Text by: Keith Johnson | May 2002
Fascination! Newsletter, Issue #09
"When a Program is not a Program"
The merchandising department at Cirque Du Soleil must have been in a
quandary - they had a visual identity for Varekai (a winged "puppet
man" who looks to be "falling" through a yellow background, with the
shows title in red above it) but that was about it, the show was
still in flux as deadlines drew near. So there was a paucity of
Varekai merchandise available for the Montreal performances; a
poster and magnet (with a 3-D puppet image emblazoned on it) were
about the only things we found.
Oh, and something called a "Cirque Du Soleil - Varekai - Creator's
Notebook" selling for 14.00$ Canadian.
What makes this booklet interesting, besides the look and feel of a
book documenting a show whose own look and feel was still in flux,
is the inclusion of a "bonus sampler CD-ROM" of audio and video
excerpts and interviews about the show. Now this should be
interesting!
The CD contains both color video and audio excerpts, for both PC and
MAC, and requires Macromedia and QuickTime 5 (which is included if
needed). All pages except the main menu page have a "back" button.
The video interface has a volume control, pause button, time bar,
and fast forward and fast rewind buttons. There are two sections -
French and English (of course).
The most interesting thing about the CD is that the interviewees
speak French on the French side and English on the English side, in
effect giving unique answers each time. We can only assume they are
giving the same answer in French as they are in English. (If a bi-
lingual fan would check and confirm this, we would be most
appreciative.) For this review, we'll be looking at the English
side. From bottom to top, the CD's sections are:
--Visual Identity - A static shot of the Varekai poster. It would
be nice to have the ability to make this into a screen saver without
having to go to a lot of trouble. Of course, if would be nice to
have other Cirque images available as Screen Savers, oh Cirque
Club??
--Act Preview Aerial Straps (video length :40 seconds) - The
Atherton brothers rehearsing their act in the Cirque headquarters
rehearsal hall. The music, "Straps", features an ethereal female
vocal.
--Act Preview Icarian Games (:40) - Also taped in the rehearsal
hall, the Russian and Ukraine body-flippers almost miss, showing
camaraderie at the end. The music used here is different from the
music clip of "Icarians" described below.
--Violaine Corradi, Composer interview (1:13) - She discusses the
simplicity of the melody lines and how they imprint on the "soul of
the audience." She also mentions her desire for the music to not be
melded to any one culture.
--Andrew Watson, Director of Creation interview (1:02) - Discusses
getting the creative team together, and his efforts to "create a
different way of creating."
--Dominic Champagne, Director interview (1:00) - Explains how they
wanted to start at the end of the Icarus myth, with Icarus "falling
inside a family of survivors, like circus performers are."
--Guy Laliberte, Guide-President and Chief Executive Officer-Founder
(whew, got enough positions there Guy?) (1:52) - He explains how
Dominic comes from a theater background, the differing rhythms
between theater and Cirque, and how Dominic and Andrew interfaced.
--Music Excerpts ("Exclusive Excerpts Selected by Violaine Corradi")
- Here is where the interface lacks. These are not accessible from
a standard CD player, having been encoded as QuickTime files. You
can only click to start them; no pause, no volume controls. In order
to manipulate them further, you'd have to do it in another player.
Both clips are in stereo.
--"Gitans" (1:59) - This is the music that starts Varekai, a slow
march featuring violin, tuba sounds, and tambourine. It's much more
"filled out" here than in performance.
--"Icariens" (5:54) - This is played during the Icarian Games body-
flipping act and, as with "Gitans", is fully orchestrated. It is
heavy with drums, percussion and chanting. A nice, long piece, it
ends very suddenly.
It would be nice to have a performer interview here, but this might
go against the Cirque philosophy of not "featuring" performers
(though a John Gilkey interview would have been fun). The
interviews that are featured could have been longer, but taken in
total this is a novel extension of a standard program book. One
wonders whether these interviews will appear on some "making of"
video later.
The "bonus" CD is something I'd
love to see continued (and given my completist tendencies, expanded
upon). But in it's short 15 minutes of programming, it gives a good
sampler of the show and the impetus behind it.
