======================================================================= ______ _ __ _ __ / ____/___ ___________(_)___ ____ _/ /_(_)___ ____ / / / /_ / __ `/ ___/ ___/ / __ \/ __ `/ __/ / __ \/ __ \/ / / __/ / /_/ (__ ) /__ / / / / /_/ / /_/ / /_/ / / / /_/ /_/ \__,_/____/\___/_/_/ /_/\__,_/\__/_/\____/_/ /_(_) 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 ------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.CirqueFascination.com ------------------------------------------------------------ ======================================================================= VOLUME 17, NUMBER 8 August 2017 ISSUE #163 ======================================================================= Welcome to the latest edition of Fascination, the Unofficial Cirque du Soleil Newsletter. * * * NEW SHOW FOR THE LUXOR IN 2019? * * * Although Blue Man Group is in residence at the Luxor, we're talking a replacement for Criss Angel here. On Tuesday, July 18th, John Katsilometes from the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported a rumor that Cirque du Soleil was planning a new show concept for Luxor in 2019 to replace Mindfreak Live. He reached out to Cirque, who could neither confirm nor deny the rumor: "Interestingly, and unexpectedly," he said, "Cirque responded to my inquiry about that show's development by addressing Criss Angel's status with the company." From company spokeswoman Ann Paladie: "Cirque du Soleil and Criss Angel have enjoyed a tremendous partnership together over the last nine years. 'Mindfreak Live' is a very successful production and it is continuing with our enthusiastic support." Angel's contract with the hotel ends November 1, 2018. Hmmm... I wonder if Criss will renew his contract now that he's doing Mindfreak, rather than a specific Cirque show. I can't imagine the Luxor would want to lose the show if it's doing well enough. Especially now that Cirque owns Blue Man Group, who has a show at the Luxor again too. But I'd be interested in hearing all about a new show for the venue. I just can't fathom what it could be. I think the failure of Zarakana - if you want to call it that - suggests that each show in Vegas HAS to be something unique, and Zarakna - for all its weirdness - just didn't stand out. It didn't help that Zarkana was being billed as Mystere 2.0, generally speaking... a show that was more classically acrobatic than, say, "O" and LOVE and ZUMANITY and KA. So any replacement in my opinion would have to be a unique concept not tied to any of those. Nothing like LOVE or ONE. And would have to be different than "O" and KA and Zumanity. I just don't know what that concept could be. But interesting times are certainly ahead. In other Criss Angel news, on Thursday, July 20, 2017, Criss Angel was honored by Hollywood's Chamber of Commerce with the 2,615th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star was dedicated at 7018 Hollywood Boulevard next to the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and across the street from the star of Houdini. * * * POLSTAR's 2017 MID-YEAR FIGURES ARE IN * * * The Top 50 Worldwide Tours grossed a combined $1.97 billion that is just short of last year's record $1.98 billion. The total number of tickets sold by the Top 50, however, was up 3.5% to a record 23.4 million. That number was driven by a $3.11 or 3.5% drop in the average ticket price from $87.51 to $84.40. The Top 100 North American Tours grossed a combined $1.64 billion, which represents an 11% increase that broke last year's industry record of $1.47 billion. The total number of tickets sold by the Top 100 was 22.8 million which also smashed last year's record of 19.8 million. That represents a huge 15% increase for butts in seats. The average show gross among the Top 100 acts was up nearly 5% to a record $658,600. The average number of tickets sold per show was also up 706 to a record 9,128. The average ticket price in North America seems to be moderating, as they were on our Worldwide chart. The average price of admission to see one of the Top 100 acts was $72.16. That represents a decline of $2.46 or about 3.3% from last year. The industry record was the $76.20 average set in 2015. Here's how Cirque's touring shows have done (that have reportable numbers) thus far in 2017... World Gross Title AVG Tix AVG Tix Total AVG Cities Rank in Mil Price Sold Tix Sold Gross / Shows -------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 $32.2 Kurios $88.73 15,273 351,282 $1,355,247 23/182 30 $27.6 Amaluna $80.39 16,329 342,900 $1,312,717 21/162 32 $25.5 Varekai $58.61 20,728 435,298 $1,214,847 21/136 33 $25.5 Luzia $91.31 16,432 279,349 $1,500,511 17/145 37 $24.2 Kooza $82.86 14,578 291,568 $1,207,957 20/156 49 $18.8 Toruk $62.00 27,553 303,083 $1,708,339 11/69 55 $17.4 OVO $60.89 14,281 285,628 $869,575 20/139 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 171.2 Million Gross 2,289,108 Tickets Sold NOTE (*): The first number in the RANK is the show's listing in the Top 100 North American Tours list; the second is the show's overall listing in Top 100 World-wide tours. The volume of data collected by Pollstar continues to soar in 2017. So far, more than 65 million tickets have been reported sold for a gross approaching $4 billion. The 22,000 individual box office reports received in the first half of the year is an increase of more than 3% as our reporting network continues to expand. The bottom line is the industry took in more money and sold more tickets than ever before with a slightly lower ticket price… and that's good for everyone. Okay, so let's go! /----------------------------------------------------\ | | | Join us on the web at: | | < www.cirquefascination.com > | | | | At CirqueCast: | | < http://www.cirquecast.com/ > | | | | Realy Simple Syndication (RSS) Feed (News Only): | | < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?feed=rss2 > | | | \----------------------------------------------------/ - Ricky "Richasi" Russo =========== CONTENTS =========== o) Cirque Buzz -- News, Rumours & Sightings * La Presse -- General News & Highlights * Q&A -- Quick Chats & Press Interviews * CirqueTech -- The Technical Side of Cirque o) Itinéraire -- Tour/Show Information * BigTop Shows -- Under the Grand Chapiteau * Arena Shows -- In Stadium-like venues * Resident Shows -- Performed en Le Théâtre o) Outreach -- Updates from Cirque's Social Widgets * Webseries -- Official Online Featurettes * Videos -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds o) Fascination! Features * "Cirque du Soleil, The Blue Men, and The Future" By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) * "We're Off and Running - A Series of Classic Critiques" Part 4 of 16: Nouvelle Expérience, Part 1 (1990) By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) o) Copyright & Disclaimer ======================================================================= CIRQUE BUZZ -- NEWS, RUMOURS & SIGHTINGS ======================================================================= *************************************************************** LA PRESSE -- General News & Highlights *************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------- ICYMI: Blue Man Group Is Bought by Cirque du Soleil, With Plans to Expand {Jul.06.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- For almost 30 years, Blue Man Group has pervaded pop culture around the world with its eclectic, nonverbal percussive performances, zany lights and comedic movements. (O.K., fine. Dancing.) And of course, there is the blue body paint from head to toe. Now, the Blue Men are joining the circus. Cirque du Soleil, the global performance juggernaut best known for its acrobatic circus displays, on Thursday announced that it had acquired Blue Man Productions, with the mutual aim of expanding Blue Man's reach beyond its five permanent United States shows (in New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla.), a world tour and one permanent international show (Berlin). After the acquisition, Blue Man will be able to tap into Cirque's worldwide access to theaters and marketers. In particular, both organizations have their eye on China, home to one of the most powerful and quickly growing entertainment industries in the world. "We saw the potential for a marketing and distributing powerhouse like Cirque du Soleil to be able to distribute Blue Man Group and make their brand better known internationally," said Daniel Lamarre, Cirque's chief executive, in an interview. Cirque currently has 18 live shows worldwide. The purchase provided an opportunity for Cirque to diversify its portfolio after years of financial tumult. In 2015, the company sold a majority stake to TPG, a private equity firm in Texas. "The acquisition of Blue Man, for us, is kind of a breakthrough to make clear to people that Cirque is going from a circus company to becoming a global leader of entertainment," Mr. Lamarre said. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Mr. Lamarre said the sale price was in the "tens of millions." Chris Wink, who founded Blue Man Group in 1991 along with Phil Stanton and Matt Goldman, said that the idea to sell came about a few years ago, as the company was looking to gain a foothold in other parts of the world. China specifically came to mind. "We started to feel like we needed some help, plus we had some creative ideas that were beyond our own means," Mr. Wink said in a phone interview. "We thought of some ways that the Blue Men and their performances could go on a bigger scale." It just so happened that for a company looking to find a permanent home in an entertainment pillar like China (and other large markets), Cirque was a fit. Along with TPG, the Chinese investment firm Fosun owns a minority stake in Cirque, and Mr. Lamarre said the circus was trying to make heavy inroads into China. Mr. Lamarre said that next week he was headed to China to announce a seven-city Cirque tour that is to start in October. Conceptually, China is an ideal destination for Blue Man Group. One of the biggest challenges facing American productions in China is the language barrier, an obstacle that doesn't exist for Blue Man's mostly nonverbal shows. "I think that to unlock the larger audience in China, it either needs to be in Chinese or nonverbal," said Marc Routh, the president of Broadway Asia, a company that produces and distributes tours throughout Asia. "Blue Man is certainly one of the greatest entrees into that nonverbal market." Mr. Routh also said that the demand for theater in China and other areas of Asia is growing. Over the last several years, Mandarin- language versions of popular Broadway productions have been visible in China, including "Into the Woods" and "Mamma Mia!" In 2014, China announced plans to build a $320 million musical production center near Beijing. In addition, several theaters have been built around the country in the last decade, according to Mr. Routh, referring to them as "mini-Lincoln Centers." "It's been an explosion," Mr. Routh said. During the process of finding a prospective partner - "The idea of letting go of the reins is not an easy one," Mr. Wink said - Cirque seemed like a match for other reasons. Mr. Wink said there was mutual admiration, even though the companies were in some ways competing over the same off-the-wall creative turf. Mr. Lamarre, in a separate interview, agreed. "Those guys have been able to develop the type of show that is very unique," Mr. Lamarre said. "A little bit like Cirque." Blue Man Group was founded in the 1980s as a sort of response to and rejection of performance and cultural norms. Cirque du Soleil's founder, Guy Laliberté, was a fire-eater before creating Cirque in 1984, a show that sprang from cultivating street performers near Quebec. Both companies feature shows that have been traditionally nonverbal. After initially starting with 20 performers, Cirque says it has expanded to almost 4,000 employees (including 1,300 performers from roughly 50 countries) and brings in roughly $1 billion in revenue yearly. Its shows are as varied as they are typically well attended, with 13 million patrons annually. (It has had its flops over the years, including the calamitous 2010 run of "Banana Shpeel," at the Beacon Theater, and "Zarkana," which forgettably ran at Radio City Music Hall in 2011 and 2012.) Blue Man Group has achieved a level of pop-culture success that would have been unthinkable in the 1980s. It reportedly brings in hundreds of millions of dollars a year, although a spokeswoman declined to confirm that number. The group was the subject of a long-running and still oft-quoted story line in the sitcom "Arrested Development," along with being referred to in countless other movies and shows. It starred in commercials for Intel, has been nominated for a Grammy and has even founded a private school in New York City called the Blue School. However, Blue Man Group has had its own problems. In 2016, a musical collaborator since the group's inception, Ian Pai, sued Blue Man for $150 million, contending that he had been underpaid for decades. A trial is set to begin in April. There have been no discussions about combining Cirque and Blue Man onstage, nor has either side expressed hope for such a collaboration. "The Blue Man Group will keep its autonomy," Mr. Lamarre said. "We're not going to mix the Cirque du Soleil brand with the brand of Blue Man Group." And as far as the Blue Man team is concerned, its shows won't lose any of the screwball charm that has attracted more than 35 million viewers since the troupe's founding. When Mr. Wink was asked what would change about Blue Man Group going forward, he was frank: "Hopefully, very little." { SOURCE: New York Times | https://goo.gl/51x1Um } ------------------------------------------------------- La Presse: "Stone, a Stunning Beauty" {Jul.19.