By Howard Ho
Daily Bruin Reporter
The sky is falling at the Cirque du Soleil’s production of
“Dralion.”
The show, currently running next to the Queen Mary in Long
Beach, features a mysterious eight-ton ring 50 feet above the stage
that seems to randomly drop things, whether it be performers, long
satin ropes, juggling balls, or even the words of the welcome
announcement before the show: “Please turn off all cell
phones and pagers.”
As objects fall from above, performers come from below, from the
sides, and even from behind the audience. The elaborate sets and
costumes further reinforce the Cirque du Soleil motto, “We
Reinvent the Circus.”
“In terms of costume, lighting, stage design and music, if
you take the skeleton of something and dress it with your own
stuff, the structure stays the same but with a different
atmosphere,” said Christian Touchette, the show’s prop
master.
While Touchette could be talking just about the reinvention of
the circus, he is also talking about the fact that
“Dralion” (a conjunction of “dragon” and
“lion”), seeks to celebrate the traditional circus arts
of the Chinese.
To do so, “Dralion” features 37 performers from a
Chinese circus troop, doing traditional acrobatics with the Cirque
du Soleil design as the clothing.
Featured in the show are many of the manned dragon costumes that
one sees during Chinese New Year. The basic concept of the show and
the four elements (fire, earth, water and air), which are
represented by four colors (red, ochre, green and blue,
respectively), come from an idea in the ancient Chinese text, the I
Ching.
This is the first time that the Quebec-headquartered Cirque has
included another troop within its own, although its previous
productions have featured people from over 40 countries. The large
number of Chinese performers can sometimes lead to culture clash
behind the scenes.
“It’s been a reality to learn to deal with people
from communist China, because we’re free. I can do whatever I
want,” said Touchette, who says he prefers to hang out with
the clowns of the show.
Translators are needed for fluid communication, although some of
the Europeans have learned Chinese and some of the Chinese have
improved their English, which is the main language of the
production. The 14 nationalities represented in
“Dralion” can create a bit of conflict, but it has been
a learning process for Touchette.
“We had to learn the difference (between translator and
interpreter),” Touchette said. “Sometimes (the Chinese
performers) will interpret what you say in their own culture so
it’s going to make sense. If you have a translator,
you’re just going to translate the words and it’s not
going to make sense at the end.”
Coming straight from Houston, where ongoing construction made
for a dirty and noisy site, the Queen Mary location provides more
comfort. Large semi trucks actually transported the entire
production, which includes a 2,551-seat tent, over 200 costumes,
eating facilities, offices and, of course, the eight-ton ring.
Supervising the on-site production is tour manager Rob
MacKenzie, a former rock musician from Newscastle, England. As a
kind of father figure for the show, he has seen it grow since its
opening in Montreal three years ago.
“The show is always evolving and, we’d like to
think, always improving,” MacKenzie said. “It’s a
very different show from what came out of the studio in Montreal.
It’s a lot lot better.”
Indeed, Cirque du Soleil, which opened its first show almost 18
years ago, has evolved into a worldwide entity with tours 52 weeks
a year on almost every continent. The elaborate eight-ton ring was
unthinkable in 1984, but now it has become a symbol of the circus
that not only reinvents the circus, but also reinvents itself.
“The shows in Vegas are huge multi-million-dollar
productions with really incredible engineering aspects, quite a lot
of automation, and moving scenery. It’s a lot of money, but
nothing comes cheap these days. We get complaints that our tickets
are expensive, but it all comes at a cost,” MacKenzie
said.
THEATER: “Dralion” will have a
limited run until April 7 at various times Tuesday-Sundays. Ticket
prices range from $45-$65 for adults. For tickets and more
information, call the box office at (800) 450-1480 or visit
www.cirquedusoleil.com.