LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Anchors Anjali Patel and Justin Hinton are taking a special peek backstage, giving you some insight into the magic behind Cirque du Soleil as the entertainment company celebrates several major milestones.
Cirque du Soleil offers six amazing Las Vegas experiences with: "Mystère", "O", "KÀ", "The Beatles Love", "Michael Jackson ONE" and "Mad Apple".
ANNIVERSARIES
Three of those shows are celebrating anniversaries in 2023. "Michael Jackson ONE" at Mandalay Bay marked 10 years in June. "O" at Bellagio celebrated 25 years in October and "Mystère" at Treasure Island is commemorating 30 years in December.
Cirque du Soleil has certainly helped to raise the bar in Vegas entertainment. But in its infancy, co-founder Guy Laliberté described it as a fledgling circus trying to "grow a flower in the desert."
"For several years we were looking around Las Vegas to bring Cirque du Soleil. Steve Wynn one day gave me a call. He said well, I have a place, maybe, for you. I want to build a permanent showroom for Cirque du Soleil. So in 1993, we opened the first show, "Mystère", in Treasure Island," Laliberté said.
It's fair to say that flower in the desert has definitely bloomed. "Mystère" has been seen by more than 17 million people across more than 13,000 shows with hundreds of people helping to make it happen.
For nine years, Robin Rittenour has worked in Mystère's wardrobe and hair and makeup department, teaching performers how to apply their makeup. Hinton sat down to experience the process for himself.
MAKEUP TUTORIAL
"We start with five coachings. We do what's called a step-by-step first. We take photos of each step. Then we do what's called a half-and-half where a makeup artist will do half their face and then they learn the other half of their face. From there, they start doing it all themselves," Rittenour said.
She says she was inspired when she saw "KÀ" at the MGM Grand as a college student.
"What was it about that Cirque show that you saw and you said, I got to be a part of that," Hinton asked.
"It's the sheer spectacle of it. You just don't see that somewhere else," Rittenour replied.
That magical feeling hasn't faded. She said she makes it her mission every night to help the audience experience that same feeling.
"I love sitting backstage and I'm getting the performers ready and then hearing the audience respond. The best is when there's kids in the audience and they're just laughing and loving all of the moments. That's when you get to sit here and go, I'm really helping create memories," Rittenour said.
Hinton said he was no different. Rittenour created a one-of-a-kind memory for him, when he finally had a chance to look in the mirror.
"Wow! Wow. That's different. I like it. I like it. I do feel like I'm ready to be part of the show now," Hinton said when he saw his makeup in the mirror for the first time.
DANCE LESSON
Patel had her own chance to experience what it's like to be part of Cirque du Soleil, when she paid a visit to Michael Jackson ONE. She visited their Mandalay Bay theater where they took her on a backstage tour. She even had a chance to go underneath the stage to see massive hydraulics that help to move the stage up and down, transporting a giant trampoline, and other pieces on and off the stage.
But one of Patel's favorite stops was inside a practice room with dance coach Jose Concepcion. He spoke with her about the responsibility that comes with each and every performance.
"To have the honor to do that with a level of performance that does justice to the great artist that Michael Jackson was," Concepcion said.
Patel asked Concepcion to walk her through just a few of the moves they execute on stage with such precision.
"Channel that confidence through the choreo. We're going to start with stepping with the right and then the left. Just roll through the foot," Concepcion said.
Just as Patel was getting the hang of it, Concepcion adds in some more moves.
"Six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four. Up, up, up, up. And, boom and roll your, and bah, bah, bah. Nice," Concepcion said.
"Thank you for teaching me. You dumbed it down just enough," Patel said.
BACKSTAGE AT "O"
Patel and Hinton also paid a visit to "O".
"So we're stage left, backstage, right now and we're in the staging area for people to enter and exit the water," said Chum Stine, Aquatics Team Supervisor at "O".
Stine took time to show us around. Just off-stage is all the equipment needed to replace or fix something during a show and safety is always the number one priority.
"We have our deck supervisor always monitoring what's going on in and out of the water. So if you get in the water, we know about it and we also know when you get out," Stine said.
With so many moving parts and performers always in the water, oxygen is just an arm's length away.
"The barge that you're moving right here also has about 30 regulators underneath it on scuba air. So there's the ability for performers to move in and out of the water," Stine said.
"Does having a show so involved with the water make that come with any unique challenges," Patel asked.
"Well, another thing we do in our department is we become first responder-certified and we work very closely with our P-Med team. They're kind of our medical direction and we're, oftentimes, doing rescue scenarios for different acts of the show," Stine said.
Every detail is methodically planned out. The water temperature is kept at a comfortable 88.5 degrees and performers won't get too cold when they're backstage either.
"The showers right above, the heads here, the artists will get in and out of the water, but they'll turn those showers on to stay warm. So hot water coming out of those," Stine said.
