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Making Dreams Come True
By Land & Sea!
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blog post
March 25th 2010
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. -- Dazzling aerialists flying over your head. Acrobats and contortionists performing in front of you. Muscle men, jokesters, musicians all around.
All in spectacular costumes. And all while you nosh on filet mignon or chicken florentine served up by waiters who become part of the show.
Norwegian Cruise Line this month offered USA TODAY a sneak peek at Cirque Dreams and Dinner, the elaborate new circus show it plans for its next ship, the soon-to-debut Norwegian Epic, and -- as promised -- it's nothing like anything currently found at sea.
Created by theatrical impresario Neil Goldberg's Cirque Productions, the two-hour extravaganza is a floating version of the company's popular, European-style, highly-theatrical traveling shows that have been wowing audiences from Philadelphia to Phoenix for more than a decade -- except with dinner thrown in.
"There really is not going to be any entertainment like this anywhere in the world," Goldberg proclaimed during the preview, held at the Cirque Productions studios in Pompano Beach, Fla. "Our goal is not just to create an amazing show, but to reinvent cruise entertainment."
Goldberg, who has created productions for everything from Super Bowls to the Miss Universe Pageant, says he has been wooed by cruise lines before to do a show on a ship but always said no. What's different this time? Norwegian Cruise Line's commitment to truly doing something that breaks the mold, he says.
"One of the enticing parts for our company is they let us be involved from the beginning," Goldberg says, noting that he was given complete creative control and allowed to bring in his own cast. "There has never been a cruise line that has stepped up to the plate and made such a commitment to quality."
Norwegian is going so far as to build Goldberg's troupe its own dedicated "Spiegel Tent" on the Epic that's billed as the first Big Top at sea. It'll hold 274 people for two shows a night.
Goldberg says his company will have 16 performers on the ship, together portraying 50 different characters (click HERE for larger format photos of the troupe from this month's preview). Goldberg also says he'll be training the food servers for the show, who will be Norwegian employees, to be part of the entertainment.
Goldberg says the show is designed to continuously evolve, with performers taking cues night-to-night from passengers in the audience. The center stage will have a diameter of just 10 feet, he notes, with the first tables just two more feet beyond that, allowing for close interaction.
"Everything will be sung live," he adds. "Nothing will be pre-recorded."
For the audience, the experience will be something intimate and real, Goldberg promises. "If we have rough seas, it will be part of the show," he says. "We role play every possible scenario."
Goldberg says he's had the idea of a cirque-style show in a dinner setting for a number of years, and is thrilled to finally be doing one. "It's a whole new level of complexity, and I think that's the challenge."
He also says it's been a blast dreaming up something that will work on a cruise ship. "I haven't had as much fun and laughed and smiled on the creation of a show as I have on this," he says.
Unlike most shows on cruise ships, Cirque Dreams and Dinner will come with an extra charge: a basic price of $15 per person, with premium seats going for $20 per person. Still, that's significantly less than the ticket price for one of Cirque Productions' traveling shows, which run $25 to $60.
Cirque Dreams is just one of several big-cost productions Norwegian Cruise Line has in store for Epic, which debuts in June.
The 4,200-passenger ship -- by far the largest ever at the line -- also will be home to such big name, Las Vegas-style acts as Blue Man Group and Legends in Concert. A comedy club on board will be staffed by Chicago-based Second City.
Norwegian executives say the line wants to set itself apart on entertainment at sea.
"Norwegian Cruise Line really was a leader in entertainment in its early days. It was a core to the brand," notes executive vice president Andy Stuart, who also was at the preview. "I think this is coming back to leading the industry again."
Stuart hints that the days of cruise lines serving up the same-old music medley productions on a central stage may be numbered. He notes that he traveled around the world looking at possible entertainment options for Epic.
"I think the pressure is on," he says. "A lot more people are seeing a lot more quality entertainment in Las Vegas (and) in Orlando."
Like Royal Caribbean's recently unveiled Oasis of the Seas, which also is touting a new level of entertainment including a version of Broadway's Hairspray, Norwegian Epic is designed to appeal to the kind of vacationers who favor the big resort experiences of Las Vegas' MGM Grand and Bellagio or the Bahamas' Atlantis.
"People are going to expect a spectacle," Stuart says, referring to Cirque Dreams but perhaps describing Epic as whole. "And that's what they're going to get."
