The 10 day Cirque Week kicked off on Dec 1. I had made a reservation for a 3 show package. I picked Love because I wanted to see it again before I do the backstage tour again. I picked Zumanity because it's the only Cirque show in town that I have not seen. And I picked Mystere, because it is a classic that I have not seen a very long time.

On Thursday, Dec 1, I went to the Revolution Lounge at the Mirage to pick up my credentials. First, I got a VIP lanyard that will make me look like the highly envied convention guys. Then I got a welcome bag with lots of Cirque Week goodies, including a T-shirt, a cool drinking glass with built in straw, commemorative program, pin, lighted luggage tag, and fridge magnets. The packet also includes a pass to a Cirque Week party at the Revolution Lounge. I was also register in some giveaways and got details for a scavenger hunt. It was 11am at registration and we had the Revolution Lounge to ourselves. They had sodas, water, snacks, and candy for free. It was my first time in that lounge. After leaving the lounge, I went to the Love Box Office to pick up my show tickets. I got Love and Zumanity, but since Mystere is on a non MGM property, I just got a voucher, which I took to TI, and picked up my Mystere ticket.

The first workshop was on Thursday in the O theater, just after registration. They had a mime from the show that taught us some basic mime skills on the stage. There was about 50 of us on stage. We broke off into groups, interacted with each other, and learned some tricks. It was pretty fun. When we were playing tug the invisible rope with each other, the instructor might come up and tie a knot in the rope to pull us together or maybe cut the rope to watch us both fall down. After the mime session, we had a nice long Q&A with the mime actor, the actor coach, the creative director, the stage manager, and tech manager. It was very interesting. I got out just in time to get to the top of the parking garage and watch the NASCAR top 12 drivers drive their cars up and down the strip.

Friday's seminar was on Love Tech. This was the technical aspects behind the show. They took us into the showroom and sat us down and a guy came out and talked about all the gee whiz numbers of the theater. Then he described the stages and they all moved up, down, and around so that we could see what he was talking about. Then he described the hoists used to lift actors and props. He talked about how some could spin, some were on rails, and some had multiple functions. Then he went on to have them move and demonstrate what he was talking about. Then he talked about projectors. There are 28 projectors that shine high def images on the 2 main walls, the 4 main diagonal curtains, and even light the stage or props for special effects. Then it was lighting with an excellent demo. They talked about sound for a while and gave a great demo that utilized various speaker combinations. There was a dance captain that came out and gave a little speech about "a day in the life of a dancer". A guy from automations came out and talked about all of the remote control stuff they get to use and build. He started with the tricycle which is just a regular tricycle that they added servos, chains, and motors to. He talked about the remote controlled train, which has an automatic brake function that they built into it just in case it were to fall down into a hole in the stage, since there are holes during it's scene. He talked about and demonstrated the various umbrellas, such as the ones the Nowhere Men use that emit smoke. Another lady came out and talked about the costumes that they organize, wash, repair, etc. They actually have a name for each character that belongs to each costume, although most of the actors don't know it's name. We then had a long Q&A with the dancer, a stage manager, and managers of lighting, technology, automation, electronics, lighting, etc. It was very cool and would have been a great addition to the backstage tour.

My work interfered with the weekend activities. I missed "The Business Side of Zumanity", Mystere Bungee demo, and Behind Zumanity. However, I did get a chance to see the show, Absinthe on Sunday night, which is not a Cirque show. It did give a perspective to compare Cirque to.

Monday night I saw the show Love. My seat was the back row right under one of the two big screens. I was surprised how good of a seat it was. As with most Cirque shows, you get a different perspective in various seats. The other times I have seen Love, I was seated much lower and was overwhelmed with stuff happening all around me. In the higher and further back seat, I could see how some sets work with other sets, I could see things develop instead of happening. The depth perception was much better and I could better understand story lines. Anyway, it was a great show as usual.

Tuesday night was Zumanity. I had a pretty good seat on the front of the balcony. It is a beautiful theater, nice stage, and a live band. I set my expectations aside, and was ready to be entertained. I was not impressed. A lot of people in the audience were not impressed either, but the rodeo crowd is in town and maybe their morals and standards are more like mine. There were a lot of people that seemed to enjoy the show, and most of them seemed like a younger crowd.

Wednesday night was the late show of Mystere. It was a very good show but completely different. It's like they put the script in a blender, then only kept about 40 percent of it, and added new stuff in different places.

Thursday's demonstration was at the Viva Elvis Theater, which featured a Jailhouse Rock tech demonstration. We (about 50 of us) sat in the front center section and had a long discussion with the technical, creative, and stage staff, along with money and advertising men. They opened the curtains to the big trampoline contraption used in Whole Lotta Lovin' segment. They talked about all the technical and maintenance issues of that and hooked it to the cranes that lifted it into it's stowed position in the ceiling. Then they rolled out the Jailhouse set. That sucker is huge. Two actors did about a 10 minute demo on the upside down slides they use. One guy had a two point rig with an attachment on each side of his waist. This way, he could tumble back and forth as needed, especially at the ends where there is a small trampoline that he gets a push off of to go the other way. There was a girl on another slide that had a single point attachment at the belt buckle. She could not tumble fore and aft like the guy. That single point attachment allowed her to lay on her back and spin. They both could make it look like they were walking on the ceiling. It was pretty interesting how they do all that stuff.

