Delirium (Cirque du Soleil)

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Please improve this article if you can. (July 2006)

Delirium was a Cirque du Soleil live music event partnered with Live Nation (formerly known as Clear Channel Entertainment). Contrary to the traditional Cirque show that plays over multiple weeks in a city at a time under their trademark tent or in a theater used only by Cirque du Soleil, Delirium was a multimedia/theatrical production that featured remixes of existing Cirque music and reinterpretations of performances. The show made its final performance in London, England on April 20, 2008^[1].

1 Format
2 Set up
3 Soundtrack
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Format

Delirium is a touring production designed to be presented in arenas, unlike Cirque du Soleil's other touring shows, which are generally performed in the round in specially designed tents. Much of the music was taken from other Cirque productions, but remixed with a tribal beat and lyrics either added or rewritten for this show.

[edit] Set up

Delirium's stage is set up on the arena floor, bisecting it lengthwise. Its two-sided, raised stage allows for an alley theater-style presentation: the audience sits on both sides of the stage, at times able to look over the central stage to see the spectators on the other side. This presents unique staging challenges in that the most important actions must be visible to both sides of the audience. However, the show can also be presented as a proscenium show, with the seats on one side of the arena left empty. In this case, the stage is set up closer to the sideline opposite the occupied seats, opening up a portion of the arena floor for additional seating.

The ends of the stage are flanked by enormous projection screens, where real-time video footage from the stage performance is blended with prerecorded visuals. These end screens also serve to block off a backstage area for the performers and technicians. Performers can enter the stage from behind the screens, from below (via several trap doors) and from above (via an elaborate system of motorized lifts). Two semi-transparent screens can slide out in front of the stage to turn both sides of the stage into a massive projection surface, roughly the equivalent in width of four IMAX screens.

Unlike other Cirque du Soleil shows, where the musicians are off to the side and mainly out of view, Delirium's six musicians are often in plain view, and can be seen interacting with the other performers and various stage elements.

Despite the extraordinary complexity and size of Delirium's stage, it can be assembled inside an arena in approximately 9 hours.

[edit] Soundtrack

The Delirium soundtrack became available for purchase on June 15, 2006 through the Cirque du Solei Online Boutique.^[2] It features the songs of the show, but not necessarily in the order in which they were performed. The tracks are:

Cold Flame (inspired by Oscillum)
Slipping Away (inspired by Ombra)
Someone (inspired by Patzivota)
Too High (inspired by Spiritual Spiral)
Walk on Water (inspired by A Tale)
Alone (inspired by Querer)
Climb (inspired by Le Rêveur)
La Nova Alegría (inspired by Alegría)
Lifeline (inspired by El Péndulo)
Bridge of Sorrow (inspired by Nostalgie)
One Love (inspired by Pokinoï)
Let Me Fall
Time to Go (inspired by Mountain of Clothes)
Time Flies (inspired by Mer Noire)
Sans Toi (inspired by Querer)

Songs from Delirium are remixes of original Cirque songs, which are re-written to include predominantly English only lyrics. Original songs were chosen from Alegría, Alegría the Film, Dralion, La Nouba, O, Quidam, Saltimbanco and Varekai.

The lead vocalists on the CD are Dessy Di Lauro, Elie Haroun and Jacynthe Millette-Bilodeau.