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- {Translated from French via Google Translate} Expectations were great for this third installment of the Cirque du Soleil Hommage series at the Cogeco Amphitheater in Trois-Rivières, with Stone. At the height of the work of Luc Plamondon, the show will have largely met expectations. The audience was invited to a magnificent electro-classical-modern ball, bursting, or even "trash", Wednesday night in Trois-Rivières. What the production described as a punk-rock baroque opera did not disappoint the audience, confirming at the same time that the Cirque du Soleil team is getting more and more comfortable at the Cogeco Amphitheater and feels more Than ever as at home. The narrative plot of the Stone show is not only interesting to follow, it transports us in a whirlwind of emotions, going from laughter to tears and passing by the unavoidable breath that only these acrobats can reserve us, on earth or in high-flying. The musical plot, for its part, is still worth this year alone the detour to the Amphitheater, with the interpretation reworked by the musical director Jean-Phi Goncalves, which only confirms its status as a genius of music. Works by Plamondon such as SOS of a distressed earthman interpreted by Ariane Moffatt, or the electrifying Oxygène by Betty Bonifassi are extraordinary, as is Parc Belmont and the rich voice of Martha Wainwright, or the blues of the businessman who Takes on a completely new color with the deep and touching interpretation of Safia Nolin. Visually, one feels the concern of the team to completely occupy the space, even when a single acrobat to the hoop will come to make its number. There is no idle time in this 75-minute show. The imposing decoration representing this carousel which seems to be disused and which will accompany until the last note the quest of an eccentric maestro and his automated muse occupies masterfully space to accompany the elaborate and clearly well-honed. The number one in the world is stone completely overturns the public, with the superb interpretation of Beyries , and a duet of acrobats with straps of a grace both poetic and sensual that comes to draw us the tears Until the very end, when a shower of brilliant brilliantly ends this adaptation that inspired the title of the show. Visually, numbers like Monopolis , Oxygen and undocumented migrants are particularly powerful, both in music and the interpretation of acrobats who have clearly worked with great precision intentions in acting and comedy. You can feel it especially in a number like "I dance in my head", where the duo of men with the Korean board comes to look for the public in humor in its complicity with the maestro, who tries somehow to slip through this number Acrobatic that does not succeed at all. These few points of humor will come alleviate the narrative frame that one feels sometimes heavier and black, without it being disturbing. We also had a breath of breath in Lili wanted to go dancing, or in Tiens-toi ben, I come , with the acrobats in the discipline of icarians games, with acrobatics that leave us simply speechless. Let's also bet that Plamondon himself had the tear in his eye for this one song he had demanded in this show, My mother was still singing. The audience, initially invited to sing the song in chorus, will later be transported in a classical and touching waltz that serves well this great classic, beautifully performed by Marie-Pierre Arthur. The quest for the automaton muse, although it crosses dark and sometimes black paintings, will culminate in light with the hymn to the beauty of the world, for the occasion taken up by Diane Dufresne, as if it were necessary at the end of The story that the true muse of Plamondon also regained its true voice at the end of this journey. There was only Diane Dufresne to symbolically close this show. CHECK OUT THE PICTURES THAT ACCOMPANY THIS ARTICLE HERE: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=10498 > AND MORE PICTURES HERE: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=10520 > { SOURCE: La Presse } ------------------------------------------------------- Škoda Auto an Official Partner of Cirque du Soleil {Jul.21.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- Škoda Auto, more commonly known as Škoda, is a Czech automobile manufacturer founded in 1895 as Laurin & Klement. It is headquartered in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic, and as of now is an official Partner of Cirque du Soleil. Skoda is expanding its brand management with a partnership with the Cirque du Soleil. The Canadian live entertainment company is known for its shows and performers. More than 180 million viewers have visited Cirque du Soleil since their founding in 1984. Skoda will in future be an integral part of the Cirque-du-Soleil promotion in outdoor advertising, print products, TV commercials and the Internet presence. The partnership, which was agreed until 2021, also includes large- scale marketing campaigns as well as special VIP experiences such as backstage tours, meet-and-greets with the artists and advertising opportunities directly linked to Las Vegas. There have been the entertainment specialists for more than 20 years with numerous shows. { SOURCE: Skoda Auto } ------------------------------------------------------- STONE: Dazzled by the Immensely Beautiful {Jul.22.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- {Translated from French via Google Translate} Few spectacles plunge us into an intimate reflection on what makes up the immensely beautiful and the greatest. Stone, Cirque du Soleil's homage to Luc Plamondon, is a masterfully successful work that does exactly that. She fascinates by her grace and acrobatics magically arranged to the poetry of the lyricist. Presented until August 19 at the Cogeco Amphitheater, a jewel of an open-air room located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River and the St. Lawrence River, the Cirque show plunges the public into a world A disused Belmont Park, reminiscent of the time of this Montreal amusement fair with a gigantic metal carousel on stage. The atmosphere is extremely warm, often dazzling and even erotic, especially when Dmytro Turkeiv and Iryna Galenchyk (two acrobats of the show who present twenty-nine artists), In duet straps, are breathtaking during their number on The world is stone, interpreted by Beyries. LYRICS, BUT ALSO MUSIC ---------------------- The lyrics of Luc Plamondon, a giant of Francophone and Quebecois music, are of course highlighted, but what strikes us even more (not to mention the potpourri in which one remembers how vast is his repertoire) is Music of composers, including Michel Berger, who accompanied the lyricist throughout his career. Under the direction of Jean-Phi Goncalves, Stone's musical fabric is an artistic work in itself, making us hope (a message sent here to Cirque du Soleil) that we can get it quickly. Some of the greatest voices in Quebec - from Ariane Moffatt to Milk & Bone, La Bronze, Martha Wainwright, Diane Dufresne, Catherine Major, Marie-Pierre Arthur, Klô Pelgag and many others - Hui mythical, updating them in a beautiful way. When Safia Nolin resonates smoothly to interpret The blues of the businessman without ever pushing the note, always in restraint, we find ourselves shivering so much is beautiful. The music, voice and grace of the acrobat on his cyr wheel, surrounded by dancers, give at the moment a beautiful mixture of intensity and purity. BREATHTAKING NUMBERS -------------------- The creative director of the show, Daniel Fortin, as well as the director Jean-Guy Legault, are pleased to have created a beautiful amalgam of circus and dance. In the number played on the song Oxygène , with the voice of Betty Bonifassi, the artists on stage struggle vigorously in their white costume, recalling straitjackets. The intensity of the talk is highlighted. Then, the numerous acrobatic numbers are well chosen and diversified, despite the few technical errors committed during the first media on Wednesday. The two acrobats tossed by two parallel carriers - two men standing face-to-face on an elevated structure that juggles with humans - leave us open-mouthed, while Batbold Andryei and Munkhbat Ganbayar are great in their Icarius game number, where one , Lying on an elongated "l" shaped bench, rolls the other in the air using his feet. Too bad that the final number, while four acrobats perched on aerial bungees , above us, failed to achieve the expected result. Directed by Gabrielle Shonk, Le monde est fou , and Hymne à la beauté du monde, with Diane Dufresne, it is impossible to grasp the amazing painting that unfolds at the same time on stage, All performing artists. In spite of everything, and it is the strength of this spectacle that is definitely worth a stopover in Mauricie, poetry transcends us. There is something inherently beautiful to notice that the thousands of spectators have their eyes riveted to the sky, while one sings "do not kill the beauty of the world". As if we too, in concert with the artists of Stone , implore something divine. Stone, Tribute to Plamondon is the third show in a series of five ( to be presented by Cirque du Soleil in his tribute series to the Amphitheater, after Le monde est fou , pour Beau Pit, and Tout écartillé , for Robert Charlebois) Cogeco. The show is presented until 19 August. { SOURCE: La Presse+ | https://goo.gl/8HEdHw } ------------------------------------------------------- CREACTIVE OPIO: High Flying Above the French Riviera {Jul.26.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- Have you ever imagined leaping from a high-in-the-sky platform to swing through the air on flying trapeze? Of the 155-million-plus fans worldwide who have experienced a Cirque du Soleil performance, chances are many of us have indulged that fantasy, if only for a wild second. A new venture from the circus arts company in partnership with vacation resort pioneer Club Med makes the dream possible for visitors and locals in southern France. Part of a 10-million-dollar investment in Club Med Opio en Provence, the aptly-named CREACTIVE is a 33,000- square-feet playground where all ages are invited to learn the ropes of circus feats from Cirque-trained instructors. "We have merged together our capabilities to create something totally unique," says Daniel Lamarre, CEO of Cirque du Soleil. The ambitious project aims to engage an increasingly-important travel demographic, families and couples seeking vacations plump with active participation and adventure. Industry leaders worldwide report a dramatic increase in travelers motivated by being physically engaged and learning a new skill during vacation. For Club Med, the trend seems a natural alignment. Since the founding in 1950 by a Belgium water polo champion, sports and activity have been at the heart of the resort village vibe. Will vacation-seekers make the leap from skiing and golf to flying on trapeze? At the playscape's opening last month, reaction was enthusiastic. As the state-of-the-art facility and circus infrastructure was unveiled, a sense of wide-eyed wonder rippled through the gathered crowd. When a woman asked, "What time does the show begin?" Club Med's Sabrina Cendral, VP of marketing and digital, didn't miss the opportunity to accurately frame the experience. "You are the show," she replied. DANCE ON WALLS, WALK THE TIGHT ROPE ----------------------------------- Entering the cirque zone, your eyes may need time to adjust. With 30 artistic and acrobatic experiences offered each week, there is a blur of activity and color in every direction. Safety is a primary focus for the multi-national, multi-lingual training staff, who patiently explain each apparatus and reassuringly point out security ropes and netting. In the acrobatic realm, a giant bungee makes forward and back flips look easy and graceful, somehow even for newbies, and trampoline tricks become surprisingly complex once a few basics are mastered. You can test balance and core strength on a tight rope, hovering a few feet above ground. And, there's a Vertical Wall - my personal favorite - for dancing and running while dangling from rope. Whichever activity you choose, expect to be sore in all sorts of places. Artistically, face-painting and circus makeup are skills with endless real-life applications (imagine the costume parties). And, surprisingly the toughest feat of all to master may be the art of juggling. Pro-tip: don't save this activity for last when arms feel like noodles. "It's a strong emotion when families share these experiences," says Mufraggi. As he speaks, my thoughts once again turn to that grandmother and how proud she must have felt to do something so daring and brave as her loved ones watched. It's a moment her family will surely never forget and a story her grandkids will long tell, "…that time grandma joined the circus." TRICKS AND TIPS --------------- Typically guests spend a week at the resort, giving ample opportunity to explore different aspects of CREACTIVE and also focus on rejuvenation and recovery - a spa treatment should always be reward for such bravery. During summer, kids have run of the playscape during morning; adults-only in late afternoon. Different concentrations are featured throughout the week - vertical wall one day, bungee the following - so be sure to visit multiple times. For resort guests, activities and instruction are part of all- inclusive rates. For visitors, day passes are available for $77 - $132, depending on length of visit and include access to facilities and activities, plus meals. As the week draws to a close, trainers stage a demo/mini-performance. It's a smart move, this end-of-the-week experience. Witnessing the mad skills and grace of professionals in action, you can't help but laugh at your own audacity for attempting those feats. It may not have been graceful, but you were brave and took a leap. And, for the briefest time, you were the show. CHECK OUT THE PICTURES THAT ACCOMPANY THIS ARTICLE HERE: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?p=10533 > { SOURCE: Jess Simpson, Paste Magazine | https://goo.gl/EZEqNF } ------------------------------------------------------- 'Baz-Star Crossed Love’ Celebrates Successful 1st year {Jul.29.