Friday was the Ka Battle demo. This was pretty cool. We sat in the front two rows of the back section so that we would be far enough back to see the effects. They had the main stage do a nice demonstration of it's moving around. We watched some practicing and training for about 45 minutes while talking about the stage, the show, the actors, etc. This was all with the house lights full on. Then they did a light check, sound check, and did the full "battle" scene, complete with music and lights.

Saturday was a meet and greet with Chris Angel. I had to work that day. Too bad.

So I had a great time at Cirque Week. The really interesting thing about all of the demonstrations and discussions was that they didn't care about cameras. This was shocking to me since during a normal show, they are so very picky about cameras. Video, audio, still photography, they just didn't care. I learned so much during the demos, that I now have more things to look forward to if I see the shows again. And I do plan to check out Cirque Week next year.

BTW, Absinthe was great. The tent looks about the same on the inside. The show was much the same as before but there were no skaters.

Wow JMT! What a great description - thanks for sharing!! I'm SO ENVIOUS! I eat this stuff up. I would have loved to have seen the KA battle demostration. That must have been excellent.

For one of my viewings of LOVE, I sat in the exact same spot as you - the back row under one of the 2 screens. I thought it was a great seat and a great perspective of all that was going on. I finally got to see what was going on on top of that giant sheet during "Within You, Without You" with the floating bed.

I've seen Zumanaity twice and was never that crazy about it. I saw it the night after it opened (a long time ago, whenever that was) and then about a year later. I liked it a little better the second time but it's not a show that I would want to see again nor would I recommend it.

Thanks again for sharing. I'm going to have to give some serious thought to attending Cirque Week next year.

Mike, there were about 6 Cirque fans at the Cirque Week demonstrations that were at least as big of a fan as you. They were Facebook friends with the artists, they knew the artists by name, they knew who was an understudy for who, they went all over the world to see each show, and knew all the gibberish to all of the shows. Alas, you are still a big fan.

Therefore, I took a big ole crash course in Wordpress video, made my first YouTube videos, and created a little holiday gift for you (and all of TalkVegas). The weakest link was me, not knowing what I was doing. The second weakest link was my mini video camera that can't focus when it's very light or very dark. I managed to put together a small sampling of what to expect during each Cirque Week demonstration. It's typical of stage manager interaction, it's typical of artist participation, it's typical of being in theater with house lights up, it's typical Q&A, it's typical Cirque enthusiasm. Please visit the home page and let me know if there's anything there would make you want to miss Cirque Week next year.

JMT - what a nice holiday gift! I just watched it all. Thank you so much for doing this. The Battlefield is one of my favorite scenes in the show and now I want to see the show all over again (I think I've seen it 4 times already - maybe 5).

Two questions:

1. It looks like there are about 13 or 14 lines on the stage during the Battlefield sequence. Is there any danger of them getting tangled up or do they have it rigged so no tangling is possible?

2. How do you know which Cirque package to buy? Do they do behind the scenes for each show where you pick and choose which ones you want or is it all one package?

Thanks again!!

1. Yes there is danger.
2. It does not matter. Any package is good for all events.

I think he said there were 16 lines and they only use 14 max. Yes, there is danger of getting tangled. They each have a lane, which barely as wide as their body. Each artist is trained on at least 3 lanes. The awareness level goes way up when an artists leaves their lane or someone else is supposed to be in their lane. I don't think I recorded the part where where Sherry was talking about walking up the lane. In the hanging position, your legs and head are hanging down and your waist is the highest point. It takes a great deal of abdominal strength to bring the chest and head and legs to be level. So they all have really tight abs. Then to walk, and make the walk look real, takes a lot of training and practice, because it is so unnatural. They have to exaggerate the arm movements, actuate the lift on their harness and move their legs and feet to a walk without feeling the sensation we know of as a walk.

You buy the package with show you want to see. You'll get access to ALL of the demonstrations. There is no prize for buying more than minimums. I think they try to have at least 1 demonstration event at each theater. When they announce Cirque Week, you get an idea of what demonstrations will be happening. Then you purchase your show ticket package. There are many packages with 2-7 shows. I think it's a Ticketmaster website where you pick the dates and your seats for the shows you want. Then you pay for your seats and wait….and wait….and wait. It's a very lonely feeling knowing you bought week of activities and you don't even have tickets in hand. And it lasts several months. Then, shortly before Cirque Week, you get an email saying when and where registration is. Registration runs all week during morning/afternoon hours, you just don't know where yet. At registration, they match you up to their list, give you the VIP lanyard and goody bag. That VIP lanyard is your access card to ALL of the workshops/demonstrations, without regard to what tickets you bought. If you carry a smartphone, the Cirque Week website will have the registration and demonstration schedule while you are in town, so you can stay updated. When you actually attend the show with the tickets you purchased, you don't need the lanyard. That lanyard just gets you into the demonstrations. Some people wore them all the time. I saw a couple in line for dinner one night wearing it.

I would think the hardest part would be knowing what days to be there, since the actual dates of the demonstrations are not posted very far in advance. And it is during rodeo week, so rooms are already at a premium. My only other advice is make sure you follow the correct links to purchase your show tickets through Cirque Week. For several months, that is the only assurance that your name will be on the registration list.

Thanks for all this infomration, JMT. Maybe the best thing for me to do is spend 10 days in Vegas and see ALL the demonstrations!