Cirque du Soleil Rip Off: Creators Should Sue!

[Robert Taylor]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 10:53pm

Now by this point most of the posters here know me. They know I'm not the kind of guy to just go off on productions and attack them for the sake of attack. I'm very supportive of shows and talent as often as possible, and I need everyone to keep that in mind when I write what follows.

Tonight I attended the touring show "Viaggio: The Cirque Show." Despite having a name eerily similar to a resort on the Las Vegas strip and the word "Cirque" in the title, the show is NOT part of the Cirque du Soleil family and, in fact, aside from this touring show the company's biggest act is that they do a show at Sea World.

I've seen three actual Cirque du Soleil shows: "Mystere", "O" and "Wintuk."

And from everything I saw tonight, I honestly think that the producers behind Cirque du Soleil need to sue the pants off the makers of "Viaggio."

Yes, I walked into the show knowing it was a Cirque ripoff, and I know there are several dozen pretenders across the country, most notably "Cirque Dreams" on Broadway, but the similarities between the productions are so uncanny, so similar, that there is NO way what the "Viaggio" people are doing can possibly be fully legal.

I guess maybe I was expecting the show to take the idea of Cirque du Soleil and make it their own...or do SOMETHING differently. But no, every facet of "Viaggio" has been taken from other, better, ACTUAL Cirque du Soleil shows.

Let's investigate.

-The show's plotline involves a child going on a journey into an amazing land to find inspiration to live her life to the fullest...a plot literally ripped point for point from "Wintuk"
-The music was so similar to that of the music in "Mystere" that, when the pieces mirrored the actual Cirque show, the music was a near match, kind of like Vanilla Ice redoing David Bowie and saying it was different.
-There was an adult dressed as a baby crawling around the theater prior to the show...a baby almost identical (though not as obese as) the baby in "Mystere", right down to the its obsession with a bouncing ball.
-Then there was the comedy duo who appeared twice in the show and basically did the same things as the comedy duo from "O," including much of the same physical comedy.
-And the rest of the acts? Yup, point for point they were smaller and less populated versions of skits from "Mystere", well mostly, though one specific one (balancing on metal cans) was taken EXACTLY from "Wintuk" and another (riding in a circular wheel) directly from "Ka." But other than those, you get the pole dancing, cloth flying, human contortioning, trampoline bouncing and human balancing that you could see in "Mystere." And, point for point, it was the same tricks in the same order just with less people on a smaller stage.
-Then there was this woman in a cheap ass costume that was supposed to emulate the crazy Cirque du Soleil costumes. She was wearing a Medusa wig, was twelve feet tall and her dress opened up to show dancing puppets. She would appear in random acts and just watch the performers, taking our eyes off the performers and make us start thinking about rebelling and throwing her off the stage.
-The set was a cheap cardboard neon painted piece of crap that sort of looks like the Mystere poster.
-This is off-topic, but since it's a hugely discussed topic elsewhere on the boards, our program basically told us that the cast EXPECTED a standing ovation at the end of the night. That sickened me to the point where I did not want to stand as a sign of revolt against the evil writers of that program.

I am not attacking the cast, who all impressed me with the tricks and acrobatics and amazing skills. Here's hoping they come to their senses and join the actual Cirque du Soleil...they are definitely talented enough to join that troupe, and they deserve better than the crap they are surrounded with.

Seriously, I am imagining that half the patrons of "Viaggio" walked out of the show thinking they had seen an actual Cirque du Soleil show and were probably a bit let down by what had just happened. It's giving the actual Cirque du Soleil property a bad name...and I honestly hope that the producers are made aware of this travesty and something legal happens, because the similarities cross an ethical boundary.

It is wrong.

[jake6970]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 10:57pm

I think they did sue...

[Scott Briefer]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 11:04pm

It is extremely difficult to legally brand circus. Cirque du Soleil (CDS) has forever changed the face of circus and for that I am thankful. I have seen almost every CDS show as I am a huge fan of their work, but I realized long ago that their popularity was bound to inspire other companies to copy their work.

As for the acts themselves... they're as much owned by the individual artists as the company. Many CDS alumni have had to move onto other companies as their contracts expire and the various shows close or are recast because of visa issues. I have seen several other circus shows with casts and acts that were originally showcased in a CDS show. This is just the nature of circus.

Having said that, I wish that everyone was aware of CDS and what it's brand has brought to the art of circus. They are an amazing company deserving of great affection and success.

Go see KA! (although La Nouba is my all-time favorite CDS show)

[ragg_ballad]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 11:42pm

I agree with Scott that Cirque's artistic and financial success are sure to have other companies trying to mimic them[Cirque Dreams, Viaggio,etc]. But if the costumes, design, and overall production are THAT similar to Cirques actual shows, they should definitely look into that..with a legal team...

PS Viaggio...I thought it said "Viagra: The Cirque Show" I was like..what??? haha

[skb2010]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 12:08am

If you go to Vegas and you are a Beatles fan, see LOVE. It was great.

[winston89]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 12:54am

I will admit that when it was announce that Cirque Dreams was comming to Broadway. I thought for a second that it was a Cirque Du Soleil show that was comming to Broadway. I was confused as to why Cirque Du Soleil would do that considering that they have Wintuk comming to NYC every winter until 2010 (although I do hear that they are considering extending thier stay.) I honestly thought that this Cirque Dreams WAS in fact a Cirque Du Soleil show.

That was unitl I logged on to this forum and found out I was wrong. I have wanted to see a Cirque Du Soleil show for a long time and never got around to seeing Wintuk this passed winter. So I thought that I would see it when I was on Broadway. As soon as I found out that it wasn't a Cirque Du Soleil show I told myself that I would wait for this winter to see Wintuk. I understand that Wintuk is more of a child friendly CDS show. But, I felt it was better then nothing but that is besides the point.

For a short period of time I was like everyone else out there. Thinking that just because something had the word "cirque" in the title that it automatically made it a Cirque Du Soleil show. I had this forum to show me that I was wrong. I am sure that there are a lot of people out there who think the way I thought. Who think that if a show has "cirque" in the title that it is a Cirque Du Soleil show.

But, I don't know how much if at all CDS can sue on. I don't think that they can sue the other shows out there for having the word cirque in title. Yes the word cirque is very misleading. But, cirque is just the french word for circus and you can't copyright a word.

You can copyright a show or a set or a costume or an act. I am sure that the people who do the other cirque shows are VERY good at making it as VERY close to the CDS shows as they can without letting CDS be able to sue. I feel like they do what they can to be THIS close from crossing the line. But, they never cross it.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 12:57am

Sweetheart. Reading your posts is like reading a 10 year-old illegal immigrant's essay for school.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:04am

I love you, Ben.

[winston89]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 2:27am

Foster. After hearing all the comments you have said about me saying that you love me is a great way of saying sorry. I accept your apology.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 2:29am

Sorry babe, but I was talking to my boy B3.