The touring company for Cirque du Soleil's stage show Delirium came through the Quad Cities last week and put on two shows at The Mark of the Quad Cities in Moline. Cindy had mentioned that she thought it would be fun to go to, so I bought a couple tickets a few weeks ago and we went.
Cirque du Soleil (which is "Circus of the Sun" in French) got it's start in 1984 in Montreal when two street performers, Guy Laliberte (right) and Daniel Gauthier, combined their talents for a commissioned show marking the 450th anniversary of explorer Jacques Cartier's visit to the region. Laliberte and Gauthier then expanded the show to include a non-animal, circus-like atmosphere and took it on the road. The featured performers were acrobats, ballet artists, musicians and jugglers - all of whom had outstanding talent.
Laliberte and Gauthier then opened permanent shows in both Las Vegas and in Orlando. They expanded their touring companies to include shows such as Alegria, Quidam, and Varekai. Gauthier "retired" in 2001 and Laliberte continues to oversee the Cirque du Soliei empire.
OK - now a little side story. The silent partner/owner in the company I work for is a guy by the name of Andre Reindeau. Andre's main occupation was running a company by the name of Solotech which supplied the lights and sound for a number of touring musicians such as Celine Dion, Anne Murray and other Canadian entertainers. Laliberte and Gauthier turned to Solotech to be their main sound and light company when Cirque was on the road.
When Mystere opened at Treasure Island in 1993, Solotech was called on to design the sound and lighting for the show. 
And when Caesar's Palace opened their new Colosseum venue (left) for Celine Dion's A New Day show, Solotech did the sound and lighting for that place, as well. Andre told me that there are over 140 speakers in place in the Colosseum. That's a lot of sound, I'm tellin' ya.
Andre retired from the Solotech and sold his share a couple years ago. Cirque du Soleil made him a very rich man. And he maintains a close relationship with Laliberte to this day.
Even though I've had the chance over the past few years to take in a Cirque show in Las Vegas free of charge, but I've never taken the offer. Now that they were coming to the Quad Cities, I thought for a moment about calling up Andre and seeing if he could get us some complementary tickets. Then I thought, no, I don't want to be a pest.
The basic story of the Delirium stage show centers on a man who finds himself in a delirious dream filled with music, dancing, acrobatics, image trickery and confusion. The music is very good, dancing is OK (if you're into that), the acrobatics and stunts are marvelous, the projected images on the see-through curtains were pretty remarkable, and the confusion is just that. You get to focusing on a performance at one side of the stage and the next thing you know, there's something happening at the other side of the stage.
The stage for Delirium is also set up to work long-ways on an arena's floor, rather than setting up at the end of the arena as they would for rock concert. Thus, only half of the arena can be used, but it worked out well. When I went to get tickets, I actually had the chance to get two tickets down on the floor. But then I thought that I'd rather be back a ways because the stage was so big that I thought we may miss something if we were too close. It turned out that was the way to do it.
The rigging for the lights and sound are the most complex of any concert/act I've ever seen. And I was mesmerized by the projectors they were using for the images cast on the see-through curtains.
Greg Hipskind - the drummer for Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls (right) - is part of the set up and tear down crew the Mark hires for concerts and shows. He told me the basic set up of the show took about 6 1/2 hours and about 8 to 10 hours total. And before the first performance at a venue, they have a dress rehearsal the night before to make sure everything works.
I sat there and figured that the performers must not get a lot of time off because they would be performing in a place for three days, pack up and go to the next town, set up, do a dress rehearsal, and then do the shows for two to three days. But given that a lot of the acrobats and performers only have one act in the whole 90 minute show, they can probably get by with it.
The highlights of the show - other than the music, which I liked a lot - were the guy whose delirious dream we were watching unfold. He hovered above the stage for a good portion of the show attached to a sphere that changed colors throughout the show. 
He was sometimes part of some of the stunts, but most of the time he was just an interested observer.
Of course, there were the well-in-shape acrobats and aerialists who balanced or flew all over the stage area. One of the aerial acrobats was a little Chinese guy who was pretty amazing to see.
Other than the music, my favorite part was the girl who "hula-hooped" with up to seven hoops. She came out and began to twirl one hoop around her mid-section. She was tossed a second one that she twirled around her leg while the first one was still going. Then she put her right leg straight up in the air so her foot was over her head. She got a third hoop and was twirling that with her right foot over her head, the second hoop was around her mid-section, and she still had the hoop twirling around her left leg. And I don't mean it was just the backyard variety of speed that she was putting on the twirling of the hoops - they were rocket fast going around her!
There were a couple things that I didn't quite understand - there was a bald-headed guy on stilts (who was very nimble and good on them, by the way) who seemed to just be hanging out and moving around the stage during the songs or acts. In between segments, he'd do this maniacal laughter and screech out words in French. Weird. Also weird was this very annoying man who started out the evening in the crowd, made his way to the stage and would come and go from the proceedings from time to time. I never really knew what his purpose in the show really was.
All in all, I'm glad we went. Tickets were a little pricey (over $100 bucks each with fees), but for a show of that size and quality, you knew you had to pay through the nose for the production. All told, there were nearly 50 performers and musicians, about 75 production people, and 15 managers and coordinators in the traveling party for Delirium.
Delirium is one of those shows that you sort of wish you could see again because it's so busy. You know there are things you may have missed during the course of the show. I know I missed a few things.
Actually, I'd like to get a hold of Andre to see if he could line me up with a meeting with one of the production guys. Not for free tickets - I'd pay to see this show again - but for a tour and a close look at how they do the sound, lights and video. I see they're going to be in Peoria and in St. Louis later this spring. We may have to just go again...
Delirium is coming to Birmingham in late March. My wife talked me into going. But I figure if you liked it, it should be OK to see.
Posted by: Tim Lake | February 13, 2007 at 05:56 PM