The great depression in live performances is truly a global tragedy. If you think restaurants and barbershops have it bad, imagine theaters. For most of them it's basically impossible to do social distancing and remain financially solvent. People may be itching to go out to eat and get a haircut, but it will be a long time before people are going to pack in to an opera house. Couple that with the fact that audiences for ballet, opera, and orchestras skews much older I'm any case, and I fear many of these art forms will face a catastrophic blow in some cities.
That and a lot of these venues had razor thin margins during the best of times; at half capacity they can’t survive. And that’s not even including the fact that discretionary spending will remain low until people feel financially secure, which might happen long after the pandemic is solved. Those who lost out on work will have credit holes to dig back out of once this is over.
Here in LA this is killing off some standup clubs. I’ve speculated that it’ll decimate a whole generation of up and coming comics; if you’re a club that’s struggling and needs to sell half the seats at a higher price per, you’re going to reach for tried and true artists and not anyone slightly risky.
Live streaming a perfomance isn't an option? Wouldn't mind paying to live stream my favorite orchestra while stuck at home. There was a thing about spanish orchestra performing to an audience of plants and streaming it.
This holiday season is going to be a real test since we won’t have a vaccine by Novemberish. No ones going to fly out to holiday hotspots, or travel for Thanksgiving.
A digital platform with some sort of interaction (clap, reactions, emojis, live chat with some sort of censorship) might adjust public spectacles to the new age.
I never liked circus. It was mildly interesting in tv or movies. The one time that I went to a show, I was lucky enough to be far from the action: a lion sprayed the two front rows. The smell was everywhere, everything had a sad vibe, even (maybe specially) the clowns. Only trapeze artists saved the evening for me.
Cirque du Soleil was an entirely different matter. Everything was shiny, cool, happy. My son had a great time. I had a great time. Sad to see them close. Hope they can come back to life somehow.
Cirque du Soleil certainly are different and work like a tightly knit family, they do have the advantage of not being a traveling show though.
Having been back-stage at a circus many times for work, it's a really tough and hard life to live in...
They eventually removed all of their animals from their show, not because of external pressure, but because they could no longer care for the animals as they used to.
For those that haven't seen their VR experience, try and see it, it's jaw-dropping good.
Cirque was in trouble long before COVID. They expanded too quickly around the world and spread themselves too thin. None of their shows in the last ~10 years have been blockbusters (most of them already retired), and the novelty of the original Vegas ones has worn off. They tried a theater division which failed. They had already started to restructure their operations and announced layoffs as early as 2015. I imagine the current environment was the nail in the coffin.
Maybe around the world is also where they found more success? My parents have been visiting their shows in Germany for the last few years, and they've been sold out (or close to it) every time. I'm sure that the permanent location in Berlin they had planned would've also been a success for at least a few years.
The layoffs and restructuring in 2015 was to get slimmer for a sale. Guy sold 90% of the company off right after for 1.5 billion. Cirque has been run by bean counters since even before the sale even went through.
Covid is destroying the entire entertainment industry. Huge entertainment companies, staging and rental industry, broadway theaters, touring etc are just getting hammered. In some ways, Cirque is more likely to come through than most since they have the cash flowing in from Quebec government.
For those that haven't seen a Cirque show, they've recently started putting 1hr samples on YouTube. Very very different to 'traditional' circus with a lot more theatre where many of the performers are essentially professional athletes with theatre skills.
This is exactly what bankruptcy protection should be for. Cirque (and 1001 other businesses) have a viable future ahead of them. They just need their creditors to be held off for 6 months. The alternative is that a valuable business is destroyed and no one (not even the creditors) gets much back.
As a brit, I envy the US their bankruptcy process. It is a lot less punative than the UK system...
Ouch, I was planning on seeing a Cirque show in May and obviously it was cancelled and refunded. In my opinion, it's a good value for the money. Hopefully we'll see them recover in some form or another.
[+] [-] hn_throwaway_99|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ashtonkem|5 years ago|reply
Here in LA this is killing off some standup clubs. I’ve speculated that it’ll decimate a whole generation of up and coming comics; if you’re a club that’s struggling and needs to sell half the seats at a higher price per, you’re going to reach for tried and true artists and not anyone slightly risky.
[+] [-] badrabbit|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrischen|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] runawaybottle|5 years ago|reply
Vaccine or bust basically.
[+] [-] econcon|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] atmosx|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] narag|5 years ago|reply
Cirque du Soleil was an entirely different matter. Everything was shiny, cool, happy. My son had a great time. I had a great time. Sad to see them close. Hope they can come back to life somehow.
[+] [-] tmikaeld|5 years ago|reply
Having been back-stage at a circus many times for work, it's a really tough and hard life to live in...
They eventually removed all of their animals from their show, not because of external pressure, but because they could no longer care for the animals as they used to.
For those that haven't seen their VR experience, try and see it, it's jaw-dropping good.
[+] [-] rantwasp|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] charlesju|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paxys|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hobofan|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] malkuth23|5 years ago|reply
Covid is destroying the entire entertainment industry. Huge entertainment companies, staging and rental industry, broadway theaters, touring etc are just getting hammered. In some ways, Cirque is more likely to come through than most since they have the cash flowing in from Quebec government.
[+] [-] akampjes|5 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=RDEMP3dHAEi0ZvUl0krV3T...
[+] [-] tomjuggler|5 years ago|reply
Hey, anyone looking to hire an ex-circus performer? My digital cv is here https://circusscientist.com/cv
Mostly Android apps but I can do Wordpress, data input, server management, creative coding...
[+] [-] smabie|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aeontech|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LatteLazy|5 years ago|reply
As a brit, I envy the US their bankruptcy process. It is a lot less punative than the UK system...
[+] [-] neonate|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ogre_codes|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dehrmann|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cooldevguy|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Scoundreller|5 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirque_du_Soleil#:~:text=On%20....
[+] [-] narag|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] luord|5 years ago|reply
I seriously hope they manage to come back from this. Their shows are magical.
[+] [-] MarioKartBowser|5 years ago|reply
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