SHOWS ANOTHER SIDE OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

cductive and sensual, Zumallity brings "another side of Cirque du S leil" to the famed Vegas Strip. The company's third permanent prodUCtiOll ill Las Vegas, Zumanity opened officially in September 2003 at N e1>V York-New Y01:k Hotel and Casino. Written and directed by Dominic Champague and Rene Richard Cyr this show is for adults 18 and over (it's not for YOllr kids, or your parents, for that matter). With a 50-member cast. or human zoo, Cirque's latest i -a zesty look at love, human sexuality, the nature of 'beauty, and acceptance of bodies in all shapes and sizes.

Zumtmity is nestled in a i,295-seat theatre completely custom-rebuilt to' house the show, Auerbach Pollack Friedlander sewed as theatre con ultams, working with Pelton Mar h

Kinsella acou ticians, JR Clancy for the stage machinery, and scenic designer Stephane Roy to create an intimate, cabaret-

style venue. "EverythiDg was destroyed," says Roj', referring ro the previous theatre on. the site. "Not even the ceiling re-

rnained."

This is not an ordinary theatre in any sense. The lobby undulates in waves of red and goLd, with a carpet pattern of ri ppling muscles, one wall sug-

gesting laced bodices (from svelre to zaftig), and another of tufted red velvet with some of the buttons replaced by glowing peepholes.

BY ELLEN LAMPERT-GREAUX

10 theatre

W'hcn you peep, you see sensual images and hear a sexy soundtrack via small

~merieall Technel gy Corporation HSS loudspeakers that have just one degree of dispersion (listen careful1y in the restrooms as well).

In wbat Roy alls "the Amsterdam window, like in a red-light district," performers welcome. guests seductively. A bathtub of popcorn and a bed are tucked in dark comers. Chandeliers look like glowing 0 aries or perhaps breasts. "These are provo ative flashes in the

lobby. They prepare you for dIe language of the show," he says.

Inside, the theatre is "like a living room, ~ Roy adds. "There is more interneion with the actors and amongst the audience members. The main thing is that you feel like you are in a womb. Thi is a custom-made theatre for just this one show about sensuality. Not a theatre for any other show.'"

An intimate space, nor a single seat is further than 66' from the long thrust smge that penetrates the audience. The

carpet is based on a painting of Dudes, and the seating include love seats for two and solo cabaret stools as well as traditional theatre seats, all upholstered in warm shades of red, gold, burgundy, and rust. "Everything makes a statement," says Roy, pointing out that the curves of the balcony (ronts, the colors in the room, the curving stairs, and the shape of the proscenium are meant to be fallopian, rather than phallic, emphasising the power of women.

A large stage turntable has a central

pod, or small round platform, in the center that lower 12' or raises to 8' above the stage. main trap is used for such items as a baby grand piano and a large fish bowl where two exotic creatures perform a water ballet. "You c-all pre-set items on the traps when they are lowered. and a cover slides over to fill in the stage,." Roy points out.

JR Clancy built and installed the traps and tumtahle, and installed the motorized spot lines (or Iigging mat were built by . tage Technologies. Additional aero-

bad rigging was designed snd Implemented by Cirque du Soleils in-house crew, under the direction of Jacque Paquin. Two smaller lifts. called the "chi k" lifts~ are located stage right and stage left ill front (If the prosceuiem, The musicians perch 00 a. curved bridge that sit above rhe proscenium and add ro the an nouveau look of the theatre. "The bridge lowers [Q bring the rnu IDan cI er to the udience during few numbers," says Roy.

WAVES, OF PLEASURE

The principa! scenic elements, The Waves) are two motorized pairs of Lesan panels that move Vi~l a sys-

tern of pins traveling in. a track. "The Waves can rotate in both directions to createall kinds

f fi . It

. con 19uratlOns,

says Roy, who reared one pace that changes th,rougbout the 'evenin:g. ";toucan

, changethe geography of the pace, from wide open to \I nar-

row little corridor where the audience is the voyeur looking into a

.. vindow or through a facade."

