When Cirque du Soleil parties all night, it really parties all night. The Montreal-based circus-theater empire celebrated the gala premiere of Ka, its fourth Las Vegas show, at the MGM Grand hotel and casino from the first curtain call until noon the next day. And if the media is touting Ka as the most opulent production in Western theater history, the post-show gala was no small event either.
By lunchtime the day after the premiere, nearly 5,000 gala guests and Cirque employees from other Las Vegas shows had passed through the party, which capped six months of planning by the company's special events department led by director of creation Jean-François Bouchard, artistic director Elizabeth-Ann Doyle, and production managers Bob Whelan and Steve Dubuc. Circo de Bakuza and Keith Greco Design handled scene design and stage management. As two evening shows ended, guests filed from the custom-built $135 million Ka theater to the MGM Grand Garden arena, which had been a difficult challenge for event planners: How could they make a cavernous sports venue seem to go away? "Our first challenge was to hide it so we didn't feel we were in a skating rink with bleachers," said Doyle.
Event planners camouflaged the arena with 35-foot-high video screens circling the top portion of the venue, which was transformed into an area they called "Global Village" filled with 200 performers—tribal dancers, stilt walkers, fire eaters, jugglers, singers, and musicians. The video—both computer-generated and shot in Canada and Nevada—showed changing environments, from forests to deserts to waterscapes. Taking their cue from Ka, which refers to the Egyptian concept of spiritual duality, event planners concocted a story line for the street artists, assigned to costumed groups representing fire and water.
While performers gamboled on a stage in the middle of the floor, guests nibbled on Kobe steak, seared scallops, and caramel corn dished up by 24 MGM Mirage bars and restaurants from booths ringing the arena. Bands performed on a second stage facing a dance floor, while partygoers reposed in lounge areas on platforms constructed above the booths. By 1:30 AM, the party hit shoulder-to-shoulder intensity, with DrumJungle regaling the crowd with an hour of throbbing percussion music. In a temporary spa just outside the arena proper, 10 massage therapists ministered to guests recovering from all the fun.
—Irene Lacher
By lunchtime the day after the premiere, nearly 5,000 gala guests and Cirque employees from other Las Vegas shows had passed through the party, which capped six months of planning by the company's special events department led by director of creation Jean-François Bouchard, artistic director Elizabeth-Ann Doyle, and production managers Bob Whelan and Steve Dubuc. Circo de Bakuza and Keith Greco Design handled scene design and stage management. As two evening shows ended, guests filed from the custom-built $135 million Ka theater to the MGM Grand Garden arena, which had been a difficult challenge for event planners: How could they make a cavernous sports venue seem to go away? "Our first challenge was to hide it so we didn't feel we were in a skating rink with bleachers," said Doyle.
Event planners camouflaged the arena with 35-foot-high video screens circling the top portion of the venue, which was transformed into an area they called "Global Village" filled with 200 performers—tribal dancers, stilt walkers, fire eaters, jugglers, singers, and musicians. The video—both computer-generated and shot in Canada and Nevada—showed changing environments, from forests to deserts to waterscapes. Taking their cue from Ka, which refers to the Egyptian concept of spiritual duality, event planners concocted a story line for the street artists, assigned to costumed groups representing fire and water.
While performers gamboled on a stage in the middle of the floor, guests nibbled on Kobe steak, seared scallops, and caramel corn dished up by 24 MGM Mirage bars and restaurants from booths ringing the arena. Bands performed on a second stage facing a dance floor, while partygoers reposed in lounge areas on platforms constructed above the booths. By 1:30 AM, the party hit shoulder-to-shoulder intensity, with DrumJungle regaling the crowd with an hour of throbbing percussion music. In a temporary spa just outside the arena proper, 10 massage therapists ministered to guests recovering from all the fun.
—Irene Lacher