On a relatively cool Las Vegas winters eve in 1993, patrons, fans and the curious alike assembled on the Las Vegas Strip to take part in something new and extraordinary: the birth of a new creation from Cirque du Soleil.
While today an event such as this is considered less than phenomenal (there are now multiple Cirque du Soleil shows in Las Vegas for instance), on this cool December evening however, these spectators were witnessing something untried – the unveiling of a new concept. Rather than travel and be presented under the Grand Chapiteau (as all other previous Cirque du Soleil shows had done), this new creation would instead bow within a specially constructed theater built for its purpose alone inside one of the newest casino-hotels on the Las Vegas Strip – Steve Wynn’s Treasure Island.
It would turn out to be unlike anything that had ever been seen before from this Montrèal-based circus troupe and it would usher in a brand new era for Cirque du Soleil, Las Vegas, and production arts as a whole.
Mystère.
This month Mystère celebrates its 9,000th show. In honor of this unbelievable milestone, we’ve decided to take a look back at Mystère – from its genesis through how the show is presented today in a two-part exposé. In Part 1 we start with the show’s creation, discuss the trials and tribulations of getting the theater built, and in creating the show’s esoteric narrative. In Part 2 we pick up with an overview of the uniquely bizarre characters that populate Mystère, before walking through each of the three iterations of the show: Version 1.0 (1993-1996), Version 2.0 (1997-2011) and Version 3.0 (2012+).
Genesis
-
“With Mystère, we were out of the big top for the first time, and into the intimate surroundings of a theatre. We met the challenge by creating a different style of performance: this time, the show became a series of large, living frescoes.” – Gilles Ste-Croix (Spectaculara)
What brought Cirque du Soleil to this place in time? And what were they about to give birth to? For Mystère, we look to the history of Cirque du Soleil to provide those answers, and in doing so revisit the innovative and imaginative Nouvelle Expérience. “At the end of the 1980s, we were presenting a show called Nouvelle Expérience, and were approached by Caesar’s Palace organization to mount a show there, to be presented in a theater in 1991,” said Gilles Ste-Croix in an interview for the Spectaculara section of Cirque du Soleil’s website. “We put together the concept for a show with a mythological theme, which seemed appropriate,” but it didn’t go as planned.
-
According to Theatre Crafts’ May 1994 issue: In January of 1991, Cirque founder Guy Laliberté traveled to Vegas with Patrick Berg, general manager of Sceno Plus Inc., a Montreal-based company specializing in the design, restoration, and renovation of theatres which Laliberté had chosen to design the space. In town to pitch their plans to the Caesar’s Palace board of directors for a theatre (complete with Roman-style columns) that would house the Cirque du Soleil vision in Vegas, things were not going well. After a lengthy presentation to these “12 guys in grey suits,” as Berge refers to them, the Cirque contingent was met with a less-than-enthusiastic response. “No one really wanted to say, ‘Oh, it’s a good concept,’ or ‘Oh, it’s a bad concept,” Berg says. Matters were complicated when the board expressed concern over such matters as show schedules and costumes. “It came to a point with Caesar’s Palace where they were telling the circus that the girls are going to be dressed like this and the show had to look like that. So we all got up and walked out and slammed the door.”
Whether or not the meeting ended so abruptly is open to debate, but after hearing a rumor that Cirque was talking to (and later rebuffed by) Caesar’s Palace, then Mirage Resorts (now MGM International) Chairman Steve Wynn flew to Toronto to catch a performance of Cirque’s Nouvelle Experience. According to Berge, “Wynn was so impressed with what he saw that he approached Laliberté at intermission and said, ‘I’ll give you your building.’ Wynn saw in Cirque a perfect complement to Treasure Island, a show that would appeal to its international guests, but more importantly, one that would appeal to Vegas’ newest target audience: the family.”
