget." So you'd think "Ka" would be the city's flagship. But most locals rank it at least third behind "Love" and "O," and it seems to inspire a "love it or hate it" reaction. Here's the acid test. The stagecraft creates a ship bobbing like a cork during a storm at sea, with characters flung overboard. One is the nursemaid (played by both Gail Gilbert and Jeana Blackman) of one of the twins at the center of the action. When the twin (Jennifer Haight) dives to the rescue, the action cuts like a movie, showing the two in the murky ocean depths, the twin rescuing the nanny to the wistful strains of violin and piano. High-wire acrobatics are involved, to be sure; the performers dangle in front of a 90-foot video wall. But the trickery is in service of the illusion. This is Cirque's first attempt at linear storytelling, cross-cutting between the separated twins on parallel adventures. If it works for you, then you are in sync with director Robert Lepage's grand opera sensibility. (He's now updating Wagner's Ring cycle for the Metropolitan Opera.) "Ka" has been saddled with the reputation for being confusing and/or pretentious. The accusations have merit, though "pretentious" can be a good thing and the confusion has been worked on. It's now easier to tell the twins apart, and an aerial adagio -- very old-school Cirque -- has been added to emphasize that romance blooms between the female twin and a Tarzan-like jungle prince (Pierre-Luc Sylvain). (It came at the expense of a stump- jumping sequence that was perhaps too hard on the knees 10 times a week.) Still, the biggest problem with "Ka" was apparent just by stepping into the theater for a recent re-visit. It is, in fact, the theater. It's beautiful but too wide, the aisles too gently sloping. If you sit in sections 201, 202 and 203, behind the central dividing aisle, you aren't going to see the faces that are more crucial to this title than "O," where the audience is similarly distanced. "Love" corrected this mistake, with in-the-round staging making it clear how much more nuance would carry if the audience were closer. "Ka" still offers things you won't see anywhere else in the world. The main stage turns out to be movable, lifted into various positions by an unseen gantry arm. It tilts for a chase on a "mountainside," where the pursuers are sent sliding into the abyss below when they can't grab the pegs that snap up or vanish in an instant. It's covered with sand (or some facsimile) for an amusing scene in which shipwrecked characters interact with beach-creature puppets created by Michael Curry of "Lion King" fame. When the scene ends, the stage simply tilts to dump the sand. And at the end, the stage goes completely vertical for a climactic battle that allows us to watch from overhead. Again, if you buy into the illusion, you can forget about the technology. (If not, you can try to figure out how so many people can leap around in midair without getting their guide wires crossed.) For all the big moments, from a flying machine to an acrobat running on top of a giant wheel, LePage still gets a big reaction from two characters making shadow puppets. It puts the technology in perspective, and is, ironically, one of the few moments of theater magic that carries all the way to the back row. {SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal} CDS a "Hippy Circus"? [EXPANDED] {Sep.04.2009} ----------------------------------------------- Kelly Nestruck of The Guardian, a newspaper based in London, took a moment to reflect upon Cirque du Soleil and its business recently. * * * In 1984, a group of 20 street performers put together a circus show in the small town of Baie-Saint-Paul in Quebec, to celebrate the 450th anniversary of explorer Jacques Cartier's claiming of Canada for France. Few could have guessed that this ragtag bunch of French-Canadian hippies, calling themselves the Cirque du Soleil ("circus of the sun"), would soon set off on a journey of world domination. Twenty-five years later, Cirque du Soleil's big-budget, animal- free circuses are Canada's largest cultural export, employing more than 4,000 employees from more than 40 countries and pulling in an estimated C$800m (£440m) a year in revenue. Over the course of 2009, the company will present 20 different shows on four continents. That includes eight touring productions as well as permanent ones scattered from Macau to Orlando. There are already six shows in Las Vegas alone; the seventh (a musical-circus hybrid based around the music of Elvis Presley) will appear in December. Cirque's often pretentious, new-age concepts are not to everyone's taste; they were memorably lampooned in a 2000 edition of The Simpsons, when the family visited the Cirque du Purée only to find a clown lamenting: "I cannot get the lid off my jar of rainbows." But the troupe's feats of strength, agility and derring-do have found a vast, seemingly insatiable audience. The company estimates that more than 15 million people will see a Cirque show in 2009. And while clouds have gathered over the rest of the economy, for this troupe the sky seems to be the limit. Indeed, founder Guy Laliberté, one of a select club of billionaires to increase his net worth over the past year, is preparing to blast into space later this month as the world's ninth space tourist; or, to use the nomenclature he prefers, "humanitarian space explorer". The exploit is estimated to be costing him a cool US$35m (£21m). Laliberté rather likes people with stratospheric ambitions. At a time when most businesses have reasonably modest expectations, Carmen Ruest, one of the original Cirque pioneers and now the company's "director of creation", blithely told me: "The word impossible does not exist here." The company's president and CEO, Daniel Lamarre – the pinstriped executive to Laliberté's spacesuit – is similarly upbeat. "What's happening in this recession is that people are not buying houses, they're not buying a new car, they're not travelling as much – but they need to be entertained," he says. "In general, show business is doing well. We're touched like everybody else, but not as much as other sectors. That allows us to invest in the growth of the company." Ovo, a new touring show with an insect theme, opened in Toronto this week and will soon be followed by two ambitious permanent projects. One, tentatively called Vaudeville, will preview in Chicago in November before heading to New York. Then, in December, Cirque will open the Las Vegas Elvis show – a musical- circus follow-up to Love, its wildly successful partnership with the Beatles. Earlier this summer, Los Angeles city council agreed to a plan to sponsor a loan of US$30m (£18m) to retrofit the Kodak theatre – the venue used for the Oscars ceremony – for a new Cirque show tied to Hollywood's history. Subject to Washington's approval, the money would come from a federal job- creation programme. The US government needn't be anxious about its investment, reckons Lamarre. "I just renewed my contract for Mystère for five more years," he says, referring to the first Cirque show to set up shop in Las Vegas, at the Treasure Island hotel and casino. "The owner said, 'We're probably going to keep this show forever.'" Some have wondered whether that's a bit too ambitious, even for Cirque. As its empire has expanded, the company has attracted criticism for producing shows that are too similar. "There has been some dilution of the quality of their product," David Rosenwasser, a former circus executive, told the New York Times in the spring. "I'm not as awed as I used to be. The shows are almost indistinguishable to me." The Guardian's dance critic, Judith Mackrell, admits she simply doesn't get the Cirque phenomenon. "However bendy the contortionists, however bouncy the acrobats, however many risks the aerialists take, they always appear too buffed, coiffed and airbrushed to seem real," she wrote in 2007. The company has also been encountering problems off the stage, courtesy of Montreal journalist Ian Halperin, who published an unauthorised biography of Laliberté this summer. Halperin describes it as "a motivational piece" about how a street performer ended up as Forbes's 261st richest man in the world. But, perhaps predictably, the Canadian press latched on to more salacious details – lingering on stories about wild parties that Laliberté used to throw at his mansion in Saint-Bruno, Quebec. The company was not impressed: such tales from its past do not fit well with a global, family-friendly entertainment brand that has Disney-like ambitions. Cirque's lawyer says the company won't waste their time on "gossip", but had one run of the book recalled over an unauthorised, copyrighted cover image. Other lawsuits are pending. And yet Cirque does, rather charmingly, cling to other vestiges from its peripatetic past. Carmen Ruest, sometime stilt-walker who is now "director of creation", worked on the costumes for Cirque's first show. "It was a very special time," she remembers. "Crazy, but it was a beautiful craziness." She recalls Cirque's 1987 trip down to California – its first to the United States – as a turning point for the troupe. "We were in debt, and every penny we had we put in gas to go to LA," she recalls. "If it hadn't worked, we would have had to hitchike back." Ruest argues that money has changed Cirque for the better. "For people like me who started passing the hat to pay for dinner, it's a big difference," she says. "Of course, the business has changed things, but it's changed so that we can create more. Guy said he wanted to bring positive energy to the world. That's still true – we just have bigger means." {SOURCE: The Guardian, UK} Cirque Announces Banana Shpeel! {Sep.09.2009} ----------------------------------------------- Cirque Vaudeville is… Banana Shpeel! Banana Shpeel is a roller-coaster mix of styles that blends comedy with tap, hip hop, eccentric dance and slapstick, all linked by a hilarious narrative that ignites a succession of wacky adventures. This is not circus, or a musical or a variety show, or even vaudeville. It is Banana Shpeel! Propelled by crazy humour and intense choreography, Banana Shpeel plunges us into the world of Shmelky, a cruel and irritable producer who dangles fame and fortune in front of Emmett, an innocent and romantic actor who has come to audition for him. Emmett soon finds himself trapped in a flamboyant, anarchic world where Shmelky sows terror and reigns supreme. Emmett falls in love with the beautiful Katie and meets a bunch of absurd characters, including the strange Banana Man. But who is this mysterious Banana Man and how can Emmett escape the clutches of Shmelky and his henchmen? More to come! Labor of LOVE Yields Amazing Beatles Treasures [EXPANDED] {Sep.10.2009} ------------------------------------------------------------ Now it's 2009, and at "Love," between Beatles-inspired acrobatics and aerial feats, 2,000 theatergoers per show hear this audio of John Lennon, from his kitchen, in his arresting and scratchy voice, singing that early stripped-down "Strawberry Fields," easing into their ears from 6,341 speakers in-the- round. Lennon's simple little "Strawberry Fields" is one of many pleasure gems that came to public being only because of "Love." At times, the Cirque show also broadcasts previously unheard dialogue recorded between Beatles in the studio. To prepare for "Love," the entire Beatles catalog was digitally remastered from original 1960s tapes. Of that catalog, "Love" makes use of a few dozen songs, plus snippets from scores more. Now that whole digitally remastered catalog of Beatles songs is getting released to an international audience. On Wednesday -- 9/9/09 -- the entire Beatles collection of albums will be rereleased in painstakingly, digitally remastered form, the process that began with "Love" years ago. At the same time on Wednesday, Electronic Arts releases "The Beatles: Rock Band," perhaps the biggest music video game in history. It too features many digitally remastered Beatles tunes that came about during the "Love" fieldwork. In the fashion of the music business, the Beatles occasionally come and go in vogue. But this time, the sheer quality of their remastered music could redefine how Beatles fans and audiophiles regard the Liverpool lads' masterworks. "In time, these remasters will become the definitive statement," the noted music curmudgeon and music industry opinion-setter Bob Lefsetz wrote recently. "There's nothing in this boxed set that you haven't heard before," Lefsetz told followers via e-mail. "But now, it's come into focus, like someone granted you magic glasses that allowed you to finally see the world." Lefsetz says the clarity of the remasters at times gives him goose bumps, blows his mind, and makes him feel as if John Lennon were still alive. "'I Will' sounds like Paul McCartney phoned you up out of the blue, said he was in the neighborhood and could he stop by and play you a few tunes? He's here! This is not music made by a machine, but real human beings." If you were alive when "Twist and Shout" and its B-side "There's a Place" came out, "you'll cry listening to this album," Lefsetz says. As for "The Beatles" video game, it is poised to outgross most movies ever made, if you count peripherals for sale. The game disc, "The Beatles: Rock Band," costs $60 for Wii, Xbox 360 and PS 3, packaged with 45 digital remasters. But any one Beatles "completist" fan could immediately sink up to $750 into the game by buying the limited edition box set ($250); plastic replica Beatles guitars ($100 each); three extra microphones ($15-$50 each) for use in three-part harmonies; and microphone stands ($40); not to mention future downloadable songs at several dollars each. All this remastered music for CDs and the video game came out of the years' long remastering for "Love," says "Love's" sound pro Gavin Whiteley. It was a very delicate process, transferring from audio tape to computer nuggets, because over time, the kinds of magnetic audio tapes the Beatles recorded on begins to stick together. If you simply place the tape on a reel and press play, the tape will stick together and rip portions of the sounds off of the tape. So Beatles music handlers at Apple studios in England placed the tapes in an oven to firm up the tapes. That sounds weird to a layman, but it works. "The engineers took every tape and baked it," Whiteley says, "meaning they put it in an oven at a certain temperature for a certain time." Engineers did this for everything -- first takes of songs, second takes of songs, alternate versions, conversations between Beatles -- the band's whole career. Initially, "Love" benefited greatly. The show features a rare George Harrison acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and the song is accompanied by a string-section swell that Harrison scored for the show before he died, at his wife Olivia's urging. She thought an orchestra would complement his acoustic take. Since the Beatles in digital sound in "Love" has been so unique, musicians have requested tours of the booth where Whiteley acts as conductor, as he oversees a massive computer soundboard. Whiteley and peers at Cirque have given soundboard tours to Mick Fleetwood, Genesis, Steve Perry, Quentin Tarantino and Fergie together (on their joint birthday), the Pussycat Dolls, Shaquille O'Neal, Juliette Lewis, Aerosmith, ZZ Top and Tom Hanks. "They're interested in seeing what's behind the curtain. And what's behind the curtain is a bunch of computers and touch screens and communication equipment," Whiteley says. "I did not see George Clooney back here. It might have been my day off." Paul McCartney toured the sound room, once. Whiteley got him to sign his parents' "Sgt. Pepper's" vinyl album cover. And he asked Sir Paul if he'd take a photo with him. "Sure," McCartney said. "Why don't you sit on my lap." "My eyes were open and I had a look like a deer in headlights," Whiteley says. "I didn't know if he was serious, or if there's some sort of penalty for sitting on the lap of an actual knight." Whiteley decided to just stand next to Paul. Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin, also gave top secret "Love" tours to a half-dozen brainiacs from Harmonix/MTV Games, the makers of "Rock Band." But no one gets to see the room where the digitally remastered songs are stored at "Love." Those remasters are worth tens of millions. And imagine if a DJ, like Danger Mouse, got his hands on digital Beatles tunes that could be separated and respun into bootlegged songs. (Danger Mouse faced Beatles wrath some years ago when he did something just like that.) So the remasters are stored in a room called "the vault" that's a "physically impenetrable room that we're connected to by some fiber optic lines," Whiteley says. The soundboard room where Whiteley works is so pivotal to "Love" that a second music technician works next to him, largely to make sure "Love" would not be interrupted if, say, Whiteley stroked out and died during a show. "Not joking," Whiteley says. "One of the reasons why the other person in that (secondary) chair has been trained to run this is, 'What if I die?'" Whiteley stresses that safety-obsessed Cirque trains employees for emergency medical situations. But I ask him what would happen if the music of "Love" somehow stopped at the exact moment that Whiteley keeled over. Would a co-worker save him or the show? "That's interesting. We haven't had that conversation," Whiteley says and jokes, "I wonder what would happen." Yet another Beatles moment is coming to Las Vegas in a few days. On Friday, classic rock band Cheap Trick is prepping its own tribute to the Beatles, a "Sgt. Pepper's" run-through featuring an orchestra and noted musical conductor Edwin Outwater. That's at the Hilton on Sept. 13-15, 17-19 and 21-23. Whiteley, originally from Canada, is a keyboard player with a master's degree in music. He used to perform in his own "Sgt. Pepper's" tribute band in Canada. Whiteley says he knows how difficult it must be for Cheap Trick to replicate the album, with its strings, horns and unusual sounds. It's doable, he says. But "Sgt. Pepper's" is a classic of classics. It has to be done right. After all, many Beatles fans know every note by heart. And those fans are everywhere. Whiteley was reminded of that a few years ago, when he and his wife, Kate (a publicist for "Love"), took a boat trip on a tributary of the Amazon, then settled into a lodge. "Having left a lodge that was completely off the grid, our cook pulled out a flute and started playing 'Hey Jude,'" he says. "When Kate and I went to Peru in 2007, we traveled thousands of miles. We got to the airport. We took a train to the base of Machu Picchu and, as we got off the train, we heard 'Eleanor Rigby' being played on Peruvian flutes over the train's PA system. "I thought, "Really? I came all this way and the Beatles are still here.' "It just makes you realize -- of all the bands in the world, of all the music that transcends culture and generations and language -- the Beatles are it. The song that he knew: It wasn't Elvis. It wasn't Cheap Trick. It was the Beatles." On Wednesday, as unlikely as it may seem, the Beatles get redefined with a catalog made crystal clear, and with a video game that will touch millions and earn millions more. Once again, the future of music is what's come before. {SOURCE: Doug Elfman, Las Vegas Review-Journal} Banana Shpeel on "America’s Got Talent" {Sep.15.2009} ----------------------------------------------- LOS ANGELES, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ — The latest Cirque du Soleil production, Banana Shpeel, will perform a sneak peek performance on the season finale of "America’s Got Talent" airing on Wednesday, September 16 on NBC. The specially-choreographed presentation will feature 16 performers. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090914/LA75327-a) (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090914/LA75327-b) Banana Shpeel, the brand new theatrical production from Cirque du Soleil and MSG Entertainment, will perform for the first time ever in Chicago at The Chicago Theatre from November 19, 2009 through January 3, 2010. Following Chicago, the show will debut in New York at The Beacon Theatre in February 2010. Written and directed by David Shiner, Banana Shpeel is a roller- coaster mix of styles that blends comedy with tap, hip hop, eccentric dance and slapstick, all linked by a narrative that ignites a succession of wacky adventures. {SOURCE: Reuters} CirqueFAQ v3.5.0 Now Available! {Sep.15.2009} ----------------------------------------------- An update to CirqueFAQ is now available. In this update: New show information has been added for OVO, information pertaining to newest CDs (ZAIA and Cirque 25), as well as Justin Time Records releases, also updated name of Vaudeville to Banana Shpeel, added CD album run-times and CD track listings w/times, and more! You can find the new version of the FAQ at the following link: < http://www.richasi.com/Cirque/soleil.txt > Stats: o) No. of Pages: 111 o) File Size: 241,629bytes (236k) o) v3.5.0 - Sep.15.2009 Guy Laliberté Going to Space! {Sep.28.2009} ----------------------------------------------- LONGUEUIL, QUEBEC-(Marketwire - Sept. 28, 2009) - Media representatives are invited to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for a replay of the launch of the Russian Soyuz TMA-16 rocket with Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleil, aboard. This media briefing is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. EDT with Daniel Lamarre, President and Chief Executive Officer from Cirque du Soleil, who will be joining Steve MacLean, President of the CSA, by phone from Russia. Journalists who cannot be on site at CSA will be able to watch the event live on our Web site at www.asc-csa.gc.ca The launch of the Russian Soyuz TMA-16 rocket with Guy Laliberte is scheduled for 3:14a.m. EDT on September 30, 2009, from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. NASA TV will broadcast the launch live. Visit NASA’s website at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ What: Launch of Russian Soyuz When: Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. EDT Who: Steve MacLean, CSA President; Daniel Lamarre, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cirque du Soleil Schedule: 12:00pm Event starts - Brief comments by Steve MacLean 12:05pm Replay of the launch of Russian Soyuz vehicle 12:10pm Comments by Daniel Lamarre from Moscow (via phone) 12:20pm Question period with Daniel Lamarre 12:30pm One-on-one interviews with Daniel Lamarre (by phone) and Steve MacLean (onsite) 01:00pm End of event Note: Journalists may contact Chantal Cote from Cirque du Soleil at 514-723-7646, extension 7326, to book one-on-one phone interviews with Mr. Lamarre. Please be advised that Mr. Lamarre will only be available for interviews between 12:30 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. that day. Cirque Reinvents Boutique [EXPANDED] {Sep.29.2009} ----------------------------------------------- While Cirque du Soleil’s shows have been reviewed many times over, an overview of its retail experience has generally been absent - until now. Alex Davis from Retail Customer Experience checks into Cirque du Soleil’s new "Bistro" retail marketplace concept, which launched with OVO this past spring: * * * Cirque du Soleil shows are synonymous with creative design, elegant acrobatics and unrivaled performances that meld circus with theatrical storytelling in a way that has made it world famous. Cirque's 25-year history of classic shows have a passionate following of patrons who enjoy purchasing a reminder of their show experience at touring shows and permanent installations including everything from custom clothing, hand-crafted art, DVD's and various other manner of memorabilia. A dark blue custom fixture system based on the mechanics of road cases previously served as the display environment, however it left the merchandising and concessions space disconnected from the fantasy-like Cirque experience. Rodney Landi, vice president of merchandising and hospitality for Cirque du Soleil, recognized an opportunity to expand the performance experience into the concession and retail shop; creating a marketplace truly in sync with the brand. "While immediately functional, we felt the existing system did not quite create the ambiance and spirit which would help to extend our patrons unique experience outside of the show." After interviewing several design companies, Landi engaged Miller Zell, a retail design and strategy firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, to develop a concept for the retail and bistro tent. With Artful Living as Cirque's driving design concept, Miller Zell came up with the theme of "Souk du Soleil." Souk, which translates to marketplace, was the theme that led design of a retail and bistro front-of-house intended to be as theatrical and captivating as Cirque itself. The goal for Miller Zell was to create a retail environment that delivered a complete brand experience, from concept, development and engineering through to production and implementation. The challenge, however, was devising a system for a traveling show that would be assembled and disassembled repeatedly over several months of cross-continental travel. Understanding how to go about that required Miller Zell's design and strategy teams to immerse themselves in the culture of Cirque du Soleil, learning about touring logistics, the Cirque du Soleil brand philosophy, show themes and building a symbiotic relationship with Landi's merchandising group. "I chose Miller Zell," said Landi, "because I was impressed by the very different design approaches they had taken on other projects, each of which reflected the objectives and specific personalities of their clients." In addition, Miller Zell's design had to be flexible enough to adapt easily to show concepts that change annually. Keith Curtis, vice president and director of design for Miller Zell, worked intimately on the design of the project and describes the marketplace concept as, "a multi-layered aesthetic in that it's modern yet futuristic and historical all at once — similar to the ebb and flow of Cirque du Soleil performances." The new bistro and retail marketplace first opened during the world premiere of the "OVO" show in Montreal, Canada earlier this year. Comprised of a lightweight, nearly tool-less, kit-of- parts, it is currently traveling throughout North America with the tour of "OVO." Cirque and Miller Zell intend to adapt the concept to additional Cirque touring productions throughout the world. The team is also in the process of adapting a similar concept for various permanent Cirque installations throughout the United States. {SOURCE: retailcustomerexperience.com} ======================================================================= ITINÉRAIRE -- TOUR/SHOW INFORMATION ======================================================================= o) TOURING - Under the Big Top {Corteo, Dralion, Koozå, OVO, Quidam & Varekai} o) RESIDENT - en Le Théâtre {Mystère, "O", La Nouba, Zumanity, KÀ, LOVE, ZAIA, ZED & Believe} o) VENUE - Arena & Seasonal Productions {Saltimbanco, Alegría | Wintuk, Banana Shpeel} NOTE: .) While we make every effort to provide complete and accurate touring dates and locations available, the information in this section is subject to change without notice. As such, the Fascination! Newsletter does not accept responsibility for the accuracy of these listings. .) Dates so marked (*) are not official until released by Cirque du Soleil. For current, up-to-the-moment information on Cirque's whereabouts, please visit our website < http://www.CirqueFascination.com/ >. --------------------------------- TOURING - Under the Big Top --------------------------------- Online at: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?page_id=39 > Corteo: Osaka, Japan -- Jul 29, 2009 to Oct 18, 2009 Tokyo, Japan -- Nov 4, 2009 to Jan 24, 2010 Fukuoka, Japan -- Feb 11, 2010 to Apr 4, 2010 (*) Sendai, Japan -- Apr 21, 2010 to Jun 6, 2010 (*) Dralion: Monterrey, Mexico -- Sep 17, 2009 to Oct 11, 2009 (*) Guadalajara, Mexico -- Oct 22, 2009 to Nov 15, 2009 (*) Mexico City, Mexico -- Nov 26, 2009 to Jan 17, 2010 Kooza: Denver, CO -- Aug 20, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009 Santa Monica, CA -- Oct 16, 2009 to Dec 20, 2009 Irvine, CA -- Jan 8, 2010 to Feb 14, 2010 San Diego, CA -- Feb 25, 2010 to Mar 28, 2010 Portland, OR -- Apr 9, 2010 to May 23, 2010 (*) Seattle, WA -- Jun 3, 2010 to Jul 11, 2010 (*) Vancouver, BC -- Jul 22, 2010 to TBA (*) Houston, TX -- Sep 23, 2010 to Oct 31, 2010 (*) Miami, FL -- Nov 18, 2010 to Dec 26, 2010 (*) Ovo: Toronto, ON -- Sep 3, 2009 to Nov 01, 2009 San Francisco, CA -- Nov 27, 2009 to Jan 24, 2010 San Jose, CA -- Feb 4, 2010 to Mar 21, 2010 Philadelphia, PA -- Apr 8, 2010 to May 16, 2010 (*) New York, NY -- May 27, 2010 to Jul 4, 2010 (*) Hartford, CT -- Jul 15, 2010 to Aug 15, 2010 (*) Boston, MA -- TBA Washington, DC -- Oct 14, 2010 to Nov 28, 2010 (*) Atlanta, GA -- TBA Quidam: Salvador, BR -- Aug 13, 2009 to Sep 6, 2009 (*) Brasília, BR -- Sep 18, 2009 to Oct 11, 2009 Belo Horizonte, BR -- Oct 23, 2009 to Nov 22, 2009 (*) Curitiba, BR -- Dec 4, 2009 to Dec 27, 2009 (*) Rio de Janeiro, BR -- Jan 8, 2010 to Feb 7, 2010 (*) Sao Paulo, BR -- Feb 26, 2010 to May 2, 2010 (*) Porto Alegre, BR -- May 27, 2010 to Jul 11, 2010 (*) Buenos Aiers, AR -- Jul 23, 2010 to Aug 29, 2010 (*) Santiago, CL -- Sep 11, 2010 to Oct 31, 2010 (*) Varekai: Hamburg, Germany -- Aug 28, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009 (*) Moscow, Russia -- Oct 23, 2009 to Dec 31, 2009 London, UK -- Jan 6, 2010 to Jan 24, 2010 --------------------------------- RESIDENT - en Le Théâtre --------------------------------- NOTE: (*) Prices are in United States Dollars (USD) unless otherwise noted. (*) Price reflected in brackets [] is inclusive of 10% Las Vegas Entertainment Tax where applicable, but does not include Sales Tax. Online at: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?page_id=40 > Mystère: Location: Treasure Island, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark: Thursday/Friday Two shows Nightly - o Saturday: 7:00pm & 9:30pm o Sunday: 4:30pm & 7:00pm o Monday - Wednesday: 7:00pm & 9:30pm 2009 Ticket Prices: o Category 1: $109.00 o Category 2: $99.00 o Category 3: $95.00 o Category 4: $79.00 o Category 6: $69.00 o Category 7: $60.00 (Limited View) 2009 Dark Dates: o November 4 "O": Location: Bellagio, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Wednesday through Sunday, Dark: Monday/Tuesday Two shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 10:30pm 2009 Ticket Prices: o Orchestra: $150.00 [$165.00] o Loggia: $125.00 [$137.50] o Balcony: $99.00 [$108.90] o Limited View: $93.50 [102.85] 2009 Dark Dates: o October 4 o December 7 - 22 La Nouba: Location: Walt Disney World, Orlando (USA) Performs: Tue through Sat, Dark: Sun/Mon Two shows Nightly - 6:00pm and 9:00pm 2009 Ticket Prices (adults) / (child 3-9): o Category 0: $117.00 / $94.00 (+Tax) o Category 1: $102.00 / $82.00 (+Tax) o Category 2: $83.00 / $67.00 (+Tax) o Category 3: $67.00 / $54.00 (+Tax) o Category 4: $53.00 / $43.00 (+Tax) 2009 Dark Dates: o November 17 Zumanity: Location: New York-New York, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday Two Shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 10:30pm 2009 Ticket Prices (18+ Only!): o Category 1: $135.00 o Category 2: $99.00 o Category 3: $79.00 o Category 4: $69.00 o Category 5: $69.00 (Obstructed View) 2009 Dark Dates: o October 19 - 21 o December 1 - 14 KÀ: Location: MGM Grand, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Fri through Tue, Dark Wed/Thu Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm 2009 Ticket Prices (adult) / (child 5-12): o Category 1: $150.00 [$165.00] / $75.00 [$82.50] o Category 2: $125.00 [$137.50] / $62.50 [$68.75] o Category 3: $99.00 [$108.90] / $49.50 [$54.45] o Category 4: $69.00 [$75.90] / $34.50 [$37.95] 2009 Dark Dates o November 10 LOVE: Location: Mirage, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Thursday through Monday, Dark: Tuesday/Wednesday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm 2009 Ticket Prices: o Lower Orchestra: $150.00 [$165.00] o Upper Orchestra: $125.00 [137.50] o Lower Balcony: $99.00 [$108.80] o Middle Balcony: $93.50 [$102.85] o Upper Balcony: $69.00 [$75.90] 2009 Dark Dates: o October 6 - 8 o December 1 - 16 ZAIA: Location: Venetian, Macao (China) Performs: Tuesday through Sunday, Dark Monday One to Two Shows Daily - Tuesday: 8:00pm Wednesday: 8:00pm Thursday - Saturday: 7:00pm & 10:00pm Sunday: 4:00pm & 7:00pm 2008 Ticket Prices (adult) / (child 0-12): o Category 1: MOP$ 1288 / No Child o Category 2: MOP$ 788 / MOP$ 688 o Category 3: MOP$ 588 / MOP$ 488 o Category 4: MOP$ 388 / MOP$ 288 2009 Dark Dates: o Not Available ZED: Location: Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo (Japan) Performs: Varies One to Two Shows Daily - Showtimes vary 2009 Ticket Prices (all): o Category 1 ("Premium"): ¥18,000 o Category 2 ("Front"): ¥15,000 o Category 3 ("Regular"): ¥9,800 o Category 4 ("Overview"): ¥7,800 2009 Dark Dates: o Not Available BELIEVE: Location: Luxor, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Friday through Tuesday, Dark Wednesday/Thursday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 10:00pm NOTE: Children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Children under the age of five are not permitted into the theater. 2009 Ticket Prices (all): o Category 1: $160.00 + Tax o Category 2: $125.00 + Tax o Category 3: $99.00 + Tax o Category 4: $79.00 + Tax o Category 5: $59.00 + Tax 2009 Dark Dates: o October 12 - 19 -------------------------------------- VENUE - Arena & Seasonal Productions -------------------------------------- Online at: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?page_id=251 > [Arena Shows] Saltimbanco: Stockholm, SE -- Sep 17, 2009 to Sep 20, 2009 Helsinki, FI -- Sep 23, 2009 to Sep 27, 2009 Turku, FI -- Sep 30, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009 Oslo, NO -- Oct 8, 2009 to Oct 11, 2009 Aalborg, DK -- Oct 14, 2009 to Oct 18, 2009 Copenhagen, DK -- Oct 21, 2009 to Nov 1, 2009 Gothenburg, SE -- Nov 4, 2009 to Nov 8, 2009 Mannheim, DE -- Nov 10, 2009 to Nov 14, 2009 Nice, FR -- Nov 19, 2009 to Nov 22, 2009 Rotterdam, NL -- TBA Geneva, CH -- TBA Barcelona, ES -- TBA Salzburg, AT -- TBA Strasbourg, FR -- TBA Frankfurt, DE -- TBA Nantes, FR -- TBA Alegría: Albany, NY -- Sep 2, 2009 to Sep 6, 2009 Syracuse, NY -- Sep 9, 2009 to Sep 13, 2009 Amherst, MA -- Sep 16, 2009 to Sep 20, 2009 Rochester, NY -- Sep 23, 2009 to Sep 27, 2009 State College, PA -- Sep 30, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009 Pittsburgh, PA -- Oct 7, 2009 to Oct 11, 2009 Philadelphia, PA -- Oct 13, 2009 to Oct 16, 2009 Reading, PA -- Oct 20, 2009 to Oct 25, 2009 London, ON -- Nov 12, 2009 to Nov 15, 2009 Greenville, SC -- Nov 18, 2009 to Nov 22, 2009 Augusta, GA -- Nov 26, 2009 to Nov 29, 2009 Hampton, VA -- Dec 2, 2009 to Dec 6, 2009 Worcester, MA -- Dec 9, 2009 to Dec 13, 2009 Montreal, QC -- Dec 18, 2009 to Dec 30, 2009 Quebec, QC -- Jan 5, 2010 to Jan 10, 2010 Detroit, MI -- Feb 4, 2010 to Feb 7, 2010 Indianapolis, IN -- Feb 11, 2010 to Feb 14, 2010 Austin, TX -- Feb 17, 2010 to Feb 21, 2010 Frisco, TX -- Feb 24, 2010 to Feb 28, 2010 Hoffman Estates, IL -- Mar 3, 2010 to Mar 7 2010 Cedar Rapids, IA -- Mar 10, 2010 to Mar 14, 2010 Champaign, IL -- Mar 17, 2010 to Mar 21, 2010 Omaha, NE -- Mar 24, 2010 to Mar 28, 2010 East Lansing, MI -- Mar 31, 2010 to Apr 4, 2010 Cleveland, OH -- Apr 7, 2010 to Apr 11, 2010 [Venue Shows] Wintuk: Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City (USA) Performs: Wednesday through Sunday, Dark Monday/Tuesday Exception: December 22nd, 28th and 29th Previews on Wednesday November 11th and 12th at 7:30pm Regular Season begins Friday, November 13th! Schedule: There are currently 87 scheduled performances between Wednesday, November 11, 2009 and Sunday, January 3, 2010 on the following days: o) Mon [2] - 12/28 (2) o) Tue [4] - 12/22 (2), 12/29 (2) o) Wed [12] - 11/11 (1), 11/18 (1), 11/25 (2), 12/2 (1), 12/9 (1), 12/16 (2), 12/23 (2), 12/30 (2) o) Thu [13] - 11/12 (1), 11/19 (2), 11/26 (2), 12/3 (2), 12/10 (2), 12/17 (2), 12/24 (2), o) Fri [11] - 11/13 (1), 11/20 (2), 11/27 (2), 12/4 (2), 12/11 (2), 12/18 (2) o) Sat [24] - 11/14 (3), 11/21 (3), 11/28 (3), 12/5 (3), 12/12 (3), 12/19 (3), 12/26 (3), 1/2 (3) o) Sun [21] - 11/15 (2), 11/22 (2), 11/29 (3), 12/6 (3), 12/13 (3), 12/27 (3), 1/3 (2) Performance Times: Wintuk may perform at the following times throughout its run. Consort the official schedule for exact showtimes: < http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/Wintuk/ schedule/WIN09_Show_Schedule.pdf > o) Monday: 2:30pm, 7:30pm o) Tuesday: 2:30pm, 7:30pm o) Wednesday: (2:30pm), 7:30pm o) Thursday: (11:00am), (2:30pm), 7:30pm o) Friday: (11:00am), 2:30pm, 7:30pm o) Saturday: 11:00am, 2:30pm, 7:30pm o) Sunday: 1:00pm, 5:00pm / 11:00am, 3:00pm, 7:00pm Ticket Prices: Tickets range from $30.00 to $220 based on category and date of performance. Peek and non-peek pricing is in effect. Banana Shpeel: Location: Chicago Theater, Chicago (USA) Schedule: There are currently 59 scheduled performances between Thursday, November 19, 2009 and Sunday, January 3, 2010, on the following days: o) Mon [02] - 12/28 (2) o) Tue [05] - 12/22 (3), 12/20 (2) o) Wed [11] - 11/25, 12/2, 12/9 (2), 12/16 (2), 12/23 (3), 12/30 (2) o) Thu [03] - 11/19, 12/10, 12/17 o) Fri [05] - 11/20, 11/27, 12/4, 12/11, 12/18 o) Sat [19] - 11/21 (2), 11/28 (2), 12/5 (3), 12/12 (3), 12/19 (3), 12/26 (3), 1/2 (3) o) Sun [14] - 11/22 (2), 11/29 (2), 12/6 (2), 12/13 (2), 12/20 (2), 12/27 (2), 1/3 (2) PERFORMANCE TIMES o) Wednesday: 2:00pm, 8:00pm (12pm, 4pm, 8pm on 12/23) o) Thursday: 8:00pm o) Friday: 8:00pm o) Saturday: (12:00pm), 4:00pm, 8:00pm o) Sunday: 1:00pm, 5:00pm TICKET PRICES o) Adults (1-8 tickets): PEAK / WEEKEND: Regular: $48.00, $65.00, $85.00, $98.00 Premium: $150.00 Tapis Rouge: $300.00 NON-PEAK / WEEKEDAY: Regular: $35.00, $45.00, $65.00, $82.00 Premium: $115.00 Tapis Rouge: $275.00 PRE-THANKSGIVING: Regular: $23.00, $30.00, $50.00, $75.00 Premium: None Tapis Rouge: None NOTE: Student, Senior and Group pricing are available. ======================================================================= OUTREACH - UPDATES FROM CIRQUE'S SOCIAL WIDGETS ======================================================================= o) Club Cirque -- This Month at CirqueClub o) Networking -- Cirque on Twitter, Facebook & MySpace o) Telemajik -- Cirque on YouTube o) Gatherings -- CirqueCon, Celebri & More! --------------------------------------- CLUB CIRQUE: This Month at CirqueClub --------------------------------------- Sharing - Cirque Interpreters at Work [EXPANDED] {Sep.10.2009} GENEVIÈVE DORÉ, Special Correspondent -- In 1997, the only interpreter working for Cirque du Soleil spoke mostly Russian, among a few other languages. Today, there are 38 interpreters working to facilitate communication inside our tower of Babel! To better understand this profession, I have met with Lucie Janvier, Head of the Interpreter Service at Artist Training, and Marie-Odile Pinet, a Cirque du Soleil interpreter for 11 years. COMPLETE CONFIDENCE The work of interpreters generally starts with Casting. "When non-English-speaking artists arrive at the Studio, an interpreter who speaks their mother tongue is assigned to help with the various steps of the newcomers' development at Cirque du Soleil, including contract signing, taxation, medical appointments, fittings, artistic and acrobatic classes, and so on," Lucie explains. Interpreters quickly become guides for foreign artists. "It's surprising how quickly they give us their complete trust in this process, when they are in such a vulnerable position," says Marie-Odile. "I always feel privileged to share this bond with them." For projects in creation, the interpreter assists artists until the premiere. For artists joining a touring show, she stays with them until their departure. "Premieres are my favourite because I get to witness the consecration of the artists I have been working with for months," adds Marie-Odile. "These athletes-turned-artists are now spreading their wings and flying among Cirque du Soleil stars." SHARING CULTURE Interpreters are conveyors of culture first and foremost, and on different levels. Language is a given, but interpreters also teach artists about general and artistic North American culture and about the circus culture. "For example, a Director once asked the artists to put themselves in the shoes of a black person from the Bronx. A North American quickly understands this cultural reference, but it is complete gibberish to a Chinese person. An interpreter must therefore come up with examples that are specific to the artist's culture to make the concept clear," says Marie-Odile Pinet. "The Chinese are extremely polite people, which tends to be one of the biggest problems I have with them," says Marie-Odile. "If their make-up is making them itchy or their costume is uncomfortable, they won't complain because they want to be nice. I therefore need to get them to understand that it is important for them to express how they feel in terms of their work." For Marie-Odile, the ultimate goal is to make artists as independent as possible. Once the show starts, artists no longer have access to an interpreter. This is why it is crucial to teach them the culture and help them learn English as soon as possible. In the end, the faster they learn, the easier it is for them to concentrate on their performance. THE INTERPRETER SERVICE AT CIRQUE o) There are 38 interpreters working for Cirque du Soleil, helping artists blend in at our International Headquarters. o) The most common languages are Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese. o) The Artist Training department gets an average of 125 artists per week at the studio. o) The Interpreter Service is available to all of Cirque du Soleil, in 10 different languages, for business meetings, customer service, contract negotiations, and so on. Finding the artist within {Sep.10.2009} PHILIPPE ARCHAMBAULT, Special Correspondent -- Ten years ago, some thirty athletes arrived at the Cirque du Soleil studios in Montreal to begin a new experience: general training. An experience as new for Cirque du Soleil as it was for them. "When I took part in 1999, it was still a work in progress," recalls Masha Ushenka, a former gymnast turned artist who would go on to become Casting's Research Coordinator. We didn't know what we were going to do, and we felt they didn't know what to do with us. There was a lot of testing and experimenting. But, despite the 'instinctive' feel of this first general training session, I came out of it completely changed." On July 20, 2009, a thirty- strong group of athletes turned up at the studios. They will leave as artists. Ten years since the program began, the system and process of general training have been refined, but the objectives remain the same: to turn sportsmen and sportswomen into artists. Did you say winter? {Sep.11.2009} GRINGO CARDIA, Set and Props Designer (OVO) -- I have to admit that when I arrived in Montreal, the culture shock was nothing compared to the "climate shock" I experienced. My first attempts to drive in the cold weather were quite the adventure. Unaware that there is a button for defrosting the windshield, I spent the first few days driving what amounted to an ice cube on four wheels. Added to this, I had Deborah Colker (Writer, Director and Choreographer for OVO) sitting in the passenger seat constantly telling me that neither of us could see anything through the window. And that is what a couple of newly-arrived Brazilians look like trying to drive in the wintertime in Quebec. --------------------------------------------------- NETWORKING: Cirque on Twitter, Facebook & Myspace --------------------------------------------------- {Sep.02.2009 | ZAiA} ZAIA celebrates its first birthday in great style! Fotos [10]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=103670 &id=34277887388&ref=mf > Our artists went outside of theater to celebrate the big occasion too - in the Great Hall! Fotos [10]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=103943 &id=34277887388&ref=mf > Video [0:35]: < http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php ?v=1222072075908 > A crew worked overnight to decorate The Promenade to celebrate our first birthday on Aug 28th 2009. These photos were taken right after the installation finished. Fotos [8]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=103933 &id=34277887388&ref=mf > {Sep.04.2009 | Wintuk} MEET THE CAST: Rene Bibaud is a professional Rope Jumper. She traveled to many foreign countries, appeared in countless television programs and performed at many high-profile events. Rene recalls shaking hands with Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show when she was in junior high. In Rope jumping championships, Rene won five world titles. Read More: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8480949& id=98244255320 > {Sep.04.2009 | Koozå} Flip, Fly, and Drive to 'Kooza' by Hollywood Performing Arts Examiner, Nicole Rubin | While it may still be September, there is a performance coming in October that requires advance notice. Santa Monica may not be Hollywood, but it is where you will find Cirque Du Soleil pitching its big top for a brief stop with their touring show Kooza. Read More: < http://www.examiner.com/x-20861-Hollywood-Performing-Arts- Examiner~y2009m9d2-Flip-Fly-and-Drive-to-Kooza > {Sep.05.2009 | KÀ} Last month all six Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil shows put on a special free performance for moms, dads and children of all ages at The Grove in Los Angeles. You might recognize Noriko Takahashi from her photo just to the left but here's a short video of her in action. We may be a bit biased, but Noriko's performance is truly one of the most breathtaking moments of theatre you will ever experience. We love you Noriko! Video [5:20]: < http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php ?v=1108625723068 > {Sep.07.2009 | Dralion} Check out some pictures from yesterday when we raised the Big top! Fotos: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8895465 &id=39340140194 > Fotos: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8895451 &id=39340140194 > {Sep.09.2009 | Banana Shpeel} Luke Hawkins and Melissa Schott, two dancers from our upcoming show, brought us into their rehearsal studio. This time, learn all about tap dancing! | Luke Hawkins and Melissa Schott, two dancers from our upcoming show, brought us into their rehearsal studio. They took some time to explain the major role dancing plays in this new production, and to show off their own specialty: tap dancing. See our new take on this dance style in our exclusive video. Link: < http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/banana-shpeel/ creation-journal/tap.aspx > {Sep.09.2009 | «O»} Nice mention of "O" in the New York Times! | Connections - Death Valley Days Yield to Las Vegas Nights - NYTimes.com Read More: < http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/arts/07connect.html?