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- When it opened in the middle of 2015 at Light Nightclub at Mandalay Bay, Baz was a bright, fresh, different musical production on the Las Vegas Strip, trying to make its mark in a tempestuous live entertainment landscape. Now, as the show celebrates its first anniversary as Baz — Star Crossed Love in a more natural home at the Palazzo Theatre, it’s that much closer to making to making that mark. “Vegas has been a wild ride for us,” says Shane Scheel, executive producer and co-creator at For The Record, the Los Angeles-based live entertainment company behind Baz. “Working with the Cirque du Soleil [team] at Light gave us what we called our Vegas workshop and it was an incredible experience to put that together, and then to have everyone at Venetian [and Palazzo] come see it and fall in love with it and think we can do it even better, that has been a treat for us to continue to explore the show. “To have it running for a year there is surreal because Vegas is a wild city to produce in. There’s a lot of competition, and our goal was create something very different. Every day that’s how we think.” For The Record’s shows — called a “unique postmodern cabaret” by Vanity Fair — celebrate the work of acclaimed and famous film directors like Quentin Tarantino, John Hughes, Martin Scorsese, and in Las Vegas, Baz Luhrmann. Baz is centered on the love stories in Luhrmann’s films Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby, set to a modern pop music soundtrack featuring songs like Prince’s “When Doves Cry” and Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black.” The show has been hailed for universally strong vocal performances from its ensemble cast and its ability to surround its audience with sound and action. “When we set out to the Palazzo, we were really able to take the space and craft it into something that suits the show. Light was a fun playground but it wasn’t built for the show,” Scheel says. “The Palazzo Theatre was built for the For The Record experience, to bring the action off the screen and into people’s laps, and their minds and hearts, so you can become completely immersed in these films and stories and, most importantly, the soundtracks.” Coinciding with the anniversary of the show is the return of its original star, Ruby Lewis, who plays Gatsby’s Daisy Buchanan. Lewis, who’s also worked in film and television on Girl Meets World, Masters of Sex, Desperate Housewives and more, just wrapped a year-long run as the lead in the Broadway debut of Cirque’s Paramour, a role that was born from her work in the first version of Baz. “It sort of fell into my lap due to my connection through Baz with Cirque du Soleil’s theatrical [team],” Lewis says. (Cirque was involved with Baz at Light but is not involved with the Palazzo production.) “Paramour was a completely different beast. The artistic process was totally organic, very different from what I was used to, which is putting up a show in a couple weeks. We took our time building the show, and it was my first time on this grand scale where I got to be such a big part of the process and have so much input.” Building the Paramour character around her strengths was an ideal situation for Lewis, and she says it changed the way she approaches her performances now — including reprising her role in Baz. “It’s not that my performance has been bashful, but as you experience more, it colors your performance,” she says. “I feel like I’m able to go a little deeper and that it feels more comfortable in this role for me now. And I’ve really been chomping at the bit after I saw it open [at Palazzo] and the space is so stunning, and the way the show has been reimagined is so vibrant and exciting.” Baz has come a long way, Scheel explains, and it’s because of a serious commitment from everyone involved. “We’ve done shows in so many different kinds of venues, from a bar in East Hollywood to a 2,000-seat theater at South by Southwest,” he says. “We couldn’t do Baz without the commitment of so many people, from designers and actors taking a chance and going out to Vegas, to everyone from the president of the casino on down to the creative team [at Palazzo]. It’s been very exciting to see how they’ve sort of blended the show into the whole hotel, not just [marketing it] to guests but envisioning how the show matches the opulence and romance of the overall experience at the property.” Baz — Star Crossed Love performs Tuesdays through Sundays at 7 p.m. in the Palazzo Theatre. Tickets start at $59.50 and more info can be found at venetian.com. { SOURCE: Brock Radke, Las Vegas Sun | https://goo.gl/LmXQVJ } *************************************************************** Q&A -- Quick Chats & Press Interviews *************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------- Q&A w/Angie Swan - Amaluna's Guitarist {Jul.03.2017} ------------------------------------------------------- For the last year and half, one world-class guitar player who was raised right here in Milwaukee has returned home after being away for more than a decade. Angie Swan has worked as a touring and session musician for will.i.am, Macy Gray, Fifth Harmony and more. Swan spent three years playing in the Cirque du Soleil show 'Amaluna,' traveling all over North America. She has also appeared on 'The Tonight Show,' MTV's 'Rock the Cradle' and the BET Awards. She is endorsed by Knaggs Guitars and Gibson Guitars. A Sherman Park native, Swan attended Milwaukee High School of the Arts and Berklee College of Music, where some of her classmates included Esperanza Spalding, Annie Clark (St. Vincent) and Eric Andre. Swan's college years coincided with the music industry's transition to the digital age. Her varied career is a reflection of the subsequent changes in the music business. Since moving back to Milwaukee in late 2015, Swan has accompanied the New Age Narcissism collective and was in the house band for the 'Wonder Uncovered' show at Turner Hall Ballroom in April, among other gigs in and out of town. In December 2016, Swan began hosting a monthly "Funk Night" at the Jazz Estate, which I attended last week. The evening featured a mix of originals and covers, the stylistic range reflecting her various influences. Before the show, Swan was spotted taking photos with her parents and some of their friends. She cracked jokes throughout the night, dedicated a song to Seattle, busted out her pipes (because she was "feeling it"), and even jumped on a chair while playing her ax behind her head. Joey Grihalva of 88.9 Radio Milwaukee recently sat down with Swan to discuss her Milwaukee upbringing, her college days, hanging out with Courtney Love, auditioning for Prince, traveling with Cirque du Soleil, getting stranded in India, wearing a Cheesehead in enemy territory, and more. MUSIC ROOTS ----------- My father is a guitar player and a bass player. My mother has always been a lover of music. Both of my parents have influenced me in different ways. My mother showed me a video of me playing ukulele when I was three years old. I took my first guitar lesson when I was about 11-years-old down in Bay View at a place called Crown Music. I took private lessons every Saturday with a guy named Norb Kaminski, who just passed away. I was happy to be in town to pay my respects. I studied music at Milwaukee High School of the Arts. I had the option of doing classical or jazz, and I studied mostly jazz. I studied outside of school at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music with Paul Silbergleit, Mark Davis, Berkeley Fudge and in the summer I was at music camps at UW-Madison, UW-Green Bay and UW-Steven's Point. Guitar was the first instrument I was drawn to. I took piano lessons when I was 5-years-old, then clarinet, but guitar is the one that I stuck with. MUSIC MEMORIES -------------- My father used to play 'Surfing With the Alien' by Joe Satriani. I don't know what it was about that music, the cover of the album, but my dad would play it all the time. My mother would play a lot of Tracy Chapman, Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughn. The '80s hair band videos on MTV, I thought those were so cool and I wanted to do that. Jennifer Batten in the Michael Jackson video, I thought she was so cool. In middle school, it was Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots. I really liked rock at the time, even Candlebox. I remember the older kids were listening to Candlebox at the guitar camp at UW-Green Bay and I thought it was so cool, I think because I like the E minor chord. I have a little brother named John. I think he's human. He's a comedy writer, he studied at Second City in Chicago and now he lives in New York City. He's a DJ too. After I left Milwaukee he was in the No Requests crew with Jordan Lee, DJ Madhatter, and Tim Zick, who is Kid Cut Up. My mom has these videos of our little family bands playing in the basement. I'd get on drums and John would be on the microphone. He was always a character, he liked to dress like Pee Wee Herman. He is the more theatrical one, but I have my goofy days. MILWAUKEE MEMORIES ------------------ I remember seeing Citizen King and Little Blue Crunchy Things. I think Milwaukee used to have a lot more all-ages shows, or at least outdoor festival shows. I'd go with friends, my mother would drop us off and we'd buy a cassette or a CD from the bands. One thing I really liked about the venues in Milwaukee when I was growing up, is that you could go with a parent and bring your instrument and sit in with the bands. I used to play with my father at a spot called Boobie's Place, which I think was off Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. There was this place called Rory's Cafe, which is now a hair salon. I used to play there in high school a lot with a couple different bands. It was a coffee shop, so they didn't serve alcohol and it was all- ages. I think that was probably the first time I was in a band that played out in Milwaukee. It was like hip-hop/jam band type stuff. I played at Caroline's with my own little quartet. I remember being on stage in braces. Sometimes the Conservatory would put bands together and do local shows. Milwaukee offered me a lot of opportunities to play. COLLEGE DAYS ------------ Once I got to Boston the industry started changing. My audition was on a cassette tape and when I was in college we were recording on mini- disc players. By the time I got out it was all digital, iTunes had just started. So there was a big shift, everything just started moving very fast between those years. You know, I had this idea of what the music industry was supposed to be like when I was 18-years-old, but by the time I was 22 it was completely different. I left school in 2005, Facebook started in 2004. Napster was just beginning as I was leaving high school, but I didn't know what that was. Music became more accessible online, it was free, so that took away money from the music industry. They stopped investing as much as they used to. It's funny because the professors had a certain way of seeing how the industry was, but they were no longer really in the industry, so at that point they're having to take courses because technology was pushing everything so quickly. At Berklee, I think two or three years into me being there they started a laptop program where they required that everyone have a laptop. They put it in the tuition and would give you a laptop with music programs on it because they kind of knew that everything was shifting to digital. BERKLEE CLASSMATES ------------------ Esperanza Spalding was there and we used to play in a band together. Annie Clark who's known as St. Vincent, she was there and we were in a couple groups together. Eric Andre was there too. We used to have shows in the cafeteria. I was playing with this band and Eric kind of crashed our video. You can see him walking behind the scenes balancing a broom on his chin. But he's a bass player, that's how I knew him. MOVING TO LOS ANGELES --------------------- You have to go out there focused. It's easy to get distracted. I got distracted a few times. When I first moved out there I just went to jam sessions, because that was the way to get heard. But you also had to finagle and finesse your way onstage. I always carried business cards with me. It took a month or so to meet the right person who would get you onstage. I learned a lot about networking at Berklee, so that helped. You have to know how to speak with people and work with people. It's about having a positive attitude. You have to weigh out which situations and opportunities you'd be the best fit for. LA was very competitive, so you always had to be one step ahead of the game, which was hard for me at times, but other times it was easier. FIRST LA GIGS ------------- First TV show I did was with Britney Spears' husband at the time, Kevin Federline, I did 'The Tonight Show.' That was about six months into being in LA. Actually my third day being in LA, Courtney Love called me. It was out of the blue. This guy gave her my number and she was looking for someone to play guitar with her while she wrote songs in a studio. Her and I sat in a rehearsal hall, she's sitting there chain-smoking cigarettes, her knee twitching. And she's like, "What's your sign?" and I'm like, "I'm a Capricorn," and she says, "I'm a Cancer, can't you tell?" She had a great sense of humor. That only lasted for a few days. Then I realized LA was like hills and valleys, things come and go. I had a couple part time jobs just to supplement income at the time. When jobs would pop up I was really happy. I worked with a lot of unsigned artists and I'd get small side gigs in between major gigs or major auditions. THE PRINCE UNIVERSE ------------------- I was a huge Prince fan growing up. I was always infatuated with him. My mother has videos of me singing his songs. In LA, you're surrounded by those kinds of people, that kind of energy. So it's like six degrees of separation. And I knew that Prince scouted people. A couple times I played at jam sessions in LA and people were like, "Oh, he's here, he's here." You could see him in the background. He just stares at people. I think I met a couple of people in his band, because the community is so tight. And then I got scouted by him. One of his people called me and said, "He wants you to come to Minneapolis." I'm completely nervous. They buy me a plane