Aerial Lamp vignette from Cirque du Soleil’s “’Twas The Night Before…” (Photo by Kyle Flubacker, MSG Entertainment)
A reimagined ‘Twas the Night Before’ brings the beloved poem to life with clowns, acrobats and aerialists
Cirque du Soleil is always unexpected and more than special. “’Twas The Night Before…” is Cirque’s first attempt at a holiday show with multiple companies. It is based on the classic Christmas poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”
Cirque’s James Hadley has deconstructed the traditional Christmas poem down to its most iconic images and reimagined it as a Cirque du Soleil production. Many families make the poem a Christmas ritual, but rituals often fall by the wayside.
In this production, Isabella believes she has outgrown her family tradition. Dad thinks “Not so much.” He storms out of Isabella’s room. We suspect she has nodded off only to awaken and find herself enveloped by a magical snowstorm and surrounded by clowns, acrobats, aerialists and characters from the story reimagined as only Cirque du Soleil can do.
Headquartered in Montreal, what was once a 1980s street performing group has become the world’s largest producer of contemporary circus, with more than 4,000 performers and technical staff.
If you have wondered what happens to all those marvelous Olympic gymnasts, wonder no more. Many become cast members in Cirque du Soleil shows. They come internationally to appear in one of 19 Cirque productions.
Kansas City will be home base for one of four simultaneous companies touring this Cirque show during the holiday season. Each of the companies features about 40 performers and staff, massive sets, sparkly costumes, lights, and all that is needed to create a memorable audience experience. The level of detail behind the scenes is amazing.
Lead artistic director for this effort is Annie St-Pierre. Annie came to Cirque from Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. She has been an artistic coach and choreographer. I spoke with Annie to hear more about this huge project.
“I work all year long on the holiday show to manage, organize things and make all the artistic decisions for our four teams,” she said. “And most of all be responsible to hire all the casts, all the artists, all the staff that will tour with them, and I’m responsible to make sure that the quality of service, the magic of this show will stay the same company to company.
“It’s fewer people than our regular arena touring show. But everyone feels the same spirit of working together. We need each other’s trust and each other’s confidence and passion. Even though the public is watching the 26 people on stage, we know how important it is to have a team of support because of the danger involved in what we do.
“Each team also has an on-site artistic director to, you know, take care of the day-to-day decisions and the production schedule and everything.”
After several weeks of start-up rehearsals at the Kansas City Music Hall, Cirque’s “’Twas The Night Before…” will open for eight performances beginning Nov. 27 through Dec. 1. Kansas City audiences will see the premiere showings for this newly prepared company.