_r=2 > {Sep.10.2009 |KÀ} A few weeks ago one of our artists, Noriko Takahashi, had the chance to show some folks from the Japanese TV show "Another Sky" around the KÀ Theatre. Thanks for visiting, hope to see you again in Las Vegas soon! Fotos [9]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=142591 &id=31527171928&ref=mf > {Sep.11.2009 | Cirque du Soleil} Cirque du Soleil Visit our International Headquarters in Montreal | Visitez notre Siège social international à Montréal! Fotos [9]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150707 &id=144074117500&ref=mf > {Sep.15.2009 | Banana Shpeel} Watch these great interviews with our Banana Shpeel artists on Broadway.com! Link: < http://www.broadway.com/videos/article/cirque- du-soleil-gives-peel-ing-peek-ibanana-shpeeli/on-the- scene-cirque-du-soleil-banana-shpeel/ > {Sep.17.2009 | Dralion} Dralion is celebrating its Premiere tonight in Monterrey! The Artists have been rehearsing for the last 6 days and they are excited to be in Monterrey. | Check out the picture of Uuve and Hampus, our 2 Swedish Artists here rehearsing this afternoon the beautiful act named "Pas de Deux". Foto: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9064689 &id=39340140194 > {Sep.18.2009 | Banana Shpeel} Behind the scenes photos from our special performance at the season finale on September 16. Fotos: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=145639 &id=153330866799&ref=mf > {Sep.18.2009 | Dralion} Dralion had a FAB Premiere last night in Monterrey! What a great response from the public, the Artists were touched by the warm reaction of the public! We are happy to be in Mexico. Fotos: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9081582 &id=39340140194 > (Artist Billy Chang, captions: Photographs by David Wyatt) {Sep.21.2009 | Zumanity} Zumanity - The Sensual Side of Cirque du Soleil is celebrating its 6th year anniversary TODAY! Happy anniversary Zumans! {Sep.22.2009 | Dralion} Dralion wants to share with you what a wonderful time we had in Santiago today (a very charming little Mexican town near Monterrey). Our 4 Elements of the Shows went there this afternoon, see a picture here and most likely in El Norte tomorrow Wednesday. Foto: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9152631 &id=39340140194 > {Sep.23.2009 | Zumanity} Check out Robin Leach's latest column... and the photos of our very own aerial artist Alan Jones Silva partying with Chuy from Chelsea Lately! Read More: < http://www.vegasdeluxe.com/blogs/luxe-life/2009/sep/22/photo- galleries-partying-ali-landry-lacey-chabert-/ > {Sep.23.2009 | KÀ} Tonight two of our musicians, Janine and Eric, had the honor of spending some time with a few Las Vegas locals who won a radio station charity auction. Hope you enjoyed the show Dean and Christine! By the way, the next time you come to KÀ make sure to spend some time in the lobby watching Janine and Eric playing the world's largest harp! Link: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3643105 &id=31527171928 > {Sep.24.2009 | Koozå} Listen to Gilles Ste-Croix's interview on KCRW 89.9 FM - Gilles Ste-Croix is the Senior Vice President of Creation & Guide at Cirque du Soleil. Link: < http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/ mb090922gilles_ste-croix > {Sep.24.2009 | Saltimbanco} Check out this fabulous photo of Saltimbanco! Foto: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3632264 &id=41245692958 > {Sep.24.2009 | «O»} We had so much fun at the photo shoot for Self Magazine today! Check out the pictures! Fotos: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2407292 &id=26000574416 > {Sep.28.2009 | Cirque du Soleil} Guy Laliberté will be climbing aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 rocket this Wednesday September 30, 2009 to visit the International Space Station. The purpose: to raise everyone’s awareness of water-related issues by drawing inspiration from the ONE DROP Foundation’s dream, "Water for all, all for water." From blast- off to landing, you will be able to follow his journey live on the NASA website or on the NASA television channel (U.S. only). {Sep.30.2009 | KÀ} ¡Hola amigos! Enjoy this great review of KÀ. ¡Olé! Link: < http://www.paginacero.com.mx/oshow.php?id=741 > {Sep.30.2009 | Saltimbanco} Saltimbanco is setting up inside Turkuhalliin! It should be ready in a few hours. Take a look! Fotos [3]: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3671143 &id=41245692958 > {Sep.30.2009 | ZED} ZED celebrates its 1st Anniversary September 26th and 27th 2009 with performance by the clowns, jugglers, satyres, Djinn and Shaman! Fotos [6]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=154743 &id=41326571163&ref=mf > ------------------------------------------- TELEMAJIK: Cirque on YouTube & Flickr ------------------------------------------- [FLICKR] Website: < http://www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/ > Cirque du Soleil released 20 images through its Flickr photostream in the month of September, showcasing Wintuk, Varekai, La Nouba and Dralion. Check them out here! o) Wintuk: - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965722899/ Dancer - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965723313/ Russian Bar o) Varekai: - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966500370/ Russian Swings - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965725275/ Aerial Net - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965727177/ Aerial Hoop - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965729265/ Slippery Surface - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965730669/ Icarian Games - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966508264/ Triple Trapeze o) La Nouba: - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966509558/ Highwire - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965734581/ Silks - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965737001/ Balancing on Chairs - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965737871/ Red Acrobat - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966516248/ Trampoline - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966518042/ Bicycles o) Dralion: - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966518318/ Ballet on Lights - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965742511/ Bamboo Poles - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965742951/ Dralions - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965743591/ Element - Fire - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966521032/ Hoop Diving - www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966521376/ Silks [YouTube] {Sep.09.2009 | Koozå} Watch our Cirque du Soleil show characters taking over the streets of New York: from the basketball cage to the skating rink! [1:17] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZneozXJjCOI > {Sep.10.2009 | Mystère} See Cirque du Soleils spectacular Mystere through the eyes of two new performers as they join the amazing show at Treasure Island. Players Network takes you backstage where the secrets of Mystere are revealed. (Part 2) [14:06] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKBFmlVBHIo > {Sep.14.2009 | Banana Shpeel} The writer and director David Shiner and director of creation Serge Roy will be launching an entirely new genre of show for Cirque du Soleil! | A New Twist on Vaudeville (#2): Interview with David Shiner and Serge Roy. [1:46] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMWBAcYjYZk > David Shiner introduces us to the world of a vaudeville production. He explains what this art form consisted of and delves into its origins. | A New Twist on Vaudeville (#3): A venture into Vaudeville. [1:28] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue79Wlcg02A > Watch a clip of Wayne Wilson and Daniel Passer, two comic artists in our new show Banana Shpeel! | A new twist on Vaudeville (#4): The comic Artists' Point of View. [1:15] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2r9sjXBXC0 > This week, discover the origin of the name Banana Shpeel and the ideas behind the show’s visual. | A New Twist on Vaudeville (#6): The Visual [2:18] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIPJKB0pKjE > {Sep.19.2009 | Dralion} Cirque du Soleil Dralion had a FAB Premiere this week in Monterrey, MX! Watch a video of our dress rehearsal before the big night. [3:01] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCqH1t_X8rY > {Sep.23.2009 | OVO} It's not easy doing yoga when you’re a cricket... Watch our OVO characters at a yoga class in Central Park! [0:30] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZilh1FvjCE > ------------------------------------------- GATHERINGS: CirqueCon, Celebri & More! ------------------------------------------- CirqueCon: < http://www.CirqueCon.com/ > [CirqueCon] POST EVENT UPDATE #1 Friday, October 2, 2009 --------------------------------- Greetings, Cirque Passionates! A week ago about this time we were winding down our bus tour of Monterrey, preparing to rest up after the Garcia Caves, Macroplaza, Museum of Mexican History and many other stops along the way. Bohemia Night was just around the corner and it appeared that the party would never stop. While I've not quite recovered from the amazing weekend, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone once again for making CirqueCon 2009 a highly successful and amazingly fun adventure. We couldn't have done it without your enthusiasm and participation, so we hope to see you next year in New York City! To help keep in touch we've launched a Facebook page for CirqueCon, which you can find here: < http://www.facebook.com/pages/CirqueCon/272446895013?ref=nf > Please help us make it a wonderful fan-page - join today! - Ricky "Richasi" Russo o) YOUR COMMENTS & IDEAS Many of you dropped by for our Sunday morning Kaffeeklatsch - an impromptu get-together to give us your thoughts about the weekend - to do just that. And we thank you! However, for those passionates with early flights or those who just couldn't muster enough strength to wake up to join us (it was a late night, we feel your pain), we'd really love to hear from you! We want to know about the good, and the bad, so that we can make our next gathering even better, more magical and much more enjoyable! Please don't hesitate to share! o) SEND US YOUR STORIES! There are many, MANY stories to tell about our weekend here in Monterrey , and we want to hear about them! Tell us about your favorite part, tell us about meeting your favorite performer, or tell us about your entire weekend! Email those to us at mexico@cirquecon.com, we'll compile them and (with your permission) email them out periodically in post-event updates to all CirqueCon 2009 attendees! Email stories to: mexico@cirquecon.com o) ... AND YOUR PICTURES TOO! We know you took tons, so send them to us! We'll compile as many as we can, burn them to CD and mail the compilation to every paid member! Email your pictures to our email address: mexico@cirquecon.com. OR upload them to our Facebook page! For regular mail, please stay tuned. We'll have an appropriate mailing address shortly! o) NEXT EVENT!? Since our target dates for CirqueCon 2010: New York City are approximately 7 to 8 months away, we'll be gearing up on this one shortly and will make an announcement as soon as we can. Thanks again! ======================================================================= COMPARTMENTS -- INFORMATION BEHIND THE CURTAIN ======================================================================= o) DIDYAKNOW - Facts about Cirque o) HISTORIA - Cirque du Soleil History --------------------------------- DIDYAKNOW? - Facts About Cirque --------------------------------- o) Didyaknow there are six musicians with two singers performing LIVE at each KOOZA performance? The music of KOOZA is also inspired by the sounds of western pop culture, from 1970s funk to full orchestral arrangements. It also draws heavily on traditional Indian music. o) Didyaknow there is a school traveling with KOOZA? Learn about the KOOZA School AND meet Natasha Patterson, KOOZA contortionist artist and KOOZA school student! LINK: < http://cbs4denver.com/video/?id= 61715@kcnc.dayport.com > o) Didyaknow, in 2009, the Cirque du Soleil Costume workshop will produce more than 25,000 pieces of costumes? Each year, our Costume workshop artisans use close to 130 kilometres of fabric from around the world! o) Didyaknow, since 1997, all Cirque du Soleil shows have been created at the Studio in Montréal? The studio provides a great deal of flexibility to the creative teams working on various projects. o) Didyaknow, in 1997, the only interpreter working for Cirque du Soleil spoke mostly Russian, among a few other languages? Today, there are 38 interpreters working to facilitate communication inside our International Headquarters! The most common languages are Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese. o) Didyaknow, in the show KÀ, the Counselor’s Son character has the most complex make-up? It involves 33 steps and 8 different brushes, 4 sponges, and 1 powder puff! o) Didyaknow that for a show under the big top, it usually takes 9 days to set up the infrastructure of the whole site and 2.5 days for tear-down? With the arena tour of Alegría, setup takes only 9 hours while tear-down takes only 2 hours! ------------------------------------ HISTORIA: Cirque du Soleil History ------------------------------------ * Oct.01.1996 –- Alegría opened Fukuoka, Japan * Oct.01.2002 –- La Nouba goes 2-tiered seating * Oct.01.2003 -- Varekai Premium CD Released (CDS/Musique) * Oct.01.2008 –- ZED Gala Premiere in Tokyo * Oct.02.1987 -- Cirque Réinventé opened San Diego * Oct.02.1990 -- Cirque Réinventé opened Paris * Oct.02.2003 –- Alegría opened Portland * Oct.02.2003 –- Dralion opened Mexico City * Oct.02.2007 –- Dralion celebrated its 3000th performance [Osaka, Japan] * Oct.04.2002 –- Dralion opened Sacramento * Oct.06.1994 –- Alegría opened Santa Monica * Oct.07.2003 –- Region 01 DVD release: Alegría and Varekai * Oct.07.2004 –- Saltimbanco opened Rome * Oct.07.2009 -- Alegría Arena opened Pittsburg, PA * Oct.08.1992 -- Saltimbanco opened Santa Monica * Oct.08.2009 -- Saltimbanco Arena opened Oslo, Norway * Oct.09.1992 -- The Saltimbanco CD was released in US (RCA/Victor) * Oct.09.2001 –- Region 01 DVD Release: Journey of Man (also VHS) * Oct.09.2009 -- Guy Laliberté will make an announcement from space concerning ONE DROP. * Oct.10.1990 -- Nouvelle Expérience opened Santa Monica * Oct.10.2001 -- Alegría opened in Adelaide, Australia * Oct.10.2002 –- Alegría opened Mexico City * Oct.11.1994 -- The Alegría CD released in US (RCA/Victor) * Oct.11.2000 -- Dralion opened in McLean, Virginia * Oct.12.1995 -- Alegría opened Washington DC * Oct.12.2000 -- Saltimbanco 2000 opened Tokyo, Japan * Oct.12.2007 –- Quidam opened Guadalajara, Mexico * Oct.13.2005 –- Alegría opened Tokyo, Japan * Oct.13.2009 -- ZED Album Released * Oct.14.1993 -- Saltimbanco opened in Washington DC * Oct.14.1998 –- Saltimbanco opened Ottawa (Special Performances) * Oct.14.2009 -- Alegría Arena opened Philadelphia, PA * Oct.14.2009 -- Saltimbanco Arena opened Aalborg, DK * Oct.15.2004 -– Dralion opened Madrid, Spain * Oct.15.2008 –- Alegría opened Seoul, South Korea * Oct.16.2009 -- Koozå opened Santa Monica, CA * Oct.18.2005 -- KÀ CD released (CDS Musique) * Oct.19.1998 -- "O" premiered at Bellagio, Las Vegas * Oct.19.2004 -- "Tapis Rogue: Solarium" CD Released (CDS Musique) * Oct.19.2006 –- Dralion opened Frankfurt * Oct.19.2007 –- Alegría opened Brasilia, Brazil * Oct.19.2008 –- Guy Laliberte awarded honorary doctorate by Université Laval in Quebec City, Quebec * Oct.20.2003 –- “Cirque for Life” film even in Portlan, Oregon * Oct.20.2007 –- Zumanity celebrated its 2000th performance * Oct.20.2008 –- “All Together Now” Documentary screened in theaters * Oct.21.2008 –- “All Together Now” Documentary released on DVD * Oct.21.2009 -- Alegría Arena opened Reading, PA * Oct.21.2009 -- Saltimbanco Arena opened Copenhagen, DK * Oct.22.2003 –- Canadian premiere of Varekai on CBC * Oct.22.2003 –- Quidam opened Fukuoka, Japan * Oct.22.2006 –- Quidam NAT 3 Ended. * Oct.22.2009 -- Dralion opened Guadalajara, MX * Oct.23.2008 –- Dralion opened Canberra, Australia * Oct.23.2009 -- Quidam opened Belo Hoizonte, Brazil * Oct.23.2009 -- Varekai opened Moscow, Russia * Oct.25.1988 -- Cirque Réinventé opened Montréal * Oct.25.1991 -- Nouvelle Expérience opened Washington DC * Oct.25.2007 –- Varekai opened Antwerp, Belgium * Oct.26.1999 -- Dralion CD released in Canada (RCA/Victor) * Oct.26.2000 –- Quidam opened Frankfurt * Oct.26.2001 -- New Musical Director "O" (John-Paul Gasparelli) * Oct.26.2006 –- Corteo opened Washington, DC. * Oct.27.2005 –- Varekai opened Charlotte * Oct.27.2006 –- Alegría opened Madrid, Spain * Oct.28.1997 -- Cirque Collection CD Released in Canada (RCA/Victor) * Oct.29.1987 -- Cirque Réinventé opened Santa Monica * Oct.29.1998 –- Quidam opened Atlanta * Oct.29.2004 –- Alegría opened Tokyo, Japan * Oct.29.2007 –- Guy Laliberte announces One Drop Foundation * Oct.30.2001 –- Region 01 DVD Release: Le Magie Continue, Saltimbanco, Cirque Réinventé, and Baroque Odyssey. (Also released on VHS) * Oct.30.2008 –- Koozå opened Washington, DC. * Oct.30.2008 –- Quidam opened Brussels, Belgium * Oct.31.2002 -- Saltimbanco opened Madrid * Oct.31.2007 –- Dralion opened Nagoya, Japan * Oct.31.2008 –- BELIEVE gala premiere in Las Vegas * Oct.xx.2001 –- CirqueClub premiered ======================================================================= FASCINATION! FEATURES ======================================================================= Within... o) "Violaine Corradi: Working for Joy" By: Keith Johnson - Seattle, Washington (USA) {Issue Exclusive} o) THE BEATLES: "From Me to You" A Special Reprint from the Wall Street Journal o) Interview: David Pelletier – Mystère Bassist A Special Reprint from FretSpot ------------------------------------------------------- "Violaine Corradi: Working for Joy" By: Keith Johnson - Seattle, Washington (USA) {Issue Exclusive} ------------------------------------------------------- With the release of the ZAIA CD (Cirque du Soleil Musique CDSMC-20029, 2009) in the US (and coming up in Canada on October 20), it is our honor and privilege to continue our series on the music of Cirque du Soleil with an exclusive interview with the Musical Composer of ZAIA, Ms. Violaine Corradi. Violaine Corradi (VEE-oh-len co-RAH-dee, "In Italian they say co- RAAAH-dee.") was born in 1959 in Trieste, Italy and moved to Montréal at the age of four, the child of a composer/conductor father (who passed away when she was six) and an opera singer mother. She trained in voice, piano, clarinet and flute and was a musical prodigy at an early age. From 1993 to 1998 she composed music for the radio series "Poesié/musique", which featured leading Quebec poets reading their works. In 1996 she released her first solo album, "Passages" (Imagine Recors IND-2226). She also composed the musical scores for the IMAX films, "Bears" (Silver Wave SD-930, 2001) and "Great North." Her first Cirque assignment, as we all know, resulted in "Dralion" (Cirque du Soleil Musique CDSMC-20016, 1999). This was followed by "Varekai" (Cirque du Soleil Musique CDSMC-20017, 2002). ZAIA (the resident show on the Cotai Strip at the Venetian in Macao) marks her third collaboration with Cirque. While it was 7am Seattle time and 10am Montréal time (where Corporate PR Manager Chantal Côte facilitated our conversation) when we spoke by phone, it was 10pm the following day in Macao. In a French-tinged accent she first commented on why she was in Macao, "I arrived in the beginning of May [2008]. I was supposed to be here 3 or 4 months [but] I fell in love with the place and I fell in love, period, so that’s why I stayed." We started off by talking about working on ZAIA. "This is my third adventure with Cirque; I’ve been with Cirque the past 11 years. I was invited by Gilles Ste-Croix to write the music for the show because they knew what the director, Gilles Maheu, was looking for and it sounded like it would go with my esthetic. And it did! It was a great meeting, a great encounter." ZAIA Director/Writer Gilles Maheu has called the stage, "the center of fire, a hurricane, a storm where forces align and dangerously confront each other." "[Working with him] was like a dream for me," she continued, "because [he] is very profound, coherent and sensitive. When I hopped on the project in June of 2006 (two years before the premiere) he had the entire outline of the show [ready], with of course some gray areas but the narrative was there. So it was fantastic for me to work with; I work very well when the director outlines exactly what he has in mind for each acrobatic number. The colors and the set design were pretty well advanced when I came in and we pretty much stuck to the narrative. Of course some elements had to change, because the reality is when [you’re] constructing and putting everything together [sometimes you have] to make different choices." "But the foundation of what Gilles proposed to me pretty much remained. That was inspiring to me. And the narrative - the story of a young girl who decides to leave Earth, to travel the cosmos and bring back notions of beauty to Earth - is so appropriate to what’s happening right now. So I was very inspired to write the music for this show." How does a composer work with a director on a Cirque project? "It’s a relationship. It’s very personal with each director because they each have their own personal way of bringing a project forward. It’s sort of like asking if it’s the chicken or the egg. Because the director first gives us the outline, then we bring our elements [to the table] and the director or whoever is around them will be inspired by what all of us in the creative team bring. And we nourish each other." "A lot of [the music] was inspired by the theme, the narrative itself. Of course as I see the development of the show - the costumes, the lights, the acrobatic sequences - this nourishes a lot of my process. And getting to know the artists - having a beer with them, all of that - you’re creating a personal relationship with all of them. For me this is very crucial and fundamental to my work." What’s the process of musical creation, we wondered? "That’s a great question. The first stage I work on is the nucleus, a version of about a minute and a half to two minutes of the essence, the foundation of the piece. And since I’m a singer and musician I can perform and produce it so I do the entire thing." Some examples of these "nucleus" recordings can be found in the "Creator’s Notebook" for Varekai, (the first edition of the Varekai program) which included a computer disk with two of Varekai’s songs, "Gitans" and "Icarians." "On those tracks I’m the one playing everything. The band was [together and] we were rehearsing but they took my pre-production [demo] tracks." After she creates the nucleus, "we try it out with the acrobatics, because they are also at the embryo of what they’re doing. And if we along with the Director and the Director of Creation and the Acrobatic Creators, if all of us feel it is right - the tempo, the colors, the feeling of the music is right - then I develop the structure from there. And then it’s back and forth until the last second before the premiere." While the acrobats are working with these early recordings, "I’m auditioning musicians, and as soon as the musicians come in we have charts written out for them. For this project I had a wonderful Assistant (to the Musical Composer) Thierry Angers. And this was a great encounter for me, now that I know him I can’t live without him! I could concentrate fully on the creation, the creative part of writing the music and arranging the parts, and he and I would take care of passing it on to the musicians. He would take care of writing the charts and preparing all of what was needed for what would be - I don’t like to call them sequences, [but there are] a few sequences. Most of it is played live but with some of the pieces I wanted it to sound a little bit more electro or trip-hop or house. And to do that we needed some samples I created that are triggered by computer. So I did all of that and my assistant would do all the charts. And I would go to the rehearsals and we would integrate the music live. Normally [the musicians] arrive several months before the premiere so we have the opportunity to really work on the music." Her composing process started long before premiere night in a situation that proved to be lower-stress than normal. "For [ZAIA I had] two years [to compose]. For Dralion everyone was [brought in about] one year before. On Varekai I had one year also. This time I was lucky, not only did the director have his narrative but two years to create the score was absolutely wonderful. So when we got to the tightest part of the funnel all the music was written, arranged and integrated with the musicians. When we arrived here [in Macao in May to start staging] they were playing it already (performances started in July)." "This show gave me the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Sound Designer Steve Dubuc and his Assistant (as well as Sound Project Manager and Recorder of the CD) Jason Rouhoff. Every night we would rehearse and put the sound in the house. We have a mega sound system in the theater with surround [sound] and all kinds of goodies that we had such a good time with." Including 18 subwoofers and 55 surround speakers. "We had the opportunity to [work] every day, and that was amazing. This [was helped by the fact that I] hopped on this adventure two years prior to premiere. Once I got here I could work day and night in conjunction with Steve and Jason on exactly how I wanted the music to sound. And it took many many hours. This was a big big plus for me on this project." "It was a luxury that the team here was kind enough to accept that we would do sound [mixing] at 6 o’clock [in the evening]. With other shows and often other venues that I work in we do sound at night during what we call the graveyard. Everybody goes to bed but you have to stay up and [work] when you’ve already been playing and doing stuff for 12-15 hours. Here it was fantastic; we did it while they were eating. So while the whole [creative] team was eating the musicians, sound engineers and I stayed and didn’t eat. And we preferred that to creating the soundstage in the middle of the night. It was great." How the music sounds in the theater is naturally an important consideration to Ms. Corradi. "It’s my philosophy that the sound engineer is a member of the band. Because you might have geniuses playing - let’s say you’re lucky enough as a composer to get fantastic musicians, all at a very high level like what [we have] here - but if at the other end it’s not [properly] translated by the system and whomever is mixing the house - then it can kill it. I always think it’s important to have a clear relationship and bond between the sound engineer [and the band]. Here we have four sound engineers; [on Dralion and Varekai] we had three." They are Hayden Clark, Roy Cressey, Sebastian Hammond and Chris Pardy. Other parts of the team include Head of Audio Eric Poitevein, Assistant Head of Audio David Finch and Lead Audio Technician Frieda Lee. "When I go to do some follow-up work on tour I find it important to have these discussions and exchanges. I transmit the concept to the engineer because if it doesn’t get to him or her it can be another universe, it can completely flip around. So to me it’s very important." Having the luxury of time also allowed her to take on production of the ZAIA soundtrack CD, a responsibility she hadn’t originally considered. "It was a nice opportunity. [Cirque du Soleil Musical Director] Alain Vinet proposed [that I produce the CD] in spring of 2008. I wasn’t sure because I know that to create a Cirque show [requires] a thousand percent of yourself, and often right [afterwards] there is a little curve downwards where you need to relax. At first I said no, I’d think of somebody [else] to produce, and so we went along that line for a little while. Then once I got here I realized I was nicely enough ahead and I would have the energy plus the inspiration to produce the album." "It was very important to Guy [Laliberté] that the original musicians [appear on the album]. The last time that happened was with La Nouba 10 years ago. [With] "O" and La Nouba back-to-back (Composer and CD Co-Producer) Benoit [Jutras] and (CD Co-Producer) Rob Heaney produced albums with the original musicians and they did a fantastic job. For other albums it was mostly session musicians, original musicians of the show were cameoed and sometimes it wasn’t always the original singers." "But for ZAIA we reached amazing levels of rendering the music. Alain Vinet was here for the gala in August last year and heard it and was also convinced [this was] the way it should be done." The nine ZAIA musicians play a multitude of instruments on the CD (with a little help from members of the string section of the Hong Kong Symphony Orchestra as well as Ms. Corradi herself). Surprisingly, the band has none of the Canadian or French Canadian players that usually comprise a large part of Cirque creation bands. The musicians are: Maria Karin Andersson - Singer - Sweden "Chicago" Rose Marie Winnebrenner - Singer - United States Steven Victor Bach - Keyboards, Bandleader - United States Conrad Lewis Askland - Keyboards - United States Oliver Alexandre Vincent Milchberg - Guitars - France Rachael Cogan - Wind Instruments - Australia Jay Aaron Elfenbein - Cello - United States Darrin Eugene Johnson - Drums - United States Eduard Harutyunyan - Percussion - Armenia Recording the CD was, "another adventure in itself. At first we were contemplating having the musicians record in a studio here in Macao or in Hong Kong. And we played with that idea and realized it wouldn’t necessarily be the best for the project or for the show. And so we hopped on the adventure of creating a studio [inside the ZAIA Theater