Beatles/Cirque project is now a go, go, go

Friday, Oct. 15, 2004 | 8:58 a.m.

The union of the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil should be a marriage made in financial heaven.

It was announced Thursday that a production featuring two of the most recognizable names in the entertainment world is tentatively scheduled to premiere in May 2006 at the Mirage in what was the Siegfried & Roy Theatre.

The showroom, which will undergo a $100 million renovation, has been vacant since Roy Horn was severely injured by a tiger during a performance.

No one, not even Cirque's vice president of creation, has a definitive idea about the show's structure.

"It's a work in progress," Gilles Ste-Croix said. "We know pretty much the end product -- we just don't know yet how we are going to get there."

Nor does Cirque yet have a title.

"We are calling it "The Boys," only as a working title," Ste-Croix said.

The Beatle songs that will be part of the show have not yet been selected. Ste-Croix said he didn't know how many of them would make the cut.

"There are 196 to choose from," he said.

Ste-Croix gave a general outline of what fans might anticipate, although nothing is set in stone at this point.

"It won't be an anthology," he said.

And there won't be any Beatles impersonators.

But this being a Cirque production, there will be acrobats and dancing.

"We will try to make live performances onstage taking from the lyrics of the song," Ste-Croix said. "From these lyrics we extract characters we can bring onstage -- maybe Lucy in the sky will be there.

"From the lyrics, we will create provocative characters."

At this time, Ste-Croix says there are few rules.

"We have a very loose storyline which takes us from Liverpool to the end," Ste-Croix said.

The stage will be a theater-in-the-round.

"Backstage will really be under the stage, which will have many, many lifts," Ste-Croix said. "Many appearances will come from below the stage as well as from above.

"You are in the experience."

The production is a partnership between Apple Corps, formed by the Beatles in 1964; Cirque and the Mirage.

Neil Aspinall, managing director of Apple, described the relationship between the corporation and Cirque as a joint venture.

"We don't have creative control," Aspinall said. "This is a partnership."

The agreement, the first time in the 40-year history of Apple that it has become involved in a Beatle-themed production, had to be approved by the Beatles and their survivors.

The approval by John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono; George Harrison's widow, Olivia; Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney had to be unanimous.

Aspinall said the agreement came fairly quickly.

"We have been offered other stage productions, but with Cirque we have an opportunity to go into fantasyland," Aspinall said.

The collaboration between Apple and Cirque came about as a result of a friendship between Cirque founder Guy Laliberte and Harrison.

The two men, both Formula 1 racing enthusiasts, met in 1997 at a race in Melbourne, Australia.

In June 2000 Harrison attended a race in Montreal and then attended a party Laliberte hosted for 1,000 friends, an annual event.

During the party the two men first brought up the idea of a joint project.

A month or so later the two got together in London, Laliberte said. "That's where the first seeds of a common dream were planted -- matching Cirque du Soleil with the Beatles."

The idea was discussed up until Harrison's death in 2001.

Laliberte met with Apple's board and the members voted unanimously to proceed with the project. They first considered a production in London and other cities, including New York and Tokyo.

Meanwhile, McCartney performed in Las Vegas and saw the relationship between the city and Cirque.

"He came back and said, 'Why not Las Vegas?' " Laliberte said. "That took us by surprise."

Laliberte discussed the idea with Mirage president Bobby Baldwin.

It was believed Siegfried & Roy would retire at the end of 2005 or 2006 and the Mirage would be looking for a replacement.

"We thought we had plenty of time to work on the project, until 2007 or 2008," Laliberte said. "But then there was the unfortunate accident with Roy."

When it was determined that Siegfried & Roy would not be returning, the Cirque project was put on a fast track.

Laliberte said the creation of the show is one that is being "inspired by love, inspired by peace and inspired by the imaginary world of the Beatle's music."