O

O
Cover art from the O music album
Company	Cirque du Soleil
Genre	Contemporary circus
Show type	Resident show
Date of premiere	October 15, 1998
Location	The Bellagio, Las Vegas
Creative team
Writer and director	Franco Dragone
Director of creation	Gilles Ste-Croix
Set designer	Michel Crête
Composer	Benoit Jutras
Costume designer	Dominique Lemieux
Lighting designer	Luc Lafortune
Choreographer	Debra Brown
Sound designers	François Bergeron Jonathan Deans
Artistic director	Rob Bollinger
Synchronized swimming designer	Sylvie Fréchette
Aerial acrobatics designer	André Simard
Rigging designer	Jacque Paquin
Make-up designer	Nathalie Gagné
Other information
Preceded by	Quidam (1996)
Succeeded by	La Nouba (1998)
Official website

O is a water-themed stage production by Cirque du Soleil, a Canadian circus and entertainment company. The show has been in permanent residence at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, since October 1998. O, whose name is pronounced the same way as eau, the French word for "water", takes place in, around and above a 1.5-million-US-gallon (5,700 m³) pool of water, featuring water acts such as synchronized swimming as well as aerial and ground acts. The O theatre, which is designed to look similar to a 14th century European opera house, has 1,800 seats, thus allowing the performance to be watched by 3,600 people a night since the performance usually plays twice in a given day.^[1]

History

Starting in late October 2010, Cirque du Soleil starting offering backstage tours of the O theatre. The experience allows visitors to see the backstage wings, training rooms, costume workshop, break area, underwater lighting area, and go up to a catwalk into the sound and lighting booths. Not every experience will be the same as the tour is conducted around a "regular day", so performers may or may not be training, rehearsing, or even working out.^[2][3][4]

As of early 2011, O has grossed over a billion dollars since the show opening in 1998.^[5]

O has received many awards, including those below.

• Entertainment Design Award, best production show, 1998^[1]
• Las Vegas Review-Journal, best production show, 1999-2006^[1]
• THEA, live show category, 1999^[1]
• Prix Italia, creativity in high definition, 2009, for the documentary Flow^[6]

"O" has been performed many times, and has reached major milestones in the progress.

• 6,000th performance on 22 May 2011^[7]

Set and technical information

The show has a cast of 85 acrobats, synchronized swimmers and divers performing in and above a 1.5 million-gallon pool. When maintenance needs to be performed, the pool is drained in about 12 hours to the Bellagio Lake, causing the lake's water level to rise 1 inch (25 mm).^[8] The pool is kept at 88 °F (31 °C) and has an underwater communication system and regulators that allow performers to breathe underwater.^[9] Every member of the cast is scuba-certified.

The underwater stage lift was produced by Handling Specialty.^[10] In order for the platform stage to rise and fall in the water without a wake, the surface of the stage has thousands of tiny holes which were drilled out by the Cirque team.

Heaters under each seat help control the theatre temperature for the audience; the goal is to maintain two temperature zones in the theatre. The stage is kept at a higher temperature while the audience area is kept at a lower temperature. A temperature sensor every few seats in the theatre helps to ensure the audience area is maintained at the correct temperature.^[11]

To minimize damage to the musical instruments, the musicians play from glass enclosures in the theater. Some of the musical instruments used in the show are more than 100 years old. The unique string instrument heard in the soundtrack of O is an erhu, a traditional Chinese bowed string instrument.

To maintain a fresh look on the performers, some performers have multiple sets of costumes so they may reappear dry despite having been in the water. Some of the costumes only have a lifespan of approximately 20 shows due to the bromide and chlorine in the water.^[11][12]

Some additional facts about the show include these below.

• Some of the props function as boats, like the umbrella that Le Vieux rides on the water.
• The horses that the Comets ride in the show weigh 900 pounds (410 kg).^[13]
• The clown house weighs over 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg).^[14]

Cast

The cast of O includes many unique characters.^[15]

• Philemon (Guifà): He Is a young Sicilian boy, who is curious about and lost in the world of O.
• Le Vieux: He is both the guide and the guardian of the theatre. As his character journeys from dark to white, he embodies the cyclical part of life where everything old becomes new again.
• Le Travesti: He is a dancer wearing the clothes of a wicked woman; his cries resound throughout the theatre.
• Comets: Clad in red jackets and white hair, the Comets soar through the air on silks. They also accompany the principal characters as they make their entrances and exits and provide assistance during some acts.
• Masked thief: He is a masked character with many faces who plays with fire
• L'Allume: He is a pyromaniac who is seen completely set on fire.
• Waiter
• Bride: She is the bride who dreamed of being a queen. She is also one of the singers.
• Zebras: The zebras add a touch of playfulness throughout the show and perform in the Cadre act.
• Barrel organ grinder: He can be seen as the guardian of each emerging world. Strong man, organ grinder, guileless giant, ever willing to be helpful.
• Aurora: Graceful, fragile and inaccessible, she represents the quest. Philemon catches sight of her in the prologue, pursues her whenever he sees her, and finds her again in the epilogue.

