July 24th, 2008 pkuan
Yesterday was the dress rehearsal for Cirque du Soleil’s first Macau show.
Selected media and friends were treated to a sneak preview of the 1 1/2 hour performance at the Venetian Macao, in a custom built stage.
Now, we don’t want to give too much away, but you can expect thrilling feats of strength, agility and grace.
During some of the high wire performances, my heart was in my mouth. Another friend remarked that she was too terrified that the performer would fall to applause.
Kudos to the set designers who did a fantastic job with the setting, which transformed from a cityscape with high rise buildings in one scene, to a north pole setting complete with icebergs and even the most realistic adorable polar bear I’ve ever seen!
The unofficial after-party was at Bellini Lounge at the Venetian, where the cast and crew packed the dance floor.
The show will be launched to the public from this Saturday (July 26).
Here’s to many more sucessful shows and full houses.
Cirque - Welcome To Macau!
Book your circque tickets here
May 29th, 2008 inmacau
Get your Cirque du Soleil Macau tickets HERE
Her name is ZAIA.
And she is the star of the US150 million Cirque du Soleil Macau production which will be a permanent addition to Macau’s entertainment scene from August, it was announced at the official press conference today.
The press conference for Cirque’s first permanent show in Asia was held in an 1,800-seater custom-built theatre in The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, which is now the permanent home of Cirque Macau. After the official launch in August, there will be 2 performances a day, 6 times a week.
The Gala premiere on August 28, will not only celebrate the official launch of Cirque Macau, but is even more likely to be a star-studded affair because it coincides with the 1st anniversary of The Venetian itself. But while the stars have to wait until August 28 to see any part of the show, we were one of the the lucky few who got to attend today’s press conference were treated to a sneak preview of ZAIA.
ZAIA is the name of the young female heroine who journeys into space. The director Gilles Maheu got his inspiration from a postcard, which had a drawing depicting a young girl in an astronaut outfit sitting down on the moon.
So ZAIA is about “a young girl who journeys into space on a strange, yet familiar voyage of self-discovery. As she travels, she encounters the beauty of humanity and eventually brings it back with her to share with the inhabitants of earth”.
It doesn’t matter if the synopsis sounds rather airy fairy and fluffy. You don’t go to the circus for a complex storyline and character development (watching a movie costs a lot less and is more likely to do the job). Cirque has attracted a crowd of 80 million spectators worldwide because it combines jaw dropping acrobatics, amazing feats of strength, grace and beauty, stunning choreography and beautiful sets and special effects.
If what we got to see in the preview is an indication of what to expect in terms of the quality of the show – ZAIA certainly delivers the goods.
Cityscapes is the name of the first segment and will be the opening of ZAIA. Talk about starting things off with a bang. From an empty stage, skyscrapers, literally, rise out of the ground. It did remind me a little of Wynn Macau’s Rotunda golden tree, which rises out of the ground every half hour or so.
Cirque’s stage is actually 80 foot high, which is why props hidden underneath can suddenly rise out of the ground.
So from this –
- to this in a matter of minutes.
You have your strong men, break dancers, clowns, dancers, skateboarders, tap dancers – just your typical city crowd really, who all happen to be wearing outlandish costumes and make-up and all have fantastic bodies.
In typical whimsical Cirque style, there were cyclists suspended from the ceiling, pedaling away – upside down.
A huge sphere suspended from the ceiling drifted out from the back, and hanging from it by a piece of silk - a female performer, dancing through the air.
Just your average day - hanging around
A huge sphere suspended from the ceiling drifted out from the back, and hanging from it by a piece of silk - a female performer, dancing through the air.
The second act which we got to preview was of a male and female performer doing some amazing acrobatic work while being swung around and up and down by pieces of stretcy rope from the ceiling.
Though the performers were petite and lithe, they twirled and spun through the air as effortlessly as petals blowing in the wind.
