The Movie Set from "Iris" at the Kodak Theatre

The opening of Cirque du Soleil’s astonishing new Iris at the Kodak Theatre raises a self-serving but inevitable question within the LA theater community – “what’s in it for us”?

On the one hand, the gloomier indigenous theatrical producers might be concerned that local theatergoers’ budgets could be depleted for a while after they buy a pair of the better ($100-plus) Iris tickets.

On the other hand, is it possible that Iris could help send resident theatergoers – and tourists too – to other LA productions?

LA theater has seldom attracted tourists.  Sure, a few out-of-towners came here to see Phantom of the Opera or Lion King or Wicked during their long sit-down runs in LA, before those shows arrived in cities closer to the fans’ homes. But those shows eventually did arrive in those other cities — and in many other places besides New York and LA.

Iris, by contrast, can be seen only in LA, and it’s likely to attract Cirque fans from Quebec to Canberra. I can’t remember another LA theatrical production that could be accurately described with both these phrases – “only-in-LA” and “tourist magnet.”

Hand to Hand

Of course most readers of this column probably believe that plenty of other LA theatrical productions might be appreciated by tourists – if the tourists were only aware of them. But with LA’s vast theatrical landscape so far-flung, and with most marketing budgets so skimpy, how do tourists who are here for only a few days ever figure out which shows are out there and which ones they might enjoy?

In LA, tourists can’t show up at a centralized half-price ticket booth and see what’s available that day within walking distance. Discounted LA theater tickets are available online, but if you’re a tourist, you probably won’t know enough about where particular theaters are in relationship to where you are, or how to get from one to the other.

Speaking from the Kodak stage just before the second of two opening night performances of Iris, Cirque founder Guy Laliberté discussed how Cirque likes to become involved in the communities where it sets up shop. He probably was speaking primarily about Cirque’s charitable efforts on behalf of water conservation (the One Drop Foundation), at-risk youth (Cirque du Monde), and local visual artists who participate in Cirque poster contests (Safewalls).

But he also acknowledged Cirque’s special relationship to LA, where Cirque’s US premiere occurred 24 years ago. When I was reporting my recent article on Cirque and the LA connection, I obtained a Cirque-published Iris booklet that devoted a full page to recounting the “beautiful love story” between Cirque de Soleil and LA.

Could Cirque’s love for LA expand to include the LA theater community?

Film Strip

The week before Iris opened, I looked around the Hollywood and Highland center, which houses the Kodak, to see if there was any evidence of other LA theatrical activity on the premises. At the visitors’ bureau office just off Hollywood Boulevard, I found flyers for three LA theatrical productions – but unless a tourist is looking for them, they could be easily overlooked among the dozens of flyers for other LA attractions.

Last night I examined the free program handed out at Iris to see if there were any hints that a lot of other theater exists in LA. There was an ad for the Universal Studios tour, if you consider that a form of theater, Otherwise, the ads were for restaurants, shopping centers, Time Warner Cable, KOST radio, as well as Cirque’s other productions and charitable enterprises.

Cirque could provide a real service to the theaters of LA if it allowed a discounted or pro bono ad in that program about other LA theater – and/or if it arranged for a spot or spots within the Kodak’s several lobbies where more information could be obtained about other LA theater.

With enough brainstorming, perhaps other ideas might arise about how Cirque could help spread the word about LA theater to the tourist throngs. A way to start that conversation would be for LA STAGE Alliance, which (full disclosure) publishes LA STAGE Times among its many projects, to extend to Cirque a warm and enthusiastic welcome and an invitation to join LASA.

Of course, if Cirque were to join LASA, it would become eligible for Ovation Awards. I can easily imagine that some LA theatrical designers, in particular, might not like competing with Cirque du Soleil for Ovations.

Rooftops

For that matter, Danny Elfman’s original score for Iris clearly deserves some sort of an award – perhaps one of the “Ovation Honors” designed for categories in which there aren’t other nominees. It’s the most distinguished stage score for a non-musical that I can recall hearing in an LA theater. It would be tempting to simply award Iris one special honor so it wouldn’t overwhelm the design categories – but Elfman, who is the only Angeleno in the Iris creative team, should also get his own Ovation honor.

At any rate, such distinctions can be decided later. Regardless of the increased competition for Ovations, Iris is now part of the LA theater scene, and to pretend that it isn’t would be a case of ignoring the biggest elephant in the room. I hope that the LA theater community in general will gladly make room for Cirque du Soleil. Any concerns that Cirque might dominate a few awards categories would be insignificant when compared to the possibility that a larger fraction of the greater LA tourist trade could eventually realize that other kinds of theater are alive and well in LA.

PREPARE YOUR OSCAR SPEECH: I didn’t realize that Iris would be so site-specific. In the second act at the Kodak Theatre, the Cirque’s clowns perform a burlesque version of a movie awards ceremony – on the same site where the Oscar ceremony takes place each year.

Until now, the Kodak’s main claim to fame has been that annual Oscar bash, especially since the American Idol finals moved to the Nokia.  But that may change. Iris will occupy the Kodak throughout most of the year, for at least a decade, barring some unforeseen turn of events. When people think of the Kodak, they might well think of Iris before they think of the Oscars.

Contortion

After all, most theatergoers aren’t invited to the Oscars, but they’re certainly welcome at Iris. And as part of the Iris burlesque of the Oscar ceremony, one audience member per performance, usually from the orchestra section, is escorted to the Kodak stage to accept one of the mock-Oscar awards. Oscar-struck tourists who have fantasized about accepting one of the trophies now have a slight chance to be able to live out that fantasy on stage at the Kodak, albeit in a parody instead of the real thing.

That parody gets big laughs, by the way. In the first professional review of the production that I’ve read, Charles McNulty of the Times – while impressed with most of Iris – also referred to “the dud clown show shenanigans.” He specifically cited “a parody of an award show competition that initially seems pitched to children, but then the humor takes a risqué turn suggesting that its real target is the vulgar brat lurking within every adult.”

I detected no intent by Cirque to pitch this shtick to children. Instead, it serves to undercut any sense of preciousness that some have found in Cirque productions. I agree with McNulty that some of the other clowning is less inspired than the rest of the production, but in this scene, I’m glad that Iris recognizes our inner vulgar brats as well as our inner would-be acrobats, and that it does so in such an LA-specific context.  This context also appears in the closing line of the first act – a line that reflects on the transformative effects that LA can have on individuals. Not coincidentally, that quality is something that’s the subject of Iris itself.

I won’t go on in greater detail about Iris here, not only because McNulty and others are already doing so, but also because the highlights of it shouldn’t be known in advance, just like plot twists in a more earthbound theatrical production.  Let’s just say that as giant dreamscapes go, Iris is on the level of the recent LA Opera Ring cycle – but it requires much less time spent in the theater, and it’s going to be available for nearly 10 years.

Don’t wait, though, to see it in its tenth year. When you see it once, you may well want to see it again from another angle.  Iris is, yes, eye-opening.

***All photos by Matt Beard © 2011 Cirque du Soleil

Iris, Kodak Theatre, 6801 Hollywood Blvd (within the Hollywood and Highland complex). 2011 schedule: Tues-Fri 8 pm, Sun 1 and 6:30 pm. Dark Oct 10-19, Nov 24, Dec 5-7 and 25. 877-943-IRIS (4747). www.cirquedusoleil.com