Acts

O has eleven acts in total, which are performed both in, out, and above of the water.^[16]

• Synchronized swimming: A group of synchronized swimmers perform in the pool.
• Duo trapeze: Two aerialists perform on a single trapeze above the water.
• Barge: A unique combination of banquine and adagio is performed on a floating raft on top of the water.
• Bateau: A group of acrobats perform a combination of aerial cradle and parallel bars on a swinging boat-shaped apparatus high above the water.
• Fire: A group of artists perform fire dancing.
• Russian swing: Acrobats propel themselves high into the air with three sets of Russian swings and dive down into the water.
• Cadre: A group of acrobats perform on a suspended frame high above the water in an artificial rain storm.
• High dive: A group of four world-class divers leap from 60 feet above the stage into a 20-foot-deep (6.1 m) triangular section of the pool.
• Washington trapeze: An artist performs on a fixed trapeze that swings in a long pendulum motion and is raised and lowered.
• Contortion: Four young women with extreme balance and flexibility create graceful and lithe figures and movements.
• Aerial hoops: A group of performers perform on hoops attached to the ceiling to perform various tricks both in and above the water.

Acts in rotation

• Solo trapeze: An aerialist performs on a single trapeze high above the water.

Costumes

Costumes for O drew inspiration from many sources: commedia dell'arte, the Baroque, India, the Arabian Nights, as well as Venetian courtly fashions. The costumes' silhouettes are defined by the design and are accentuated by the transparency of the selected materials and fabrics. Many costumes' base design are leotards which are then expounded upon: this includes the Zebras and Flayed Ones, among others. The Flayed Ones' leotards, for example, originally had hand-painted muscles on them, as digital screen-printing was inaccessible at the time of creation. Another special attribute critical to costumes in O is their treatment to help withstand the water and chemicals in it. To achieve this feat, roughly 40% of the costumes have been applied with a specific type of silicon sizing. In addition, the materials chosen are more durable and had to be able to both mould to the performer's body and dry quickly.^[17] Over the years the best fabric found for the costumes has been nylon mesh, which performs well either wet or dry.^[18]

A few additional facts regarding the costumes include these below.^[18]

• A separate room was built with timed heaters and fans to air-dry many of the costumes which cannot be tumble-dried.
• Sixty loads of laundry are done nightly to wash the costumes which can be machine washed.
• The swimmers' costumes are replaced every 3 months.
• The Comets' costumes last for a full year.

Music

The music of O was composed by Benoit Jutras and features a mix of classical Western and world instrumentation, including Chinese violin (erhu), bagpipes, African guitar and harp (kora), Colombian guitar, cello, ancient woodwinds and a wide variety of percussion instruments.^[19] During the show, the score is performed by a live band situated behind glass walls above and to the side of the stage. The glass protects the musicians' equipment from moisture damage.

O’s music was recorded at the Bellagio and released on November 24, 1998. (ASIN B00000FDJZ) The songs of which are listed below with their corresponding act in parentheses.^[20] The album was re-released on September 6, 2005. (ASIN B000A2H9WU)

1. Jeux d'Eau (Solo and duo trapeze)
2. Mer Noire (Barge)
3. Tzelma (Synchronized swimming)
4. Africa (Interlude)
5. Remous (Bateau)
6. Svecounia (Aerial hoops)
7. Nostalgie (Russian swings)
8. Simcha (Russian swings)
9. Gamelan (Contortion)
10. Ephra (Flying man and cadre)
11. Désert (Opening, solo and duo trapeze)
12. Terre Aride (Fire)
13. O (Finale)

Filmography

In 2007 Cirque du Soleil released the film Flow (A Tribute to the Artists of "O"). This documentary is filmed both in the O theatre as well as out around the Colorado River. The premise of the film shows certain artists performing both out around the river as well as on stage and provides further information into the necessary technical equipment used to produce the performance. Bonus features of Flow include: performance clips, Russian swing act, technical information and film below the surface of the O pool, and about the creation of O itself.^[21]

In 2009 Flow won the Prix Italia award for the category of Creativity in High Definition.^[6]

References

Coordinates: 36°06′47″N 115°10′35″W / 36.11306°N 115.17639°W / 36.11306; -115.17639

External links

• Official Cirque du Soleil website
• Official Bellagio site for "O"