Story by Gene Sloan- USA Today
All in spectacular costumes. And all while you nosh on filet mignon or chicken florentine served up by waiters who become part of the show.
Norwegian Cruise Line this month offered USA TODAY a sneak peek at Cirque Dreams and Dinner, the elaborate new circus show it plans for its next ship, the soon-to-debut Norwegian Epic, and -- as promised -- it's nothing like anything currently found at sea.
Created by theatrical impresario Neil Goldberg's Cirque Productions, the two-hour extravaganza is a floating version of the company's popular, European-style, highly-theatrical traveling shows that have been wowing audiences from Philadelphia to Phoenix for more than a decade -- except with dinner thrown in.
"There really is not going to be any entertainment like this anywhere in the world," Goldberg proclaimed during the preview, held at the Cirque Productions studios in Pompano Beach, Fla. "Our goal is not just to create an amazing show, but to reinvent cruise entertainment."
Goldberg, who has created productions for everything from Super Bowls to the Miss Universe Pageant, says he has been wooed by cruise lines before to do a show on a ship but always said no. What's different this time? Norwegian Cruise Line's commitment to truly doing something that breaks the mold, he says.
"One of the enticing parts for our company is they let us be involved from the beginning," Goldberg says, noting that he was given complete creative control and allowed to bring in his own cast. "There has never been a cruise line that has stepped up to the plate and made such a commitment to quality."
Norwegian is going so far as to build Goldberg's troupe its own dedicated "Spiegel Tent" on the Epic that's billed as the first Big Top at sea. It'll hold 274 people for two shows a night.
Goldberg says his company will have 16 performers on the ship, together portraying 50 different characters (click HERE for larger format photos of the troupe from this month's preview). Goldberg also says he'll be training the food servers for the show, who will be Norwegian employees, to be part of the entertainment.
Goldberg says the show is designed to continuously evolve, with performers taking cues night-to-night from passengers in the audience. The center stage will have a diameter of just 10 feet, he notes, with the first tables just two more feet beyond that, allowing for close interaction.
"Everything will be sung live," he adds. "Nothing will be pre-recorded."
For the audience, the experience will be something intimate and real, Goldberg promises. "If we have rough seas, it will be part of the show," he says. "We role play every possible scenario."
Goldberg says he's had the idea of a cirque-style show in a dinner setting for a number of years, and is thrilled to finally be doing one. "It's a whole new level of complexity, and I think that's the challenge."
He also says it's been a blast dreaming up something that will work on a cruise ship. "I haven't had as much fun and laughed and smiled on the creation of a show as I have on this," he says.
Unlike most shows on cruise ships, Cirque Dreams and Dinner will come with an extra charge: a basic price of $15 per person, with premium seats going for $20 per person. Still, that's significantly less than the ticket price for one of Cirque Productions' traveling shows, which run $25 to $60.
Cirque Dreams is just one of several big-cost productions Norwegian Cruise Line has in store for Epic, which debuts in June.
The 4,200-passenger ship -- by far the largest ever at the line -- also will be home to such big name, Las Vegas-style acts as Blue Man Group and Legends in Concert. A comedy club on board will be staffed by Chicago-based Second City.
Norwegian executives say the line wants to set itself apart on entertainment at sea.
"Norwegian Cruise Line really was a leader in entertainment in its early days. It was a core to the brand," notes executive vice president Andy Stuart, who also was at the preview. "I think this is coming back to leading the industry again."
Stuart hints that the days of cruise lines serving up the same-old music medley productions on a central stage may be numbered. He notes that he traveled around the world looking at possible entertainment options for Epic.
"I think the pressure is on," he says. "A lot more people are seeing a lot more quality entertainment in Las Vegas (and) in Orlando."
Like Royal Caribbean's recently unveiled Oasis of the Seas, which also is touting a new level of entertainment including a version of Broadway's Hairspray, Norwegian Epic is designed to appeal to the kind of vacationers who favor the big resort experiences of Las Vegas' MGM Grand and Bellagio or the Bahamas' Atlantis.
"People are going to expect a spectacle," Stuart says, referring to Cirque Dreams but perhaps describing Epic as whole. "And that's what they're going to get."
Story by Gene Sloan- USA Today
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