After months of waiting and anticipation, I finally got to go into NYC and see Cirque du Soleil’s Wintuk show at Madison Square Garden. I have been following the creative process through Wintuk’s interactive website and various trailers that were released about the show. I got really interested in seeing the technical boundaries that would be pushed to the limit this time. It had promises of incorporating projections and puppets into an already very diverse show. I was hoping I wouldn’t be let down based on Cirque’s history and attention to detail.

The show itself had a pretty simple storyline: There is a city without snow, and a young boy goes on a quest to find the snow and bring it back. Cirque has been heading in this artistic direction a lot lately, in which it brings a plot into the performance to help connect the various acts. This style is a big success for audiences who are use to seeing more traditional theatre, but I think Wintuk unfortunately missed the mark this time. There were a lot of great aspects of the show, but the storytelling element was what bombed for me. The main character in the show is the human child Jamie who goes in search of the show. He is what connects the story to the performers. Short of being present on stage for the entire show and casually interacting with the other characters, he doesn’t really push the story forward or lead the action. On top of all of this, he is the only character that doesn’t perform some amazing and unbelievable feat. The six over-sized dog puppets also fall into this category. They are a great spectacle on stage, even down to their video projector lit eyes, but their consistent and very prominent presence on stage puts a damper on the action, particularly in the middle of the show.

A major thing to understand about this Cirque show is it is very family and child oriented. I would call it the new “Christmas tradition”, where everyone comes to see the spectacle of the amazing performances, instead of Santa, and that hopefully by the end of the show it magically starts to snow. So what about this snow? I hate ruining endings, but I suspect anyone reading this clearly understands it’s going to snow at the end of the show. I mentioned a few months back in the blog about my high hopes for witnessing an amazing snow effect. I was a little disappointed to find that the show went with the more surreal tissue-paper snow flakes, opposed to suggesting a real snow storm. I mean this is Cirque, and to exaggerate a bit; I was expecting snow making machines shooting real snow everywhere. The show is for kids as I mentioned, so I can’t completely be disappointed with their choice to literally cover the entire audience in tissue-paper snow flakes.

The circus-style performers did a decent job and were by far responsible for holding this show together; my personal favorites being the Rola-bola, the Russian Bars, and the Hula-hoop act. In the Rola-bola a performer balances on a myriad of strange objects that roll and twist at more than ten feet in the air. The Russian bars were also quite amazing and can best be described as a cross between a gymnastics beam, trampoline and uneven bar tricks that lead to an almost unbelievable aerial movements by a human. And the Hula-hoop contortionist was just ridiculous, but you’ll just have to see it to believe it.

Finally, we can discuss the show’s lighting. I had mixed feeling about it. For starters, I’d estimate that 90% of the rig was moving lights. The majority of conventional fixtures that were used were focused as audience lighting. I love moving lights, but without a good backbone of conventional fixtures to support a design, it’s a lot harder to pull off a polished look. I think that was the primary weakness in the design. I did think there were some exceptional looks on stage, my favorite being the ice-giants battle scene that was just spot on to how I imagined the battle. My only other major concern with the show was the color choice felt warm to me. It didn’t have that icy edge and crisp look I associate with a very bleak winter. There was a lot of discussion about long winter shadows in the “text” of the play and in the design process, however I didn’t get this feeling either. The stage was of a reasonable size, and from my seat I couldn’t see any 5K HMI or similar instrument, but something like this could have had a huge impact on the show. Overall, Wintuk did not live up to my Cirque Du Soleil expectations. Hopefully if the show comes back again next winter, there will be some major changes to leave the “Win” in Wintuk. I would rate it 3 out of 5 stars.

When I get back from break in January there is a two-week interim period, basically a J-term, before the spring semester starts. I’ll get to take some in-depth courses outside of my standard classes. The requirement for interim is to take a total of 45+ hours of class over the two weeks. I worked my schedule out to only take 3 classes all during the second week. It was important for me to have the first week of interim free so I could stay back East to work on The BFG and A Midnight Cry. The courses I signed up for are pretty interesting. The courses and the descriptions are below:

Arts in One World: Culture and Identity

A series of seminars, discussion, presentations and performances focusing on arts and activism, social/artistic networks and curricular models that address these areas. Specific conversations and presentations on Rwanda, Cambodia, and Kurdistan.

Lighting Design Guest Seminar with John McKernon

The class will cover a range of topics: not only Lightwright, but also the role of the assistant and associate designers, as well as the design process in general.

Sound Design Workshop – SFX 6

A demonstration of the SFX 6 program and its application in the creation of sound designs.

I am of course excited to get a lecture from John McKernon. It will be nice to meet the man behind the program finally. I’m also looking forward to meeting John McKernon, because last year I found out he lives about 12 miles down the road from where I grew up. Small world? The SFX class should also be interesting experience. While the lecture is primarily focused on sound design, it will be nice to check out the new improvements in stage research has made in SFX. I have used SFX in the past primarily for show control. I did an independent study in undergrad about creating an automated lighting system using SFX to cue a moving light and dance show that triggered an Obsession and Hog II simultaneously with music. It was a very successful endeavor, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to use the program before this lecture in January.

