This French-Canadian production amazes audiences with an assortment of acrobatics and surreal clowns that owe a lot to the magic of some really amazing technology. At Cirque Du Soleil's Vegas venue, the Treasure Island Hotel, they're astounding the crowd with a visual feast that gives new meaning to circus. It's part of the show. It's the character of the show, I would say. What's happening on stage may be fantastical, but behind the glitz it's the most sophisticated technical show on earth.
Computers control the lighting, the smoke, the fog, the sound.
According to Mayhew, very large pieces of scenery need to move at very high speeds. They must all be positioned accurately and all of it must be done night after night so performers know exactly where everything is going to be. Stage lifts, which are slinky-like lifts, build and unbuild themselves as they move up and down. Rising 85 feet above the stage is the grid, where all the motors and the different mechanical aspects of a moving piece reside. There are over five miles of steel cables that raise and lower up to 35 moving pieces of scenery and performers.