www.fastcompany.com: The slow-motion shutdown of Cirque du Soleil should have been an early warning of the disaster to come. The novel coronavirus was still considered a local problem in late January, when the world’s largest circus producer canceled performances of The Land of Fantasy, its first and only permanent offering in China. Within two months, the virus had spread to every corner of the world.
3 comments:
I'm not going to lie that's a powerful and frightening title. Cirque du Soleil is a monolith of the entertainment industry and while it's not surprising given the current global climate it's saddening to see them facing so many hardships. I figured there would be layoffs based on other news comment articles throwing out words like debt, millions, and bankruptcy but 95% of such a ginormous empire is staggering. I have a friend that works at Medieval Times, a dinner and a show kind of establishment that has jousting and other medieval events, and when they closed in February that was the first time I really thought about where the live entertainment industry was heading if COVID continued to spread. Smaller things like Medieval Times I expected to not do too well but when we think of things like Cirque and Broadway shutting down it's surprising. Necessary? Of course. But with that "the show must go on" mentality it's still insane to witness.
Just by reading the title, I got pretty annoyed. People are really getting a kick out of Cirque du Soleil being down... Times are hard right now. For everyone. For a company like Cirque du Soleil with so many shows running worldwide and operations happening, having everything halted is a huge bummer. Even people outside of the entertainment industry are feeling it. They rely so heavily on multiple people being together in one setting. Whether that be to bring the shows to life or for the actual run of the show. So this is a lot for a company of the caliber. And remember, it isn't just one show that they had halted, they had dozens of shows halted. "For the first time in 35 years, the show wouldn't go on." I feel that so very deep in my core. I know after all of this is over, it's going to take awhile for them to recover. There is a lot to be thought out and done. However, I have no doubt that they can do it and be better than ever. If anyone can do it, Cirque can.
I read a previous article about the CEO of Cirque du Soleil. It's really unfortunate how so many performers and other employees of Cirque or laid off in such huge numbers and suddenly. For a lot of traveling acts such aS Cirque the decision to discontinue or pretty sudden. I have a friend who is a performer with that East Coast Disney on Ice cast, and they got told their tour was discontinuing at a pretty quick and sudden notice. Thankfully for her, their tour got stopped in Minnesota, which is where she is from. It’s really strange to think about how so many industries that pretty much go on regardless of situation are going dark for the first time in years, and definitely for the longest time we have known about. Especially at a time like now, where the arts and entertainment is what will keep spirits lifted. Thankfully, artists are finding ways to still share their work.
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