Behind the Scenes at Cirque du Soleil
HAMMER: And now the conclusion of our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT special report, "People in the News," Cirque du Soleil. So what happened when the sultry circus decided to set up shop in skin city? Here again, CNN`s Heidi Collins for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.</s>COLLINS (voice-over): Las Vegas. In a town for its extravagance, Cirque du Soleil`s three multimillion-dollar productions, O, Mystere, and Zumanity, indulge audiences with pure imagination and fantasy. The Las Vegas-based shows are also some of the hottest-selling tickets on the strip, playing to more than 9,000 people every night. By next year, the three Vegas shows will account for almost 50 percent of Cirque`s estimated revenues of more than $500 million. Tapping into Las Vegas` burlesque roots, Cirque du Soleil reveals its naughty side in the troupe`s latest show, Zumanity. Titillating audiences with a mix of cabaret, striptease, and erotica.</s>LYN HEWARD, PRESIDENT AND COO, CREATIVE CONTENT: We need to reinvent our shows. We don`t like to repeat ourselves. Our challenge is actually not to repeat ourselves, to create a new hybrid.</s>COLLINS: Cirque du Soleil continues to push its creative edge with four permanent shows, three based in Las Vegas, one in Orlando, and another in production.</s>DANIELLE, PERFORMER: It`s nice to have a place to come home to.</s>COLLINS: For the artists of Cirque du Soleil, joining a resident show in Las Vegas offers a circus life off the road. (on-screen): How does it feel to wake up in the same bed every morning?</s>DANIELLE: Oh, I love it. I love what I call the normal life, getting up in the morning, making breakfast, driving to work in a car that I own.</s>COLLINS (voice-over): At just 17, gymnast Danielle Roadenkirschen (ph), joined Cirque du Soleil`s traveling show, Alegria.</s>DANIELLE: I`m very close with my family. And I still am. But I was ready to kind of venture out on my own and do my own thing, and kind of figure out who I was. My biggest dream was to go to the Olympics. And when that didn`t really come through, I didn`t know what I was going to do.</s>COLLINS: An audition with Cirque du Soleil in Montreal would change that.</s>DANIELLE: When I got the letter in the mail saying they wanted me to join the cast of Alegria, it was no doubt in my mind. I didn`t even have to think about it. As soon as I opened it, I was like, "Oh, my God. I`m joining Cirque. That`s it."</s>COLLINS: Now 28 and an acrobat in the Las Vegas show, Mystere, Danielle is considered a veteran performer. Cirque pays its performers a yearly salary, ranging from $30,000 for an apprentice to more than $100,000 for an established artist. After 10 years, Danielle wonders, what`s next?</s>DANIELLE: When I`m on stage and I think about these moments, about what I will do next, it`s those -- like the finale of the show, when you stand there, and the people are clapping, like, I`m not ready to leave this yet.</s>COLLINS: For the artists of Cirque du Soleil, the mantra is, "You must evolve."</s>DANIELLE: It`s only after a few years where you realize that the locomotive is going on that direction and you`ve got to keep up with it. You`ve got to hop on to it. You`ve got to change. You`ve got to adapt.</s>COLLINS: Danielle`s adapted to the prospect of life offstage by taking a day job.</s>DANIELLE: I`m very lucky to do two jobs with Cirque du Soleil, both as an acrobat, stage performer at night, and, during the day, I do cultural affairs and work with artists in the community. And it`s taught me that there are other things out there besides just entertaining, and performing, and acrobatics.</s>COLLINS: And as Cirque du Soleil has matured, as well, the brand has become part of our culture, even parodied in an Expedia.com commercial. Social satire and more. Just this year, the first unauthorized biography based on Cirque du Soleil was published.</s>JEAN BEAUNOYER, JOURNALIST: The circus has changed a lot.</s>COLLINS: Montreal journalist Jean Beaunoyer`s book, "Backstage at the Cirque du Soleil," explores the evolution of the Montreal circus. Throughout the book, there is much praise for Laliberte, now the sole owner of the billion-dollar circus. But Beaunoyer claims his rise was challenged by corporate in-fighting.</s>BEAUNOYER: At the very beginning, it was a family enterprise. But Guy Laliberte one day said to those people, "It`s not a family enterprise any more. Now we are a business enterprise." And I think that there was a price to pay for that.</s>GUY LALIBERTE, FOUNDER AND CEO: At the beginning, it was tough. It was a lot of inside battling, you know, there was different people, want to bring the company in different direction with different philosophy or spirit.</s>COLLINS: Twenty years later, there are still challenges. Cirque was accused of discrimination, after firing an HIV-positive gymnast. The company will later pay $600,000 to settle the case. In 2004, Cirque du Soleil continues to explore the idea of entertainment and merchandising, even expanding the brand into a future line of hotels. But Guy Laliberte is playing his biggest hand in Las Vegas. Cirque du Soleil unveils its newest show at the MGM Grand next year. And with a mega-budget of $150 million, it will be the largest entertainment venture the city has ever seen. As Cirque du Soleil celebrates 20 years under the sun, the little troupe that could from Montreal has transformed into a global entertainment company. But the one-time street performer turned circus entrepreneur refuses to forget where he came from.</s>LALIBERTE: I want to keep the notion of fun. It`s a serious business, but I think it`s important to keep that notion of where we come from.</s>COLLINS: But more than anything, Laliberte is committed to passing on a legacy of passion and creativity.</s>LALIBERTE: I believe it`s a beautiful jewel here in Montreal and Quebec. It`s not about money. It`s about, you know, making sure the passion will still be there tomorrow.</s>HAMMER: That was CNN`s Heidi Collins reporting for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. You can grab a copy of "People" magazine on newsstands now.</s>BRYANT: Well, if you happen to be holding a computer mouse, there`s a place where you can decide who`s hot and who`s not, but you can only get in if you`re one of the pretty people. Will one of our own make the cut? Find out, next.