Zarkana

Zarkana

Logo for Cirque du Soleil's Zarkana
Company Cirque du Soleil
Genre Contemporary circus
Date of premiere June 29, 2011
Final show April 30, 2016[1]
Location Touring
Aria Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada (residential starting October 25, 2012)
Creative team
Writer and director François Girard
Creation director Line Tremblay
Set and props designer Stéphane Roy
Costume designer Alan Hranitelj
Composer and musical director Nick Littlemore
Choreographers Debra Brown,
Jean-Jacques Pillet
Lighting designer Alain Lortie
Image content designer Raymond St-Jean
Sound designer Steven Dubuc
Acrobatic performance designer Florence Pot
Rigging and acrobatic equipment designer Danny Zen
Makeup designer Eleni Uranis
Guest creator and dramatist Serge Lamothe
Music guide Elton John
Other information
Preceded by Totem (2010)
Succeeded by Iris (2011)
Official website

Zarkana was a Cirque du Soleil stage production written and directed by François Girard. It began as a touring show in 2011 and was converted to a resident show in Las Vegas in late 2012. It premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on June 29, 2011,[2][3] and later toured to the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow and the Madrid Arena in Madrid.[4][5][6]

The show was marketed as a reinvention of the variety show, with a story about a magician in an abandoned theatre who had lost his love and his magic. As he cried and begged the gods for her return, he was plunged into a world inhabited by surreal creatures. The title Zarkana is a fusion of the words "bizarre" and "arcana", referring to the strange aura and atmosphere of this place and its inhabitants.[2]

Following Zarkana's successful run in Moscow, the show started residency at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on November 9, 2012. The show replaced the Cirque du Soleil resident production Viva Elvis, which had closed in August 2012 at the Aria Resort.[7] On April 30, 2016, Zarkana closed to provide space for a new convention hall at the Aria.[1][8]

History

To fully rehearse for Zarkana, Cirque du Soleil needed to find a facility large enough to accommodate a space similar in size to that of Radio City Music Hall. Lacking enough space at the Montréal headquarters, the company looked around North America for a suitable place. They chose the Amway Arena, located in Orlando, Florida. The crew moved into the facility on February 28, 2010, and stayed for a couple of months. Cirque du Soleil paid US$2,500 (equivalent to $2,634 in 2015) a day plus expenses to rent the arena; around 200 company employees were eating in Orlando and staying in hotels, and around 100 Floridians worked on the project part-time, creating a "great economic boost" for the city, according to Orlando venues executive Alan Johnson.[9]

Set and technical information

The set consisted of three hand-sculpted arches which represented three of the four mutant characters. The first arch, which was also the largest, represented Kundalini, a snake woman whose world was populated by dozens of slithering snakes. It was decorated with more than 150 feet (46 m) of hand-painted resin “snakes” which started out as styrofoam sculptures that were used to create molds for the liquid resin. The second arch represented Mandragora, a plant creature whose vines had overtaken the abandoned theater; the arch was utilized as a video screen. It also had plant-like "arms" which extended to nearly 100 feet (30 m) in length. The third and final arch, decorated with technological gears and pulleys, represented both the Pickled Lady and the Mad Scientist whose experiments unwittingly created her.[10]

Stéphane Roy drew inspiration from the Art Nouveau movement, Antoni Gaudí, Gustav Klimt, and René Lalique. Lalique's inspiration could be closely seen at the extremities of the acrobatic equipment. "Keen observers will also note that the shape of the hole through which Zark makes his first entrance reproduces the outline of Manhattan, while the moon above the stage marks the exact position of Radio City Music Hall."[10]

The LEDs on the light wall, which measured 90 by 40 feet (27 m × 12 m), contained more than three million pixels. The second arch contained an LED screen comprising 118 separate panels. The stage itself consisted of a sliding platform which allowed for fast equipment and prop changes.[10]

Radio City Music Hall is a national landmark and could not be altered in any way. Therefore, the set and props all had to be created in such a way that no anchors are used for any of the equipment. Everything brought in had to be self-supporting since nothing could be bolted in. This complicated the safety and security designs of the acrobatic equipment.[10]

Below are a few additional highlights from the set design.[10]

Cast

The cast of Zarkana included many artists, singers, and acrobats from around the world.[11][12]

Music

Below are the tracks in order as they appear on the CD. Listed after each track title is the act associated with the track.

