Cirque du Soleil launched KÀ at the MGM Grand on Feb. 3, 2005. Much has changed on the Strip—and the MGM Grand—in those 10 years, but KÀ remains a constant, drawing capacity crowds to its $165 million, 1,950-seat theater for 10 performances every week. It’s rare enough that any show lasts that long in Las Vegas, but KÀ has also maintained one-third of its original cast despite a rigorous schedule and a tragedy that led the production to temporarily drop its climactic battle scene.
Cast and crew are looking forward to the next 10 years of relating the odyssey of a pair of twins separated after an attack by sinister forces. As the 10th anniversary approaches, general stage manager Stacey Myers describes the mood within the 300-plus member KÀ community as “very excited. It’s a great group. The technicians and the artists get along famously.” Myers functions as the liaison between the artistic director and tech crew, as well as the show caller who gives cues from the back of the house during shows. “We have a very good understanding that no one person makes this show happen. It takes all of us together.”
KÀ immediately distinguished itself from other Cirque productions thanks to an ambitious set design by the late Mark Fisher, perhaps most notably the ingenious hydraulics of the Sand Cliff Deck. The cast includes talent that has been with the show since the beginning: internationally known baton twirler Noriko Takahashi; sisters Jennifer and Cheri Haight, who play the twins at the heart of the narrative arc; “acro-valet” Jason Zulauf; and brothers Sabú and Francisco Alegría, traditional circus performers from Mexico who defy danger on the “Wheel of Death.”
The KÀ family lost longtime performer Sarah “Sasoun” Guillot-Guyard during an onstage accident on June 29, 2013. The battle scene had to be pulled while safety standards were re-examined; show producers reinstated it last December. Guillot-Guyard’s fellow cast members were devastated, but while her absence will be felt as the 10th anniversary is observed, it’s her passion for performing that will be remembered.
KÀ is one of the Strip’s most demanding productions, but passion drives the cast performance after performance, making the show seem fresh the second, third or even fourth time around. “When you’re happy with your surroundings, and you’re happy with what you do, and when you love what you do and you’re passionate about what you do, you go out there every day and try to do the best job that you can,” Myers said. “I think we have a bunch of happy people here, and that’s why the audience sees and feels that passion from the show, because they go out there and give it their all, all the time.”
MGM Grand, 7 & 9:30 p.m. Sat.-Wed. (dark Feb. 1), $69-$180 plus tax and fee. 702.531.2000