ticket and I fly out there. When the plane lands I turn my phone on and I get a text saying "RIP Michael." I flew to Paisley Park the day Michael Jackson died. The world is devastated at that point, so Prince doesn't want to see anybody. Myself and the rest of the musicians he's flown out go to a hotel and just wait 48 hours. Lonnie Smith was the bass player. The drummer was Cindy Blackman, who played with Lenny Kravitz, the girl with the afro. So I'm sitting there just freaking out, because I'm surrounded by my idols and I'm auditioning for this guy. And we played for a little bit and that's it. It was such a short lived trip. They sent us back home. It was such a devastating time for everyone. That was my closest connection with Prince. I'll never forget that. When I was on tour with Cirque we played Minneapolis and since I knew his band members we went to his pajama party. Doors opened at midnight and he didn't start playing until four in the morning. I had to be at work at eleven in the morning, but I had to stay there, I couldn't miss that. His musical family is still very tight and his spirit lives on with everyone that's ever had an encounter with him. He used to have jam sessions at his home in LA, musicians could just come over and play. He's like Stevie Wonder, they're just lovers of music. Stevie Wonder just shows up at random places in LA and just listens. That's an amazing thing. A WONDER-FUL SURPRISE --------------------- Stevie came onstage once when I was playing with Bonnie James. We were doing a Wonder cover called "Creepin," which was at the San Dimas Jazz Festival in 2010 or 2011. We're playing this song and then everybody starts screaming really loud and I turn around and Stevie is being escorted on stage with his harmonica in hand. So we looped the song, we played it twice. Again, I'm just sitting there freaking out, saying to myself, "Alright Angie, don't overplay, don't overplay!" STAGE FRIGHT ------------ I don't get nervous anymore. There was this time I played with a band called the Shop Boys and we were playing the BET Awards in 2007 and within the first ten seconds I broke a guitar string. The night before I don't know what came in my head, but I was like "If I broke a string, what would I do? Where would I move my hand on this guitar to compensate for that?" And then of course the next day I broke a string and flawlessly went to the next thing, luckily. I get more nervous in front of small groups of people. It's so much more intimate, you're so much closer to them. When you're on big stages and the lights are on you, you don't really feel it. Now I just get this adrenaline rush, I love to play for people and make eye contact with people, which I used to not do. CIRQUE DU SOLEIL GIG -------------------- It was kind of a long process and it was all video auditions because they are based in Montreal. You'd send in a video and they'd say, "Alright, send in another one with a close-up. Send your resume. You're going to have to play different styles of music, plus the music for the show." Eventually they invited me. I think it was February 2012. They called me and said, "Alright, we'd like to hire you, but you need to move to Montreal in two days." So I'm sitting in my apartment in Los Angeles in February thinking, "Okay, I have to move everything to Montreal in two days." I thought about it for thirty minutes and looked at the contract, made a couple revisions, then had two going away parties, gave away a bunch of stuff and put a lot of stuff in storage. The next thing you know I'm walking through the snow in Montreal in Chuck Taylors and I don't speak French. I'm just thinking, "What have I done?" It was kind of like the movie 'A Clockwork Orange.' They put me in this room and there were lights shining on me and they put this helmet on my head and measured it. Each costume is custom fit. So they'd sit and measure my fingers and toes and get a 3D image of my body so they could make the perfect costume. It was really weird when I first got there. But it ended up being a great experience. The show was called 'Amaluna,' which is based on 'Romeo & Juliet' and 'The Tempest.' We toured Canada for the first year and a half, then we did the U.S. We did about 8-10 shows a week. The show was two hours long and we only had Mondays off. We had double shows on some days. The days were long. We'd work pretty hard in each city for about two to three months, start making friends, then we'd have to move on. After that, three years had passed and I knew I was ready to move on, so I chose to resign when the show went to Europe. REINVENTING HERSELF ------------------- After Cirque I moved back to Los Angeles. I'd been gone for three years, so it was like starting from scratch. Even though I lived in LA for ten years before that, I had to reestablish myself. People thought I was still on the road and by this time other generations had come into LA. That city has such a revolving door, people come and go constantly. At that point the music industry had been in a decline. There were way more musicians and way less work. I didn't know what I was going to do. I had some friends in France and I decided to use my resume to try to promote myself as a clinician and start speaking to students. That's what I did for a few months. One of the friends I was staying with was a drummer that had a gig in India and needed a guitar player. So I went there for about a month and then got stuck in a monsoon. It was the biggest storm in 100 years in Chennai, India. The airport was completely flooded. I made videos of it and put a little documentary of it on YouTube. The water had gotten up to the engines of the planes, so it looked like they were floating. The whole airport was destroyed. I slept on the floor of the airport for three days. The embassy called my mother in Milwaukee, so she was freaking out. At that point I was like, "I think it's time for me to come back to the States." We had to drive through hours of flooded terrain. I was lucky enough to make it back home, so I figured I had to stay here for a while. It put life in perspective. HOMETOWN PRIDE -------------- When I lived on the East Coast people thought I was from the West Coast and when I lived on the West Coast people thought I was from the East Coast, but I was always proud to say I'm from the Midwest. I actually had a Cheesehead when I was on tour with Cirque du Soleil and during football season I would wear it. I remember in San Francisco when the 49ers beat the Packers I was walking around with the Zumba green and gold pants, my Cheesehead and people were just screaming at me. Then you get non-Americans who see this piece of cheese on my head who don't understand and I'm like, "Don't touch it, it's sacred." MOVING BACK TO MILWAUKEE ------------------------ Coming home as an adult, I thought Milwaukee was pretty cool. I was really impressed with how Milwaukee had grown. The restaurant scene, the music scene, and the cost of living. It's centrally located, so I can go to the East Coast and I can go to the West Coast. It just made sense for me to stay here for a while. The Milwaukee scene is very relaxing. Not every conversation is about music or hustling or trying to find the next thing. LA and New York are both like that. You're going there to pursue an art. Milwaukee has always been more of an industrial city, but there's also a huge art community and I feel like over time that's definitely going to grow as it has in many mid-size cities. There's a lot more opportunity in those bigger cities to grow and maybe buy a house one day from making music, but that makes it a little bit more competitive. After a while that can become a little tiring, just being around that 24/7, because you're constantly working and networking versus playing from your heart, just for the love of it, rather than playing to pay a bill. So coming back to Milwaukee and seeing that is really cool. It makes my heart happy to be able to play music for fun. A lot of artists are very unique here. I'm curious to see how they can make that translate more on a national level. Artists like Lex Allen, who I've had the pleasure of working with in the past. Chris Gilbert has his thing with dancing, which is cool. And he lived in LA, but he's back in Milwaukee and still travels. Milwaukee definitely has a great sense of community. When I first moved back here I was pleasantly surprised at the musicianship, the variety of music, there's definitely a huge circle of different branches of people. I never lived in Riverwest, but my brother did, so I used to go visit him there, and I could sense that whole family feeling. I really like the support I see in Milwaukee. People come to each other's shows. I didn't see much of that in LA because everyone is so focused on doing other stuff. I'd be really interested to see more people who are not artists come see this stuff. Because I go to Company Brewing and I see people in the audience who I would usually see onstage and vice versa, so there's gotta be a way to break through and get more of an audience. I know people want to be entertained, but there's a gap somewhere. I'm trying to pinpoint it. I know there's a lot of stuff going on here, but you need the budget to expand that. It needs support from up top. There's so much support within itself that it's almost overflowing, but you have to find a way to bridge the gap between the artists and the consumers. Because artists can only consume so much of each other's art. You need the capital from the outside to come in to make it flourish even more. HER OWN PROJECT --------------- Before I left LA, before Cirque du Soleil, I started working on original stuff with some amazing artists. One of my best friends, Eddie Brown, he plays with Stevie Wonder now, we played in a couple of bands together, he helped produce my album. This guy Ron Bruner, he's Thundercat's brother, a great drummer, he played with me on the album. Thomas Pridgen, he played with Mars Volta, another amazing drummer. I've got these stacks of hard drives so I'm kind of in the production stage still. It got put on hold because I was traveling for four years. I did my GoFundMe thing and raised about half of it, now I feel like I have more time to get back into that and I can't even remember half the stuff that's on there. I just want to sit down and go through it all. There's so much material. It's just about organizing it. I hope to have something released this year. { SOURCE: 88NINE Milwaukee | https://goo.gl/9mFkum } ------------------------------------------------------- Meet the Athletic Artists Behind Cirque's 'Luzia' {Jun.24.2017} ---------------------------------------------------- Every two years Cirque du Soleil returns to Chicago with a new show that combines imagination with spectacle. The French Canadian circus rolled into town this week and raised its giant tent in the parking lot of the United Center. Chicago Tonight got a backstage pass to meet the performers of "Luzia: A Waking Dream of Mexico," which opens Thursday and continues through Sept. 3. Phil Ponce: Outside, the big top is nearly ready for show time. Inside, this huge traveling production seats more than 2,500 people. Backstage, 44 circus artists carefully rehearse their moves. We spoke with the performers about their rather unusual occupations. Enye White, Cirque du Soleil: My act is, well, I'm sitting on a trapeze, so we're two girls and I'm flying in the air while she's spinning in the wheel, like a giant coin, and then at some point there's rain dropping on the stage, and then I fly in the air, I do acrobatics in the ropes around the bar. Laura Biondo, Cirque du Soleil: I do the act that's called "Football Dance" or for Americans it would be soccer, which is basically just soccer tricks, soccer freestyle, it's just having fun with a ball. Ponce: Her incredible partner in "Football Dance" was discovered a few years ago as a street performer in Paris. We asked these athletic artists about their training. Biondo: If I'm going to warm up for the show, I try to do most of the tricks that I would do in the show at a slower pace, to make sure your muscles and make sure your joints warm up. Working out is very important, not only for your act but for your endurance in the whole show. At times we we have 10 shows per week which is quite a lot of work, so every day I work out at least an hour per day in the mornings, either I go to high-interval training gyms or do some of those videos at home. Then when we're here at the big top certain conditioning, depending on what part of your body you really want to work on so you're really training almost the entire day. White: I do strength exercise, I do balance, all the trainings are good exercise. This exercise uses all of my muscles so the more strong I am, the better it is. Ponce: The latest production is called "Luzia." The artistic director told us about the unifying concept behind the show. Mark Shaub, artistic director, Cirque du Soleil: The big idea for "Luzia" is that we wanted to explore and delve into the culture, the sights, the sounds of Mexico. We delve deep into traditions of Mexican art and Mexican culture, but it's a fantasy. We call it a waking dream of Mexico and it's certainly not a literal translation. We would never say 'you will learn what Mexico is by coming to see "Luzia," but we hope you'd have a deeper understanding of what there is to see, taste and feel and listen to in that part of the world. We really tried with the costumes and with the set to really have it look like it's coming from the folk traditions of Mexico. Amanda Balius: It was really important to our costume designer, and the directors of our show and the writers of our show to really create a time out of time. We didn't want to focus on one specific time period to really kind of pigeon hole the idea and spirit of the show. We also looked a lot at the inspiration of Mexico and how we could apply that into costuming. We do a lot of that in our puppets, our larger puppet pieces. Ponce: It takes 125 people to keep the show on the road. And the cast of performers is international, coming from 19 countries. Biondo: I was born in