Four Winds offers Cirque du Soleil show

Published 9:07 am Thursday, December 10, 2015

Submitted photo

Submitted photo

NEW BUFFALO, Mich. ‚— Cirque Dreams Holidaze will bring its Christmas magic to the Four Winds Casino’s Silver Creek Event Center this weekend.

Now in its seventh year of multiple touring productions, Cirque Dreams will dazzle audiences Friday, Saturday and Sunday in New Buffalo with more than 300 costumes, 20 acts and 30 performers.

Friday’s performance will be at 8 p.m., while Saturday’s performance will be at 9 p.m. and Sunday’s at 5 p.m. Tickets are still available for all three performances.

This is the second time that Cirque Dreams Holidaze has performed at the Silver Creek Event Center according to producer Neil Goldberg.

“We had Holidaze there a few years ago and I think it was really successful and it continues to evolve and we have multiple companies touring simultaneously,” Goldberg said. “In seven years the demand has really grown. They had been looking for a date to bring it back and sometimes it doesn’t align, but this year it did.

“We are coming back for an extra day and an extra show because the demand was so strong last time. It is a great holiday show that has something in it for everyone.”

Goldberg founded Cirque Dreams 20 years ago and the brand has created shows that have appeared around the world and at a variety of venues including casinos, theaters, theme parks, cruise lines and on Broadway.

He admits that he never dreamed it would be the phenomenon it has become.

“I am an artist and I think as all true artists that we think about the money or the future or where we are going to be in 20 years,” Goldberg said. “We think about the art and the work. I have grown into becoming a pretty savvy businessman throughout this journey with Cirque Dreams. It certainly has exceeded my expectations.”

Goldberg added that he continues to look at ways to improve the shows and is always looking to make them bigger and better.

“I am always looking to find new ways to bring the audience to their feet,” he said.

Goldberg has designed and created productions for two Super Bowls, the NBA, Busch Gardens, Six Flags, Miss Universe and three of the four major television networks — NBC, CBS and ABC.

And how does he keep multiple shows touring simultaneously with all the costumes, acts and performers going?

“It is a fine, well-oiled machine that operates 24-seven,” he said. “We have right now with all the Cirque Dreams shows we have in the United States and overseas, we have 160-plus artists and employees working in our shows. My day starts — well my day never ends because we are in so many different time zones. You also have to be on call because you never know where there is going to be a potential challenge.”

Goldberg said that there is a certain magic to the show that keeps the audiences mesmerized and coming back.

“I think theater in general is magical,” he said. “With Cirque Dreams Holidaze, what is even more magical than that is the holiday season. It just sort of lends itself to the imagination. To being magical and being festive Unlike any other Cirque show, Cirque Dreams Holidaze is so acceptable, understandable and appreciated by the audience because we are combining classic songs like “Winter Wonderland,” “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and we are taking contortionists and putting them inside candy canes. So you are not really watching a contortionist doing an acrobatic act. You are watching candy canes twist and turn which conjures up your imagination to say ‘I always put candy canes on my Christmas tree, I wonder if they come to life if they would do that. We also do the same with gingerbread men and with toy soldiers.

“We take all the iconic imagery of the holiday season and dress it up in a theatrical stage setting. When we put it all together it is part Broadway musical, part Cirque show and part holiday spectacle all in one.