onstagepittsburgh.com: This Cirque du Soleil glides and flies through the journey of a young woman named Crystal, who feels boxed in by societal expectations and is on a search for “the joy inside.” A traumatic and thrilling moment sends her into a dreamscape, where she is bestowed a magical pen that allows her to write her own version of how the world should be.
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Yesterday I went with the Stage and Production Managers to tour Crystal in the PPG arena and we got to talk to the general stage manager of the show. I have had an interest in Cirque du Soleil since an early age because every summer my grandparents would take me and my friends to the local circus in our town and when I grew up I realized how technical and systemic the show is. I have always had a curiosity on how things around me work and that is one of the reasons why I enjoy being in the backstage side of theatre. I learn the logistics of how things work on stage. When talking to the general stage manager and the stage managers it was so interesting to know that working in cirque means that a person always has to be ready to be able to alter the show to accommodate for the conditions of the performers. One of the stage managers talked about how different it is to be working with cirque than regular theatre because sometimes the acts have to be put in different order and they have to coordinate that during the show. I think it is extremely exciting to be able to be trusted and also have the abilities to make sure the show goes smoothly even after things don’t go as planned.
Yesterday I got to go see part of a rehearsal for Crystal with other CMU school of drama students and it was incredibly interesting. I have only seen one other Cirque performance before, Mystique, when I was younger but I absolutely loved it. I have also been obsessed with their social media page and love watching the performers train and see the overall production come together. What was extremely exciting though was being able to talk with the three Stage Managers and the Artistic Director for the show. This may sound dumb, and probably because I come from a family that has no one in an arts field, but sometimes in school I forget that there are people out there that actually do the profession that I am training for and that it truly is something that is available as a career path. It was interesting to see the different journeys all of the people had to get where they are now. I feel as though I am constantly being surprised and educated on all of the places that Stage Managers are needed besides a traditional theater production.
Wow! This is so cool! This is especially cool because last week I got the opportunity to go with CMU SoD stage and production management to the PPG Paints Arena and got to speak with the stage management team of 3 as well as the Artistic Director of Crystal, named Crystal. This was an incredible opportunity and I loved every second of it. I loved walking around the backstage area as well as being able to watch some of the trainings that the performers were doing during the day was fascinating. It was really cool to see how they integrated ice performances with regular group performances without skates on sometimes. Through talking with them it was cool to learn about the Cirque specific things they do. Overall, it was such a cool experience to talk with the stage management team and the artistic director who is an alumni of CMU SoD.
I watched this show the other day, and it was super cool to get to see a show as unique as the only Cirque de Soleil show with an ice skating element. I was in awe at not only the always-impressive cirque acrobatics but how a lot of those acrobatics were done in ice skates. Watching the performers do backflips is already impressive, and I can’t even wrap my head around how someone can be so talented as to be able to be doing all those backflips in ice skates. However, since not every performer was always in ice skates, I also thought it was fascinating to observe how many of the dancers and acrobats must have had to adapt to performing on ice. While they’re clearly wearing some amount of slip-proof shoes, I imagine it is quite challenging as a dancer to perform on a material such as ice.
Cirque is so unbelievably fascinating, and consistently amazes me. I wasn’t able to go to the show in Pittsburgh, but I’m delighted that Crystal came! I saw another circus show (not cirque) last semester in the PPG arena and it’s such an interesting space to consider setting, especially as you have to both make it look cool and add provisions for all of the countless acts. I’ve found I’ve discussed Cirque a few times at CMU now, which delights me as I didn’t expect to be approaching it as much but the idea of designing or working on a Cirque show is so mind blowing. There are so many moving parts, it must be incredibly hectic, and picking up and moving from city to city is insane! I remember my family saw ‘O’ a few years ago, and I still think about the giant pool in the stage, and those incredible performers (there was also an earthquake during the performance and they kept balancing!) I remember after seeing it I watched this one documentary about Cirque performers over and over as I was so in awe. It was also cool hearing from Kevin last semester about the mechanics of KÀ. Cirque is a whole other world, and one I am so intrigued to learn about.
I was considering going to see Cirque’s Crystal this weekend however I just never got to it. I love the work cirque does and I love the opportunity to see their shows. Crystal however didn’t sound that good to me. I was very uncertain about the concept of cirque on ice. The set looked pretty enough. Some of the projections looked weird. The costumes didn’t look that great either. I honestly just really doubted the ability of a cirque show to be as good on ice as it would be otherwise. After reading this article, which very much praises the show, I’m not sure if I regret not going. Some of the tricks they do look super cool. I love figure skating as an art form. I think it’s so cool, however I have a lot of unsolicited opinions on how judging and standards have affected figure skating as an art form but that’s for another time. I think I would’ve enjoyed seeing Crystal as I would enjoy seeing any Cirque show. They’re amazing at everything they do.
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