Tickets ‘through the roof’: Cirque exec says high costs prompted job cuts

Cirque du Soleil is showcasing several of its whimsical costumes and artifacts inside the City Hall Grand Gallery lobby. “Stories from Backstage: Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas” runs through May 1. Its opening reception was Feb. 7.

Off to the side of this celebration of Cirque is the company’s famous logo, a clown face grinning from inside a sunburst.

It was left to an executive with a sunny disposition to explain a dark moment in the company, and even the ashen mood of the Cirque employees attending the event.

“I think the overall future of Cirque is so bright. We’ve watched our sales, and the ticket sales tell you the overall health of the brand. We are through the roof this year,” Cirque Chief Revenue Officer Mike Newquist said after giving a speech praising the new Cirque museum experience. “I look at how are we selling in Vegas, how are we selling in Madrid and London. We still continue to see, you know, record box office type, engagement and occupancy.”

Some jaws will drop at those comments, from the more than 100 employees who were let go this past Thursday in a company-wide “reorganization” mostly impacting Las Vegas and the company’s Montreal headquarters.

A new paradigm

A former exec with Ticketmaster, UFC, the Raiders and on his second stint with Cirque, Newquist knows the climate. The upbeat official further explained high costs of doing business have forced Cirque to cut back its employment force.

“As shows tour around the world, it’s expensive, all of our costs are more expensive — eggs are more expensive,” Newquist said. “Our transportation, our shipping, we have a thousand room nights in a hotel every night of the year. So we are looking at our cost structure. We are looking at how we optimize everything, so we can continue to reinvest in new shows.”

Cirque runs a dozen touring shows, along with its five residency productions on the Strip, “Mystere,” “O,” “Ka,” “Michael Jackson One” and “Mad Apple.”

The company opened “Auana” in Hawaii in December, and is opening “LUDÕ” in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, and “Alizé” in Berlin this November. Newquist said that the days of lavish new production shows, especially internationally, are not over for Cirque.

“All of the reviews for the show in Hawaii are so great. It’s in a little smaller theater, under 800 seats, and is authentic to Hawaii,” Newquist said. “That one is special. And we’ll have another one in Mexico, and the show in Berlin that will open later in the year. That’s a bigger production, 2,000 seats. We have had a lot of touring success across Germany.”

ONE Cirque era

These projects are being developed while Cirque looks to save a reported $20 million across the company. Its new ONE Cirque initiative is to draw all the old divisions into “one big company,” as Newquist says.

But acrobatics, on stage and on the spreadsheet, are a Cirque specialty. Five years ago, the company faced a reported $1 billion revenue shortfall when all of its productions worldwide halted during COVID. The new ownership group, led by the investment company Catalyst Capital Group Inc. of Toronto, bought the company in 2021, returning to global business and crawling back to normalcy.

But the overall pre-pandemic workforce has diminished. Cirque once employed more than 2,000 employees in Las Vegas. But it has knocked out about 500 positions in this latest spate of layoffs, and also dismantled its Las Vegas fabrication shop, wardrobe shop and rotational crew just before the holidays.

The company has not closed any shows in Las Vegas in that time. “Love” shutdown with The Mirage last July; “Zumanity” was a COVID casualty in November 2020 and replaced by “Mad Apple.”

‘Incredible employees’ dismissed

But the human toll is felt in these recent layoffs. We felt a pang of emotion when Neon Museum Executive Director Aaron Berger thanked now-former Cirque PR exec Ann Paladie in his prepared remarks. The Neon Museum is presenting the Cirque exhibit in its ongoing series at City Hall, and also in its history and culturally inspired Duck Duck Shed program.

Paladie had worked hard to develop the City Hall exhibition project, among the last of her duties in a 23-year tenure in Las Vegas. An ambassador for the brand that gives Newquist such confidence, Paladie helped in the setup of the display the previous weekend.

Just as guests were led into that exhibit, Newquist was asked what he would say to employees who lost their jobs a day earlier.

“We’ve had so many incredible, incredible employees that have worked here over the history of time, and recently,” Newquist said. “We can’t thank everyone enough. And we have almost 1,500 employees here in Las Vegas, currently. So it’s still really a special place.”

The ‘O’ mark

Also Friday, “O” performed its 12,000th show at Bellagio. This milestone covers more than 26 years since its opening in October 1998 . Officials report 20.2 million audience members, which would fill Allegiant Stadium 287 times over. That’s also the most tickets ever for a single residency production, surpassing the 18 million sold by all-time Broadway champ “Phantom of the Opera.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.