Venezuela, grandparents were Italian. White: I'm from Montreal. I started circus at 9 and then I did a three-year program in school in Montreal and I was always surrounded by circus. It's really nice. There's so many people coming from so many parts in the world. I've never been in the U.S. so it's my first time touring and seeing all of these amazing cities, and we've got Russian, we've Spanish people, we've French people, we've so many people. It feels like such a blessing to be performing every night on stage in front of like thousands of people. It's great. Shaub: Even though the show has been running for over a year now, there's always little things which we find which we like to tweak or tune up or a new idea comes up, or if we're replacing one of the artists it's getting them integrated into the show, finding what their strengths are and trying to use their strengths. So the show is always evolving. Whether it's through the acrobatics, the music, the costumes, the stage design, it really does comes together and creates a beautiful whole { SOURCE: Chicago Tonight | https://goo.gl/3aonQK } ======================================================================= ITINÉRAIRE -- TOUR/SHOW INFORMATION ======================================================================= o) BIGTOP - Under the Grand Chapiteau {Amaluna, Koozå, Kurios, Luzia, Totem & Volta} o) ARENA - In Stadium-like venues {Varekai, TORUK, OVO, Séptimo Día, & Crystal} o) RESIDENT - Performed en Le Théâtre {Mystère, "O", La Nouba, Zumanity, KÀ, LOVE, MJ ONE, & JOYÀ} 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. For current, up-to-the-moment information on Cirque's whereabouts, please visit Cirque's website: < http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/ >, or for a more comprehensive tour listing, visit our Itinéraire section online at: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?page_id=6898 >. ------------------------------------ BIGTOP - Under the Grand Chapiteau ------------------------------------ Amaluna: Asuncion, PY -- Jul 26, 2017 to Aug 13, 2017 Montevido, UY -- Aug 30, 2017 to Sep 15, 2017 São Paulo, BR -- Oct 5, 2017 to Dec 17, 2017 Rio de Janeiro, BR -- Dec 28, 2017 to Jan 17, 2018 Koozå: Singapore, SG -- Jul 12, 2017 to Aug 27, 2017 Shanghai, CN -- Oct 1, 2017 to TBA Beijing, CN -- Dec 15, 2017 to Feb 11, 2018 China City #3 -- TBA 2018 China City #4 -- TBA 2018 China City #5 -- TBA 2018 Kurios: Edmonton, AB -- Jul 20, 2017 to Aug 13, 2017 Portland, OR -- Aug 24, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017 Vancouver, BC -- Oct 19, 2017 to Dec 3, 2017 Tokyo, JP -- Feb 7, 2018 to Apr 8, 2018 Osaka, JP -- 2018 Nagoya, JP -- 2018 &Fukuoka, JP -- 2018/2019 Sendai, JP -- 2019 Luzia: Chicago, IL -- Jul 21, 2017 to Sep 3, 2017 Atlanta, GA -- Sep 14, 2017 to Nov 19, 2017 Los Angeles, CA -- Dec 7, 2017 to Feb 11, 2018 Costa Mesa, CA -- Feb 21, 2018 to Mar 25, 2018 Boston, MA -- TBA 2018 Washington, DC -- April 2018 Monterrey, MX -- TBA 2018 Guadalajara, MX -- TBA 2018 Mexico City, MX -- TBA 2018 Totem: Brussels, BE -- Aug 31, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017 Madrid, ES -- Nov 10, 2017 to Jan 14, 2018 Seville, ES -- Jan 25, 2018 to Mar 11, 2018 Barcelona, ES -- Mar 23, 2018 to Apr 15, 2018 Munich, DE -- TBA 2018 Port Aventura, ES -- TBA 2018 VOLTA: Gatineau, QC (Ottawa, ON) -- Aug 3, 2017 to Aug 27, 2017 Toronto, ON -- Sep 7, 2017 to Nov 26, 2017 Miami, FL -- Dec 15, 2017 to Feb 4, 2018 Tampa, FL -- Feb 15, 2018 to Mar 25, 2018 ------------------------------------ ARENA - In Stadium-Like Venues ------------------------------------ Varekai: Tarragona, ES -- Jul 6, 2017 to Aug 13, 2017 Oslo, NO -- Sep 1, 2017 to Sep 3, 2017 Malmo, SE -- Sep 6, 2017 to Sep 10, 2017 Tallin, EE -- Sep 14, 2017 to Sep 17, 2017 Riga, LV -- Sep 20, 2017 to Sep 24, 2017 Minsk, BY -- Sep 28, 2017 to Oct 1, 2017 Helsinki, FI -- Oct 5, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017 Stockholm, SE -- Oct 11, 2017 to Oct 15, 2017 Sioux City, IA -- TBA 2017 Springfield, MO -- TBA 2017 Biloxi, MS -- TBA 2017 Lake Charles, LA -- TBA 2017 Hidalgo, TX -- TBA 2017 Sugar Lands, TX - Dec 20 to Dec 23, 2017 (FINAL SHOW) TORUK - The First Flight: Christchurch, NZ -- Sep 1, 2017 to Sep 10, 2017 Auckland, NZ -- Sep 15, 2017 to Sep 24, 2017 Brisbane, AU -- Oct 5, 2017 to Oct 15, 2017 Sydney, AU -- Oct 19, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017 Melbourne, AU -- Nov 2, 2017 to Nov 12, 2017 Adelaide, AU -- Nov 16, 2017 to Nov 19, 2017 Bangkok, TH -- TBA 2017 Japan -- TBA 2017 China -- TBA 2018 OVO: Jacksonville, FL -- Aug 2, 2017 to Aug 6, 2017 North Charleston, NC -- Aug 9, 2017 to Aug 6, 2017 Fairfax, VA -- Aug 16, 2017 to Aug 20, 2017 Baltimore, MD -- Aug 23, 2017 to Aug 27, 2017 Uniondale, NY -- Aug 30, 2017 to Sep 3, 2017 Boston, MA -- Sep 6, 2017 to Sep 10, 2017 Laval, QC -- Sep 13, 2017 to Sep 17, 2017 Zurich, CH -- Oct 5, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017 Geneva, CH -- Oct 11, 2017 to Oct 15, 2017 Salzburg, AU -- Oct 18, 2017 to Oct 22, 2017 Leipzig, DE -- Oct 25, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017 Hamburg, DE -- Nov 1, 2017 to Nov 5, 2017 Berlin, DE -- Nov 8, 2017 to Nov 12, 2017 Mannheim, DE -- Nov 15, 2017 to Nov 19, 2017 Cologne, DE -- Nov 22, 2017 to Nov 26, 2017 Stuttgart, DE -- Nov 29, 2017 to Dec 3, 2017 Nuremberg, DE -- Dec 6, 2017 to Dec 10, 2017 Munich, DE -- Dec 13, 2017 to Dec 17, 2017 London, UK -- Jan 7, 2018 to Feb 11, 2018 Hanover, DE -- Mar 14, 2018 to Mar 18, 2018 Oberhausen, DE -- Apr 5, 2018 to Apr 8, 2018 SÉPTIMO DÍA - NO DESCANSARÉ: Santiago, CL -- Jul 19, 2017 to Aug 6, 2017 Bogota, CO -- Sep 3, 2017 to Sep 23, 2017 Monterrey, MX -- Oct 19, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017 Guadalajara, MX -- Nov 8, 2017 to Nov 18, 2017 Mexico City, MX -- Nov 28, 2017 to Dec 22, 2017 Select US Cities -- 2018 CRYSTAL - A BREAKTHROUGH ICE EXPERIENCE: Lafayette, LA -- Oct 5, 2017 to Oct 8, 2017 (PREVIEWS) San Antonio, TX -- Oct 13, 2017 to Oct 15, 2017 Pensacola, FL -- Oct 19, 2017 to Oct 22, 2017 North Little Rock, AR -- Oct 26, 2017 to Oct 29, 2017 St. Charles, MO -- Nov 2, 2017 to Nov 5, 2017 Minneapolis, MN -- Nov 9, 2017 to Nov 12, 2017 Worchester, MA -- Dec 7, 2017 to Dec 10, 2017 Quebec City, QC -- TBA 2017 Montreal, QC -- TBA 2017 (GALA PREMIERE) --------------------------------- RESIDENT - en Le Théâtre --------------------------------- Mystère: Location: Treasure Island, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark: Thursday/Friday Two shows Nightly - 7:00pm & 9:30pm 2017 Dark Dates: o September 9 - 13 o November 8 Special Performance Dates: o Thu, Aug 17, 2017 o Fri, Nov 24, 2017 o Fri, Dec 29, 2017 o Sun, Dec 31, 2017 | 4:30pm & 7:00pm 2017 Single Performance Dates: o Sun, Aug 13 | 7:00 pm o Sun, Oct 01 | 7:00 pm o Fri, Oct 20 | 7:00 pm o Sun, Oct 22 | 7:00 pm o Fri, Dec 08 | 7:00 pm "O": Location: Bellagio, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Wednesday through Sunday, Dark: Monday/Tuesday Two shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 9:30pm (as of Aug 12, 2015) 2017 Dark Dates: o August 2 - 6 o October 8 o November 29 - December 12 La Nouba: Location: Walt Disney World, Orlando (USA) Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday Two shows Nightly - 6:00pm and 9:00pm *** CLOSING DECEMBER 31, 2017 *** Zumanity: Location: New York-New York, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark Sunday/Monday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm KÀ: Location: MGM Grand, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark Thursday/Friday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm LOVE: Location: Mirage, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Thursday through Monday, Dark: Tuesday/Wednesday Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm MICHAEL JACKSON ONE: Location: Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas (USA) Performs: Two Shows Nightly - Dark: Wednesday/Thursday Schedule: 7:00pm & 9:30pm on Friday, Saturday, Monday & Tuesday 4:30pm & 7:00pm on Sunday JOYÀ: Location: Riviera Maya, Mexico Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday One/Two Shows Nightly: 9:00pm (Weekdays) 7:00pm & 10:15pm (Fri, Sat & Holidays) ======================================================================= OUTREACH - UPDATES FROM CIRQUE's SOCIAL WIDGETS ======================================================================= o) WEBSERIES -- Official Online Featurettes o) VIDEOS -- Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds --------------------------------------------------- WEBSERIES: Official Online Featurettes --------------------------------------------------- *) CIRQUE STORIES "Cirque Stories," an exclusive Cirque du Soleil YouTube series which highlights artists' journeys to the circus. Follow along with us every week as we go behind the scenes and discuss the path to become a Cirque performer. In these first episodes, discover how some of the Cirque du Soleil artists from our Las Vegas shows get there in their own unique #CirqueWay. o) EPISODE 2 - Who is Maxim Fomitchev? Who is Maxim Fomitchev? He is an amazing clown and performance artist for numerous Cirque du Soleil shows and events, but he is also completely deaf! Learn about how Maxim has honed his craft to "feel" the audience laughter rather than hear it. Listen to his story and others in the exclusive Cirque du Soleil "Cirque S tories" series. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/Z8D13L7IaPE > *) MUSIC VIDEO w/LYRICS o) Varekai - "Gitans" LYRICS: He recorrido el camino del mundo que, de la arcilla al oro, va de un mar a otro, une la Tierra entera. He mirado subir la marea, la he visto bajar de nuevo he aprendido la lección del aliento he sabido que el revés y el derecho son lo mismo y así, lecciones de amor y de verdad. Sobre el mundo, he cerrado los ojos y he visto el mundo: raíz y rama y yema - lo invisible, en el corazón de lo visible, que actúa. Cerrando los ojos, he visto y he tocado y era tocada: movida ENGLISH: I have traveled the way of the world Which, from clay to gold, goes From one sea to another, unites the entire Earth. I've watched the tide rise, I've seen it go down again I have learned the lesson of breath I have known that the reverse and the right are the same And thus, lessons of love and truth. On the world, I closed my eyes And I have seen the world: root and branch and bud - the invisible, in the heart of the visible, which acts. Closing my eyes, I have seen and touched And was played: moved LINK /// < https://youtu.be/ejRWkMgRFFg > --------------------------------------------------- VIDEOS: Official Peeks & Noted Fan Finds --------------------------------------------------- *) CIRQUECAST CirqueCast is a Vodcast (that’s video podcast) for Cirque fans by Cirque fans - featuring artist interviews, Cirque headlines, and the inside scoop to your favorite Cirque du Soleil shows! Join your hosts José Pérez (TheChapiteau), Richard “Richasi” Russo (Fascination!), Ian Rents (Hardcore Cirque Fans), and Dario Shame (a big 'ol fan), as we bring you a behind-the-scenes look into Cirque du Soleil, complete with discussions and the latest Cirque news. o) EPISODE 20 - Facundo Gimenez Interview July 3, 2017 On this episode of CirqueCast, we interview Facundo Gimenez. Facundo is currently touring with Cirque du Soleil's Kurios as The Comic. Join us on this intimate interview where Facundo talks about his beginnings in the world of circus, his experience playing 3 Cirque du Soleil characters, his side projects, and more. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/pWuxX_rDbvQ > o) EPISODE 21 - Blue Man Group Acquisition Discussion August 3, 2017 We are back with another discussion episode! Join us on episode 21 as we discuss Cirque du Soleil's acquisition of Blue Man Group, Crystal - the new arena ice show, Varekai and La Nouba closing, and more! LINK /// < https://youtu.be/nQAeL-zx5v4 > *) OTHERS... o) The KA Theater Experience In this 1-hour SPARK Experience, your group gains exclusive access to the theater during the day. A panel of Cirque du Soleil experts answers questions on a topic of your choice, sharing insightful and humorous stories. Next, your group is wowed with a dynamic display of the theater's technical abilities. Be amazed as you take center stage and journey 2-stories below, all while KÀ's 50 ton/45,000 kg stage rotates high overhead. LINK /// < https://youtu.be/ov5cbt-8Mw8 > o) Watch how Trial Bike riders take on the Cirque Stage LINK /// < https://youtu.be/_-Ptm8zsBF0 > o) Experience TORUK through the eyes of the audience LINK /// < https://youtu.be/okT7btpL1GY > o) Experience the Magic of Cirque with Custom Team-Building LINK /// < https://youtu.be/irHEHuWhtpI > o) LUZIASelf - Discover Artists Behind the Scenes LINK /// < https://youtu.be/3w885Vsdh0I > o) Meet BMX Riders turned VOLTA Circus Performers LINK /// < https://youtu.be/yqpoFt2M2Rk > o) FUN GAME! Guess all our shows based on their Emoji Symbols LINK /// < https://youtu.be/vSoO2OMBdVo > o) Professional Cliff Diving at its Finest | #Cirqueshop LINK /// < https://youtu.be/yEl7mmNwRQc > o) LIVE Chicago Opening of LUZIA LINK /// < https://youtu.be/BdDNeW2HdS8 > o) Soda Stereo Sep7imo Dia Stage Set up Time-lapse LINK /// < https://youtu.be/diiHDGMjXqY > o) Stunning Free Spirit Makeup Step by Step Tutorial LINK /// < https://youtu.be/nE8W0sgidbM > o) We're inspiring people through DANCE! | National Dance Day LINK /// < https://youtu.be/MXvFKrqADkA > o) Celebrate Friendship with Cirque du Soleil LINK /// < https://youtu.be/6qguTYS--Hc > o) KOOZA: How to Apply Gems and Stones LINK /// < https://youtu.be/VJoyz-Jkm3Q > o) JOYA: A Day in the life of Kamil Fieniuk < https://www.facebook.com/JOYA/videos/1517914674919156/ > o) KA: Rise and Shine with Zany < https://www.facebook.com/KA/videos/10155640337346929/ > o) KA: Ping Pong Anyone? < https://www.facebook.com/KA/videos/10155671340206929/ > o) KOOZA: Premiere in Singapore < https://www.facebook.com/kooza/videos/10155037557941339/ > o) KOOZA: Meet the Clowns - Miguel, Hayden and Michael < https://www.facebook.com/kooza/videos/10155040033076339/ > o) LOVE: Celebrating Ringo Star's