Alegría

Alegría
Company	Cirque du Soleil
Genre	Contemporary circus
Show type	Touring arena show
Date of premiere	April 1994
Creative team
Director	Franco Dragone
Director of creation	Gilles Ste-Croix
Composer	René Dupéré
Costume designer	Dominique Lemieux
Set designer	Michel Crête
Choreographer	Debra Brown
Lighting designer	Luc Lafortune
Sound designer	Guy Desrochers
Company founder and CEO	Guy Laliberté
Other information
Preceded by	Mystère (1993)
Succeeded by	Quidam (1996)
Official website

Alegría is a Cirque du Soleil touring production, created in 1994 by director Franco Dragone and director of creation Gilles Ste-Croix.

Alegría is one of Cirque du Soleil's most popular touring shows. Since its premiere in April 1994, it has been performed over 5,000 times and seen by over 10 million spectators in more than 65 cities around the world.^[1] Alegría originated as a touring big top show. However, beginning with its 2009-2010 North American tour, the show has been converted to an arena format, enabling it to visit cities that were previously inaccessible to the big top tour. Furthermore, Alegría took a short respite and was converted to a resident show at MGM's Beau Rivage casino from May 1999 to October 2000 before it continued touring again.

Alegría takes its name from the Spanish word for "joy." Cirque du Soleil's literature describes the show as "an operatic introspection of the struggle for power and the invigorating energy of youth."^[2] Dominique Lemieux's costumes evince a baroque aesthetic of decadence and ornamentation, while René Dupéré's new-age musical score features a unique blend of French, Spanish, African, and Mediterranean influences. The stage and props are characterized by gothic arches and harsh angular designs.

Set and technical information

The stage of Alegría is topped by a giant dome and decorated with stylistic columns and balustrades. The dome gives the sense of an impressive, powerful structure, similar to how churches and government buildings utilize similar architectural constructs. The stage has spiral ramps on opposing sides which lead down, symbolizing the unknown. The floor of the stage has the head of a salamander, used for the four elements in which it lives. The 17th-century-ballroom stylistic lighting design reflects a nostalgic atmosphere. Finally, an autumnal color palette creates the luminous obscurity of the show.^[3]

Cast

The characters in Alegría comprise people of two separate generations: the New Order and the Old Order.^[4]

• Fleur: An unpredictable and dangerous madman who believes he is king. He is the guide to the world of Alegría.
• Nostalgic old birds: The Nostalgic Old Birds have lived in the palace for as long as it has existed. They are empty-shelled courtiers who admire their reflections in mirror-less frames.
• Tamir and Little Tamir: Appears when needed, only to disappear once he has fulfilled his mission.
• Nymphs: Exuberant characters who celebrate life.
• Bronx: The young and tough, who are the next generation in Alegría. They perform power track and aerial high bar.
• White angels: The guardians who are the youth of tomorrow. They perform Russian bars.
• White singer: One of the singers who is the storyteller who sings about everything she sees around her. She is often desired by the male characters of the show.
• Black singer: One of the singers who has a wickedness about her is the White singer's opposite.
• Clowns: The show's social commentators.

Acts

The acts of Alegría have had a bit of turnover, but continue to fit its theme: "A baroque ode to the energy, grace and power of youth."^[3][5][6]

• Synchronized trapeze: Two acrobats perform tricks on two separate trapezes.
• Power track: A group of acrobats perform flips and twists on an X-shaped power track.
• Hand balancing: An artist performs handbalancing on canes.
• Fire-knife dance: An artist performs a dance with a fire-knife.
• Manipulation: The original act by consisted of only hula hoops but now incorporates other props such as ribbons.
• Flying man: An artist bounces and flies high above the stage with bungee cords.
• Russian bars: A group of acrobats perform Russian bars.
• Contortion: Two artists create graceful and lithe figures and movements with their extreme flexibility and balance.
• Aerial high bar: A group of acrobats fly and spin on an apparatus high above the stage.

Acts in rotation

• Cyr wheel: An artist spins and performs tricks in a Cyr wheel.
• Juggling: An artist performs ball juggling.

