Monday, February 16, 2009

From David Chabira


kooza, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hi Buckles!



Saw your mention of circuses in Atlanta on your Blog today. I know how you animal people love Cirque du Soleil. As an eleven year employee of Cirque, I’m only allowed in the Animal tents because I’m married to an animal person.



I just want to say that I’ve seen almost every show Cirques done, both Touring Shows and Resident Shows and KOOZA is by far one of my favorite touring shows. I caught it in San Jose, California earlier this year and being an old circus guy I love it because it is very old school circus. It was directed by David Shiner and the talent is great. They’re using horns in the band, everyone takes a bow, and it’s maybe not as strange as most Cirque du Soleil shows. I hope that even your most die-hard Blog readers will give it a chance if they’re in Atlanta. It’s truly a very good show under a beautiful big-top.




Here’s a list of our current shows-



Under the Big-Top

Alegria- Taipei

Quidam- London

Dralion- Perth, Australia

Varekai- Sevilla

Corteo- In transit to Tokyo

Kooza- Atlanta

(Opening Soon Cirque 2009- yet to be named)

Venue Shows

Saltimbanco- St. Charles, MO (Arena)

Wintuck- (Seasonal- Madison Square Garden Theater)

(Opening Soon Vaudeville 2009)

Permanent Resident Shows

Mystere- Treasure Island Las Vegas

“O”- Bellagio Las Vegas

Zumanity- NY NY Las Vegas

“KA”- MGM Grand Las Vegas

Love- Mirage Las Vegas

Believe- Luxor Las Vegas

La Nouba- Disney Orlando, FL

Zaia- Sand’s Macau China

ZED- Disney Tokyo

(Elvis Themed Show opening Dec. 16 City Center Las Vegas)

(Hollywood Themed Show opening in 2010 at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles)



David Chabira

Technical Director “O”

Cirque du Soleil - Bellagio

Posted by Buckles at 2/16/2009 11:34:00 PM

7 comments:

Buckles said...

Quite the contrary, my wife has seen Soleil several times and enjoyed it immensely.
Several years ago at the CHS Convention in Baltimore, Soleil was appearing in town and Mike Falls took a group of us on a back yard tour and I was mightily impressed by the mechanics of the operation.
No performance that day and the cast and company had been taken on a cruise.
I of course, have seen Soleil on TV and enjoyed the talent and staging and how the audience was swept up into the experience. So much so that they even laughed at the clowns which impressed me even more.

16 February, 2009 23:56
Anonymous said...

David,
I just saw the arena version of Saltambaco (hope the spelling is correct) in St.Charles and this show does not belong in an arena. Hopefully Cirque will confine its efforts to the beauty and confines of its "chapiteau" in the future. This thing was high in technical skill but more removed from the audience and any kind of envolvement or emotional attraction than the current Ringling shows. Sorry, but Cirque has become a money machine just like Feld Entertainment with absolutely no concern for audience relationships or reputation.
Criss Angel is a joke and complete failure as entertainment, and that "Love" thing is a joke at anyone's cost.
What is next for the once almighty Cirque? Perhaps the Sigfried and Roy Tribute featuring Wade and Lee? That is a show I would love to see. Buckles, would you come out of your well deserved retirement to handle the vannishig inflatable elephant?
Both Feld Entertainment and Cirque have been more than generous in supporting our youth circus programs here in St.Louis, and we are always thankful for their generosity and hospitality as they allow our young people to see live entertainment and the accomplishments of human performance up close and personal and the inspiration that these talented performers offer.
Yet of all the shows we have been able to take our youth to see this year so far, Universoul was their favorite. These kids identified with the people in Cedrick Walker's bigtop revival because Wandi, Riccardo Sousa, and so many others were real to them,not hidden behind masks or make up.
I wonder how I will feel after seeing Eloise and Jungle Fantasy (Cirque Dreams)later this Spring? I'll be seeing Eloise in a theaterI did not even know existed and Dreams in the magnificent Fox theater here in St.Louis. Then,our kids will join the cast of Circus Flora for a limited run here in town.
Hope to not offend anyone
Warren

17 February, 2009 01:58
Mike Naughton said...

SR-TRIBUTE SHOW....not a bad idea, huh?

a natural
geared for families
immediate brand recognition
easy to produce - magic, wardrobe, cats, elephants easily had

17 February, 2009 06:49
Buckles said...

On re-reading this page I see that I misspelled Mike Fauls name.

17 February, 2009 07:25
Anonymous said...

Buckles: Thanks for your kind words regarding Cirque du Soleil.

If anyone doesn't know, Mike Fauls is the Company Manager now for our show "ZED" at Disney Tokyo. Previously he was the Tour Manager for "Varekai".

Warren: I don't agree with everything Cirque du Soleil does but then it's not my company. I haven't seen Saltimbanco in an Arena but I will see it in Lakeland on April 29th. The show had a very successful run for many years under the Big Top and was slated to close permanently after the South America Tour. The Arena tour came on the heals of the Delirium Arena tour which was one of the most successful Arena tours of 2007, against some pretty big concert names. Anyway, taking it into Arenas gave a lot of performers and technicians a few more years of work so that can’t be all bad. I’ll judge for myself in Lakeland.

LOVE has been hugely successful since opening at the Mirage. Criss Angel’s “Believe” is still too early to judge. Cirque shows are a living, breathing, evolving thing and often take six months to a year to perfect.

“O” has just completed ten years of performances, next month we do our 5000th show. We have averaged 98% occupancy since the day we opened the doors which is practically sold out. This is unheard of in the industry with ticket prices ranging from $100-$165. We’re talking about over One Hundred Million Dollars a year at the Box Office from just one of the shows.

Every business is about making money. You’ve got to take your hat off to a guy that started out as a street performer and is now a billionaire. I’ve worked for Feld and for Cirque and there is no comparison. Artistic always come first with Cirque and everyone is treated like royalty, cast and crew.

17 February, 2009 14:55
Anonymous said...

Well, he won't make any money of of me!!! I can't afford to travel to see their shows and I certainly couldn't afford the price of admission!

17 February, 2009 19:22
Anonymous said...

In 2002 my wife and I paid $75 a pop for seats in the nosebleed section at the Cirque show in downtown Disney World. We both agreed that the performance was worth every penny. I had cut my early circus teeth seeing the animal-heavy shows fielded by Clyde Beatty and the Cristianis, and my wife clearly remembers the glitter and
glamor of Ringling at the Garden in the 1940s,) When another version of Cirque set up its chapiteau in St. Louis a couple of years later, I paid $35 each for good seats for my daughter my teenage (read bored) granddaughter and her girlfriend. The feedback I later got from my daughter was that her youngster couldn't rave enough about the show to all of her classmates.
I'm very much a traditionalist where circuses are concerned--I always prefer a solid mix of humans AND well-trained and presented animal acts. At the same time I keep in mind this old saw: You get what you paid for (or something like that).
Lane Talburt

17 February, 2009 22:43

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