Birthday < https://www.facebook.com/TheBeatlesLOVE/videos/10154905483023666/ > o) LOVE: About the Remixed Music < https://www.facebook.com/TheBeatlesLOVE/videos/10154924876283666/ > o) TORUK: Watch Pandora Come Alive! < https://www.facebook.com/torukthefirstflight/videos/1983560191669942/ > o) TORUK: 5@5 with stage manager, Vida Sum < https://www.facebook.com/torukthefirstflight/videos/1988358644523430/ > o) TORUK: 5@5 with Giulia Piolanti < https://www.facebook.com/torukthefirstflight/videos/2000835956609032/ > ======================================================================= FASCINATION! FEATURES ======================================================================= o) "Cirque du Soleil, The Blue Men, and The Future" Edited By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) o) "We're Off and Running - A Series of Classic Critiques" Part 4 of 16: Nouvelle Expérience, Part 1 (1990) By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) ------------------------------------------------------------ "Cirque du Soleil, The Blue Men, and The Future" Edited By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) ------------------------------------------------------------ On Thursday, July 6th, Cirque du Soleil announced the acquisition of New-York-based Blue Man Productions, a global live entertainment company best known for the award-winning Blue Man Group show, performed in over 20 countries and seen by more than 35 million people worldwide since 1991. The acquisition of Blue Man Group considerably widens Cirque du Soleil's audience pool, adding to their portfolio six resident productions established across the United States and Germany, as well as a North American and a World Tour. According to Reuters, Cirque du Soleil paid US$65.5 million to acquire the Blue Men. The purchase price represents a multiple of 16.5 times Blue Man's last 12 months' adjusted Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) of around US$4 million, made up mostly of cost savings the circus arts entertainment company expects to realize from the acquisition, the sources said. However, Cirque strips out from the purchase price the value of certain assets including real estate it plans on selling, which brings the multiple down to 10.9 times. On that basis, the implied valuation is around US $44 million. Financing was sourced from a US$85 million add-on to the company's US$635 million term loan due in July 2022 that was arranged last month by RBC Capital Markets. The incremental loan was upsized from US$65 million initially, with the additional proceeds earmarked for general corporate purposes, according to Moody's Investors Service. Including the new debt, Cirque is now levered 3.8 times first lien and 4.65 times total, based on US$185 million of combined pro forma last 12 months' adjusted Ebitda, US$710 million in first lien debt and US$860 million in total debt. That's up from leverage of 3.5 times first lien and 4.3 times total prior to the purchase, based on around US$181 million of Ebitda, US$625 million in first lien debt and US$775 million in total debt. But who are the Blue Man Group? Blue Man Group grew out of collaboration between three close friends, Chris Wink, Matt Goldman, and Phil Stanton, on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1988. It originated as a celebration to the end of the 1980s. The three men wore blue masks and led a procession that included the burning of a Rambo doll and a piece of the Berlin Wall. The stunt caught the attention of MTV's Kurt Loder, who covered the event, and the strange Blue Men gained attention. The Blue Man character emerged from small "disturbances" on the streets of the city, growing into small shows at downtown clubs, eventually becoming a full performance at the Astor Place Theatre in 1991. Today Blue Man Group has continuing theatrical productions in Las Vegas, Orlando, Boston, Chicago, New York City and Berlin. In addition to the stage theatre show, Blue Man Group has toured the globe with multiple national and global tours; been a guest on various TV programs as both characters and performers; appeared on the Norwegian Cruise Line ship, Epic; released multiple studio albums; contributed to a number of film scores; performed with orchestras around the US, and appeared in advertising campaigns. Wink and Stanton have remained as the creative directors of the group, and also occasional performers when the need arises, through the company's entire history. Goldman, however, split several years ago to pursue other theatrical projects, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "Today's a very exciting day for us," Wink said, announcing the sale. "After 25 years of pursuing our crazy dream, following our own path, trying to push the boundaries of entertainment, we're taking an exciting step forward by joining forces with Cirque du Soleil!" * * * Well before the current deal, Chris Wink, one of the three founders of Blue Man, said the idea to sell came about a fee years ago, as the company was looking to gain a foothold in other parts of the world. "We started to feel like we needed some help, plus we had some creative ideas that were beyond our own means. We thought of some ways that the Blue Men and their performances could go on a bigger scale." So the Blue Men - with stage productions in North America, Europe, and Asia - began looking for an international partner and more resources to expand worldwide. Wink said that, although Blue Man was already profitable, it was willing to give up its autonomy in favor of more capabilities and resources that it could use to target other markets. "Being just on our own is hindering us from being able to do things that we could imagine or aspire to do," Wink said. "In this day and age you need to be a global player." China specifically came to mind as a possible "new audience" for its mostly non-verbal show, and Wink had even spoken to representatives of Fosun about expanding there. "We knew we didn't have the expertise to break into the Chinese market, and when we spoke to them they said, 'You should meet with Cirque because you two are similar but different.' And when we did finally meet, in Montreal, we hit it off immediately. After all, we at Blue Man sort of re-imagined vaudeville while Cirque re-imagined the circus. And we both achieved a lot given our humble street origins. We also are now both restless and wondering: What's next?" It just so happened that for a company looking to find a permanent home in an entertainment pillar like China (and other large markets), Cirque was a fit. "We had tried get something started in Brazil, but could never quite make it work," said Wink. "But TPG has incredible digital sales and ticketing skills, and it owns CAA [the Hollywood- based talent and sports agency]. And Cirque has a phenomenal touring network and creative team, and is able to get to search for talent in places in the world we just can't get to. We realized that being autonomous was sort of limiting us at this point, but that we could do great things together." The two companies have often been compared to each other, in its artistic development and business evolution. Cirque grew from the street performances of co-founders Guy Laliberte and Gilles Ste-Croix in the Quebec city of Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984. Blue Man Group's first public performance was in 1988 in New York's Central Park, where founders Stanton, Wink and Matt Goldman staged a "Funeral for the Eighties" act. "We feel Cirque du Soleil is the perfect partner for Blue Man Group," Stanton said. "We have a similar history. We both, in our own way, started on the street. We have similar values we have been trying to reinvent, in our own ways over the years." Daniel Lamarre, Cirque du Soleil's CEO, talked of "the great deal of respect" Cirque has had for BMG over the years at the announcement. "We found that they wanted, as we do at Cirque du Soleil, to do things differently." But for those who are worried that Cirque du Soleil is going to re- brand Blue Man Group and/or Blue Man Group will show up in upcoming Cirque shows, don't worry. "Blue Man group will remain the brand that it is." Added Wink, "We're really looking forward to putting our teams together and seeing what kind of amazing things we can create." Cirque du Soleil will keep Blue Man as a separate brand and help it grow by leveraging Cirque du Soleil's touring capabilities, the Canadian company said. "We are going to keep Blue Man Group as the Blue Man Group," Lamarre said. "It will not be, 'Blue Man Group by Cirque du Soleil.' It is important for us to keep that brand as it has been, and keeping the chemistry of its same group of creative partners. We want to grow Blue Man group by itself just as we want to grow Cirque du Soleil. But each creative team will be autonomous." "From the very beginning, it wasn't about blurring the successful brand and changing who Blue Man is," Wink said. "The creative teams behind the shows will cross-pollinate and take advantage of their creativity and the know-how, but on stage we will keep the DNA intact." "I'm very excited about the reaction of the industry," Lamarre said of the deal. "It's almost as if Blue Man group has crystallized the strategy of Cirque, and now everyone understands where we are going, and it makes a lot of sense." * * * The acquisition of New York-based Blue Man Productions is the first step in Cirque's plan to diversify its productions and expand globally. "Our primary goal is diversification," said Daniel Lamarre. "We want to broaden our horizons, develop new forms of entertainment, reach out to new audiences and expand our own creative capabilities." Lamarre said this was Cirque taking a decisive step towards materializing those ambitions, a breakthrough to make it clear that Cirque is going from a circus company to becoming a global leader of entertainment. "People recognize Cirque's brand and how unique of an art form it is," says David Trujillo, a TPG partner and member of Cirque's board. "But they tend to overlook the capabilities that they have in things like being able to tour globally and deal with visa issues and promoter relationships. There's a real know-how there that not a lot of companies have." TPG's strategy is to turn Cirque into more of a platform play-utilizing the company's global infrastructure to take more and more shows to different countries at a faster pace. "We have just pressed on the accelerator of growth for the coming years." (It is just the first deal being contemplated. Cirque du Soleil and TPG have compiled a list of additional acquisition targets to add to the entertainment portfolio, two people with knowledge of the matter said.) Currently Cirque du Soleil shows account for 80 percent to 85 percent of the company's revenue, with the rest coming from merchandising and other sources. In the future, Lamarre said he wants to bring that number down to 70 percent by continuing to expand and diversify. The company's portfolio will grow again in November through a partnership with the National Football League. The NFL Experience Times Square will remain separate from the Cirque du Soleil brand, similar to the Blue Man Group. "We are acquiring the Blue Man brand because it is a type of show that is very different from us, and at the same time has great complementarity. We both began decades ago, and grew out of street performances. And now, with a whole new set of resources, we can expand geographically. And we can introduce both our brands to new markets without changing the character of either brand, yet when possible sharing creative talent." Lamarre is particularly intent on developing the Chinese market for both shows, and plans are already underway to create a huge, Las Vegas-scale permanent Cirque operation in Hangzhou, the fabled city renowned for its gardens and waterways and sometimes dubbed "the Venice of the East." He also has his eye on Europe, because Cirque has yet to have a permanent show there. "With 'Blue Man' we now have a smaller, less labor-intensive show [three actors and three musicians] that can open up audiences for us in many places," said Lamarre. "It currently has permanent productions in New York, Chicago, Boston, Orlando, Las Vegas and Berlin, but we hope to be able to take it to many of the countries where we currently perform and they have never been." * * * "Our strategy for the future is very, very clear," Lamarre said, noting that both brands have an extremely loyal fan base, but also have been around long enough so that there is a whole new audience to tap for each. "We want to become a leader, a global leader of live entertainment. And our goal of experimenting with new forms of immersive entertainment is already taking shape." In November, through a partnership with the National Football League, Cirque will open "The NFL Experience" in Times Square. As Lamarre describes it: "It will be a whole new world of live and virtual sports entertainment - an experience that will last about an hour, with audiences starting out as fans, becoming players and finally celebrating as Super Bowl winners." And next fall, the company famous for its acrobats, contortionists, quirky clowns, surreal visual landscapes and experimental music also plans to enter the world of ice shows with a production created in Canada and then sent out on tour. { SOURCES: Washington Post, Financial Post, The Australian, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, Bloomberg, the Las Vegas Review- Journal, the Chicago Sun-Times, Fortune Magazine, CNBC, the Montreal Gazette, Business Insider, and Reuters } ------------------------------------------------------------ "We're Off and Running - A Series of Classic Critiques" Part 4 of 16: Nouvelle Expérience, Part 1 (1990) By: Ricky Russo - Atlanta, Georgia (USA) ------------------------------------------------------------ A few weeks ago, as I was flipping through a few classic Cirque du Soleil programme books (as is my wont), I was happily caught off-guard by a brief history of the company that it had written about itself in Saltimbanco's original European Tour programme, published sometime in 