Friday, October 15, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Cirque du Soleil adding Beatles-themed Mirage show

A friendship between George Harrison and the founder of Cirque du Soleil paved the way to Cirque's fifth show in Las Vegas, a Beatles-themed revue due at The Mirage in mid-2006.

"We planted the seeds together, and we'd been gardeners of those seeds together until he died (of cancer in late 2001)," Cirque founder Guy Laliberté said Thursday.

The two met in 2000 through their common interest in Formula One racing. Later they visited each other's houses and spent a year developing what Laliberté called "the creative dream" that led to a formal partnership between the Canadian-based producers and Apple Corps Ltd., which manages the Beatles' business interests.

Beatles producer George Martin has signed on to supervise the music for the still-untitled production -- collaborators call it "The Boys" as a working title -- expected to debut in the summer of 2006. It will have a budget of more than $100 million, but less than the $165 million for "Ka," the Cirque epic due next month at the MGM Grand Hotel.

The show is the first theatrical production sanctioned by Apple Corps. The effort is described as a partnership rather than a licensing arrangement. "We're the creative leaders in terms of the project, because we are here in Vegas and we will operate this show," Laliberté said.

"But there's George Martin involved in the project, and for us it's clear the starting point is that bank of (Beatles) information," which includes 196 Beatles songs but also archival photos and video.

The show was originally considered for London and then as a successor to Siegfried & Roy after they retired in 2005 or 2006. But Roy Horn's injury from a tiger bite a year ago closed the show prematurely and accelerated development.

The Mirage showroom will be remodeled with theater seats to create what Laliberté calls a "stadium environment," with in-the-round seating. Half the seats will be in the area now occupied by the stage; two large video screens will wrap around the rear walls.

"We'll try to make a live performance onstage taken from the lyrics of the songs," said Gilles Ste-Croix, Cirque's vice president of creation and new project development. The show will not have impersonators or actors playing the Beatles.

"Of course we'll have some dancing and some acrobatics. But at the same time, maybe `The Fool On The Hill' will be there. Maybe `Lucy In The Sky' will be there, Ste-Croix said. "All these characters from their lyrics are very evocative characters."

Early plans don't preclude live instrumentation and backing vocals, but call for the lead vocals to come only from the original Beatles recordings. "We want to do this very respectfully," Ste-Croix said. "With George Martin being involved, we assured everybody it will be well protected and well done."

The official news release includes supportive statements from surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. "It's a fantastic project for us and I personally am excited to collaborate with such a great creative team," McCartney's statement said.

The extent of that involvement is "really up to them," said Neil Aspinall, managing director of Apple Corps. Both he and Laliberté stressed that all four members of the Beatles' or their estates had to sign off on it. "It's almost like an inverted democracy. If somebody says no, we don't do it," Aspinall said.

"That was part of the dream between me and George ... to have everyone collaborate in the creative process," Laliberté said.

He called the show "the result of the encounters of two great names," Cirque du Soleil and the Beatles.