Jeez, you can't believe some of the quotes in the new LA Times piece that Dave linked to above:
I mean, how screwed up does this sound: "Cirque has never put its clout behind an individual performer this way before. And the troupe made a counterintuitive choice in hiring 'Believe's' co-writer and director Serge Denoncourt to bring it to the stage. 'I'm well known in Quebec to be stubborn and hands-on and a control freak,' Denoncourt said. 'As well, everybody knows I hate magic. I'm trying to direct a show for people who love it but also for people like me who hate magic'."
So, Cirque hires a guy to direct the show who hates magic? A guy who's a control freak to oversee Criss Angel, king of the control freaks? Does it take a genius to foresee what the result of that would be? It's either a stroke of genius or a catastrophe ...
And this:
"It's a Cirque show where he is the main character," Ste-Croix said by phone from Montreal last month. "We used this man who has the following of a star, but in our scenario. It's not MGM with Criss Angel, it's MGM with Cirque du Soleil. Because he is the main artist, we had him participate with input."
To underscore his Cirque-centric viewpoint, Ste-Croix added: "Maybe, you know, if Lance Burton or David Copperfield had said, 'We want to do a show,' we would have considered it. We thought about the opportunity with Criss and said, 'We can do this.' It's as simple as that, how we ended up with Criss on the marquee."
Never mind that until Ste-Croix began suggesting otherwise, Angel -- not Cirque -- had been positioned as the show's headlining draw. To wit, a 43,000-square-foot billboard of the "Mindfreak" star's face stares up from a side of the pyramid-shaped Luxor.
Backstage, Angel bristled at the characterization. Turns out Ste-Croix made similar remarks to a local newspaper that happened to be unfolded in the magician's lap.
"That's not the case," he said, looking to a coterie of managers, publicists, lawyers and illusion specialists in his room for confirmation.
"We need to have a conversation with Mr. Gilles Ste-Croix."
That certainly doesn't sound like a group who are working harmoniously toward creating a coherent show. The story is certainly the most coherent piece written so far about what's happening with Believe and I encourage you to read it:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/ne ... full.story