Therefore, in 1992, following a successful North American tour, “Nouvelle Expérience” rolled into Las Vegas and set up stakes in a special white-and-gold striped tent on the grounds of The Mirage. “We really took a gamble when we tried to play Cirque in Las Vegas,” Sally Dewhurst, publicist for Mystère at the time said in an interview with Amusement Business (June 5, 1995). “Our situation was that we were behind the Mirage and people had to go through the casino to the tent, which wasn’t conducive to convenience. Visitors didn’t see its location or know the name, although the locals who did know about it loved it. One of the incentives to having the show in a tent prior to Mystère coming was that people became aware of the name Cirque du Soleil. But Nouvelle Experience didn’t have the attendance figures that we had hoped for.”
While the show was less-than-well received – at first (“At that time, no one in Vegas knew us. We would call suppliers and they would say ‘Cirque who?’”, Gilles Ste-Croix remembered) – the yearlong experiment proved one thing: Las Vegas could handle a sophisticated production (remember, at the time cabaret-style Showgirl shows and headliners were the norm). “But the show was a success, and Steve then asked us to mount a show in a permanent theatre at Treasure Island by 1993, which was very fast. We ended up building on some of the ideas we originally presented to Caesar’s. That’s why there are traces of mythology in Mystère, like the Odyssey, or Scylla and Charybdis.”
Scylla and Charybdis were mythical sea monsters noted by Homer; later Greek tradition sited them on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and the Italian mainland. Scylla was rationalized as a rock shoal (described as a six-headed sea monster) on the Italian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily. They were regarded as a sea hazard located close enough to each other that they posed an inescapable threat to passing sailors; avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa.
“I guess you could say I was the pursuer,” Wynn said in an interview for the show’s press-kit. “I tracked them down in Toronto. I told them I was building a new hotel, Treasure Island, and I said I would build them the same theater they wanted at Caesar’s. I asked them to shake hands on it since I had to catch a plane. I was standing at the bottom of the ramp. I said, ‘This is how I do business. I won’t know you any better in five years than I do now, so let’s make a deal.’ Guy Laliberte said, ‘I don’t believe this,’ but he shook hands.”
Once the deal was made Laliberté and Berge flew back to Vegas, this time to meet over the proposal for the performance space. “The first morning at 9:00,” Berge recalled, “we’re sitting in the conference room and Steve Wynn walks in with a plan in his mouth and two others in his hand and said, ‘Okay, guys, you can go back home, I’ve designed your whole theatre.’ That was the beginning of a three-year adventure.” (Theatre Crafts, May 1994) To say the guys at Cirque du Soleil were shocked would be an understatement. But eventually Steve Wynn was convinced of the merits of their plan and offered up a compromise: the construction project would be managed by Wynn’s in-house design firm, Atlandia Design, while the design would be handled by Sceno Plus.
“Vegas 2 was one step closer to reality; now all Cirque and Sceno Plus had to do was convince everyone else of the merits of their plan, a task that would not always be easy.” (Theatre Crafts, May 1994)
The Mystère Theater, at Treasure Island
Of course, it’s difficult to fully comprehend the cosmic chorus that would eventually become Mystère without fully appreciating the space within which these sprites jump and play.
Researching the creation and implementation of theater and set designs for Cirque is no easy task, but in doing so one will find two prevalent names: Michel Crête and Scéno Plus. Michel Crête had been Cirque du Soleil’s scenographer, or the one who “paints the scene” using the art of perspective representation, for many years up to that point and was hailed as a talented, one-of-a-kind individual. Monsignor Crête came to Cirque in 1986, putting his knowledge of creation and design to use as Costume Designer. In his tenure, he created the stunning and innovative (not to mention colorful) costuming for Le Cirque Réinventé (1987-1990) and Nouvelle Expérience (1990-1993). But “within a few years,” says the Cirque du Soleil website, “he traded fabric for the media of wood, metals and plastics.” The change resulted in many stunning sets for both Cirque’s permanent and traveling shows.