Retired acts

• Tightwire
• Shoulder pole wire
• Strong man
• Slackwire
• Aerial cube

Costumes

Alegría's costumes have a dichotomy relating to the Old Order and the New Order. The Old Order has costumes which are reminiscent of New York's Gilded Age as they are finely decorated with feathers, lace, and other adornments. The New Order, on the other hand, representing the youth of tomorrow, have the same rich hues as the old order, while the fabrics used are lighter and softer, helping to emphasize the agility of youth.^[7] Over 400 costume pieces comprise the Alegría wardrobe set, including shoes, wigs, hats, etc. As an example of how long it takes to create each custom outfit, over 200 hours are needed to create one Old Bird costume.^[3]

• Fleur: Part of the Old Order, Fleur is easily recognizable in his red velvet jacket and jeweled vest.
• Singer in White: Part of the Old Order, The Singer in White has a hoop-skirt frame with jewels underneath which is a crinoline skirt.

Music

The original album artwork of Alegría, 1994.

Alegría’s highly acclaimed music was composed by René Dupéré, who had composed numerous scores for Cirque's previous productions, including Nouvelle Expérience, Saltimbanco and Mystère.

The music of Alegría was released as a studio album on September 27, 1994, and remains Cirque du Soleil's best-selling album to date, having sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award and several Félix Awards in 1995, winning two of the latter: 'Producer of the Year' for Robbi Finkel^[8] and René Dupéré, and 'Sound Mixer of the Year' for Rob Heaney. Alegría was also ranked on the Billboard World Music Chart for 65 weeks.^[9]

The album's lead vocals are provided by opera-trained, French-Canadian singer Francesca Gagnon. Gagnon also features as 'The White Singer' (principal vocalist) in the Alegría DVD, with fellow French-Canadian Ève Montpetit supporting as 'The Black Singer'.

Several versions of the soundtrack have been available since its original release. In 2002, the soundtrack was re-released by Cirque du Soleil Musique Inc., with an additional two tracks titled 'Cerceaux' and 'Malioumba' (both featuring vocals by Francesca Gagnon) recorded from live shows during Alegría’s 2001 season in Sydney. In 1995, a limited employee edition, Alegría - Live at Fairfax, was created for the artists and crew of the production. This special edition features the entire score on CD and is considered a collector's item.

The tracks for the original 1994 release, including the two extended tracks from 2002 are listed below and alongside are the acts during which they are played.^[10]

1. Alegría (Finale)
2. Vai Vedrai (Synchronized trapeze)
3. Kalandéro
   • Shoulder pole wire (1994-1995)
   • Tightrope (1996, 2001)
   • Juggling (2002-2004, 2006 onwards)
   • Slackwire (2004-2005)
4. Querer (High bar setup)
5. Irna (Power track)
6. Taruka (Contortion)
7. Jeux d'enfants (Interlude)
8. Mirko (Opening)
9. Icare (High bar)
10. Ibis
    • Aerial Cube (1994-1996, 1997-1999, 2004-2008)
    • Flying Man (1996-1997, 2003-2004)
11. Valsapena (Power track)
12. Nocturne (Snowstorm)
13. Cerceaux (Hoop manipulation)
14. Malioumba (Flying man)

Filmography

Alegría, the Film

In 1999, Alegría was adapted into a film of the same name, written by Rudy Barichello and directed by Franco Dragone.^[11] The cast included actors such as Frank Langella, Mako, Julie Cox, René Bazinet and a guest appearance from Whoopi Goldberg, as well as several performers and musicians from the touring production (many appeared in both this film and the Alegría DVD). The film employs a conventional structured narrative as opposed to the abstract allegory of the live show.

Alegría

Cirque du Soleil released a DVD production of the show, Alegría. It was filmed in July, 2001, in Sydney, Australia.^[12] This production was directed and produced by Nick Morris. He used 14 cameras and special filming techniques to create a viewing experience that transports the viewer to the center of the performance.^[13]

Tour

Alegría's tour history^[14][15] is quite extensive as it premiered in 1994. Since it began it has toured under the Grand Chapiteau as well as in stadium arenas. Additionally during 1999 and 2000 it played as a resident show in Biloxi's Beau Rivage.

The following colorboxes indicate the region of each performance:   EU   Europe   NA   North America   SA   South and Central America   AP   Asia/Pacific   OC   Oceania

References

External links

• Official Alegría website
• Sample video clip at Google Videos (Adobe Flash video)

Film links

• Alegría (Cirque du Soleil) at the Internet Movie Database
• Alegría at Amazon.com

Music links

• Alegría Music and Vocalists at The Cirque Tribune
• Composer René Dupéré interview (Las Vegas Sun)
• Composer René Dupéré's website
• Singer Francesca Gagnon's website

Performer links

• Nancy Chiche's website
• Fernando Diez percussionist