at the Venetian Macao]. With the fantastic technology we have now it was possible [to create a control room] within a week. We [already] had sound booths and microphone wiring for the musicians, and it was just a question of [creating] a control booth to do the recording." "[It was] recorded during the day and after shows while doing 8 to 10 shows a week. [It took] a month to record and a month to mix." "[In the production] I went for a real interpretation. I worked one- on-one with all the musicians to put them in a mood to get a rendering [with] a lot of heart and emotion. Many many days and many many hours of work were put into that album." In our interview with Cirque du Soleil Musical Director Alain Vinet (see Fascination! Newsletter #67 - August, 2009) he mentioned that he works closely with soundtrack producers, often supplying comments. What comments did he give about recording ZAIA? "[He was] very encouraging. He is wonderful in the sense that he has a way to inspire. I can’t tell you exactly what his comments were because there were many things that were discussed. What I can tell you is that he has a wonderful way of [giving feedback] and a way of creating that makes us want to surpass ourselves." In a post-interview email, Ms. Corradi sent along the track list of the ZAIA CD with the translation of the titles and act they are related to: 01) Noi - (Theme of the show and Finale) - Us 02) Aestus Calor - (Ouverture) - A Flow of Fire 03) Ignis - (ZAIA's Departure) - Fire 04) Hatahkinn - (Aerial Bamboo) - (This is an invented word) 05) Aquilex - (Globes and Poles, Part1) - The One Who Finds Sources 06) Comissatio - (Globes and Poles, Part 2) - Feast 07) Blue Ales - (Lanterns) - Blue Bird-It’s Flight is an Omen 08) Adrideo - (Old Clown Act with Onofrio + Tom) - Laughters 09) Ardor Oris - (Back-up number + walk arounds) - Ardour 10) Aequor Oris - (Fire Dance) - Ocean of Fire 11) Caelestis - (Aerial Frame) - Celestial 12) Undae - (Time Transition) - A Flow of Water 13) Temperatio - (Jugglers) - Balance 14) Ellâm Onru - (Hand to Hand) - All is One 15) Gaudiumni - (X-Board) - Joy 16) Utinam - (Straps duo) - May the Heaven’s Wish So "I came up with the titles many months ago. In the reality of everyday I still call them their working titles so I have to get used to calling them the name we call them on the album. If I give the [album] song title to the musicians or the Artistic Director they don’t know what I’m talking about, so I have to use the work titles. Every piece has at least 3 titles, and the [song is] baptized [with last one] when we lay it on the album." "You made me realize though that, now that the album has just been released it's time for me to memorize which musical piece the new titles I found are associated with...Thank you!" "We actually recorded everything, the music of the entire show, 95 minutes. I knew that I was not going to be able to put everything on, but the songs that we weren’t able to put on the album - and I’ll need to discuss this with Alain - we may be able to put them on iTunes or something like that. But we have them. On the album we put what Alain and I felt would tell the story of ZAIA. The rest exists and we’ll see what we do with it." Those unreleased songs include: "Travelling Cowboy" - (New Clown Introduction) "Automat Dance" - (Automaton Dance) "Alobaloro" - (Rola Bola) And there was one song that, due to the continuing evolution of the show is on the soundtrack but isn’t in the show anymore. ""Adrideo" is the clown act, or should I say, it was our clown act until approximately a month ago. Work in progress... new clown act = new music!" Ms. Corradi dedicates the album to "Mariposa." ""Mariposa" means "butterfly" in Spanish. This butterfly I know is an inspiration for me. And the symbol of the butterfly is related to the show. The fact that a butterfly goes through four stages in its cycle before it becomes a butterfly is really related to transformation, to a journey where you have to throw yourself into the void. [The concept of letting] yourself be reborn again is really appropriate for this show. So Mariposa is a person and also a symbol." Unlike the soundtrack to Varekai, which was more electronica- influenced and took some liberties with the music, ZAIA seems to be a return to the sound of the music as heard in the show. Much of this is due to recording the album with the shows original creation musicians in the ZAIA Theater. But it was also a philosophical decision. "To tell you the truth I think [soundtrack CDs] should always reflect the show. If there’s going to be other projects inspired by the show music you should [label them] as being inspired from the show. When it’s the show’s soundtrack I feel that it should reflect the music of the show but not necessarily in every detail, you can enrich it. For example for this CD I had to restructure [the music] to put it in a format that was independent from the image, from the visual." "For Varekai it was an executive decision to work with [CD Producer Nitin Sawhney]. We had an intimate dinner at Guy’s house in Montréal with Nitin and Bruno Gaez (who was the Musical Director at the time). And Guy felt [there] was a new tone for Cirque du Soleil starting with Varekai, because (Cirque Co-Founder and first Company President) Daniel Gauthier had left and it was the first show that had been created without him. It was Guy’s desire to explore other avenues and he asked me if I would feel comfortable with that. And I said yeah, I approved it. It was great, it was a fantastic encounter and I think it spoke for itself. It [was in] the Top 5 in Billboards World Music section for weeks. Interesting sounds are one of the hallmarks of Ms. Corradi’s music. Such as a rapid breathing singing sound used in ZAIA on "Undae." "It’s called "panting" or "throat singing." It’s a specialty of one of the musicians, Racheal Cogan, the wind instrumentalist. And I integrated it into two of the pieces because I find this sound brings us to the beginning; to me it’s really evocative of the origin of humanity. Hopefully it creates that in the imagination of others. And so far so good, people that have heard it here feel the same. So we’ll see how it echoes back as the album lives its life." In a prior interview she mentioned how one of Guy Lalibertés’ favorite instruments was the "bandaneon." What’s that? "Bandaneon is the name for an accordion, but instead of having a keyboard it has buttons. Guy loves accordion sounds - he used to play it - so I know that he loves the sound. In the last 11 years he would really be turned on when I would come up with an accordion or bandaneon sound." "Guy loves very simple melodies and melodies that bring people together. And he loves everything that is rhythmic or percussive or [music that is] very trendy. But he explained to me that he loves music and melodies that bring people together. And to him an accordion is a great instrument to do that." (This might explain why the bandaneon/accordion shows up in almost every Cirque recording.) The ZAIA album continues Ms. Corradi’s considered use of strings and woodwinds. "I think they are very warm. [In ZAIA] we don’t have violins per se. [We have] a bow specialist who plays viola da gamba and the ancestor of the cello, the rabab. Sometimes it might sound like a violin but we’re not using a violin. To me these sounds are very real and warm. They have a mode of expression that is strong and close to the human voice." "With Dralion’s original instrumentation the first musician I hired was a cellist/violinist, he would play both. And [for ZAIA] the wind instrumentalist [was to] be mainly an oboist but they also play didgeridoo and other wind instruments." "I love to put the two together. I think all Cirque shows have bowed or blown into [instruments], I’m not the only one. If I look at Cirque orchestral formations I think we find that you always have keyboard and percussion but you need people who blow into something and people who bow string." "First we do it with synthesizers. [But it’s] so expressive when a specialist in an instrument gives a real rendering with a real soul interpreting and with all the mechanics and ornaments you have with a real instrument instead of having a keyboard play it." ZAIA Keyboardist Conrad Askland quotes Ms. Corradi as saying musicians are the "soul of the show." He also called her a "musical shaman." "I auditioned [and selected] every musician in the show. I’m totally part of the process. The Director of Creation for the Show Neilson Vignola accompanied me through the process." "For the other shows normally I am involved, but they will know if I am too busy to hire or audition other people. Normally I am always the one choosing the musicians because it is part of my mandate - Composer, Arranger and Musical Director, that comes along with it." "With singers, because they are characters in the show, once I make my choices we [show them to] the director for him to see what they look like, because he would have to work with them. We would have to reach a consensus. He was very happy with the people I found." ZAIA incorporates two women singers, was that her choice? "These ideas always come from the director. [For the other shows] the director saw a man and a woman but for this show Gilles wanted two female singers. I was happy to get the request and work with it, and I make the best of it I can." Listening to her Cirque albums one wonders if vocalists have difficulty with some of the more tongue-twisting aspects of Cirque’s made-up language. "On the contrary, I get more positive comments that it’s interesting and challenging. Because they perform 8 to 10 shows a week and - let me put it this way - I make sure they don’t fall asleep! They have enough challenges [with] the difficulty of the melodies and the way to interpret it, what I’m looking for in dynamics and sensitivity, rendering, interpretation. I make sure the mountain is high enough they have a nice climb. And to be able to have [their souls] open at every show. Maybe they’ve thought it was hard but nobody’s ever told me." Creation musicians are "crucial, absolutely crucial" to a shows final musical sound, Ms. Corradi insists. "These musicians are choices that I made very meticulously, of what kind of interpretation I’m looking for. In this show I was looking for multi-disciplinary musicians, especially [with] regards to plucked strings, bowed strings, and winds, so we get all kinds of textures. It’s also like a journey in time, in contemporary sounds as well as ancient, like the rabab and the aoud." "So I made sure that I found the [right] musicians. Of course this is crucial, because [they create] the foundation of [how future] musicians will be asked to interpret the music unless I’m lucky enough that the original members of the band stay forever. Which happened [with] both Dralion and Varekai, most of the team is the same." "So it’s absolutely crucial, they lay down the foundation of the score. Because I may lay down a line of aoud that I will play myself with a very good sample, but it’s never [the same as] when it’s the instrument interpreting it itself." For the "Solarium/Delirium" and "Delirium" arena show CDs Cirque utilized several of Ms. Corradi’s compositions. In fact her songs alone make up 40% of both projects! Songs utilized include: From Dralion: Ombra, Aborigenes Jam and Spiritual Spiral. From Varekai: Lubia Dobarstan, Emballa, Oscillum, Patzivota, Le Reveur and El Pendulo. How does it feel to hear her music in such a context? "It’s exciting, it’s inspiring. I like [hearing where] inspired arrangers and producers bring [the music]. [On Solarium/Delirium] there’s "Ombra" where we have two completely different universes being expressed on the same album; one is more Latin and the other really trip-hop. I love it." "If I would write a piece [for a show] and it was really new and I offered it to the musicians and they would start playing it like [the remixes] I wouldn’t agree because I have an architecture, an esthetic that I ask them to respect. Because the architecture and esthetic have meaning in conjunction with all my other colleagues and creators. We create an esthetic together and if they were to change the [musical] style I wouldn’t agree. But when it comes to doing remixes I find it very exciting and inspiring and I’m happy that people are doing it." "I saw [Delirium] once when it premiered in Montréal. I was open and just received it. (Music Producer and Arranger) Francis Collard did a great job. Sometimes it sounded like a homeopathic [dose] of what we created. He had a big mandate to take all those [songs] and make something for this mega production but he did his job well, I think he did a great job." How would she populate a Violaine Corradi "Best of"? "That’s a very hard question. I have no idea. It’s the type of question I can’t answer because I have to sit down and listen to everything and make it work together. And I’d probably ask my friend Alain Vinet what he thinks. I don’t know, I would have to do it then tell you." Whatever songs end up on that mixtape, they would all reflect the Violaine Corradi style which she defines as, "a juxtaposition of different styles and different cultures. I find a lot of inspiration in what I call "root music." I don’t like saying "folkloric" music, but original music that has been played for hundreds or thousands of years from every country. That’s what I listen to when I write music, and I try to bring in a contemporary approach. I also like to juxtapose diverse styles, like classical with trip-hop, or house with Latin and whatever. I’ve always written like that, and I guess that’s why Guy invited me to be part of the team 11 years ago." So what’s currently in her MP3 player? "These days I’m listening to "Tuck & Patti" (vocalist Patti Cathcart and guitarist Tuck Andress). It was released in the 80’s and I haven’t listened to it in ages, I downloaded it maybe a week ago. It’s just voice and guitars and it’s just great, it’s amazing. It felt so good to listen to that again. They write their own songs and do some covers. Just beautiful to hear a human voice with a very simple recording, very transparent. Tuck is the guitar player and he plays amazingly, with so much feeling. That’s what I’m listening to [along with] so many other things. But that one is first on my list these days." Is there something about composing music that the public doesn’t realize that she’d like them to know? "That’s such a good question! I don’t think I want them to know because [it’s] a lot of work. I think the general audience [doesn’t] have one hundredth of an idea of all the work that [has been done] when they listen to an album or listen to any kind of show. Of all the human effort and inspiration and generosity and talent, everything that it takes to put it all together." "Let’s just take ZAIA. We have nine musicians. All of them [have put in] how many hours and years of work just to get there? And then to put the soundtrack together?" "How can I put it? I don’t think an audience that aren’t musicians can envision everything it takes to put all this together, so I think I’d rather they didn’t know. Just enjoy it! On our side we have so much joy doing it." "It’s work and joy at the same time. I’d rather the audience just keeps the joy of listening. The joy of listening is equivalent to the joy we have of giving it to them. Because if we didn’t have joy all this work would mean nothing." "In my life [I’ve known] people that couldn’t understand