Iris, the first show produced by Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil , is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy...

 to be located at the Kodak Theatre

Kodak Theatre

The Kodak Theatre is a live theatre in the Hollywood and Highland shopping mall and entertainment complex on Hollywood Boulevard and North Highland Avenue in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles...

 in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, premiered on September 25, 2011 after preview performances which began on July 21. The cost for production of the show is , and is scheduled to run for 10 years. Iris is directed by French director-choreographer Philippe Decouflé

Philippe Decouflé

Philippe Decouflé is a French choreographer, dancer, mime artist, and theatre director. As a child he travelled extensively around Lebanon and Morocco, before learned his skills as a teenager at the Annie Fratellini Ecole du Cirque and the Marceau Mime School...

. The show takes a unique look at the history of cinema

History of film

The history of film is the historical development of the medium known variously as cinema, motion pictures, film, or the movies.The history of film spans over 100 years, from the latter part of the 19th century to the present day...

 and combining that with Cirque du Soleil's traditional artistic works of dance, acrobatics, and modern circus traditions. The name of the show, Iris, is taken directly from both camera diaphragm

Diaphragm (optics)

In optics, a diaphragm is a thin opaque structure with an opening at its center. The role of the diaphragm is to stop the passage of light, except for the light passing through the aperture...

s as well as the colored iris

Iris (anatomy)

The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel , grey, violet, or even pink...

 of the human eye.

History

Although Iris was in development for some time, the artists and creation team started preparations in Montréal. At the beginning of March 2011, production and operations personnel started working in Los Angeles. During this time, the creation team continued to refine the show and artists continued training until the end of April when they moved to Los Angeles as well to continue preparing for the show's premiere.

Cirque set a new personal record with Iris by utilizing a blend of a 100 orchestral musicians to create the pre-recorded portions of the soundtrack.

Set and technical information

Cirque du Soleil had to modify the 9600 square feet (891.9 m²) stage in the theatre at a cost of , primarily to create stage lifts. To accommodate the lifts, 44 feet (13.4 m) deep pits were excavated out. This changed the sets' space to measure 122 feet (37.2 m) from the high grid to the bottom of the pits. Cirque also removed seating from the theatre, reducing seat counts from 3400 to 2500, in order to give all spectators the same viewing experience. The design of the "set suggests a fairground attraction inspired by Coney Island where movies were screened to an audience for the first time."

Cast

The Iris troupe consists of 72 performers, including Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 athletes.

• Buster: Composer in search of true love.
• Scarlett: A naïve actress who longs to be a movie star.

Acts

The acts of Iris evoke the sense of wonder of the cinema.

• Aerial straps duo
• Shadows and contortion
• Hand to hand
• Filmstrip
• Kiriki: A modern version of Icarian games which pushes the old circus tradition to the limits.
• Movie set
• Trapeze and broom manipulation
• Trampoline (The Rooftops)
• Hand balancing
• Aerial ball

Costumes

Philippe Guillotel drew inspiration from numerous venues whose central theme was that of cinema. Through this extensive research into cinema's history his design team was able to create costumes which impress upon the viewer the evolution of color film. The team created a few unusual costumes for the hybrid characters:

• The two camera men have cameras mounted on their head or chest. Their camera footage from them is also utilized during the show.
• The sound man wears a large carbon fiber cone.
• The screen man has a 135 square feet (12.5 m²) screen that tucks inside his stomach.
• Another character's costume was inspired by the first sound equipment used to detect the sounds of bombs.

The primary materials for this show included soft Lycra, silk stretch nylon, and natural cottons and linens. Philippe also utilized leather and high-tech materials such as carbon fiber for accent pieces, but stayed true to the use of the primary material selection.

• The influence of Dick Tracy
  Dick Tracy
  Dick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...
  
   can be seen in the rooftops act. This is clearly visible by the usage of the colorings of the costumes.
• The aerial ballet act costumes are made of nearly one million Swarovski crystals.
• The Icarian games, or Kiriki, characters are evocation to the costumes worn in Georges Méliès
  Georges Méliès
  Georges Méliès , full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He was very innovative in the use of special effects...
  
   films.
• In addition to the hybrid characters of the camera men, sound man, screen man, and the sound equipment persona, there are also two chairs, a lamp, a table, and moose head on a wall that are personified.
• In addition to cinema itself, some of the costumes pay tribute to the other professions associated with it, including screenwriters, makeup artists, cinematographers, carpenters, decorators, painters, electricians, and lighting designers.

Music

Iris 17-track album was created by Danny Elfman

Danny Elfman

Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...

. The music is created by pre-recorded music of a blend of 100 orchestral musicians (the largest in Cirque du Soleil's history) spread over both large and small ensembles. This is then mixed with the show's live eight in-house musicians. Below are the track titles as they appear on the CD, which was originally released on 2011.

1. Buster's Big Opening
2. The Twins
3. Kiriki Film
4. Kiriki
5. Silent Movie
6. Patterns
7. Clown Special Effects
8. Pellicule - Part I and II
9. Snake Women
10. Movie Studio
11. The Broom
12. Flying Scarlett
13. Old Toys
14. Film Noir / Pursuit
15. Rooftops
16. Scarlett Balancing
17. IRIS Finale and Bows