News & Events
30 City Tech Students Go Backstage at Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil technical director Matt Stoody shows City Tech students two of the 2.5 million snowflakes that fell during each performance of Wintuk.
What a difference a season makes! For years, New York City College of Technology (City Tech) has held its June commencement exercises in the Theater at Madison Square Garden. During the Christmas season, 30 City Tech entertainment tech students, faculty and staff saw that space transformed into the setting for Wintuk, Cirque du Soliel's enchanting winter tale of one boy's quest for snow and adventure.
And what a transformation it was. The show, which ran through January 6, was created exclusively for the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden, and is the first Cirque du Soleil show created for a family audience. Another "first" is that Wintuk was the first Cirque du Soleil production to be built around a specific precisely-defined premise: the theme of winter.
All this was explained to the City Tech contingent, led by Professor John Huntington, by Matt Stoody, the show's technical director, who generously gave the group an extensive onstage and backstage tour.
Students in one of the onstage trench-like passageways.
Walking through the trench-like passageways onstage, the group found out that much of the show's effects was controlled by 13 stagehands working under the deck. Bridges would drop into place when the performers had to pass from one area of the stage to the next, which would then open to allow the massive props to glide into place. The equipment that enabled all of this to happen consisted of 23 53-foot flat floor air-ride trailors.
"We’re hanging about 115,000 pounds in the air -- lighting fixtures, truss, automation motors, fans for the wind effect, etc.," Stoody told the City Tech group.
The show's namesake, Wintuk, lives in a city where the arrival of winter has brought long shadows and intense cold – but no snow. He and three companions travel to an imaginary Arctic to find the snow and bring it home. The cast of 50 performers brought to life a meaningful seasonal story that climaxed with a swirling snowstorm.
In fact, one of the "stars" of the show is that snowstorm. The equipment generating it included 46 snow machines, including four under the deck, five focused downstage, 28 on the house from the catwalk, seven across the back of the house and two spares.
"Every machine is fed 2.5 pounds of snow for each performance, which means about 110 pounds of confetti per show," Stoody said. The resulting 2.5 million flakes, in two colors and two sizes, are treated for flame resistance. If we load more than a show’s worth at a time, it becomes compressed and comes out in clumps. More than 40 employees take 55 minutes to clean up the house before the next show." He promised that next year's version of the show will be even more spectacular that this year's. Something to look forward to!
Photos by Professor John Huntington.
1/3/08