what I was doing. They would wonder why I put so much energy on a note or a measure or on 8 bars or 100 bars of music. These people are not in my life anymore." Her work ethic was imprinted on her early in life, "[by] my parents, but especially my mother. My mother was my music master; she studied at the Pittsburgh School of Music in Philadelphia. She was an opera singer and music whiz and she passed it on to me. My father was also but he passed away when I was six so my main master was my mother. She taught me everything about music but especially how to materialize and actualize my ideas and bring [them out]." "I remember in Quebec when I was nine years old I started to do television. They would come to see the kid that could compose music at nine years old, so they would put me on TV and stuff like that. She would have me write out charts for the musicians or to be able to [copyright] the piece at BMI. And she told me, "What you start you have to finish." And at nine years old to write a chart for musicians was a big big endeavor. And I would cry, "No, why don’t you do it?" "No! You started it, you finish it!" So I think that was the [development] of my courage and endurance and stamina." "You need inspiration and talent but you [also] need courage to put forward and actualize and materialize your ideas. And you have to have the courage to keep going until it becomes complete. That is my philosophy." What can we expect to hear from her in the future? "For the moment we’re still doing a lot of changes [to ZAIA] so I’m busy doing that. I also have some album projects [in mind]. And of course (Vice- President of Creation) Pierre Phaneuf at Cirque told me the last time I spoke to him that they had projects for me. So we’ll see. I think they’re letting me finish [ZAIA] and then we’ll see what my new collaboration with Cirque will be. So coming up - music music music music!" As our time together was running out we had one final question, one of our favorites. What words of wisdom does she have for young artists to encourage or make them aware of the challenge of Art as a career? "Hmm. That’s a very good question, and a hard one because there are so many things I want to say. Maybe I’ll write it to you [later]." Later she wrote, "To be an artist... to be a true artist means to be totally engaged, totally dedicated to your craft; in fact, you can't even imagine living or breathing for a millisecond without Art in your life! If this is the way you deeply feel then there are chances you will have enough willpower and inner strength to carry you through." "As the famous French star Georges Brassens liked to say, "Talent without technique is just a bad habit." Knowing this first-hand and also knowing what my peers and I have to put in to realize our dreams and visions, I can confirm that the artistic adventure will challenge and test you to the bone; to the marrow of your soul; it will carve you like the sculptor carves marble in order to reveal your true nature; your beauty and your full rainbow potential." "If you feel you have the talent and hear this "Call" to passionately live the artistic odyssey (and what I just told you didn't make you want to run in the opposite direction...), then jump right in without any second thought. Because it means that your dedication to your art and to the world and what will be requested of you to succeed won't be "work" for you.... your long hours, days, months, and years will be total "play"; full, total "joy"!" And as she signed off Violaine Corradi had some kind words for us at the Fascination! Newsletter. "I think it’s precious that you take time to speak with me and to speak with us. You’ve done some great work and every element counts. It’s very precious and I thank you." Likewise, Ms. Corradi. My sincere thanks go to: Ms. Violaine Corradi, for so graciously spending time with us, Lise Dubois, Corporate Alliances Coordinator, Chantal Côte, Corporate PR Manager, and my wife LouAnna for putting up with my sometimes obsessive hobby. ------------------------------------------------------- THE BEATLES: "From Me to You" [EXPANDED] A Special Reprint from the Wall Street Journal ------------------------------------------------------- The Beatles created nearly their entire recorded output at Abbey Road studios, but the place is no museum. On a recent visit, a classical session was thrumming along in the enormous Studio One, the canteen was full of chattering engineers and assistants, and Sir George Martin, the man who produced those Beatles records and happens to be the most successful producer in the history of sound, was back visiting for a few hours on his way to a garden party at Buckingham Palace celebrating the centenary of British Naval Aviation. (Martin, now 83 and with his regal bearing intact, served in the Fleet Air Arm in World War II.) It is sometimes said that Abbey Road is like a university, arguably the most prestigious in recorded music. If that’s the case, then producer Giles Martin—the elder Martin’s 39-year-old son—is the institution’s star legacy admission, proof of nepotism’s upside. For about 20 years, the two have been building a unique cross-generational alliance. They collaborated on the Grammy-winning, mashup-happy soundtrack to “Love,” the hugely successful Beatles-themed Cirque du Soleil show that has surpassed 2 million visitors and is leaping into year four of a decade-long run at the Mirage in Las Vegas. The action onstage—and in the air—is every bit as heady as the music pouring out of more than 6,000 speakers around the room (“Come Together” becomes an Age of Aquarius–inspired orgy of contortionists). “It was a great brain trust, an amazing transfer of art and technology and know-how from one generation to another,” the show’s director, Dominic Champagne, says of watching the Martins work. “George encouraged Giles to push the envelope, just like he did with the Beatles. I have three sons, and their relationship made me dream about how a father could collaborate with his son.” Now a veritable Beatles tidal wave is washing over the globe. On 09/09/09, the Beatles: Rock Band video game, which Giles helped create as music supervisor, and the long-anticipated remastered Beatles catalog—the most-awaited CD reissues in the annals of CD reissues—was released, bringing George Martin’s age-defying productions into the 21st century. Tomorrow never knows, indeed. At first I didn’t think it was a good idea for Giles to become a producer, because I thought he should do something of his own. But he obviously showed a talent for it. And I came to rely on him. I brought him in for “Love” for two main reasons: One, that he’s very good in the digital domain. I’m a bloke who grew up with a pair of brass scissors and a piece of tape. I’m Charlie Chaplin and he’s “Mission: Impossible.” The other thing is that he’s got a good pair of ears and my ears are worn out. We worked together in that little room down the hall, Room 52 here at Abbey Road, for two years. Security had to be very tight, because if anybody had gotten hold of what we were doing in advance, they would have made a fortune from it. But it was great fun and we would send each other up like mad. Giles often brought me down to earth. I might say something like, “Why don’t we use the voice from such-and-such and put it in such-and-such?” And Giles would look at me rather pathetically and say, “Dad, you’ve got a cowbell on the vocal track!” Abbey Road is an institution. This was my nursery. In fact, when I first came into these studios, we didn’t use electricity to cut records, because electricity was not stable. So on each recorded take that I made with a classical orchestra, an engineer would wind to the ceiling a heavy weight that would drive the lathe at a constant 78 rpms. That was 1950. But things started changing enormously, particularly when the Beatles came along. We obviously had no computers back then, so we would use our own inventions to make sound. Today everything’s available on tap; you just press a button. The Beatles often thought that Abbey Road was fuddy-duddy and old- fashioned. In truth, it was conservative, but it was solid and dependable, like Rolls-Royce: You knew you had a good product here. But the Beatles weren’t Rolls-Royce people; they were Ferraris. Even so, the Beatles are very affectionate about this place. They’d rather come here than any other studio. I do think the Beatles will still be with us in 100 years’ time. I wouldn’t have said that 40 years ago, but now it seems that each generation discovers their music like a new thing. My children found it when they were very young. My grandchildren have found it. Many years ago, Giles came to me and said, “You know, it’s not easy being your son.” And I said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do anything about it. Only you can do something about it. You can be better than me!” Now that’s what he is, the bastard: He’s better than me. I’d never heard “The White Album” until I was about 19. The last thing I thought I’d ever be doing—and this was right up until “Love” came along—was working on any Beatles material. In fact, the last thing I ever wanted to do was to work on any Beatles material. I did “Love” because it gave me a chance to impress my dad. I’m much more slapdash than he is. He likes to write everything down and I’ll just be clicking and dragging, creating chaos in order to find something. It’s kind of a Jackson Pollock mentality, but it worked well on “Love,” because he’d rein me in or I’d bring up an idea that didn’t make sense on paper but somehow worked. Or didn’t. A good example is “Octopus’s Garden,” which initially I’d tried with Ringo’s voice and the strings from “Glass Onion.” It was great, but it sounded creepy. It sounded like he was about to murder someone. I gravitated toward the guitar and piano when I was a kid, and I remember having a conversation with my mum and dad about music. They were reticent because they were concerned about my life. And so I hid it from them. I used to go busking on the Tube. There have been articles saying my dad wasn’t supportive, but he did eventually buy me a PA so I could go out and play in pubs. A lot of people treat us as if I were a facsimile of him, but my grounding was playing in bands and his was as a classically trained musician. And, funnily enough, my biggest success until “Love” was doing a classical record—Hayley Westenra’s “Pure”—and his biggest success was doing the Beatles. I don’t think you can compare “Love” to the albums my dad made in those days: It’s still a mythical time. For us, the appeal of the project was that it would make people listen again. It also meant that I could sit down with my father and go through the entire Beatles catalog and ask him about each song. I think we miss each other, not doing it now, and I feel bad doing Rock Band without him. But if you’re going to do a video game, it’s nice to do something the whole family can play together—not carjacking. As with “Love,” the idea was to make people feel as if they’re part of this Abbey Road world. This is how competitive my dad is. We’d gotten into a car on the way to the Grammys last year and he was trying to work out whether I was younger than him when he got his first Grammy, for “Sgt. Pepper,” in 1967. I was. But all of that knowledge that he has, his knowledge not only of the Beatles, but of all music—I try to suck as much out of that as I can. That’s what parents are for. When you start borrowing money off them, you might as well start borrowing information as well. ------------------------------------------------------- Interview: David Pelletier – Mystère Bassist A Special Reprint from FretSpot ------------------------------------------------------- David Pelletier is the bassist for the Circque du Soleil show “Mystere”. This interview took place around August, 2009. Interestingly, I went to Vegas in June of 2009 and my lovely wife and I went to see Mystere. From the tone and visual style of the bass, I knew that David was playing an F Bass. So I gave my card to the stage manager and asked him to have David contact me. He was gracious enough (and probably curious enough) to contact me, and agreed to this interview. FretSpot: Performing nightly with CDS must be an interesting experience. How did you get that gig? David Pelletier: I’ve actually been with the company for almost 10 years. I started in 1999 with the touring show Alegria. Being from Montreal, Canada, I had been in contact with fellow musicians who either left or returned from gigs with Cirque for years. At the time I didn’t think it was for me until I turned 30. Then I flashed that it could be a good career choice. I sent my resume and demo. About 9 months later I got a call from an old high school friend who was playing drums with Alegria. Their bassist was leaving the tour and he asked me if I was interested. The rest is history. So I did 4 years as bassist and then 4 years as bandleader and bassist on Alegria, touring the world, literally. I eventually gave my resignation and left the show in March 2007. I took a sabbatical and did nothing for about 10 months. I really needed the break. Then I said what the hell, I’ll contact Cirque’s casting again and see what’s up. They had an opening at Mystère. I auditioned and got the gig. So here I am, since February 2008, just playing the bass and enjoying the desert. FS: The music has moments where you are playing “songs”, and other moments where you are creating a mood. Who scores the music? DP: Mystère has two composers: René Dupéré (40%) and Benoît Jutras (60%). From what I hear, Mystère’s creation was a bit chaotic and Dupéré was a bit overwhelmed so Jutras took over. He was the original bandleader too. FS: How identical is it performed each performance, or are there artist liberties each time? DP: While the pacing and general timing is the same every night, there are slight differences in almost every number. The music is modular and many sections can be shortened or stretched at will in order to follow artists. The bandleader gives the cues vocally. This keeps the show exciting and we have to be on our toes. And of course there are things that can go wrong so the bandleader then has to improvise an arrangement calling sections on the fly. FS: How has the music and musicians evolved over the years? DP: The actual music has not really evolved. Some acts were dumped and new ones added, therefore new songs, but the arrangements are pretty much the same with just the form changing as acts change. New musicians have brought their own twists on different parts but that’s about it. Interesting fact, two musicians are still there from creation, Marc Solis (woodwinds) and Bruce Rickerd (guitar). That’s 15 years and more than 7000 shows! FS: Is any of the music pre-recorded? DP: The music is live, with some loops going on at different times. The show now has a backup for musicians. They use Ableton Live to trigger a musician’s parts in case they are out sick. For example, when you saw the show, one of our singers was out so you were hearing her recorded tracks. We play the full show with a click track which facilitates triggering Ableton tracks. Of course Ableton is not as flexible as a fully live band and it happens that we have to stop it if the action on stage deviates a lot from what is considered “normal”. It is almost impossible to predict every possibility. FS: What’s the turnover like with musicians at CDS? Average tenure? DP: It is hard to give a number on the average