1996. Not because the historia was in English, French, and Spanish, but rather I found the wording a bit more colorful… haughty… than what you'd find from the company today. Something about its whimsical and heady nature spoke to the way Cirque du Soleil saw itself then, containing a youthful verve and arrogance that is simply no longer present. When did Cirque lose this dynamic sense of self, this liveliness, and vivacity about its past, present, and future? Unfortunately, not long after. Thereafter the speak becomes less joie de vivre and more lié aux affaires, and Cirque du Soleil turns from a rag-tag band of street performers into a bona fide corporate entity right before our very eyes. This is not a new revelation - far from it in fact - but this re-discovery struck a chord of curiosity within… How did others see Cirque du Soleil during this period? Think about it: as Cirque's multitude of shows travel around the globe in either arenas or under the big top, at each stop, in each city, there is a write-up in the local press. Sometimes the coverage is just a brief blurb about the show and its theme, occasionally there's a short interview with a performer, a stage hand, or creation director, and other times it's an assessment of the show itself, evaluating its technical and acrobatic merits with what had come through before. But the reviews we see today are too current, discussing these shows through a contemporary lens; shows that have/had 15 to 20 years touring the globe, shows we would refer to as "classic" or "signature". What I'd become interested in knowing was what some of the first reviews, peeks, and evaluations of these shows were as they took their first steps across North America. How did the press see Le Cirque du Soleil in 1998, 1994, 1990, 1987? It was time to peck through the archives. What I found was extraordinary, and more than I expected. And I'm sharing these discoveries here in Fascination through a series of collections, beginning with the 1987 tournée of Le Cirque du Soleil (better known today as Le Cirque Réinventé), and continuing on from there. This month we continue on with 1990's reviews of Nouvelle Expérience. # # # CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: IMAGINATION DAZZLING AS THE SUN By: Karen Mathieson | Seattle Times July 6, 1990 Le Cirque du Soleil may be the closest we'll ever get to the Land of Oz. For the hours of the Cirque's 1990 show "Nouvelle Experience," one is transported to a world of incredible grace, strength and zaniness, in which gravity is transcended in every sense of the word. This is the Earth set free in peaceful delight, a symbol of the goals of the Goodwill Arts Festival. It is imagination, in good part, that does the freeing. L. Frank Baum, creator of the Oz books, would recognize many of the marvelous Cirque du Soleil characters dressed by costumer Dominque Lemieux. The wild- haired impresario with his crazily curled coattails, the perky acrobats in their Munchkin blue, the bizarre personalities known as "flounes" who are full of raucous curiosity, all are familiar in their essence to a lover of Baum's fantasies. There's commedia dell'arte here too, especially in the opening moments when David Shiner, as the clown inside each of us, meets up with the stiff-nosed regulators of everyday life. Hey, loosen up and have some fun, commedia told Italians centuries ago - a message that remains timely for the planet across which Cirque du Soleil will be roaming in the coming months. Fantasy and hilarious mime are all very well, but where Cirque du Soleil excels most clearly is in combining these elements with astonishing physical, technical and design achievement. Even without the French trapeze act scheduled as the show's finale - the apparatus was there, but it wasn't used last night - "Nouvelle Experience" is worth every cent of every ticket. Presenting artists from China, Europe, Canada, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. could well turn a show into a tedious if impressive display of athletics. Pacing and variety in the sequence of "Nouvelle Experience" acts helps the one-ring theatrical circus from Montreal avoid that fate, and so does the pulsing live music score by Rene Dupere. The ensemble of saxophone, guitar, bass and keyboards (with an occasional assist from a cello-playing "floune") is as integral to the effect as the moody blues lighting by Luc Lafortune. These elements, like the stage with its trapdoors and slanting perspectives designed by Michel Crete, supply an enchanted environment for the action directed by Franco Dragone. Even the breakdown of the equipment used in each act is accomplished with casual precision and no little art. Although Cirque du Soleil doesn't use animals, and thus needn't worry about balking elephants or bolting horses (the acrobats do take one exit with backs bent and arms swinging in simian style), the unpredictable always remains a possibility. There's a teeter-totter launching pad for gymnastic flips, a narrow plank for balancing, a trampoline and other gear in which split-second timing puts the audience on the edge of its collective seat. Last night, people were hanging on to their seats with laughter as well as excitement, and some of the time they were laughing at each other. Shiner is not only a classic mime who can make you see the power of an umbrella as it pulls him off the ground, he's also a regular wizard at evoking audience participation. The four "volunteers" who practically brought the tent down were just ordinary, slightly embarrassed folks - until egged on by Shiner, they became inspired comedians. Four young Chinese-trained Canadian contortionists, arching their spines into unbelievable curves, were among other highlights of opening night under the 2,500-seat big top. And the Russian balancing genius Vassily Dementchoukov showed similar panache assembling and surmounting a tower of high-backed chairs. * * * * * * QUELLE EXPERIENCE: LE CIRQUE MAKES A FULL-SCALE, DAZZLING COMEBACK By: Sylvie Drake | La Times October 13, 1990 There are two sets of performers who create Le Cirque du Soleil's "Nouvelle Experience": those who do it on stage and those whose work was done months ago but is every bit as important a part of the sparkling new show that has landed on the beach near the Santa Monica Pier. As before, Le Cirque comes to us from Montreal, but surely via the moon or Mars. Its design suggests nothing terrestrial. Dominique Lemieux's pixillated costumes look like brilliant illustrations for a children's book of spooky fairy tales, enhanced by the lunatic mask creations of France Baillargeon and Andre Henault under the quirky hats of Catherine Lauda. Rene Dupere's all- nouvelle musique is as playful and exhilarating an accompaniment to events in the single ring as it ever was. Luc Lafortune's lighting games, his scarlet maws, purple and orange horizons and whirling, prismatic laser beams inform Michel Crete's alien landscape with its pivoting Stonehenge wall under the ampler nouvelle Big Top. This is all pulled together by the prestidigitation of artistic director Franco Dragone, which smoothly weaves into the different acts the considerable skills of clowns, catchers and flounes --a coinage for a new breed of bashful, gibberish-spouting clowns that combines the words clown and flo , Quebecois slang for child. Dragone uses this gaudily clad, weird little enclave of five as a distinctive kind of Greek chorus. The group serves as rudder and glue, bridging some acts, insinuating iself into others and unifying the show. Wot a show. The youthful, savvy, even cocky Cirque, which took Los Angeles by storm when it launched the 1987 Los Angeles Festival, returned to the beach in Santa Monica in 1989 with a perplexingly mediocre edition of its former self. Apparently, the chiding it received for that slipshod work found its mark. The creators rethought and reorganized. "Nouvelle Experience" is a full-scale comeback, in which all but one or two performers are brand new. And dazzling. No one more so than American clown David Shiner, a skinny beanpole of embattled comic tics in floppy gray pants and short jacket who looks like nothing so much as a collision between Harold Lloyd and Marcel Marceau's Bip. Immensely gifted, Shiner pulls members of the audience into his act like reluctant taffy that he cajoles, noodles, browbeats and finally spits out in the form of hilarious, brilliantly negotiated routines. The more traditional circus stuff--contortionists, aerialists, trapeze artists--are almost all of the same first water. Nadine Binette, Isabelle Chasse, Laurence Racine and Jinny Jacinto form a quartet of contortionists 8 to 13 years old whose bending and folding make it hard, at a given point, to discern whose limbs belong to whom. Anne Lepage's stunning solo trapeze is an absolute stomach churner while Vladimir Kehkaial's graceful flights through the air, uniquely suspended by arm straps, is a beguiling never-before-seen oddity--a sort of Chippendale's meets Michelangelo. The Russian's intense self- awareness, brooding good looks, flowing black hair and Grecian designer jock strap are a curious paradox as they slice angelically and self-importantly through the air. He'd make a fortune in Las Vegas. Despite a humdrum tightwire act and a skilled but needlessly coy "Korean Plank" routine by the Corporation Team, the first half, as a whole, holds more surprises than the second. The latter kicks off with your traditional team of trapeze artists (nothing like the breathtaking earlier solo work of Lepage) and includes a second round of Corporation capers. It is distinguished principally by Zhao Liang's uncommon juggling act with Chinese parasols, more antic zaniness from Shiner and the witty flounes, and by yet another Russian, Vassili Demenchoukov, who can find more new ways to build a "Tower of Chairs" than one would have thought possible. Ultimately, though, the Cirque's real triumph lies in its presentation of self--youthful, driven, ethereal and high-tech. You won't find animal acts; you won't find anything that remotely smacks of Ringling Bros. or Barnum & Bailey except the popcorn. The flounes , led by roly-poly ringmistress France La Bonte, are its most seductive nouvelle invention. Their versatile gobbledygook, counterpoint physical skills, the way they move--like anxious ostriches or surprised whooping cranes--are a wonderful contrast to the sleek, astral look of a state-of-the-art Cirque that won't let you stop gasping or guffawing for a moment. (A word of caution, however: This show may be too sophisticated for very young children. Children over 5 will probably enjoy it more.) Thursday's opening-night audience clamored for no less than five curtain calls. For all its novelty, the "Nouvelle Experience" had done it the old-fashioned way: It had earned them. * * * * * * UNIQUE CIRCUS STILL BRIGHT SPOT: A FANTASY WORLD IS BROUGHT TO LIFE UNDER THE BIG TOP By: John Godfrey | LA Times January 28, 1991 Spectacular. Ingenius. Unbelievable. Inhuman. These are the sorts of words that jump out in response to Cirque du Soleil's "Nouvelle Experience," an eye-opening, jaw-dropping circus event playing outside San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, through Feb. 10. Underneath its trademark blue-and-yellow big top, Cirque du Soleil performers defy gravity just as the show's designers defy convention, integrating theatrical elements into a world of human spectacle. Yes, clowns fool around on stage during this circus, just as contortionists bend and acrobats soar easily through the air. Still, Cirque du Soleil presents amazing performance after amazing performance as little more than a starting point, a springboard from which the real show begins. Cirque du Soleil (Circus of the Sun) pitched its tent in Balboa Park 3 1/2 years ago and wowed San Diego audiences with its unique, animal- less circus. By injecting elements of an actual story line, dance choreography, laser technology and stage theatrics, Cirque du Soleil succeeded in creating a new genre, a one-of-a-kind event. On Saturday, le cirque returned to San Diego with "Nouvelle Experience," an all-new show that struck the same successful balance between physical feats and design spectacle. Cirque du Soleil's "Flounes"--four maniacal, bird-like clowns- introduce the action on stage. Dressed in Dominique Lemieux's colorful, otherworldly costumes, the "Flounes" take physical comedy to a new level, inciting uproarious laughter as they embark on the simple, yet somehow dangerous journey from upstage curtain to downstage platform. The "Flounes" serve as a binder throughout the evening, providing welcome distraction between routines and outlining a loose narrative subplot as the hapless fools struggle to communicate with an outcast "human" clown. "Nouvelle Experience" features two solo routines by yet another clown, English-born Geoff Hoyle. The multitalented Hoyle has appeared in front of San Diego audiences before, acting in three La Jolla Playhouse productions, including a starring role in last year's "Don Quixote de La Jolla." Hoyle's performances proved uneven Saturday night. His first piece, an audience-participation act entitled "Mr. Sniff," seemed a bit contrived and the show dragged perceptibly as Hoyle worked his way through a series of Ed Norton-esque comedy bits. Hoyle returned after intermission, however, with a wonderful, show- stopping three-legged man routine. Alone on stage with his five limbs, Hoyle danced with himself and captivated the sold-out audience of 2,500 with an imaginative demonstration of wit and physical prowess. Throughout the evening, Cirque du Soleil director and artistic director Franco Dragone took conventional circus acts and added something--anything--in order to make stunts seem fresh. Cirque du Soleil's female contortionists, four Quebecers aged 12 to 14, danced their way through a series of impossible postures, turning a rather commonplace sideshow act into a slick, choreographed routine. Similarly, Russian-born acrobat Vassiliy Demenchoukov revived a tired circus standard, climbing his way atop a stack of eight chairs- carrying a birthday cake with lighted candles. Vladimir