Cirque du Soleil President Daniel Lamarre reveales details Michael Jackson residency show In Vegas

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Cirque plots Michael Jackson show post-‘Zarkana,’ ‘Immortal’ success

Posted November 12, 2012 • 12:58 p.m.
Immortal6SH_t450.jpg

Daniel Lamarre at the "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour"
red carpet at Mandalay Bay on Dec. 3, 2011.


Photo: Scott Harrison/Retna/HarrisonPhotos.com


<!--end vertical art -->Reveling in the success of the Michael Jackson touring show &#8220;Immortal,&#8221; Cirque du Soleil President Daniel Lamarre has revealed details of the full-time-residency King of Pop production set to open at Mandalay Bay in May.

Daniel told me: &#8220;We are talking May 23 for the first-night of previews, with the grand gala opening June 21. The Montreal studio right now is moving and shaking with Michael Jackson rehearsals. It will be totally different from the touring show.

&#8220;The tour was a rock arena concert, but this will be highly theatrical. That&#8217;s the big difference, but there will still not be a Michael Jackson character in it.&#8221;

Cirque has still not decided on the show&#8217;s title, and the creative team is working on the visuals. Daniel explained: &#8220;For the moment, we want to keep all the lights focused on our new &#8216;Zarkana&#8217; at CityCenter. Once it&#8217;s well established, which will take a couple of months, we&#8217;ll come back to you and start really talking about the new Michael Jackson show.

&#8220;However, I don&#8217;t want to confuse the two Michael shows. They are totally different. We have already learned from the touring show that people want to listen and see his complete hits. They don&#8217;t want a medley of songs; they want the full song.

&#8220;So it won&#8217;t be 23 songs in the theatrical version. We will probably have fewer, but we will play it full blast. None of the acts in the touring show will be used in the theatrical show. They will all be brand new -- nothing will have been seen before.

&#8220;There will be a lot of acrobatic acts, but they will be characters with the storytelling. It will be very different than anything else we have done.&#8221;

Daniel told me that costumes and makeup are being finalized in the next two weeks: &#8220;We are a collaboratory! We are right in the middle of it. We keep trying new things and new challenges. Everything is very much on target with the construction at the theater in Mandalay Bay.

&#8220;You will be surprised with the changes there. &#8230; It is part of our signature. We love to change theaters in order to present our content the best way. &#8230; We will move the cast and crew to Las Vegas in March.&#8221;

I asked Daniel if it would be a re-creation of Neverland the audience would walk through. &#8220;We like the Neverland signature. You will see something of Neverland, but I don&#8217;t want to take you in the wrong direction,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;There is some Neverland, but it is not about Neverland. We have our own story line compared to other Cirque shows.

&#8220;It is an amazing combination of director Jamie King, who worked on the touring show, and a young man, Welby Altidor, who is the creative director. He has been with Cirque a long time -- he has grown with Cirque. He is really bringing something different to the signature of the show. &#8220;

Daniel told me that once the production is together and installed in Las Vegas, Cirque founder Guy Laliberte will then be here to finish the production and give the green-light go.

Meantime, &#8220;Immortal&#8221; continues to break records and win awards. &#8220;We won the most creative arena show in North America award from Billboard on Thursday, the night before &#8216;Zarkana&#8217; opened. We are sold out everywhere in Europe right now. We set new all-time-record attendance records in Denmark. It&#8217;s the same wherever the show goes in. Last week, we were in Sweden and phenomenal records.

&#8220;It&#8217;s so big we are extending the tour by at least another year. It means for now, we will run it until the end of 2014 for sure. It&#8217;s headed for South America and Asia. Then we&#8217;ll return it to America and Europe to a lot of repeat cities where we were very successful and could have had longer engagements.&#8221;

I talked with Daniel at Gold Lounge in Aria before the &#8220;Zarkana&#8221; premiere Friday night. He summed up: &#8220;This is a very exciting night. It also is very interesting for us because it is the first time in Las Vegas that we opened an existing show, but all the excitement of a brand new show is here.

