Alegría (Cirque du Soleil)
Alegría ( Spanish for joy ) was a stage program of the Cirque du Soleil and as such a tour that was initiated in 1994 by the directors Franco Dragone and Gilles Ste-Croix .
The live show , which was temporarily suspended in 2013, was one of Cirque du Soleil's most-attended touring shows. Since its premiere in April 1994, it has been performed more than 5,000 times and has been seen by more than 14 million viewers in more than 250 cities around the world.
After a six-year hiatus, a new version of the show ( Alegría in a New Light ) was performed in 2019 .
Staging
Cirque du Soleil described the show as " an operatic introspection of the struggle for power and the invigorating energy of youth ". Dominique Lemieuxs " Costumes testify to a baroque aesthetic of decadence and ornamentation, while René Dupéré's score contains a unique mixture of music, French, Spanish, African and Mediterranean influences ". The stage design and the props were taken from the Gothic style .
Figures and cast
The figures in Alegría represented people of two generations: the New and Old Order .
Fleur: an unpredictable and dangerous madman who believes he is king. He takes the audience into the world of Alegría.
Nostalgic old birds: The nostalgic old birds have always lived in the palace. They are courtiers with empty bowls admiring their reflections in mirrorless frames.
Tamir and Little Tamir: Appears when needed and only disappears when it has completed its mission.
Nymphs: Luscious characters who celebrate life.
Bronx: The young and tough who are the next generation in Alegría. They perform power track and antenna horizontal bar.
White Angels: The Guardians who are the youth of tomorrow. They play Russian bars.
White singer: one of the singers. She is the storyteller who sings about everything she sees around her. She is often desired by the male characters on the show.
Black singer: One of the singers. She has a malice towards them and is the opposite of the white singer.
Clowns: The show's social commentators.
Cast (Fleur):
- Christian Racoux - From April 21, 1994 (Montreal) to December 1995 (Atlanta)
- Rénald Laurin - From December 1995 (Atlanta) to February 1999 (London)
- Ebon Grayman - From May 1999 (Biloxi) to 2003
- Evgeuin Ivanov - From 2003 to spring 2010
- Pablo Gomis Lopez - From spring 2010 to summer 2011
- Andrey Kislitsin - From summer 2011 to December 29, 2013 (Antwerp)
Other cast:
Slava Polunin , Sergey Chachalev, Dimitri Bogatirev, Yuri Medvedev and Iryna Ivanitska - from 1994 to 1996
Leonid Leikin, Valery Keft and Yuri Medvedev - from 1997 to 2000
Vladimir Olshansky, Nikolai Terentiev and Yuri Medvedev - from 2001 to 2003
Pablo Gomis Lopez, Anton Velen, Yuri Medvedev, Maxim Fomitchev and Pablo Bermejo Medina - from 2004 to 2011
Course of the show
Opening: Fleur and the musicians walk in the audience while the show is being prepared.
Mirko: The white singer sings a song while the characters and acrobats of Alegría walk around the stage to welcome the audience to the world of Alegría.
Trapeze: Two acrobats perform tricks with two separate trapezoids.
Clown Performance: One of the clowns comes on his horse to entertain the audience while the power track is set up.
Stumble: A group of acrobats perform flips and twists on an X-shaped power rail.
Clown performance: The clowns come in and play with paper planes.
Handstand: An artist performs acrobatics on sticks.
Fire juggling: two artists dance with fire knives.
Candle: A clown comes in and tries to recreate the fire knife dance by using a candle instead.
Object manipulation: An artist manipulates ribbons, distortions, and hula hoops.
Storm of Snow: The clowns reflect the eternal spirit of humanity and are witnesses of the centuries, the social commentators of the world of Alegría. Based in real life, they tell little stories of everyday life in which everyone is a hero and in which anyone can fall in love and suffer a broken heart. The clowns are visionaries - philosophers of absurdity. Lovable, funny and childlike, they turn the world into a circus.
Le Bal: The white singer comes in and sings Danse Vazoule (La Bal) while walking into the audience, choosing a person and dancing with the audience.
Flying man: An artist hops and flies high above the stage with bungee cords.
