Spectacles drew crowds as summer progressed; After good first season Silver Mist, Cirque planning for 2007
JOHN LAW / Review Staff Writer
Local News - Saturday, September 02, 2006 @ 02:00
They arrived with lots of hype, hope and hoopla.
Now that Cirque Niagara and Silver Mist Productions have survived their first summer in Niagara Falls, work is already underway for 2007.
Both companies were the new kids on the block this year, taking a big risk with big budget shows.
Silver Mist Productions brought a $1.6-million version of Disney's Aladdin Jr. to the Greg Frewin Theatre, while Cirque Niagara set up its $10-million spectacle Avaia in a tent at Rapidsview Park.
Both shows got off to a slow start, but gained momentum as summer chugged along.
"We increased attendance every week," said Aladdin Jr. producer Linus Hand. "Our best week was last week."
As the inaugural show of Silver Mist Productions, Aladdin Jr. promised Toronto-calibre theatre for Niagara Falls.
Reviews across the board were good, Hand said, and the show did "better than expected" at the box office, despite still losing money.
Much of the costs were for staging, lighting and infrastructure, laying the groundwork for future shows.
Attracting tourists was the priority, Hand said, but a surprising number of local residents flocked to the musical.
"It's all word of mouth," he said. "With this coming in, there was skepticism. And justifiably so.
"What's the show going to be like? Is it worthwhile seeing? Would it be Toronto-style quality?
"Once we got people in to see that, it was huge.
"There have been an awful lot of summer shows that opened up and haven't made it to the end of their runs.
"You don't have to look any further than (Toronto's) Lord of the Rings. We said we were going to run 16 weeks, and we made it to the finish line."
The show wraps up a five-month run on Labour Day.
The company has Disney's Beauty and the Beast booked for next year. Cirque Niagara's Avaia continues to Oct. 8, but is already in the books as a winner, said co-owner Gabe Macaluso.
The show's mix of Russian acrobats and horses sold about 170,000 tickets this summer and "surpassed a lot of the expectations."
The company signed a three-year deal with the Niagara Parks Commission to perform at Rapidsview Park.
A new show will be offered next summer, with Avaia possibly going on tour.
Cirque Niagara recently opened a Toronto office for the purpose of promoting shows throughout Canada.
"We're being courted by several companies," said Macaluso. "But we have decided Niagara Falls will be our home base."
The show's original plan was to lure tourists already in town, he adds, but as summer continued it was apparent people were driving in specifically for the show.
"We found we were a destination, not unlike Marineland.
"We should have picked up on that earlier. People were calling us buying tickets, then asking us where they should stay. That was a surprise to us."
Cirque Niagara president Peter Mercanti said there was a huge learning curve for the company's first year. For one thing, he insists, reports of 12 to 15 million tourists visiting Niagara Falls every year are exaggerated.
"It's more like six million," he said. "We learned a lot about the tourist scene. The numbers are crazy."
Despite fewer tourists than expected, a "fantastic" turnout by local residents made up for it.
"They've been extremely supportive of the show," Mercanti said. "We can't rely on the United States as our bread and butter, as the golf courses found out this year."
Despite the doom and gloom predictions for tourism this summer, Mercanti is proud Cirque Niagara held its own.
"We've accomplished the goals we set out to accomplish," he said. "We've proven we can bring world class entertainment to Niagara Falls."
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MY WIFE AND I ARE BRINGING OUR DAUGHTER TO "AVAIA" FOR HER BIRTHDAY NEXT WEEK, HOPE IT'S WORTH THE HYPE!
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ARTICLE FOUND AT: NIAGARA FALLS REVIEW