tenure of a musician at Cirque. Turnover is fairly low. A job like Cirque is a rarity in the music scene. It is steady income that can last for years. This year Mystère has 478 shows at the calendar. Having a steady job makes it easy and fun to participate in other musical projects where the pay might not be interesting otherwise. Artists (this includes musicians) are on a one year contract, renewable each year. A good evaluation usually means a contract renewal. It is very expensive for the company to replace artists. So for example, as mentioned before, two musicians are on Mystère from the beginning (15 years), some for about 10 years, and the bassist I replaced had been there for 5 years and now moved on to Zed in Japan, another Cirque show. FS: Any gig horror stories with CDS? DP: Sure there are horror stories. It is a live show after all. It can range from technical errors, lighting failures, automation (lifts) not functioning, or even a major train wreck in the band. I have one particular anecdote: On Alegria, there was a show where we had no singer (they were both out sick). At the time we did not have a backup system. Management decided to dress an artist as the lead singer and we used a full band and vocal recording for the opening and finale songs on which the band would literally lip sync. Well about 30 seconds before the end of the song the recording stopped. Total silence. But the crowd usually went nuts at that point so their cheers covered it. We finished 30 seconds early that night. FS: Have language or cultural differences made problems or humorous stories? DP: I don’t recall any humorous stories regarding cultural differences, but they are omnipresent. On every show there is a large number of eastern Europeans, and then usually some Europeans, Scandinavians, Australians, Mongolians, Brazilians, etc. The common working language is English of course. I wouldn’t say there are problems per se, but people tend to group according to their origin or language. FS: If someone wanted to get involved with playing for one of the big Vegas shows, what would be the prerequisite knowledge before auditioning? How should they go about finding out about openings, etc? DP: Cirque has improved dramatically their casting/auditioning procedure. There’s a link for casting on www.cirquedusoleil.com where you get all the info about openings and all. The “big Vegas shows” as you say are not the only shows Cirque is producing. There are many touring shows as well. If one desires to join Cirque, I wouldn’t limit myself to the Vegas shows. These shows are for sure the ones with the less amount of turnovers. Positions are very limited. Touring is great as well. There are less shows per year, but then you have no or very little expenses, it about evens out. As for prerequisite, Cirque is looking for musicians with musical education, reading and improvising skills and a capacity to adapt on the fly to changing cues and arrangements. Casting has kits for every position, and it is required to produce a video of yourself playing live along with the audition kit. FS: Why did you first start playing bass? What inspired you to learn this instrument? DP: Hmm… good question. We had an old beat up classical guitar at home when I was a child. Nobody played it, so I still wonder what it was doing there. Anyways, as my interest for music grew, I picked it up and the first parts that naturally came to me were the bass parts as I was trying to learn songs. So I was playing bass on the guitar. I also wanted to play drums but we were living in an apartment and drums were out of the question. I was into classic and progressive rock at the time. Some early influences range from Deep Purple, Rush, Yes, Led Zeppelin, etc. FS: What was your first bass, and what were the circumstances in getting it (birthday, christmas, etc)? DP: My first bass and amp was a kit made by Sears. Ultra cheap but very helpful. I just asked my mom if I could get that kit from a friend’s brother who was selling it, for $100 if I remember correctly. She knew I was serious about music so she agreed. She was always supportive of me and my music. My second bass was an Aria Pro II, through neck. I played that bass for several years. FS: What were your first musical experiences? First band? DP: My first band was in high school back in Montréal in the early 80’s. I was enrolled in the music classes and formed a band with a guitar player and a drummer. The musicianship was surprisingly good. These two guys are still playing. We also had a singer. We were playing Led Zep, Ozzy, Black Sabbath and Hendrix among others. FS: What was your first professional gig that made you feel like you had “made it”? DP: That gig would be working for a legendary singer in Québec named Robert Charlebois. I was hired on his 1996 album called “Le Chanteur Masqué” to write all the horn arrangements and I also performed bass on 2 songs. I was good friends with the producer, having recorded at his studio with my metal band at the time. It was a great experience. FS: What is your musical training? Did you study music at a University, or is your education all wood-shedding and on the job training? DP: I did 3 years at the St-Laurent college in Montréal and then went on to study jazz composition at Berklee College of Music for 3 semesters in 1991-1992. My passion at the time was big band arranging. I devoted a lot of hours to that as opposed to bass training. Before college, I didn’t read music. I got in I guess because of my skills on the bass but had to take a special class before school started to catch up on music theory and ear training. So in a way I consider myself self-trained to a point. FS: Can you read musical notation? Is it used in the show? If not, what format do they use? DP: Of course now I can read and write music very well. As far as the show is concerned, it is not really used per se, but it really helps when you’re integrating a show. Once you know the songs, you don’t need charts anymore. So I would not say it is mandatory at Cirque, but strongly appreciated let’s say. For example, the previous accordion player in Alegria did not read music. When she went to another show, Cortéo, I heard that the bandleader was freaking out because she did not read. She eventually caught up with the songs, but reading strongly accelerates the integration process. I believe that reading skills are part of the requirements on the new Cirque casting site. But I suppose that if you’re really good at your instrument and have special skills or sound, especially for ethnic type instruments, they would still consider you. FS: Being a bass player in Las Vegas, did you know Adrian Garcia? DP: No I did not know Adrian Garcia. I googled him though. Sorry to see he has passed away. Thanks for introducing me to him. I will check out his legacy. FS: What basses do you own? Which basses get the most use in your current gig? DP: I own 5 basses at the moment. Two Warmoth Jazzbass 4 stings (one fretted and one fretless) a Carvin Bunny Brunel model 4 strings, a Lakland 55-94 5 strings and a “F Bass” BNF5 fretless. In the show I use the Lakland and the “F” equally, about 50/50. FS: What other equipment do you own that you use regularly (amps, preamps, effects, strings, etc)? DP: I use two preamps on stage since I have two separate lines for my fretted and fretless basses. I switch between the two with an A/B switch. For the Lakland I use a Demeter HBP-1 H Series Tube Bass Preamplifier. This thing is amazing and will bring to life any piece of wood with strings on it. For the “F”, I have a Eden Traveler head, using only the preamp section. It’s warm and punchy, dirty. I love it. There’s one thing that’s really hard to adjust to on Mystère. It’s the fact that they don’t allow any speakers on stage. Therefore I do not have any cabinets on stage. I use Sensaphonics in-ear monitors and a “butt shaker” bolted to the floor under me. Thank god for that shaker! So it’s really hard to come up with a bass sound that way I find. For example, with the “F” bass, the only way I could get satisfied was to push all the way up the high and mid pots, along with the treble pot. The bass pot is half way up. I compensate with some EQ on the Traveler. I think it sounds pretty damn good this way though. I only use an effect one time in the show, a delay/flanger type thing coming from an old Alesis Quadraverb that belongs to the company. It’s for a specific song which has the same kind of fx as in “One of These Days” by Pink Floyd. I would like to explore effects more though. In some songs I have to play with a pick these loud, long notes and a slight distortion/room reverb might be interesting. I’m thinking John Wetton on UK Live. Sounds like he’s playing very loud in a cavern. As for strings, on the fretted I use Elixir extra long scale, .045- .105 with a .130 low B. On the “F” I use their own strings with their weird custom gauge. I believe it’s .043-.128. I’ve tried others by I always come back to them. I change them about once a month on both basses. FS: Any opinions on equipment in general? Brand preferences, opinions on the use of effects, etc? DP: I’m not an equipment maniac. I actually care very little about it. It’s all about feel and sound, no matter what you use really. I’ve seen bassists with top gear and shitty sound. What’s important is having your ideal sound embedded in your head and try to reproduce it. If you have no vision, the gear is not gonna fix it for you. FS: How did you become aware of F Bass? And why did you start using the BNF5? DP: F Bass is a Canadian company and we became aware of it very early on. It was used by a Quebec fusion band called UZEB with bassist Alain Caron and guitarist Michel Cusson (F made guitars as well at the time). These guys were huge in Quebec and getting there internationally. When I got the gig with Mystère, it became clear to me that I had to get 5 strings basses. On Alegria, I was fine with my Warmoth’s and Hipshot D-Tuner’s. So I wanted to have them before leaving Montréal to go to Las Vegas, just so I could practice with them and arrive ready. I had the hardest time shopping for 5 strings basses in Montréal, believe or not. I chose the Lakland for a fretted bass. But then can you believe that the BNF5 was the only 5 string fretless in Montréal! That was in January 2008. At first I didn’t think it was for me. I thought it was overpriced, above my budget. But then it became clear to me that I wouldn’t find another 5 string fretless in time. I decided to buy it. I got a fairly good deal because the headstock was chipped a bit. Well I’m glad I did because I love it now. I especially love the neck. It’s thin with a flat radius. I might consider getting one as a fretted. We’ll see. I also love the 34.5 scale. The strings are well balanced and the B string has tremendous sustain and growl on the low notes. In the show there are long sustains on low D, Eb and C and the bass just rocks. I am also amazed at how stable the neck is. It’s rock solid. I also like the pickups and preamp of course. I get a really unique sound out of them. The overall craftsmanship of the bass is just gorgeous. It’s a piece of art. The weight is well distributed and the bass is surprisingly light compared to other basses I’ve owned. It’s a very comfortable instrument. FS: What kind of things are you working on in your current personal practice regimen? DP: Well, sorry to disappoint you but I do not actually have a practice regimen. We do 10 shows a week, 478 shows a year so I spend a lot of time playing the bass. That would be different of course if I didn’t have this job. Cirque is a unique job for musicians. I haven’t heard of any company offering that many shows. It’s almost surreal. On my spare time, I rather focus on writing or producing demos for friends. I use Logic Studio on the Mac OS X platform. I’m quite fluent with this setup. I’ve been using Logic since version 5 on Mac OS 9. I like to incorporate real bass on various projects, so that’s as far as my practice regiment goes. I also play a bit of guitar and own a Fender strat “Highway One”. I play a bit of keyboards as well. FS: Any other topics that you’d like to address, or that you think bass players would find interesting? DP: I think any bassist (or musician in general) should focus on versatility. My background is very diverse. I come from rock (progressive, hard, metal) but I also loved jazz in all its forms, and even country. In the mid 90’s I was leading a progressive metal band which I’m still really proud of to this day. At the same time I was playing regularly in a jazz big band. This versatility came in handy with Cirque, where musical styles vary a lot. I feel right at home with Mystère. I find the overall score to be quite progressive. ======================================================================= NEXT ISSUE ======================================================================= Join us for the beginning of a series that examines CirqueCon 2009: Monterrey! from beginning to end. Also, Keith Johnson gives us his take on Cirque du Soleil’s newest musical release: ZED. ======================================================================= PARTING QUOTE ======================================================================= "I once fell from the top of a big top. I slid down the canvas to the parking lot and smashed both feet. They told me I would never walk again." - Dominique Champagne (2003) ======================================================================= SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ======================================================================= Fascination! is a monthly newsletter, available through subscription via Yahoo! Groups or on the World Wide Web in text format at the newsletter's website: < http://www.CirqueFascination.com/ >. To subscribe, please send an email to: < CirqueFascination- subscribe@yahoogroups.com >. To unsubscribe, please send an email to: < CirqueFascination-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com >. To view back issues, or other online Newsletter content, please visit us at: < http://www.CirqueFascination.com/ >. Have a comment, question or concern? Email the Fascination! Newsletter staff at: < CirqueFasincation-owner@yahoogroups.com >. We are anxious to hear any and all comments! ======================================================================= COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER ======================================================================= Fascination! Newsletter Volume 9, Number 7 (Issue #69) - October 2009 "Fascination! Newsletter" is a concept by Ricky Russo. Copyright (c) 2001-2009 Ricky Russo, published by Vortex/RGR Productions, a subsidiary of Communicore Enterprises. No portion of this newsletter can be reproduced, published in any form or forum, quoted or translated without the consent of the "Fascination! Newsletter." By sending us correspondence, you give us permission (unless otherwise noted) to use the submission as we see fit, without remuneration. All submissions become the property of the "Fascination! Newsletter." "Fascination! Newsletter" is not affiliated in any way with Cirque du Soleil. Cirque du Soleil and all its creations are Copyright (c) and are registered trademarks (TM) of Cirque du Soleil, Inc., and Créations Méandres, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No copyright infringement intended. { Oct.06.2009 } =======================================================================