Theme Park University: Las Vegas is an ever-changing landscape of new restaurants, slot machines, hotels and entertainment. Cirque du Soleil for years has dominated the strip with a whopping seven shows for quite some time now. Their newest show “R.U.N”, which has been in previews for weeks and officially opening November 14, has gotten some scathing feedback online from those who have seen early performances.
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This is very disappointing. If I'm being honest, it makes me slightly sad because I have so much faith (apparently, too much) in Cirque du Soleil and their ability to pull of a show with any given concept and fully amuse the audience. Reading Young's article, my thoughts were that the negative comments came from people who wanted to see a typical circus show and hadn't done their research on R.U.N before hand. Their complaints are about the noise, the violence and just the overall atmosphere of the show which is expected of a "live-action" thriller. It seemed as though they walked in there expecting something that they shouldn't have expected. From the other comments, some people enjoyed this thrilling show. They appreciated the elements that the previous commenters did not. They went in wanting to be taken on the crazy ride that R.U.N had to offer and apparently it was what they hoped it would be. With this article, Young seemed way too eager to point out that Cirque du Soleil had disappointed fans and that the show wasn't amazing, to the point that his article seems to be coming from one not-very-well-supported angle. Yes, they have proof of negative comments, but those negative comments come off as petty complaints rather than solid reasons for the show being "bad." Also, implying that the positive comments were false seemed to have been done solely to support the angle of the show being unsuccessful. So I went along and read other online reviews. Whether I want to accept it or not, the show doesn't seem to be a good one at all. But not because of the noise or the concept with all of the violence. It seems as though it was not executed well. From being boring and cheesy, to having people watch lots of videos on screen, to forced fight scenes, and apparently forcing way too much violence and rowdiness down people's throats...yikes. Someone even said that the stunts were "mediocre." I'm having secondhand embarrassment. With this being different from what they usually present, and presenting it knowing that there was a high possibility that people wouldn't like it, they should have spent more time on these things. This concept isn't impossible for them to pull off. They could have done it successfully. I mean, come on, they pulled off performing an orgy onstage...
It is definitely very interesting to see when a production of this size like this gets poor reviews, especially since, as the article says, the company Cirque du Soleil us known for putting on shows that are usually well received. It is interesting to read the myriad of reactions that took place after people have seen the show, some of them are concerning, especially the ones from people who were concerned that their hearing might be damaged as a result of the exposure to audio at a high level of volume. I wonder what the intent of the production was when the team conceived it and designed it. How would a company react to this? How would they choose to move forward when developing new pieces? I wonder if there are some salvageable elements to the production that they could flesh out better and create something that would be more enjoyable for audiences instead of nightmare inducing.
The first time I saw a Cirque Du Soleil show, it was for the Beatles and it blew my mind. The amount of talent and detail that went into that performance was unlike anything I have ever seen and I could not stop thinking about it after I saw it. Cirque Du Soleil shows have gotten nothing but praise, which is why I was shocked to see their newest show is being critically destroyed. It is such a shame that a group like theirs can have a flop, but nobody’s perfect. The title is pretty cringey, but I’m sure plenty of dedication was put into the project. Sadly, this one did not mash with audiences this time. And after reading the reviews, I can’t say that I have an interest in the project. Luckily, everyone know Cirque Du Soleil can still pull off fantastic performances, just I guess not this one.
I agree with Apriah, I am upset to see that “R.U.N” didn’t get the reviews that they were expecting. I think what this article points out is that companies should stick to what they are good at. After reading all these trip advisor reviews that were put in the article, it made me wonder if Cirque actually reads these reviews and will make changes to these things. I am glad that the author of the article pointed out these questions too at the end of the article. I do agree on the point that Apriah makes about how it might have to do with people not getting the regular Cirque Du Soleil experience that they were expecting but that reason that I read this article is that part of the title that talks about how there were suspiciously positive reviews as well. I am a little disappointed that nothing more than these positive reviews were written was said about the positive reviews. This article makes me ask two large questions: 1) Would Cirque pull the show if once it opened it got trashed by the press and how much would that cost and 2) What is it like working on a show that is supposed to be long-running that people seem to hate? As a lot of my cohort and I think about commercial theatre, I don’t think we ever really talk about working on long-running shows that we hate and how to deal with them. This would be an interesting conversation to bring up in a class like Advanced SM topics.