In 1992, Michel Crête left the world of fabric behind and designed the sets for the mega-production known as Fascination (a combination of Le Cirque Réinventé and Nouvelle Expérience) that appeared as a special limited engagement in Japan. He went on to design the sets for Saltimbanco (1992), Mystère (1993), Alegría (1994), Quidam (1996), “O” and La Nouba (1998). Through it all, Michel has worked closely with Scéno Plus.
Scéno Plus is an internationally renowned performing arts and entertainment design firm providing a complete range of integrated specialized services. “With an innovative and passionate approach to each project, we develop unique facilities meeting the highest expectations from performing artists, facility managers and the public,” states their website. “Passion for theatres and the world of performing arts, along with a comprehensive understanding of all issues related to the management of our created spaces, has earned Scéno Plus numerous international awards and the recognition of the industry throughout the world.” Their vision – TECHNOLOGY ART PASSION – has led them to create dozens of spaces around the globe. (You can learn more about Scéno Plus at their website: http://www.sceno-plus.com/en/)
The first fusion of this partnership between Cirque and Scéno Plus was the Treasure Island showroom, a beautiful 1541-seat theater within the 430 million expansion of the Mirage Casino-Hotel in Las Vegas. Rumored to cost approximately $26 million (design and equipment), the theater comes complete with comfortable seats, a wonderful view for all, and an interesting story of compromise with its design. You’ll find the 74,000 square-foot theater in the back of Treasure Island through a couple of sets of white and red wooden doors, but you won’t mistake their purpose; for beyond the ornamented doors lays Mystère.
One of the first things people notice upon entering is its openness. The Treasure Island Theater lacks a divider, or curtain, between stage and audience that is usually found in most theaters. Thus the 120-foot by 70-foot stage is completely open to the audience, allowing the action to be thrust upon them. This was the goal from the initial meetings between the Mirage staff and Cirque/Scéno. The idea was to make the environment feel as if you were in an intimate setting not a Big Top. In fact, upon further study you’ll find that there’s also no Proscenium Arch, the technical name for that division. The lack of this arch is what gives Mystère its life, but it was one of the earliest and first battles the designers had to fight.
The fire marshal took an interest in the fact that the design lacked a “fire curtain” – a fire-retardant cloth made to help contain smoke, heat and flame in case of a fire. This absence meant that the theater would not adhere to the established fire codes, which the fire marshal could not understand. Patrick Berg, general manager of Scéno Plus Inc., hauled a model of the theatre to the fire marshal’s office to explain it: “Half the show is on top of the audience and you can’t put a fire curtain in the middle of a set,” Berge told them and they acquiesced. The proscenium-less space also met with some resistance from Wynn and architect Joel Bergman of Atlandia; Bergman pointed out that if Mystère were to flop in six months, Mirage Resorts would have to shut the space down and transform it into a “normal theatre”. The solution was to design the theatre and its catwalk system so it could be easily modified to add a full proscenium arch should the space be converted.
There were other problems to overcome as well. In the original plans, series of lifts were envisioned to raise and lower the performers at will. In order to incorporate the lifts they would have to be buried in the ground, but Las Vegas sits on a crust of what is called “caliche,” soil particles that have been fused with lime. This fusion creates a substance that is as hard as (if not harder than) cement, which makes burrowing into it quite difficult and costly.
Since they couldn’t dig down in the bedrock without elevating the costs of the theater prohibitively, the solution is actually one of the most ingenious and visible parts of the Mystère experience – the Deux Machina.
The stage floor sits on specially designed spiral-shaped lifts called “Spiralifts”. The Spiralifts were designed by Gala Systems (a company that provides theater stage lift systems and over-stage machinery to theaters, auditoriums, concert halls and venues), a division of Montreal’s Paco Corp. (an equipment and machinery manufacturing company), and employ a “coiled, flexible, flat steel spring that expands with the insertion of a thin, vertically-oriented spiral steel band.” This allows for big savings in space while providing a rock-solid system for lifting and lowering stages. The use of the Spiralifts (affectionately termed “slinky-lifts”) also meant that they wouldn’t have to spend a lot of money digging through the tough, solid ground, which greatly pleased the Mirage developers. Each of the lifts can support 300 pounds per square foot and are controlled by a motion cue system designed by Mirage Resorts Entertainment Technologies Group. Props, equipment and performers can then elevated to the stage level from the trap by means of four of these “slinky lifts” located at the heart of the stage; three are 10-feet by 36-feet, the other, on the thrust, is 36-feet by 36-feet.