&#8220;The sound is a huge change from New York. It is much bolder here. The one thing that we had underestimated is how well the music, the set, fits in the Aria theater. This is pure luck because it was not planned that way.
&#8220;When I walked in the theater with Guy 10 days ago, he was overwhelmed. That is rare because Guy is very, very severe about the content of our shows, but when he felt, heard and saw the ultra-sound and everything else, he was really, really pleased.&#8221;


Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world&#8217;s premier platinum playground.


http://www.vegasdeluxe.com/blogs/lu...-plots-michael-jackson-show-post-zarkana-imm/
 
cool... so glad that this show is so successful... Go MJ!!
 
They don’t want a medley of songs; they want the full song.
We have already learned from the touring show that people want to listen and see his complete hits.
This is so very true!!!! :girl_karaoke::girl_smile:
 
Great news. Also that the tour is so successful. In about two weeks I'm gonna get to see it in Vienna!
 
I can't wait to see the new show! Actually, I can't wait to see the entire transformation of Mandalay Bay for the show (I think I read some other articles about an exhibit and nightclub to). The little touches that the hotel did for fanfest (the "leave me alone" do not disturb sign, songs/video playing in the elevator to promote the show, etc) were great so I'm excited to see what they'll do for the permanent residency.

I'd also love to see how the touring show has evolved since the start of the european leg.
 
** some info regarding Mandalay Bay


Cirque du Soleil dives into nightlife, unveils LIGHT at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UpVaxB52xnY" frameborder="0" height="338" width="600"></iframe>


The Cirque du Soleil experience has always been about pushing boundaries and redefining entertainment — the world-renowned brand has been inspiring awe in audiences for over a decade. It seems only natural that the highly-esteemed production troupe would finally make its foray into the nightlife scene at none other than Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Already being touted as more than just a traditional nightclub, LIGHT will be unlike anything you have ever experienced. Incorporating elements from their live performances, Cirque du Soleil plans to make everyone in the club part of the show. Headlining DJs and performers, coupled with exclusively built performance elements designed by Moment Factory, will all serve to create a unique fusion between nightlife, dance music and performance art. Backed by industry magnates, Andrew Sasson, Amy Thomson and Daniel Lamarre, LIGHT is poised to become a premiere destination amongst Vegas’s already stellar nightlife.
When asked about his vision for the nightclub, Guy Laliberté, Founder of Cirque du Soleil had this to say;
“The nightclub will serve as a laboratory, very much like our special events and projects have done in the past, for different and new artistic possibilities.”


Stay tuned to www.HaveYouSeenTheLight.com for upcoming lineup announcements and more.
 
qbee;3738665 said:
Its a complete different show a more intimate setting, more theatrical and with a different name .. residing in one place .. Mandalay bay

That`s the permament show.

But the article also says the Immortal world-tour will come back after Asia and South-America to Europe and the USA.


&#8220;It&#8217;s so big we are extending the tour by at least another year. It means for now, we will run it until the end of 2014 for sure. It&#8217;s headed for South America and Asia. Then we&#8217;ll return it to America and Europe to a lot of repeat cities where we were very successful and could have had longer engagements.&#8221;
 
No direct link to MJ, but this is the 2nd Cirque residency show to close this year:


Cirque du Soleil's 'Iris' Closing Early Due to Low Demand

Cirque du Soleil's production "Iris" is ending its run earlier than expected due to low demand.


The production, which opened in September 2011 at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood and Highland complex, will stage its last performance Jan. 19. It was originally intended to be at least a 10-year run.
"Iris" ran for nearly 500 shows at the Dolby.

