Cirque du Soleil are embracing the jukebox musical age. After breaking the rules of contemporary, non-animal circus by creating a unique brand of futuristic showmanship that owes a lot to the megamusical of light, spectacle and movement to showcase traditional circus acts, it has become a phenomenon that — continuing the globalisation thread I’ve been preoccupied with these last few days — has found the once innovative company starting to become stuck in recycling its own generic formula. Now, however, they’re going into battle for something fresh by taking on one of the most generic of all Broadway’s latest genres, the benighted jukebox musical, and giving it a new spin, in every sense. Starting to preview in Las Vegas this week (prior to opening on June 30) is Love, set to the back catalogue of The Beatles.
It’s their fifth resident show in Vegas, and once again, the main “spend” looks like its on the physical environment that will be housing it. According to a news report in Variety this week, some $125million is being spent on giving the Mirage Hotel’s former Siegfried and Roy Theatre a total makover, including the installation of some 6,306 speakers — a third of them in the back of the hall — to allow sound to swirl around the auditorium and from the ceiling. “Only in Vegas can you get the investment and the theater design”, Cirque founder Guy Laliberte is quoted as saying.
Certainly that is the case with their other resident shows. I was flown out by Cirque in February 2005 to see the world premiere of Ka at the MGM Grand, where over $200m was spent to bring it to life; but a substantial part of that was the theatre cost, not met from the production budget but by the casino itself, falling over themselves to get the show under its roof in the first place so that it becomes a ‘destination’ attraction. So a different, long-term view is taken; whereas a West End or Broadway budget is based primarily around the box office take that can be achieved during its run there (with some accounting for extras like merchandise opportunities and subsequent touring and licensing rights), in Vegas the shows are marketing tools, to draw customers who will then spend much more, it is hoped, on the tables and slots. (And free tickets to the heavy rollers are nice loyalty rewards that the casino can liberally dispense, too).
And even if, after seeing four Cirque shows in a row during my week there last year led me to being Cirque-d out, I have to say that seeing ‘O’ (for the third time there) remains one of the most indelible theatregoing experiences of my lifetime.
Now Cirque are changing tack, and I, for one, am curious about what they’ll achieve. Beatles jukeboxes have floored previous creators, from Broadway (with Lennon last year) to the West End (with the utterly risible All You Need is Love). Watch this space to see what happens…..