Clown performance: The clowns come in and perform a clown action.
Russian parallel bars : A group of acrobats do gymnastics on the Russian bar.
Contortion: Two artists create graceful and supple figures and movements with their extreme flexibility and balance. The original act consisted of a contortionist.
Interlude to the aerial photo horizontal bar: Little Tamir comes and flies with a bird structure.
Aerial acrobatics: A group of acrobats flies, twists, and turns on a structure in mid-air with a net beneath them. As soon as they take off from the structure, the acrobats are caught by other acrobats on a swinging trapeze.
Finale: The white singer sings Alegría while the cast of Alegría comes and says goodbye to the audience.
Costumes
Alegría's costumes had a dichotomy between the Old and New Orders . The Old Order wore costumes that were based on the Golden Age of New York, as they were decorated with feathers, lace and gold decorations. The new order, on the other hand, which represents the youth of tomorrow, has the same strong colors as the old order, while the fabrics used are lighter and softer, which underlines the mobility of the youth. The Alegría wardrobe set comprised over 400 costume pieces, including shoes, wigs, hats, accessories, etc.
Alegria - Soundtrack & Album
Filmography
Alegría, the film
In 1999, a film of the same name inspired by the live show was converted. The cast included actors like Frank Langella , Makoto Iwamatsu , Julie Cox , René Bazinet and a guest appearance by Whoopi Goldberg as well as several performers and musicians from the tour production. The film uses conventional structured narration as opposed to the abstract allegory of the live show. It tells the story of a boy named Momo who wants to save the children from imprisonment in the dark factory of a cruel man named Marcello. Momo's only friend, a quirky clown named Frac, helps him while he falls in love with a circus singer named Giulietta that roams town. The children turn against Marcello (also known as the dragon) by throwing stones at him. The couple soon finds their fate, which is increasingly intertwined with that of the circus. The fluffy white rabbit is the only animal in the film and the songs "Let Love Live", "Child in His Eyes", "Love Leaves Someone Behind" and "Mountain of Clothes" are sung by Irène Marc.
Alegría-Live
In July 2001, the live show was recorded in Sydney and later released on DVD.
Tour dates
During the 19 years of the tour, Alegria was performed both under its own pointed tent and in arenas.
- North America - [1994-1995]
- Asia & Pacific - [1996]
- European Tour - [1997-1999]
- Beau Rivage Residence - [1999-2000]
- Asia & Pacific Tour II - [2001 - 2002]
- North America Tour II - [2002 - 2004]
- Japan Tour - [2004-2005]
- Europe Tour II - [2006 - 2007]
- South America Tour - [2007 - 2008]
- Asia & Middle East - [2008 - 2009]
- North America Tour III - [2009 - 2011]
- Europe Tour III - [2011-2013]
Web links
- Alegría - Official Website
- Alegria video trailer
- Alegría in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Cirque du Soleil - Press Room - Arena Shows - Alegría - About the show . www.cirquedusoleil.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2009. Retrieved October 29, 2009.
- ^ Rob Mann: Cirque du Soleil shines a new light on its iconic Alegría. September 12, 2019, accessed on July 19, 2020 .
- ^ Cirque du Soleil to present Alegria this fall in Philadelphia . Cirque du Soleil. Retrieved on October 29, 2009 ( page no longer available )
- ↑ a b c Alegría Fiche Technique . Cirque du Soleil (Press Kit). Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
- ↑ Alegría: Characters . Cirque du Soleil (Press Kit). Archived from the original on January 2, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
- ^ Alegría: Acts . Cirque du Soleil (Press Kit). Archived from the original on January 2, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
- ↑ Alegría Acts . Cirque Tribune. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
- ^ Ronald Clément: Cirque du Soleil 25 Years of Costumes ( ZH, FR, JA ). Dépôt légal, Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, Canada 2009, ISBN 978-2-9803493-4-8 , pp. 34-39.
- ↑ Alegría (1999) - IMDb . Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
- ↑ Alegría DVD . Cirque du Soleil (boutique). Retrieved March 20, 2011.
- ^ Cirque Tribune Alegría Schedule
- ^ Cirque du Soleil Alegría Ticket Information