To create a

frosted, art nouveau qualiry of milk glass, the Lexan was sand lasted and varnished. "Light and pro' actions look great 01'1 the panels. but they still have: a transhrcenr quality o.)!Ou an see the artists behind them,"ay:s Roy; The patina can be removed if Roy decides to create a window, or a peck into a shower.

A curtain 150' lon x 44' high was made by taking old fashioned lace and expanding the pattern into multiple panels. Roy notes, "a combinati n f contemporary automation and an old Italian

Baroque technique of counterweight is used to make me lace opening in various way, in luding moving like fingers pulling up a skirt orope.nlOg Iike a flower." Behind the lace is a mir-

ror made of 4 x 4' pWlels of

Lexan with 65% semitranslucent film, "It can be a

perect mirror, or

you can u e light to see through it and play at

n

voyeurism

notes Roy. Metallic laser projection material creates a miller drop hung at the center of the stage. "This absorbs light beautifully, ~ ays Roy. ~All the colors of the spectrum,"

Natacha Merritt, photographor and author of the erotic website and book Digital

Diaries, created the prlljectiolls 011 the wave' (and in the 1 bby peepholes). "She did photo shoots during [he rehearsals, and her image, are like a microscope zooming in on [he performers. YOIl might see :I no. e, lOr an: arm" 0 just a body as the background. It's subliminal," says Ro . "The are an artistic way to see the body. 5 metirnes in color or black. and white which can be more realistic than olor.Projc.."Ctors are by Digital Pr jecrion,

LIBERATING LlGHllNG

Lighting design,e!: Luc Lafortune who de igned the tight:i:ng for such Cirque du

old shows as l\f1yStim, O. and La NOllha, added to the Pari cabaret feel of the ro m busing 90 Mole Richardson Molerama fixtures on curved <ltwa1ks (these "found" ,lighting in~trurT1ents were recydcd (rom EFJ(.I ar the MGM Grand). olotech in Mont! at provided the m~ority of the fixture inventory. Nol van enuchten and Al-e.xandrc Tougas were assis ru LDs. Janelle Steele, bend or ligbting, and Hubert T~dif,. moving [jghrs. programmer.

"The n tion is like an unpubli hed underground event, something you'd hear about by word f mouth," says Lafortune .. Someplace Y01,1 can go ",nd live out your fanta ie . h's not the kind of theatre where you auld hide dl lighting fixture. oj He also placed trand Fresnels in the wings. glowillg softly, so II.S not tiO Sec the black velour rnaskirrg behind them.

!,..-rERTMHMENTDESIGNmog.com I November '2003

lhe sat for ZUmanltv features :two motorize pairs of Lexan panels, dubbed The Waves, fJ'lat move via a system 01 pin:; traveling In a troek (opposite page top lett). The Jorge slage tumtable hos a centret pod fn Ihe center that lowers 12' or rolses to 8' ooove fhe stage (opposIte page top right). The stage curtain. 150' long, x 44' high WQs made by 1'aklng old-fashioned loce and expanding tI1e pattern Into multiple panels (opposite page center rIght). french fOshlon designer Thierry Mugler's costumes feature the best matarials found around the World. tram silk and lace In Paris to gloves In PortugaL

theatre 19

"Cirque du Solei! creates a total environraenr, 60 YOll ar not working from a. script ~ says Lafortune. < The final lighting choices were made rather late in me game. It's a titillating show so you can't give it a.way too I) n, You have to tease reveal shapes and contours but not the entire b dy right aw y."The nature of the show gave Lafortune almost carte blsoche interms (If lighting styles. ''1 had the freedom to change from one act to another" moving from grand operatic lighting to visibly flashing moving lights and strobes to trash it om' he notes.

"These genres might not normally go together in a book show!'

Lafornmes rig includes almost 300 ETC Source Four ellipseidals of various sizes as well as 12 ource Four Zooms and 75 ource Four PARs, 12 Source Four PARne'! .50 Altman PAR64s,24 James Thomas PAR46s, 12 James Thoma P.AR36s, 38 Strand 2kW Fresnels, ]2 Strand 5kW Fresnels, one Arri 6kW Fre nel, L&E MR16 striplIghts,. 12 Altman single cell far eyc lights, eight Mole Richardson 5kW Skylights, and ix mod Bcamlights.

The automated fixtures include eight Clay Pliky Stage Profile .Plus SV units and 12 VarieLite VL2000 wash units. 'F. Ilowspots and IMIs are by Robert Juliat: four Ivanhoe 2,500W HMI followspots; plus five juliar D'Attagoan 2.500W HMl Profiles, Other gear includes eight Martin Profe sioaal Atomic 3000 strobes, 12 Rosco Image Pros, four Ligb:tning Strikes unit and over 75 Wybron Coloram II scrollers,

The control system and network includes two trand Lighting 550i conoles (om: as a backup or to make changes

CONFERENCE & STAGE EXPO~

Connect

Learn -Imagine

In a bran'" ne·w ligh~'

MARCH 17 ~20 2004

LONG BE1\CH •

Clrc!e l4 on Reader ServIce c.orel

20 theatre

The lobby for Zumonity undulates In ted and gold. wifh a carpet po ern of rippling muscles end chandeliers thai sug'gest ovaries or pernoos breasts.

and not di turb the show), a Srraad 5.2'0 fo.£ special effects, and two Flying Pig Systems Wholeh.og n for the moving JjghtS. Ten Strand LD dimmer racks are loeaeed on the grid and in the basement. The Strand how ersystems includes 60 Ethern r nodes. 'There are also four touchscreens," says Michael Lay, nand s project manager,"These provide cue sheet data from the console for the stage manager. The screen interface with the 510i show controller;

SEXY SOUND

Sound designe.r Jonathan Deans, veteran of numerous Cirque du Soleil prbducrions, notes, .. ZlmlO71ity is louder than their other hows. We wanted to create a rave, a nightclub, and a dsscc, like you are iUing in the experience, It move from a

cabaret sound to high-energy, in-yourface witb a lot of low end. The atmospbere is very different &om th-at of a Broadwa musical"

Deans opted for Meyer Quod se I - powered peakers (six CQ1. and two CQZ) with our Turbosound 21" sub wo fers for "a lot of ki k. Th ey push. extra air into the room," be says. A dbJ<® Subharmonic Synthesizer is used to drop any

ignal.an entire octave, and as Deans ays, ~give the bass sound an extra oomph. It creates a physical feeling withou deafeningevery n ."

A Variable Room Acoustics stem

(VMS) from Level Control S stems ( S) makes the venue adjustable down to an acousri . piano. "Since there are 0 many sound levels in the show, and for certain numbers we wanted the audien e to hear themselves applaud and laugh, we couldn't set a constant decay time" says. Deans, VRA offers me op-tions of a small, medium and large hall sound.

November 2003 ENTER'I'AINMEl'lTDESIGN mag.com

There are also a variety of 29 microphones placed aroLlnd the room, primarily from ennheiser and Shure.

Sixty Nexo PS-8' loudspeakers (powered by ~ C mpl..iHers) W1C placed around the w::ills and 00 balcony fronts to pr vide urround sound and d lay. dditional PS-8 boxes add extr high-end for the rear ,f the balcony, and 14 more are built into the dge ofthe tage. The audio control sy tern feamres the new L . S ueonsole II with new Cueration multi-platform software. The musician wear Shure P M?OO in-ear monitors ''Ii th bel t pa ks, Pre-cesslng equipment by TC Electronics in lades Fire-w rx, Vocalworx, an 12000S effects pro essor, and an M4000 processor for streamlined reverb, There is also a backup signal system by ierra . utornarion, which allo control of rile show ill real time in case of II glitch to the main yst rn .

• With ten shows a week, over the nCi(t ten years there is bound to be a glitch, br wrr- ut, or a flash flood," says Dean . "The ierra Automation cross-switcher j rorally transparent to the audience. A Yamaha c nsole then runs the show on a basic left/right mix. You 0 fr m a 497- channel mix to a two-channel mix, bu it saves the show."

Digital lear-Com stations ar linked via CatS cable and Ethernet nodes. The Ethernet s stem also allowed the unci team (Peter Hylenski wa as istant S und de jgner) to work wireless thrcmghmLt the venue via laptops th t could plug in virtually anywhere. And in keeping with [he themeof me sho\ even some of the hand-held microphone are de rated as whips or ponytails.

A.NDROGYNOUS SENSUALITY

PfO'lO ative French fashion designer Thierry Mugler, who was or' ginal1y a dancer, made his Cirque du ole.il debut o turne designer t; r Zzmll11lity. His

stume are evocative, from black

dresses an 'bodices for the cross-dressi ng mistress of seducri 11, Joey Arias, to topless dancer J bondage geat, ~jewded jo kstraps, fur, and feathers. Even the u hers ar in sugge..stiv Mugler originals {washboard sb all r-shirrs for the men and bikini lOpS and bottoms on dresses for the women}. rephano Canulli, Eleni Urania, Francine Desrosiers, and Guy Brassard worked a assistants to Mug1er.

"The ostumes were all made ar Cirque du oleil' ateliers in Montreal ' explain J k Ricks, head of wardrobe for Zumanily. "We had very detailed sketches and worked ve closely with Thierry to recreate his exa designs to .abric." In fact, they scoured the world ~ t the b sr possible m rerials, from silk and lace in Paris [0 gloves in Portugal. "There is a real en e of luxury to the show, ~ say

INTERtAINMENTDESIGNmog.com I November 2003

R.i ks. "There is no full nudity but ma'ny of the: women arc toples ."

One of the more flamboyant characters is Ja abo, described as anandrogynous spirit of sensuality. "He is a eros between a man and a woman, and wears everything from an enormous black ilk cape to 31 large stole of black and purple roes (made of velvet and nylon), and it Greek~stylewig of molded ilicon, "He is a character of temptation who appears with iii live snake and wears silver nipple COY rs," adds Ricks.

Other artists wear prosthetic body pans, including brow piecet;,chills,. ears,

even colored contact lenses to enhance their appearance. A former Miss France, for instance, perform a bondage ballet on a swing with black fabric encircled her wrists and ankles. "She-is a gorgeDus person whose form has been enhanced with corsets, prosthetics, and flesh-colored fabrics" Ricks note . "She looks nude under the lights. With a wig of flowing red baa and a lace mask she is a fantasy figure come to life,"

Cuban-born dancer Alex Castro We'dIS a white leather jacket lined in fur, then embroidered and hand-painted with roses, the theme of his performance

number. He also wears break-away blue jeans and a jeweled g-srnng, Other characters are bedecked in everything form seductive layers of lingerie to two huge fj arhered headpieces that were made by Chris Mark ln Jew York i r (in one of the fir t times Cirque du SoleH has gone outside its own shops for specialty item ).

"There is great detail in all of the costumes," says Ricks. "In executing Thi fry' co tumes, we realized his dreams for the sh.ow. n The costumes add to the overall fantasy world created in Zumanity, a new avenue of exploration for Cirque du Seleil, ED

jump this ~ you need floors _lftllVP ft!Silience. San Francisco Ballet ""'switched to HarlequID Cascade year and not a moment too.seen,

Our h~ re.pettoty

season consists @.f 8 very different progtams, performed over a 3)12. month period and we

also tour up Ito 5 weeks Iii!! y;ea:& Thars a lot of jumping, spinning and leaping fur a floorto take! But in test after test with our dancers, Harlequin Cascade was the cops "tent whmm:.

11'5 not jusf the dancetS who have benefited. Because .l:IatJequin Cascade

lays flat so easiJy, om crew can make floor changeS easily within a twenty-minute intenn;ssion.. Thank you Ha:deqmn 'or makingmy job, and th jobs o£ those at

San Frcmc::isco Ballet, justa.liH:le bit easier."

PlltLA .ELPI:IIA • L

AN EL.ES • FORT WORTH Circle 6 on Readel SeNlce Card

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