MEDIA RELEASE: Monday September 16 2013
NEW YORK’S SPIEGELTENT RETURNS TO MELBOURNE IN MARCH 2014
“Imagine Cirque du Soleil as channeled through Rocky Horror Picture Show” – The New York Times
“Left me speechless, cool live music, hot taut bodies, eye popping feats of grace and muscle” – New York Daily News
“Spectacular and kinetically stunning” – Time Out New York
Since EMPIRE by Spiegelworld opened its Australian tour in January this year, it has been seen by over 130,000 people around the country with rave reviews, sold out performances and standing ovations. Spiegelworld is delighted to announce that EMPIRE will return to the rooftop of Crown in Melbourne under the beautiful spiegeltent from March 11 2014.
The return Melbourne season of EMPIRE follows spectacular engagements in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide that left audiences amazed and breathless. The Brisbane Times said “the athleticism and audacity of Empire’s performers are a marvel. It’s now one of my picks for show of the year… the best sex of my life and I wasn't even involved”. The West Australian recently described the show as “a thrilling, agile, contemporary circus, immaculately staged and precariously gripping for every one of its 90 minutes”. When Empire opened in Sydney, the Sun Herald awarded the show a rare“10/10”; while The Sydney Morning Herald described it as “the best show I’ve seen in years”.
Presented in Spiegelworld’s 700-seat antique spiegeltent, EMPIRE smashes the boundaries of circus, cabaret, vaudeville and burlesque, reinventing the genres for a 21st century audience. Featuring the sexiest, most daring artists from across the globe, the show had its world premiere season in New York City during the summer of 2012, where it was the first tented show ever seen in Times Square.
EMPIRE is a 90-minute theatrobatic adventure performed by the greatest international talent ever assembled in one tent. The MCs, Oscar and Fanny, steer the show while an eccentric cast of characters help Oscar rebuild his empire; the seductive Gorilla Girls from Ukraine form perfectly balanced pyramids on top of each other and the Ethiopian foot juggler Black Flintstone throws and impossibly catches his brother Big Mac Boy on his feet.
Other performers include the Lime Green Lady and Carrot Man who beautifully and sensuously balance each other, the Half Naked Asian Dude Wearing Pigtails from Japan who is the world champion wheelmaster, rolling dangerously past the audience; Miss A in a Bubble contorts gracefully inside an aerial sphere and the 3D Graffiti Guy from Canada creates amazing structures, balanced entirely on a feather. Miss Purple is the resident vocalist and is backed by the Viking of 6th Avenue, Moondog.
To create EMPIRE, Spiegelworld Impresario Ross Mollison assembled a stellar Australian creative team of director Terence O’Connell (numerous Australian comedy greats at The Last Laugh in Melbourne through to Circus Oz), choreographer John ‘Cha Cha’ O’Connell (Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge, The Great Gatsby), and designer Angus Strathie (Academy Award for Moulin Rouge).
Spiegelworld first presented its annual summer season in New York City in 2006 on Pier 17 at South Street Seaport with acclaimed shows including Absinthe, La Vie, Gazillionaire’s Late Night Lounge and Desir. For the world premiere season of EMPIRE last year, Spiegelworld relocated to a premium vacant lot right in the heart of Broadway. Spiegelworld is also currently presenting Absinthe on the forecourt of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, now in its 20th sold-out month and recently extended through to 2015.
EMPIRE by Spiegelworld From March 11 2014 Under the spiegeltent on the Rooftop at Crown, access via Level 3, Whiteman Street, Southbank.
Performance Schedule: Tickets: Tuesday – Thursday 7:30pm Tue/Wed/Thu: $59.00 - $129.00* Friday & Saturday 7:30pm & 9:30pm Fri/Sat/Sun: $69.00 - $149.00* Sunday – 7:00pm
*A special VIP Ticket is available which includes seating in the front two rows and a complimentary beverage.