I find once I’m in the theater I can’t help but look at the set and ceiling. A simple thing the ceiling is, but here too Cirque/Scéno provided something beautiful and interesting. The ceiling is a cloth mural specially crafted by Sky Art of Colorado (http://www.skyartkarenkristin.com/). The print on the cloth is just as fanciful as the production below it – a fantasy map of the world with ships at sea! And hidden up in that sea of ships is the O-Daiko drum, the heartbeat of Mystère! (The “heartbeat” is 6-feet/1.8 meters in diameter and 15-feet/4.6 meters in length. It weighs half a ton!). The set is also an interesting piece of mechanics, consisting of a hunk of metal as a backdrop that can be rotated by a simple flip of a switch. (You’ll notice it more prominently as it moves during the transition from Korean Plank/FastTrack/Trampoline to Flying Trapeze. At times it is meant to represent the sky.)
The 10 musicians are housed on either side of the stage, with drums and percussion on the left and everyone else on the right. A sophisticated communications computer allows the musical director to speak with all the musicians and a monotone “click track” keeps everyone in sync. Underneath the stage is a 28-foot round turntable that can revolve up to 10 revolutions per minute, and of course those slinky-lifts.
Many challenges faced the design team for Cirque du Soleil’s first theater, but everyone worked to resolve these issues no matter how heated the debates became.
The addition to The Mirage, Treasure Island, opened on October 26, 1993. Though the public had to wait another two months to have a seat in the theater, patrons were lined up on Christmas Eve to bear witness to a unique event in Cirque du Soleil’s history. In 1994, Scéno Plus was awarded the Las Vegas Best Theater of the Year award for their ingenuity. Not bad for their first Cirque outing, wouldn’t you say?
An Esoteric Narrative
-
“The Mystère set actually suggests Ulysses, and the mythical obstacles he had to overcome on his own journey. The two towers represent Scylla and Charybdis, two of the perils Ulysses faced. The true journey of life is never easy.” – Michel Crete (Spectaculara)
The multi-million dollar production of Mystère tells a story — An amazing story of time, beauty and memory; a ballet without gravity and a theater performance without actors. “Mystère is a voyage to the very heart of life where past, present and future merge and all our emotions converge,” Franco Dragone says within the pages of the show’s program book. “Mystère is the enigma of time, the bearer of hopes and dreams, but also of tragedy. It is above all the remembrance of time past, memories of life unfolding, following its course and ultimately surviving against all odds.”
Mystère is the story of the universe – a rich voyage from the dawn of time to the end of the millennium. Mystère is also mans journey from infancy to adulthood – his desire to understand the universe, his search for answers and his ultimate discovery that life itself is a mystery.
Mystère is a celebration of life. From the genesis of the first life forms to the rise of human civilizations, the driving force has always been the vital spark of life, throbbing, struggling, reproducing, and weaving through death and rebirth. From the infinitesimally microscopic to the infinitely vast, from the most majestic to the most terrifying, from the most fragile to the most powerful, all is the making of life.
Mystère is a voyage to the very heart of life where past, present and future merge, and all our emotions converge. Mystère is the enigma of time, the bearer of hopes and dreams but also of tragedy. It is above all the remembrance of time past, memories of life unfolding, following its course and ultimately surviving against all odds.
And that includes beating the show’s own development odds.