So that’s what is in store for me when I return in a month.

I was forwarded this moving light video, and wanted to pass it along to others. It’s pretty enjoyable to watch. The announcers are idiots, but maybe that’s why it’s so entertaining to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZpSNXl_iBk

The semester is finally over and it’s a huge relief! I have been feeling a bit under the weather during the last week trying to finish assignments, packing to go home and getting the rest of my life in order. I started feeling a million times better yesterday after I presented my design for the Richard III paper project. I also had some downtime after the presentation to talk with the set designer for Platée, which is the opera I’ll be designing in the Spring at school. The show doesn’t open until May 10th, so I have a while. Platée is an 18th century French Baroque comedy written by Jean-Philippe Rameau. The basic plot line is about an ugly nymph that the Gods take advantage of and humiliate. The production team is still in the early part of the design phase, but we are discussing about modernizing the location and costumes and bring something a bit more succulent to the plot. It has been enjoyable developing the preliminary concepts with the production team. We’re still in the early phases of the piece, so it’s nice to dream big still. I am going to try to get some pictures of the show concepts up eventually, so everyone can hopefully see how the piece evolves and what finally is decided.

I was able to order a DVD of Platée that the Paris Opera performed in 1999. I think watching the piece will help me understand the story better and give me some inspiration on some general areas to start researching my design. It will be a nice way to spend my winter break; watching movies and catching up on my French history and Roman Mythology.

The one major challenge that I didn’t mention is the plot needs to be in rep with a music festival the week before my show goes into tech. This is by far going to be the biggest challenge and affect my design choices the most. It is an interesting way to work, but it is not my ideal situation.

It has been almost a year since I’ve collaborated on any major project like this. I am really enjoying working with others towards a unified vision. It’s also a nice way for me to finally meet people outside of school. CalArts is by no means an individualized institution. The six schools that make up CalArts (Art, Film/Video, Critical Studies, Dance, Music and Theatre) interact with each other constantly. I just have not had the opportunity to be at school that much with my internship. Working on Platée is great because it incorporates the music and dance school with the theatre program. I am looking forward to working on Platée, especially because it is in the MOD theatre, which always seems to be a challenge.

November has been a very busy month for me at both the Opera and CalArts. I feel that I missed out on blogging about a lot of things, so I hope to catch up a bit now.

The Strike:

I do not have a position on who is right or at fault over the Broadway strike, because I have not stayed informed enough to judge all the facts. I particularly feel bad for families that can’t see a show this holiday season and spend some time together. Closing down Broadway is kind of like canceling Christmas for kids. On that note, at least The Grinch reopened last week for the holiday season. Broadway is part of the entertainment industry and unfortunately affects a lot of people who have nothing to do with the strike. The writers strike has also done the same thing for film and television. There is something off in the industry and I just hope it gets fixed soon.

Watercolor:

I have never had any reason in the past to work with water colors, but I had to paint a few landscapes for class this past week. I will have to admit that is was rather enjoyable and relaxing, even though I lack a lot of drawing and painting skills. It is something I hope to continually work on more as a hobby now. Below are some of my first attempts…feel free to judge as you wish.

LDI:

I was not able to go to LDI this year because it was in Florida, and I was working at the Opera the entire week. I didn’t have that much time to really check out what was happening, but since it will be back in Las Vegas next year, I plan on going for sure.

Opera:

The Opera has finally slowed down now that our final two shows for the fall are opened. I have been working for almost 2 weeks straight on Don Giovanni or La Boheme. It was certainly a lot of work to get both of those shows up and running, and I’m not exactly sure how it happened still, but it did. Everyone at the Opera certainly deserves a lot of credit for their hard work to get the shows open for the public. There were lots of minor hang ups in a lot of areas that led to the productions needing a lot of tender loving care. One of the lighting departments biggest problems was adjusting to the EOS. It is a great board, but with minimal training on everyone’s part, a lot of time could have been saved. This will get better though as time goes on.

Shows:

There are only two weeks of classes left at CalArts for the semester, which means it’s almost time for me to pack up for a month and fly back east to spend some time with family and friends. It will be nice to be home, but I am not good at doing nothing, so I have a few gigs to work on while I’m back East. There is a great children’s theatre that I grew up going to and working at about 20 miles form my house. It has certainly been a second family to me in many ways and I am glad to be designing two children’s shows in rep there. The shows are the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) and also A Midnight Cry. A Midnight Cry was a play I designed last winter at this theatre and is coming back for a limited run it seems. The BFG will be new and should be a lot of fun to work on. I also might get to spend a few days working on a tour of True West in early January that my undergrad is working on.