A Cirque du Soleil spokeswoman cited low ticket demand as the reason for the closure, noting in a statement that "despite phenomenal reviews and enthusiastic audience response, demand has not met projections."
The Quebec-based company added that it intends to "redeploy as many of our artists and employees as possible to other Cirque du Soleil projects."
One of Cirque du Soleil's most ambitious projects, the Danny Elfman-scored "Iris" came with a price tag of nearly $100 million, according to the Los Angeles Times, and Cirque sank about $40 million into renovating the Dolby -- then the Kodak Theatre -- so that it could accommodate the production except during the annual Academy Awards show for which the theater was built.
Tickets for the show range from $43 in the upper balcony of the Dolby, which has a seating capacity of about 3,300, to $253 for the VIP package that includes free parking, a free beverage and a discount at a nearby restaurant. Standard orchestra seats go for $133, although discount ticket websites have been selling seats for $45 to $79.
The show received a mostly enthusiastic review from the Los Angeles Times' Charles McNulty. While citing some "goofy dead spots" in the show, he ultimately determined, "Before the pharmaceutical companies took over, movies were Americans&#8217; drug of choice, the best remedy for the cares and woes of workaday life.'Iris' is a more luxurious elixir, but in paying homage to the fantasy of film, the show incarnates those same stardust properties that make movies so everlastingly potent."
Cirque's other resident shows are "La Nouba" in Orlando, Fla., and "Criss Angel: Believe," "Ka," "The Beatles: Love," "Mystere," "O," "Zarkana" and "Zumanity" in Las Vegas. It has several touring productions and arena shows throughout the world.


http://www.thewrap.com/culture/article/cirque-du-soleils-iris-closes-early-due-low-demand-67426
 
Have'nt posted in awhile, but I am extremely happy to hear how well the MJ Immortal Tour has been doing! I can only wish them the very best of luck on this new adventure in Las Vegas.
 
Woo Hoooo! Thanks for posting Annita. Hope we get details of the opening night soon, the quicker I book my flights, hotel etc the better.
 
^^Those photos above look great. I too want to be there the first night, rain or shine, snow or storm. I'll Be There!!!! I hope they will do that thing where they give fans the first option to buy tickets.
 
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/jan/29/wicked-whispers-racy-rumors-michael-jackson-cirque/

Exclusive news about the new Michael Jackson residency show headed to Mandalay Bay this spring. It will not have a title -- just a number. Cirque du Soleil officials are tight-lipped about the numeral they&#8217;ve chosen, so the guessing game begins.

I also have learned that the Montreal cast and crew move here to begin rehearsals on the nearly completed stage at Mandalay as of Feb. 18. One spywitness who saw the acts rehearsing in Montreal said the acrobats are the world&#8217;s best and exceed any other performed to date in any Cirque show.
 
Considering it was one of the best experiences of my life, I wish them every success with this new show.

Hopefully, I will get to see it in person
 
I hope they will consider the critique of the touring show and also learn from the failure of the Elvis show. A common critique I saw regarding Immortal, the touring show that there was to little trademark Cirque acrobatics, which is a turn off for those who aren't so much Michael fans but rather Cirque fans. I want the MJ Las Vegas show to impress both sides of the crowd and want it turn those Cirque fans into Michael fans as well! I just want it to be awesome even for those who aren't necessarily Michael fans.
 
&#8220;It&#8217;s so big we are extending the tour by at least another year. It means for now, we will run it until the end of 2014 for sure. It&#8217;s headed for South America and Asia.Then we&#8217;ll return it to America and Europe to a lot of repeat cities where we were very successful and could have had longer engagements.&#8221;
:woohoo:

I had some pretty crappy seats when I went to see the Immortal show here in Philly.
So if they come back here or in NY I'm going again with some better seats this time around! So I'm excited!:jump:
 
^^ I didn't get the chance to see it when it was at St.Louis or Chicago soo hopefully they stop by those one of the 2 places for me...
 
I hope this does well and doesn't end up on the chopping block like Elvis'
 
Is it just me or does just the name "MJ 1" remind anyone else of that Beatles album too much? Nevertheless, I can't wait to more info about this show in the coming months! :)
 
I definitely think that Cirque are going with a theme with how they've named The Beatles' show and the new MJ show. Personally, I like it. It's definitive, and bold. I look forward to see more details of the dhow; I'm sure it'll be just as awesome as IMMORTAL was!
 
I definitely think that Cirque are going with a theme with how they've named The Beatles' show and the new MJ show. Personally, I like it. It's definitive, and bold. I look forward to see more details of the dhow; I'm sure it'll be just as awesome as IMMORTAL was!

The Beatles show is called Love. How does that tie in to "One"?
 
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