Additional songs in the show not included on the album:

Acts

A talented group of artists and acrobats performed the acts which comprised Zarkana.[11]

Acts in rotation

Retired acts

Costumes

Slovenian designer Alan Hranitelj created the costumes for Zarkana. In addition to working closely with the artists to better understand their personalities and design costumes that would work well for them, he found it to be somewhat of a paradox to use so much white in the color palette, considering the darkness of the original version of the show.[14] In order to incorporate the white color of the white clowns with the rest of the show's color spectrum, the team incorporated hints of color into the clowns' costumes, which are distinctly related to one of the acts. The acts of the show, in fact, were each assigned their own specific color, helping solidify the look throughout the show.[15]

Hranitelj took inspiration from the 1920s, 1930s, and Art Deco movement to create the 250 costumes in Zarkana. Floral motifs (especially roses, which could be seen on Zark's top hat and cape) were utilized throughout the show to reflect the love and passion of the show's principal characters. The rose was utilized for Lia and Zark, and therefore red and pink were heavily used in their costumes. As red was a symbol of Lia and Zark's love, red was also utilized in the costumes for the Banquine act, as this act finally unified the two lovers. The fabrics chosen for the show included polyester and neoprene. Sublimation was used on the fabrics to create the colors and prints designed for the show.[15]

Other highlights of the costume collection included the following:

Accidents and incidents

On November 1, 2013, a male acrobat, while performing an act known as the "Wheel of Death", slipped and fell off the wheel during a performance. The performance was stopped and the artist was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in stable condition.[16]

Tour

Zarkana began as a seasonal touring show, playing at Radio City Music Hall in New York, the Kremlin Palace in Moscow, and the Madrid Arena in Madrid.[5] The show began previews on June 9, 2011, at Radio City Music Hall and premiered on June 29, 2011.[2][13] In late 2012, the show was converted from a touring production into a resident show at the Aria Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

The following colorboxes indicate the region of each performance:
 EU   Europe  NA   North America  SA   South and Central Americas  AP   Asia/Pacific  OC   Oceania  AF   Africa

Arena tour

Residency

2012 - 2016 schedule

  •  NA   Las Vegas, NV - From 25 Oct 2012 (Preview)
  •  NA   Las Vegas, NV - From 9 Nov 2012 to 30 Apr 2016 (Final show)

References

  1. 1 2 Cirque du Soleil (16 December 2015). "Zarkana by Cirque du Soleil". Facebook.
  2. 1 2 3 "A Marvelous Exploration of the Truly Bizarre at Radio City Music Hall written and directed by François Girard". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2010-11-09. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  3. ↑ "Zarkana - Cirque du Soleil's Surreal Acrobatic Spectacle written and directed by François Girard". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2011-05-24. Retrieved 2011-06-04.
  4. ↑ "Cirque du Soleil to Premiere a Major New Spectacle at Radio City Music Hall in Summer 2011". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2010-09-14. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  5. 1 2 "Cirque du Soleil and Kremlin Palace: A Brand New Show in Moscow". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2011-02-21. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  6. ↑ "Zarkana in Spain". Broadway World. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  7. ↑ "Acrobatic Spectable Zarkana by Cirque du Soleil to Establish Residency at Aria Resort & Casino Following Successful Worldwide Run. Show to Find Permanent Home in Las Vegas Starting October 2012". 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  8. ↑ "Sad end of Cirque's 'Zarkana' makes way for convention space at Aria". Las Vegas Sun. 2016-04-20. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
  9. ↑ "Cirque du Soleil rehearsing inside old Amway Arena". Orlando Theater Blog. 2011-04-20. Retrieved 2011-04-21.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "Zarkana Set and Video Content" (PDF). Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  11. 1 2 "Zarkana, Act and Characters" (PDF). Cirque du Soleil (Press Materials). Retrieved July 22, 2011.
  12. ↑ Cirque du Soleil (2011). Zarkana Souvenir Program. UPC 4 00005 12765 6.
  13. 1 2 "Garou Incarnera Zark dans le Nouveau Spectacle Zarkana du Cirque du Soleil qui Prendra L'affice au Radio City Music Hall à New York". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  14. ↑ "Alan Hranitelj, Biography". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  15. 1 2 "Zarkana - Costumes" (PDF). Cirque du Soleil (Press Material). Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  16. ↑ "Cirque du Soleil performer falls in 'Wheel of Death' during Las Vegas show". NBC News. Retrieved 2 November 2013.

Coordinates: 36°06′28″N 115°10′37″W / 36.1079°N 115.1770°W / 36.1079; -115.1770

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