Kehkaial's "Aerial Straps" routine proved to be the most bizarre, most incongruous segment of "Nouvelle Experience." The scantily-clad Kehkaial looked like a perfume-ad model--an unlikely meeting between Tarzan and Vidal Sasson--as he flew across the stage suspended by arm straps. Unlike most Cirque du Soleil performers, Kehkaial seemed to bask in his abilities, drawing attention to himself with a pained expression on his face and an overly romanticized manner to his movements. The vast majority of Cirque performers demonstrated one expression--glee--as they performed throughout the evening. Lighting designer Luc Lafortune and set designer Michael Crete succeeded in creating a dramatic, versatile environ for the show. Lafortune, in particular, made his presence felt in "Nouvelle Experience. " During the more straightforward circus acts, such as Anne Lepage's solo trapeze work and the ensemble's "Korean Plank" routine, the big top glowed with appropriate glamour and flash. For the more stylized numbers--Kehkaial's aerial routine, for instance- Lafortune used soft, diffused light to create an entirely distinct playing space, a perfect look for the ethereal performance. At its inception seven years ago, Cirque du Soleil founders coined a phrase that captures the essence of this circus company: "Behind each perilous leap, there is a purpose, an intention, an individual, an emotion." The troupe remains true to that vision today. * * * * * * THE CIRQUE'S SECRET WEAPON By: Jan Herman | LA Times February 21, 1991 Nothing could be further from the grim reality of the Persian Gulf War than the beautiful fantasy of Cirque du Soleil, which opens Friday at the South Coast Plaza parking lot in Costa Mesa. Yet during a recent afternoon in San Diego, where the Montreal-based circus played earlier this month on its current North American tour, staff carpenter Peter Le Blanc was constructing a can non-like missile launcher behind the blue-and-yellow Big Top tent. The launcher, designed along the lines of an old Prussian artillery piece rather than a Patriot battery, could become oper able in time to protect South Coast Plaza by firing a droop-nosed Everyman missile called Mr. Sniff, if not on opening night, within a week of it. "I'm not supposed to talk about it," said Le Blanc, hinting cryptically that Mr. Sniff's ballistic plans cannot be predicted with any more accuracy than a Scud missiles and might well pose a danger to shoppers and circus-goers alike. In the artists' rehearsal tent later that day, I caught up with Geoffrey Hoyle, the British-born creator of Mr. Sniff, who was getting ready to practice some of his most dexterous ground moves with a battered bowler hat. I asked him about the launcher. "If (Gen.) H. Norman Schwarzkopf calls to say he needs a secret weapon," Hoyle replied, "Mr. Sniff may be it, although I think not. He is an anti-heroist." The implication was that Mr. Sniff's trajectory might not carry him beyond the cannon's lip, much less across the circus ring. Without Mr. Sniff's huge proboscis on his face, moreover, Hoyle seemed no threat to anyone. His pale, round eyes had an innocent gaze. His voice was gentle. But that is not to say he could not become dangerous. Put him in clown costume at center stage and he turns into what he termed "a human bomb," more than ready to blow up pride and property. Hoyle, a former student of Parisian mime master Etienne Decroux, has been a theatrical explosive for years in the San Francisco Bay Area (where he lives) and, more recently, at the La Jolla Playhouse in "A Man's a Man," "Feast of Fools" and "Don Quixote de la Jolla." "My interests lie in the anarchistic elements of the fool's role," said Hoyle, who joined the circus tour in San Diego as the clown soloist replacing David Shiner. "I really don't want the character of Mr. Sniff to get soft or pretty. I want to keep on the edge of risk, not to mention a certain amount of reality, because laughter comes in this situation from breaking taboos. "If I go into the crowd and I take someone's clothes off or I mess with someone's possessions, that's a huge taboo, especially in America," he added. "People see the risk. They recognize it as something they probably would like to do themselves. So I'm enacting their unconscious desire. That has been a historical attribute of the clown from way back in primitive ritual." Cirque du Soleil does not originate quite that far back. But Gilles Ste-Croix, who helped found the circus in 1984 and is its casting director, admitted that he, too, wanted Hoyle "to really rock the public." At first, though, Ste-Croix wondered just how daring Mr. Sniff would be. Hoyle came in as a replacement on only 24 hours' notice (because Shiner had exercised an option to return to Europe) and, thus, had no time to adjust to the rhythm or the atmosphere of the show. By his second performance, however, Ste-Croix needn't have wondered. "Geoff got hold of a lady's purse," he recalled in French-accented English. "He went through that purse like a scavenger. He took the money, the credit cards, the car keys, the old Kleenex. The lady was really embarrassed." The casting director, a former stilt walker who at age 41 calls himself the "grandfather" of the troupe, noted further that Hoyle provides a raw counterpoint to the slick beauty of "Nouvelle Experience," as this edition of the circus is titled. But, above all, the clown soloist serves as an essential link to the troupe's theatrical roots in street performance. "We knew with our first edition that we had something different from the traditional circus," said Ste-Croix, who was sipping an espresso on the terrace of the artists' canteen after a tasty lunch (this circus travels with its own chef). "It wasn't the fact that we don't have animals. It was the way we present the acts. We are from the streets. We brought the essence of that into the tent. "If you see a performer in the street, even a simple juggler, there is some kind of theatrical approach," he said. "In the early days, we presented each act that way. Then we refined it into a thematic style. 'Nouvelle Experience' is our most developed production in that respect." Certainly it is larger than ever, despite the relative intimacy of a one-ring circus. This edition is traveling with 39 performers, 61 crew members, 58 trailers and more than 600 tons of equipment. The new Big Top tent--custom-made in France for more than $750,000--still takes only a day to erect, but now accomodates 2,500 people (750 more than before). In fact, what began as a risky enterprise with a $1-million grant from the Quebec provincial government has turned into a huge success, commercially and artistically. This year the circus's worldwide budget totals about $16 million, with only a tiny fraction coming from government funds as a form of "symbolic sponsorship," Ste-Croix said. Daily preparations for the show can be both intense and deceptively casual. An afternoon spent wandering the circus grounds, as the troupe went through its usual backstage activities, gave the impression of a rather democratic family of performers who truly appeared to be enjoying their life on the road. Nobody was more spirited, for instance--nor more different from the role he plays--than Vladimir Kehkaial, a 29-year-old aerialist from the Ukraine with a flowing mane of jet-black hair. In the show he flies virtually naked on leather straps like a haunting figure out of the Icarus legend, as spectral and flamboyant an emblem for this "circus of the sun" as any performer on the tour. The only hint of Kehkaial's aerial grace as he careened around the circus grounds on roller-skates for more than an hour was an apparently miraculous ability to avoid bodily injury to himself and others. After diving through alleys between trailers, climbing stairways at breakneck speed and caroming off people like a pinball, he finally took a break for a cigarette. "When I was 10, I study ice skates," he said. "Here no ice. So I do this. Is good. Weather is good. I like." A former coal miner, Kehkaial said he became a circus performer in the Soviet Union while in his mid-20s. He worked his way up to "the straps," an aerial style developed by the Chinese, but became a soloist for the first time last year in Canada with Cirque du Soleil after Ste-Croix discovered him in Moscow. "I try to make solo three years there, and nobody believe me," he said. "Now I make solo here and they say, 'Vladimir, come back.' I don't want go. I like American public. In Soviet Union, I have no friend, no money. I like bring my mother here. All her life she fix rails for train. Is harder work than coal mine." Kehkaial stubbed out his cigarette and examined the blue, cloudless sky. A pennant and three flags--representing the United States, Canada and the province of Quebec--fluttered in the wind above the Big Top tent. "California is good," he said. "I like." Then he was off skating again, pretending the San Diego asphalt was as smooth as Ukrainian ice. In the meantime, the four teen-age contortionists featured in the show were busy studying algebra under the tutelage of Robert Ballard at a nearby classroom trailer. "They must pass the regular school exams at the end of the year just like everyone else," said Ballard, a 27-year-old teacher from Montreal who joined the tour in April. "So they have to study hard." Isabelle Chasse, who is 14, knew that perhaps too well. She looked up from her algebra textbook and groaned. "I really don't like this subject," she said, then tucked her head back down and resumed writing mathematical equations in her notebook. In a troupe with a profusion of exotic acts dominated by Canadians but drawing many players from different parts of the world--among them Polish acrobats, French trapeze fliers and Flounes (a species of clown), and Soviet balancing artists--the purest home-grown product of Cirque du Soleil is the contortionist team. Each of the four girls--Chasse, Jinny Jacinto, Laurence Racine and Nadine Binette--trained in gymnastics and contortion at Montreal's National Circus School, but none had contemplated turning professional until Cirque du Soleil President Guy Laliberte convinced their parents they could succeed as an act. After studying for a year with a celebrated Chinese contortion teacher, they represented the troupe at the international Circus of Tomorrow competition in Paris in January, 1990. There they won the gold medal for artists up to 14 years of age, besting even the top- rated Chinese team. Three months later, they joined the "Nouvelle Experience" tour. 'It's like a dream for me," said Jacinto, who will turn 15 in August. ". . . I worked hard to be here. It doesn't come just like that." Indeed not. After four hours of academic classes, which let out by midafternoon, Jacinto and her three cohorts took an hour's break and then spent two hours training. As showtime approached, activity also intensified in the Big Top. A pair of "Russian bar" fliers tuned up their dazzling somersaults. Choreographer Debra Brown put a cadre of blue-suited acrobats through precision dance steps to heighten their impersonation of corporate automatons. At the same time, artistic director Franco Dragone was reshaping a trampoline number yet to be inserted into the show because it had not reached the level of excitement that he wanted. Then, for the better part of an hour, the French-speaking Dragone and four of the acrobats sat at the perimeter of the ring and frankly assessed what was wrong. One of the issues involved Philippe Chartrand, the world champion on the high bar at the 1983 World University Games and captain of the Canadian gymnastic team at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. The number used to feature the 27-year-old athlete leaping from the trampoline to the high bar. But he was not hired to perform that stunt in the show this year. "It was a very exciting moment, and they miss it now," said Chartrand. "So they want it back. I don't mind. Only I don't want to do two passes on the high bar. . . .I don't want to injure myself. I have 300 shows to do this year, and I want to do them all." Although the reshaping of the trampoline number was left unresolved, the discussion between the acrobats and Dragone was typical of both the troupe's seriousness and its open informality. "Behind the scenes it is very democratic here," Chartrand said. "We are heard as artists, and we listen as artists. We make decisions to see if something works. If not, we find another solution. "The question of who will be a star, all that la-la-la, sometimes gets into the air. But when it does, we deal with it, because the whole concept of Cirque du Soleil is that there is no star. We are a unified company, and that is what makes it so good." Outside the Big Top, dusk had already begun to fall. In little more than an hour, the tent would fill with spectators about to be galvanized not by particular stars--true to Chartrand's word--but by an entire constellation of performers. # # # That's all for in this issue, but there's plenty more to come! o) Issue #164, SEP 2017 - Nouvelle Expérience, Part 2 (1991) o) Issue #165, OCT 2017 - Saltimbanco, Part 1 (1992) o) Issue #166, NOV 2017 - Saltimbanco, Part 2 (1993) o) Issue #167, DEC 2017 - Alegría, Part 1 (1994) o) Issue #168, JAN 2018 - Alegría, Part 2 (1995) o) Issue #169, FEB 2018 - Quidam, Part 1 (1996-1997) o) Issue #170, MAR 2018 - Quidam, Part 2 (1998) o) Issue #171, APR 2018 - Dralion, Part 1 (1999-2001) o) Issue #172, MAY 2018 - Dralion, Part 2 (2001-2003) o) Issue #173, JUN 2018 - Varekai, Part 1 (2002) o) Issue #174, JUL 2018 - Varekai, Part 2 (2003-2004) o) Issue #175, AUG 2018 - Varekai, Part 3 (2005) ======================================================================= COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER ======================================================================= Fascination! Newsletter Volume 17, Number 8 (Issue #163) - August 2017 "Fascination! Newsletter" is a concept by Ricky Russo. Copyright (C) 2001-2017 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. { Aug.04.2017 } =======================================================================