Although Steve Wynn compromised with Cirque du Soleil on the design and construction of the Mystère Theater (which proved to be a successful decision), and allowed Cirque to retain full creative control over the creation of the show that would play within that theater, doing so wasn’t without reservations. The story goes that when the show was still in its conception stage, where nothing was yet final, Steve Wynn decided to take a gander at his gamble and watched a rehearsal. When the house lights returned, the expression on his face was that of controlled terror – he was not enthused. He thought the show was too operatic, and he wanted it changed.
“It was terrible,” said Steve Wynn in a 1997 interview for Forbes magazine. “I almost wet my pants!” But Cirque’s creative team argued loftily that their shows come together as performers interact with each other and the audience. (“With Mystère, Cirque knew they were doing something totally new in Las Vegas, and that meant breaking the rules, doing the unexpected,” Luc Lafortune remembers. “While we were rehearsing the show, someone said the lighting was too heavy, that it made him think of a Wagner opera. Franco and I looked at each other and said: ‘All right!’ We knew we had to be on the right track.”)
The creators – Franco Dragone (Director) and Gilles Ste-Croix (Creation) – jumped to the defense of the show, and thankfully, Steve Wynn allowed the two to continue uninhibited and in full control. (“Cirque would not dilute its brand of theater to turn Mystère into a standard Vegas show,” Gilles Ste-Croix remembered.) That decision was a fateful one, because who could guess at this day and age, what Mystère would have been… or if it would have been at all! Their visions coalesced with the juices of creation. The result: a unique story – a blend of circus and theater; of dance and darkness; and, of life and death. Their vision consisted of a mountain and a bird — a story so bold and yet so fragile, exploring the human condition in a sense that had not been done before.
That vision brought forth Mystère.
“Mystère, for me, is about life,” says Franco Dragone (Spectaculara). “We knew we were building this temple in the desert, in Las Vegas. When you see the fragile beauty there, you can’t help but ask yourself: how did life come to this planet? Mystère, in a way, is the story of this innocent being who is born into the universe, and then becomes a pilgrim, exploring its history. We’re always influenced by the latest discussions and dialogues. And we were fascinated by chaos theory: the idea that, when a butterfly flaps its wings in Argentina, it causes a rainstorm in Europe. Everything is connected. Of course, the mystery is never fully resolved, but maybe that is what our pilgrim discovers.”
To once again quote the show’s program: “An Ancient Bird hops down the song-lines that furrow the brow of the desert, tapping his beak the path that only he can see clearly. Every click of the crooked bone raises a puff of dust, a few notes, and a few memories. A shiver ruffles his sun-worn feathers and the joy of remembrance fills him with surprise, as always…”
“A thousand years from now, the sun sets for the billionth time on the Nevada desert. The Ancient Bird bears witness, standing on a single gnarled leg. As the warmth of the day ebbs away, he turns his sand-scarred beak to the Ancient Mountain and croaks mischievously, “Do you remember, friend?” The wind sighs down the slopes, whispering a fond memory… when giants roamed a land where birds were still magical and humans believed in destiny. The bird’s unblinking eye hardens at the memory of injustice. But the Mountain’s warm breath whispers a comforting word. Remember… Remember the glow of the day when a hundred souls fused to deposit a generous gift on the desert floor; a gift that bloomed into a cactus flower, the beauty of which touched the world. Remember the radiance of the flower blossoming in the desert. Remember the mystery.”
The Mountain and the Ancient Bird tell us a story of humanity that is on the brink of a new Century. It is December 31st, 1999 and the universe is filled with the cries of three enormous babies (wait, three? Yes!). In thirteen brief seconds it will either be the dawn of a new millennium “fraught with the hopes and fears of humanity”, or the beginning of the apocalypse doomsayers of the world have predicted. As the second hands everywhere slow to a solemn procession the whole world counts down with bated breath… all eyes turn skyward. All the sounds of the world, all the moments of history fuse into a few seconds. Time seems to grind to a halt. But the true Mystery is that it never moves forward, only in circles.
Thus the stage was set, but who would populate this new universe? We’ll find out that and more next time!