Bookings: www.ticketek.com.au
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
FB: https://www.facebook.com/EmpireOz Website: empireaustralia.com YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/spiegelworldtv Twitter: @EmpireOz
MEDIA: For further information please contact: Mollison Communications Clea Woods, Senior Publicist Phone: 03 9694 5226 /0417 392 622 Email: [email protected]
Justine Caldwell, Publicist Phone: 03 9694 5234 / 0414 650 617 Email: [email protected]
EMPIRE CREATIVE TEAM
DIRECTOR Terence O’Connell Since graduating from NIDA’s Directors Course, Terence has staged some 150 productions in theatres, concert halls, circus tents, comedy clubs and cabaret rooms across Australia and internationally. For The Production Company at Melbourne’s State Theatre, he has directed acclaimed versions of They’re Playing Our Song, Oklahoma!, The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Crazy For You, The King & I, 42nd Street and Kismet. His national touring productions include Steven Berkoff’s Decadence, Buddy-The Buddy Holly Story, Kissing Frogs, The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole, The Rocky Horror Show, Bouncers, Barmaids, I Only Want To Be With You- The Dusty Springfield Story, Flying Fruit Fly Circus, Certified Male, Circus Oz, Busting Out, Dumped! and Minefields And Miniskirts-Australian Women And The Vietnam War. Terence has worked extensively as Guest Director/Artist In Residence at Singapore’s LaSalle College Of The Arts, Ballarat University Arts Academy, National Theatre Drama School, Showfit and Western Australian Academy Of Performing Arts. His 2012 projects include Motherhood-The Musical (National Tour) and Barassi (Athenaeum Theatre).
CHOREOGRAPHER John ‘Cha Cha’ O’Connell An internationally acclaimed choreographer for film, television and the stage, John O’Connell is probably best known for the international box office hits Shall We Dance, Moulin Rouge, Strictly Ballroom and Australia. Most recently, John choreographed this year’s Academy Awards (the Oscars) in Los Angeles. Earlier in the year he choreographed The Rocky Horror Show for New Theatricals in Sydney. Other films choreographed by John include Enchanted (for Disney), Razzle Dazzle, Romeo & Juliet, Muriel’s Wedding, Peter Pan, Passion, The Quiet American, The Matrix Revolutions, Scooby Doo, Children of the Revolution and Me, Myself & I. John’s latest feature film is Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.
PRODUCTION DESIGN Josh Zangen Zangen has been the production designer for Spiegelworld’s Absinthe, Empire and Desir productions. Other credits include Concert/Tours: Kylie Minogues’ Aphrodite-Les Folies and USA 2009, Rihanna (Baku), Jonas Brother’s (Radio City Music Hall, NY), Britney Spears’ Circus, and Nickelodeon’s Storytime Live!. On the West End, Zangen designed The Hurly Burly Show, and for theatre has designed John Lithgows’ Sunny side of the Street (New Victory, NY), James Lapines’ Mrs. Miller Does her Thing (Wyly, Dallas), and Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice (NYMF 2011), which awarded for its production design). On TV, Zangen has designed for Rihanna (SNL, American Idol, VMA’s). Zangen was also the lead designer of Macy’s 2010 award-winning Christmas windows Yes, Virginia; and has also worked on corporate events for companies such as ESPN, HBO, Nascar, History Channel, Nike, I-Robot and CNN.
MUSIC PRODUCER Jamie Siegel Jamie is a New York City based music producer whose recent projects include working with Sting, Bruce Springsteen and Jennifer Hudson. He has previously worked with Spiegelworld on Absinthe at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas.
COSTUME DESIGNER Angus Strathie Angus Strathie has had a long professional career in costume design. A friend and longtime colleague of Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, one of his earliest projects was the cult favorite Strictly Ballroom, a romantic comedy produced in 1992. In 1999, Strathie began work on the film Moulin Rouge which won him an Academy Award in 2001 for Best Costume Design. Strathie’s other credits include Queen of the Damned, Catwoman starring Halle Berry, Alien vs. Predator, Requiem, and the hit Syfy miniseries Tin Man which earned Strathie a 2003 Emmy nomination for Best Achievement in Costume Design. Strathie went on to design Baz Luhrmann’s Broadway production of the famous Puccini opera La Boheme, earning a nomination for the 2003 Tony Award for Best Costume Design. In addition to his achievements in film, television and theatre, Strathie also designed costumes for the 138th and 139th Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus in 2008 and 2009. Recently, Strathie has moved into more television work, designing multiple Nickelodeon TV movies as well as pilots for USA’s Fairly Legal and CBS’s Heavenly.