Love (Cirque du Soleil)

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Love is a 2006 theatrical production by Cirque du Soleil which combines the re-produced and re-imagined music of The Beatles with an interpretive, circus-based artistic and athletic stage performance.

A joint venture between Cirque and The Beatles' Apple Corps Ltd, it is the first production that Apple Corps Ltd. has partnered in. Love is written and directed by Dominic Champagne. Music directors are Sir George Martin, producer of nearly all of The Beatles' records, and his son, record producer Giles Martin. Love plays at a specially-built theatre at The Mirage in Las Vegas.

A soundtrack album of the show was released in November 2006.

1 History
2 Music
3 Storyline
- 3.1 Acts
4 Theater
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

The project arose from discussions in 2000 ^[1] between George Harrison and his friend Guy Laliberté, one of Cirque's founders. Three years of negotiations between The Beatles, Olivia Harrison, Yoko Ono, Apple Corps Ltd., and MGM Mirage culminated in an agreement.

The executive producer is Neil Aspinall, manager of Apple Corps Ltd. Dominic Champagne shares the Show Concept Creator credit with Gilles Ste-Croix (a founder of Cirque), who is also credited as the Director of Creation. The Creation Director is Chantal Tremblay.

Tickets went on sale 2006-04-19. Preview performances ran from June 2 to June 29. During these shows, the June 16 and June 17 which were attended by Sir Paul McCartney, changes were made nightly based on audience reaction, cutting or adding sections to add polish.

In attendance at the gala opening on June 30 were Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Cynthia Lennon, Julian Lennon, Olivia Harrison, Dhani Harrison, and Sir George Martin, making it the biggest reunion of The Beatles' 'family' since the band's breakup. At the end of the show, McCartney, Starr, Harrison, Ono, and Martin went on stage. McCartney shouted, "This is for John and George!"

[edit] Music

Further information: Love (The Beatles album)

Unlike other Cirque productions, which feature live music, Love uses pre-recorded material from The Beatles catalog. Many of the original Abbey Road Studios recording session tapes have been re-orchestrated and inspired Love's dance, acrobatics, and visual and theatrical effects. Love samples 130 songs to create 27 musical pieces. The songs are mixed so that the lyrics and instrumentation from one song blend into the next. One musical highlight of the show is the new version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" that matches the first studio demo of the song with a string arrangement written for Love by Sir George Martin.^[2] A commercial soundtrack of the show was released in November 2006.

[edit] Storyline

The loose story of the production traces The Beatles’ biography in broad strokes from The Blitz, through the band's founding and climb into superstardom, their psychedelic and spiritual works, and their break-up in 1970. The finale is a joyous celebration of The Beatles' "reunion" that the show itself represents.

Love traces this path without relying on literal or historical representations of individual people. Its landscape is inhabited by fictional characters plucked from The Beatles' lyrics. Sgt. Pepper, a central figure, encounters many familiar faces, including Lucy in the Sky, Eleanor Rigby, Lady Madonna, and Mr. Kite. In an exception to this stylistic choice, the "Here Comes the Sun" scene features a character resembling Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Similarly, several scenes include mop-topped, dark-haired figures in grey suits resembling The Beatles themselves. In all the international cast numbers 60 performers.

[edit] Acts

[edit] Theater

The Love stage moments before start of show; two of the translucent screens can be seen.

Created by French designer Jean Rabasse, the Love theater at The Mirage houses 6,341 speakers and 2,013 seats set around a central stage. Each seat is fitted with three speakers, ^[3] including a pair in the headrest. The sound system was designed by Jonathan Deans. The stage includes nine lifts and eight automated tracks and trolleys.

Video images on two walls above the audience on two sides of the auditorium emphasize elements of the show and provide transitions. High-definition projectors also create enormous images (designed by Francis Laporte) on four translucent screens that can be unfurled to divide the auditorium.

The Love theater, which replaces the Siegfried & Roy theater at The Mirage, is said to have cost more than $100 million.

[edit] References

^ Wise, Thom (2006). Made with Love. Las Vegas Magazine Volume 1, Number 18: 78-79.
^ Love unveils new angle on Beatles. BBC (2006-11-17). Retrieved on November 17, 2006.
^ Cope, Matthew (2006). Love Story. M Lifestyle Volume 4, Issue 3: 40-42.