Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Le Factory de Cirque
Las Vegas Weekly: "The world headquarters for Disney features a mammoth topiary ode to Mickey’s famous ears. The home of Hershey has its own chocolate-themed town. And, of course, the mothership for NBC is also the site of the most famous Christmas tree and ice-skating rink in the world."
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8 comments:
I think that its great that Cirque has done so much for Las Vegas in terms of publicity and making it kind of a cultural hotspot with all its really over the top theatrical productions. And its cool to see that even a name as prestigious as cirque is still trying to improve themselves like how they are adding new tricks to the criss angel show because they believe it is not up to par with cirque standards.
I wish they did a public tour of IHQ it seems really interesting to see the inside of the IHQ building is not decked out in a cirque-esque aesthetic. I found it surprising that all the performers are taught to do their own make up. With the amount of costume changes and constant maintenance the show needs, it makes sense.
its cool to see how they operate with so many shows all over the world but they have a central home which I guess is logical, but never realized it. I really wanna see Elvis, as I have a good friend in it who does the "trapeze" structure stuff seen in some of the videos. It seemed odd for me that the author almost seemed to attack the idea that there is less technology in Elvis, but it seems he was proved wrong.
It is great they constantly adapt to their shows to their audiences to. Criss Angel has had some bad press and it is nice to see they have the perspective to make some changes necessary to their audiences likes and dislikes. It will be interesting to what changes are actually made within the coming months and if critics respond positively to it.
I would LOVE to see an organizational chart for how Cirque functions. Are they the largest live performance company? I can't think of anything else at the moment that would top them. It is just so mind boggling thinking about them having NINE shows in the works at one time.
I was also really impressed that they dye all of their fabric. It makes total sense to.
The contrast between the Cirque IHQ and the shows themselves might seem surprising at first, but when you think about it why would the headquarters building need to be fancy? Other than a few conference rooms for meetings most of it is probably not made to be seen by the outside world, so why put the resources into it that you would put into one of the shows? If you put that into the next show instead then it'll bring a return that's more than just the appreciation of a few tourists, instead it might actually sell more tickets.
I think that one day Cirque is going to burn itself out. What they're doing seems great, but I think that it's going to become overkill at some point. Anyway, I could be totally wrong.
I totally understand why their headquarters aren't all that fancy. It would be kinda pointless, I mean, this is a place to work. Obviously, Cirque is pretty smart with what they do. Teaching their performers to do their own makeup is a great way to save money, and a great time saver. It's also great that they dye all their own fabric for the costumes.
WOW this is so amazing I never knew that much about cirque. I knew some of those things but not that much. I cant believe that they buy most of their fabrics white and then dye them make them the way they want them. The building that the Head Quarters is in is nothing that special. It is just like an auto assembly line building without any markings. The fact that they have these 3 gymnasiums that are onsite and they are as high as some of their stage grids. I did not know that they had an exclusive contract with MGM in Vegas. The amount of money that was needed to mount one of these shows is 150 million dollars plus. They said that Vegas is the only place that can really afford these types of shows. It is really cool that they fly their performers to their international head quarters to teach them how to do their make-up.also They have a head cast of every performer in their shows! There is just too much to cover other thanx they are such an amazing company.
This article gives a whole new perspective in Cirque. I was already entranced by what I've heard of their shows and how they function, but this behind the scenes look into how a show is created (sort-of) is wonderful. Kenny Chu has told us about the run crew on Cirque that has to check all the costumes every day, and what an enormous process that is. But hearing that they actually buy all their fabric undyed and even mix their own dyes adds so much to my respect for them. Even the fact that they cast every actor/gymnast's head so they can fix any head piece is amazing. The depth to which they've thought through everything and all the eventualities is staggering.
I am always amazed by the stories I hear about cirque. How efficient they are with the extreme level of complexity held within their shows. I think that while the spectacle is amazing the back work provided in the company is equally as amazing. The time and thought that must be places in the organization of both the structure and the art is spectacular and produces products that are just as spectacular. Having to manage nine shows at once is truly amazing. I am hoping to make my way to Los Vegas to see a show or two of theirs since I have not seen one in many years.
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