Behind the scenes at Cirque’s ‘Zarkana’:
Unloading 65 trucks of spectacle
Sam Morris
Stage hands work to assemble set pieces as the Cirque du Soleil show “Zarkana” moves in to its new residence at Aria Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.
By Andrea Domanick (contact)
from: lasvegassun.com
Friday, Oct. 5, 2012
The Zarkana Theater at Aria is so new that the blue paint on aisle floors hasn’t dried, and production manager Robert Lemoine nearly slips as he walks down to survey the scene. Still, as Lemoine points out, it’s hard to believe that just days ago, the former Viva Elvis Theater was empty.
Barely a week into load-in — the last of the show’s 65 trucks arrived Thursday — a 52-ton tech grid dominates the stage, as do several dozen workers drilling and hammering at a potpourri of set installations: At stage right, some focus on a 28-foot-tall bandstand shaped like an eagle’s head; behind them, others put the finishing touches on a LED wall standing 40 feet tall and 90 feet wide and containing more than 3 million pixels; and scattered across the stage are 150 feet of carved planks that will be assembled into the twisting snakes that make up one of the set’s three prosceniums.
Sam Morris - The singer and actress Cassiopee gives an interview as the Cirque du Soleil show "Zarkana" moves in to its new residence at Aria Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.
The rehearsal deadline is Oct. 17, so multitasking is a must. Still, Lemoine and his team are at ease.
“This has been the best and easiest transfer we’ve done so far because of the seasoned technicians. The MGM team really knows what they’re doing, so that’s been a huge help for us,” says Lemoine of the local crew of about 120 people “Zarkana” inherited from “Viva Elvis.”
“This has been the best and easiest transfer we’ve done so far because of the seasoned technicians. The MGM team really knows what they’re doing, so that’s been a huge help for us,” says Lemoine of the local crew of about 120 people “Zarkana” inherited from “Viva Elvis.”
Sam Morris - Production manager Robert Lemoine talks about logistics as the Cirque du Soleil show "Zarkana" moves in to its new residence at Aria Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012.
Lemoine has been with “Zarkana” since its inception — five moves to four venues, with locations ranging from New York to Madrid to Moscow. “It hasn’t always happened in such an efficient way in the past, we always tour with just a small team of technicians, so the involvement here is at a different level.”
Rather than the setup, the biggest challenge for the “Zarkana” team has been figuring out how to make the transition from a traveling show to a permanent fixture on the Las Vegas entertainment scene.
read the rest of the story at---
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/oct/05/cirques-zarkana-moving-aria/
Lemoine has been with “Zarkana” since its inception — five moves to four venues, with locations ranging from New York to Madrid to Moscow. “It hasn’t always happened in such an efficient way in the past, we always tour with just a small team of technicians, so the involvement here is at a different level.”
Rather than the setup, the biggest challenge for the “Zarkana” team has been figuring out how to make the transition from a traveling show to a permanent fixture on the Las Vegas entertainment scene.
read the rest of the story at---
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/oct/05/cirques-zarkana-moving-aria/
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