Zumanity

Zumanity
Logo for Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity
Company	Cirque du Soleil
Genre	Contemporary circus
Show type	Resident show
Date of premiere	September 20, 2003
Location	New York-New York Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas
Creative team
Writer and director	Dominic Champagne
Writer and director	René Richard Cyr
Creation director	Andrew Watson
Creator and costume designer	Thierry Mugler
Set designer	Stéphane Roy
Composer and arranger	Simon Carpentier
Choreographers	Debra Brown Yanis Marshall (formerly Debra Brown & Marguerite Derricks)
Lighting designer	Luc Lafortune
Sound designer	Jonathan Deans
Clown act creator	Cahal McCrystal
Comedy writers	Shannan Calcutt Jamie Morris
Projection designers	Peter Thompson Jorge Salomone Keith Sadowski (formerly created by Natacha Merritt)
Makeup designer	Nathalie Gagné
Acrobatic equipment and rigging designer	Jacque Paquin
Prop designer	Normand Blais
Other information
Preceded by	Varekai (2002)
Succeeded by	Kà (2005)
Official website

Zumanity is a resident cabaret-style show by Cirque du Soleil at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The production was unveiled on September 20, 2003. It is the first "adult-themed" Cirque du Soleil show, billed as "the sensual side of Cirque du Soleil" or "another side of Cirque du Soleil". Created by René Richard Cyr and Dominic Champagne, Zumanity is a departure from the standard Cirque format. Intended to be for mature adult audiences only, this show is centered on erotic song, dance, and acrobatics.

The inspiration to create Zumanity came from multiple sources. Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté had been offered the chance to create two new shows in Las Vegas, and wanted something completely new and original rather than multiple similar shows that would cannibalize off of each other's sales and audiences. Another reason was that the New York-New York Hotel and Casino wanted to make their entertainment appear more "trendy". The hotel liked the concept of a more adult Cirque du Soleil performance.

Laliberté admits that the biggest reason to produce this show was the chance to create something with riskier subject matter. He was interested in the idea of creating a show that explored human sexuality, something that was at complete odds with the other, more family-oriented Cirque du Soleil shows. "Our previous shows have all been family-oriented and politically correct, which is great," Laliberté said, "but we're human beings, we won't hide it. We're a bunch of happy campers. We like to live new experiences. Zumanity deals with some of those experiences."

A few of the characters who appear in Zumanity are listed below.

The acts in Zumanity are a mélange of dance, sensuality, and acrobatic prowess.

Thierry Mugler designed the costumes for Zumanity; he created the costumes to enhance the sensual atmosphere and heightened sexuality of the production. Many of the costumes are highly colorful, yet some are minimal to an exaggerated extreme. Fur, feathers, leather, lace, fishnet stockings, velvet dresses, tiny corsets, cone bras, and plastic accessories were primary materials utilized to create the costumes' provocative appeal. Jonel's costume, for example, is made of stretch vinyl and is airbrushed to create a semi-nude effect; her bright red wig is made of expanded foam. Faun has fur on his pants which is made from toothbrush bristles, human hair, and yak fur. Molinier's long velvet dress was created by using a stencil and net onto which black silicone was applied.