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Cirque Du Soleil: 20 Years Under the Sun - An Authorized History
An anniversary tribute to the sophisticated circus extravaganza shares the story of founder Guy Laliberté, charts its rise from a humble performing group to international success, and features color photographs of each production including Saltimbanco, Mystère, Varekai, and "O." 25,000 first printing.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 19, 2010
Recently I became obsessed with Cirque du Soleil. I starting watching every DVD I could get my hands on through Netflix and the library, and then I got to go see Ovo in Boston last week. During one of my library catalog searches I came across this book. I didn't really want to read a book about Cirque du Soleil but the description mentioned a lot of pictures and I was curious about things like how they come up with the different shows and costume design.
This is a BIG book but was largely pictures (especially toward the end with the descriptions of the different shows). There was more background and history of how the Cirque came to be than I really cared for. Also, I had already watched the documentary "A Baroque Odyssey" which covered the Cirque up until 1994 (10 years before this book). However, I did enjoy getting behind the scenes in the later chapters and seeing the costume design sketches. Not a whole lot of meat there (I think I could read an entire book about Cirque du Soleil costume design) and after watching "The Fire Within" (a reality series about the making of Varekai) I realize I would have enjoyed some more personality about the book rather than how it seems to be a "Wow, Cirque du Soleil is a success! Here, read about it!" Beautiful pictures, but I might have preferred reading something like Wings: Backstage with Cirque Du Soleil or Dreams of the Solo Trapeze: Offstage with the Cirque du Soleil.
This is a BIG book but was largely pictures (especially toward the end with the descriptions of the different shows). There was more background and history of how the Cirque came to be than I really cared for. Also, I had already watched the documentary "A Baroque Odyssey" which covered the Cirque up until 1994 (10 years before this book). However, I did enjoy getting behind the scenes in the later chapters and seeing the costume design sketches. Not a whole lot of meat there (I think I could read an entire book about Cirque du Soleil costume design) and after watching "The Fire Within" (a reality series about the making of Varekai) I realize I would have enjoyed some more personality about the book rather than how it seems to be a "Wow, Cirque du Soleil is a success! Here, read about it!" Beautiful pictures, but I might have preferred reading something like Wings: Backstage with Cirque Du Soleil or Dreams of the Solo Trapeze: Offstage with the Cirque du Soleil.
December 22, 2011
Did you know that Cirque du Soleil had a rough-and-tumble, from the streets origin (including a year where they didn't turn a profit and faced potential financial collapse)? Did you know that its first shows marked a great learning curve on how to create the Cirque universe and bring it on the road? Did you know that each Cirque show faces unique challenges? And did you know that Cirque always rises to these challenges and surpasses expectations?!?
You can learn all that and a little more by reading this coffee table book! 20 Years Under the Sun clearly puts the AUTHORIZED in Authorized History. Every show is a triumph of humanity! Every show marks the brilliance of artistic and athletic creativity! Every show reinforces the benevolent leadership of Guy Laliberte! Every show is the best show ever!
Still, the pictures are amazing. And say what you will about Cirque, it is an institution, and it certainly has contributed in the North American awareness and appreciation of European and Asian circus performance.
You can learn all that and a little more by reading this coffee table book! 20 Years Under the Sun clearly puts the AUTHORIZED in Authorized History. Every show is a triumph of humanity! Every show marks the brilliance of artistic and athletic creativity! Every show reinforces the benevolent leadership of Guy Laliberte! Every show is the best show ever!
Still, the pictures are amazing. And say what you will about Cirque, it is an institution, and it certainly has contributed in the North American awareness and appreciation of European and Asian circus performance.
January 19, 2016
Cirque du Soleil is a fascinating group of performs. This book is filled with very beautiful photos of many of them performing. There's also a whole series of DVDs about various Cirque shows and music CDs from their shows available separately. If you have any interest in Cirque du Soleil then this is a book you must get.
August 31, 2013
Again this is a great book for Cirque fans...beautiful photographs...it could have gone deeper into the behind the scenes life of the artists especially on the road...this book doesn't include any of the new productions because it is just up through 2004
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews