Calling Cirque Du Soleil’s massive, colorful stage spectacles “ambitious” is like calling Broncos fans “loyal.” But the Montreal-based company’s latest production may trump even its biggest undertakings thus far.
“Delirium,” which opens Wednesday at the Pepsi Center and runs through Sept. 2, moves away from the choreographed dance and acrobatics of past Cirque productions in favor of an immersive audio-visual feast.
Created and directed by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, the dizzying multimedia presentation features musicians, dancers, acrobats and actors on a 130-foot-long two-sided stage. Quebec composer Francis Collard remixed the show’s 20 songs from Cirque Du Soleil’s back catalog, with new lyrics by Robbie Dillon. They tell the story of Bill, an everyman isolated from society by technology and the churn of contemporary urban life.
The show includes several firsts for Cirque Du Soleil, said Carmen Ruest, “Delirium’s” director of creation.
“It’s the first time we’re asking a writer to add lyrics to our music,” she said. “So much of the music in our shows supports the action. In ‘Delirium’ the musicians and singers are center- stage and actions happens with it.”
Naturally, finding a place to rehearse the show presented a challenge. Cirque’s home space was too small. Renting an arena for three months was impractical and expensive. So the “Delirium” crew was forced to utilize nontraditional spaces outside Montreal, including an abandoned car factory an hour away.
“We also rehearsed in an old aircraft factory at Mirabelle International Airport, about 25 minutes from Montreal,” said Ruest. “We traveled through winter snowstorms, morning and evening.”
When the show opened in Montreal in February it received rave reviews, proving that a company known for its dazzling theatrics could deliver on nearly any scale. When “Delirium” visits Denver next week it will be on its third leg, slated to end in late November. Plans for an early 2007 North American tour are in the works.
Cirque Du Soleil’s success and business savvy allow it to experiment on such impressive scales. When Guy Laliberté founded it in 1984, the young stiltwalker and fire-eater probably never dreamed he would one day have six wildly popular shows in residence in the U.S. (five in Las Vegas, one in Orlando, Fla.) and seven touring shows. Two more are traversing Europe, with upcoming residences in Tokyo and Macau, China.
“We can go to new markets with ‘Delirium’ as opposed to the big-top shows, because we don’t need the circulation of spectators for five- to-eight weeks,” said Ruest.
Partnering with Live Nation (formerly Clear Channel) also made sense: The company’s experience in staging huge rock shows comes in handy for Cirque.
“We’re used to touring 2,500 seats. The intimacy of the big top is something different,” said Ruest. “Giving a feeling of intimacy to a huge venue like an arena was a big challenge.”
The show accomplishes it with its unique setup, Ruest said, which allows each side of the audience to see each other through the stage, and light projections that wash over the crowd.
Ruest also cautioned that “Delirium” is different from other Cirque shows in more than its format.
“We’re targeting audiences 13 years old and up,” she noted. “Young kids might find it too loud and too long.”
Certainly, the mix of thunderous tribal music and flashing projections could overwhelm some children. Past reviews have called it an edgier, more urban show than anything Cirque has ever attempted.
The spectacle is intended to draw the audience into the world of its befuddled main character as he searches for authenticity in a virtual world.
But isn’t it ironic that a show about reconnecting to one’s identity uses the very technology it rails against?
Ruest doesn’t think so.
“Our speciality is multimedia and technology. Whether it’s small-scale or large-scale, we use it to touch people,” she said. “It’s a creation tool. It’s the artistry more than technology that touches you.”
The democratizing effects of technology are on daily display on the Internet, and Ruest similarly thinks “Delirium” will leave audiences feeling more connected to each other. No preferred meaning exists for the show, she said.
“The most important thing is that people feel something has been added, something they’ll feel good about when they leave the show.”
Staff writer John Wenzel can be reached at 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com.
Feverish facts
Here’s a look at “Delirium” by the numbers:
130,000 pounds supported by two special rail bridges over the stage
27 rigging motors that allow characters to “fly”
2,700 watts of electrical power needed from the three additional generators required for the show
20 18-wheel tractor-trailers transporting equipment
14 tour buses
145 people on tour, including 45 artists
Source: Cirque Du Soleil
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Cirque Du Soleil’s “Delirium”
MULTIMEDIA STAGE SHOW|Pepsi Center, 1000 Chopper Circle; 8 p.m., Wednesday through Sept. 2|
$73.50-$129|through Ticketmaster, 303-830-8497 or www.ticketmaster.com.
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