This is interesting. I think the concept itself is cool, but the execution from the video just looks…okay. I watched the video in the article after reading the reviews posted in the article, so maybe I am being influenced by those. However, the video just made me feel like it was a bunch of stunts with some loud obnoxious music playing. I do think this idea is interesting, though. I have not really seen any Cirque shows, but they all seem to be more about spectacle and pushing the human body to its limit. This does not seem to do that. They are playing a lot with fight choreography which is always cool, but, again, it just gets tiring after awhile seeing the same generic stage punches and tumbles. The projections also look kind of bland too. It looks like they are playing with an idea of a comic book, but it does not read too well on my end.
I actually agree with this quite strongly. Based on what was shown in the video, it doesn’t look like anything I would want to pay for, let alone go and see willingly. However, it does look like it cold turn into something much better sticking with the idea of action and fast paced performance. It just should look like that. I definitely wouldn’t recommend especially with other great shows out there. The article already mentioned Mystere but there are other shows by Cirque du Soleil that are much more worth seeing. If you need a more friendly price, the blue man group is always a good idea too especially as they became a part of Cirque du Soleil recently. I sort of hope they rethink this show in its entirety completely over. I really do think this idea has something that is worth putting on the stage, it just isn’t there yet and this start is a good learning point to further develop it.
I read an article about this show a few weeks ago and I'm disappointed to hear it's not faring well in Las Vegas. Looking at the video, what I thought would be a beautiful and revolutionary piece by Cirque seems to have fallen into the category of chaotic and disjointed thought. I went into this article very defensive of Cirque, as a long time fan, but as I read the reviews they swayed me more and more. Once I got to the complaint on excessive gore they had me. I would not want to see a torture scene without any warning that was overly, not just graphic but, loud. Hopefully, Cirque will take these preview reviews to heart and think about making the show more enjoyable for their audience. It would be a shame to lose a dedicated and long-standing fan base on their first attempt at a new type of entertainment. Cirque is the be-all and end-all of what they do. It is not really ever disputed that they are the best at what they do and that their work is quality. Unfortunately, that also means they have a pristine name that can easily be tarnished by a single failed work.
The reviews for this crique show are iconic. Most people will not care when giving their opinions on live events they have spent money on. Usually though for crique even if the story is not good, they at least are doing cool tricks and you are able to be distracted from it. This time it seems that not only is the story not good, but there’s nothing special about to distract from the story. I also think they might have gone a bit too far with drilling into people as most people are not ready to see that type of violence in crique shows. While I probably will not get a chance to see it, I think this has an interesting idea. The good ting about crique is that they will try to keep fixing this show based off of bad reviews. The idea is there I just think it is poor execution.
“Suspiciously positive” is my forever mood. I watched the promo video on the website, and oof. that video on the article. I get why this one hasn’t flown as high as Cirque’s other work. I think that this show is built for a very specific person, and, unfortunately, that specific person is a strong minority, I think that this concept had the potential to be a really engaging and exciting way to celebrate the people capable of these kinds of stunts, but it ended up feeling very overdramatized and a bit silly (aside from the torture scene?!?!). I think it will be very interesting to see how Cirque chooses to approach damage control on this show’s potential and reputation, especially if the decision is a graceful fade into the night for this one. I think it is a good reminder though. Not even Cirque is immune to fallout from a production that just didn’t quite meet the original expectations and hopes, but that doesn’t mean their career is over. Mistakes are allowed at any level, and they have the artistic license to own that and move on.
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