How any guy could look graceful skimming through the air like superman, suspended 20 feet in the air by rope wrapped round his arms clenched by his side is beyond me. How he does it with a woman riding him like a surf board, is just mind blowing.
I only knew he was human because I saw him panting a little at the end of the act.
The backdrop, which has 3,000 fiber optic lights was created apparently, to accurately depict the night sky, and all its stars. I wouldn’t be able to point out Mars, Venus or any constelations, and I definitely wouldn’t be able to tell you if they were in the right place. But I do know it makes a pretty amazing background, especially when you have confetti streaming down.
Kudos to the 65 technical crew and 75 artists who must have worked and trained overtime to get ready for the event.
Preview performances begin on July 26.
Tickets are on sale from tomorrow for shows from July 26 to Oct 5.
Click HERE to get yours and stand to win VIP passes.
August 29th, 2007 admin
Today Macau Is Forever Changed
The long awaited hiatus is over. It’s sure good to be back on the bullhorn. Lots have happened since my last post. We’re now one brand, i.e. Macau.com: Your Macau Travel Insider. The other brand, and its garish orange, can now fade from memory.
Well, you’re likely not here to read about our corporate maneuvering, so I’ll give up the goods. Yesterday I spent the better part of the day at the world’s 2nd largest building: The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel. Wow!
I first headed over as part of the media contingent in the early a.m. Having been in and out of Macau since early 2004 and here permanently for well over a year, the opening of Venetian Macao was the milestone in Macau development that I, along with much Macau, have been long awaiting. Its arrival was a little unreal for the lot of us that has watched the behemoth Venetian rise out of the Taipa mudflats. As my bus pulled into the back driveway and the intricacy of the Italian exterior became visible, I was overwhelmed by a sense that in the next moments Macau would inextricably change forever.
Once inside, I was awed at the scale of the building and the meticulous attention to detail. It will be difficult to explain in mere words the marvelous artistic and design delights which exist inside the sprawling complex. Frescoes that conjure images of Michelangelo’s masterful Sistine Chapel beautify the ceilings. Thick, highly colourful carpets and polished marble cover the floors. Statues, flowers, and adornments ornament the walls and open spaces. The Grand Canal, which is the shopping esplanade has hundreds of shops, each set within a vibrantly re-created Venetian building. Singing gondoliers transport young lovers and overwhelmed tourists. Arch bridges permit crossing from one side of the canal to the other and squares, the greatest being St. Mark’s, provide suitable area to gape at the surreal surroundings.
The press conference was less interesting for the information that was announced, as it was primarily very safe press release type info, and more so for Mr. Sheldon Adelson and his group. They were in high spirits and a few jokes were cracked, like Mr. Adelson wishing his competitors “Good Luck” with his fingers crossed. However he then countered to say that all groups should work to collectively market Macau as a destination and then fight for customers once they were here.
I returned in the evening with one of Macau.com’s shareholders, the publisher of Inside Asian Gaming, and the owner of Elevation Wines – the company that provided all of the wine for the evening’s gala event – to see the Grand Opening Show. While touring the main halls, the overwhelming opinion of our quartet and anyone else that has spent some time in Vegas was that the Venetian Macao dwarfs the Vegas properties. It’s huge.
On with the show… If you love Canto-pop you would have been in heaven. Awesome shows by A-Mei, David Tao, Grasshopper, and Alan Tam. Cirque du Soleil dazzled audiences with wildly captivating drama and thrilling acrobatic feats. The finale was a song by the legendary Diana Ross. I was amazed by her voice. It electrified the air. It was so rich and had such range. One of the best singing performances I’ve ever seen.
The best quote from the media press conference that in my opinion summarizes the mood from the evening and an opinion that I cannot emphasize enough is “…that the Venetian Macao represents a massive paradigm shift for Macao and the future of tourism development in Asia.” The Venetian and indeed the entire Cotai Strip is built for multi-night holidaymakers wanting world-class entertainment, accommodation, and dining. If the Venetian Macao is any indication of what’s to come, Macau is going to be one helluva place.
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