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    Daniel Lamarre keeps Cirque du Soleil on its toes

    Clifford Pugh
    Apr 7, 2011 | 11:50 am
    • Former Olympic gymnasts make up a sizable part of the Cirque du Soleil team.
      Photo by Ed Schipul
    • Daniel Lamarre, president and CEO of Cirque du Soleil
    • Performers rehearse "Ovo," which is showing in Houston through Sunday.
    • A Cirque du Soleil show centered around the music of Michael Jackson opens inMontreal in October and will be in Houston in February 2012
    • The company now has 19 shows around the world.
      Photo by Ed Schipul

    About a half hour before a performance of Cirque du Soleli's Ovo is about to begin at Sam Houston Race Park, the atmosphere in the dining trailer is unusually laid-back. A couple of performers in full make-up and track suits are listening to their iPods and watching a soccer game on a flat screen TV while others are sitting at a small bank of computers browsing websites in Russian.

    And at one table, a man in a dark jacket and burgundy patterned scarf is talking intently to a performer before strolling over to say hello.

    "How do you like my scarf?" Daniel Lemarre says proudly, noting it's a gift he just received from a Chinese acrobat in the show.

    With 19 shows, including seven in Las Vegas, one in Orlando, and touring productions around the world, Cirque du Soleil is an entertainment juggernaut. But president and CEO Lemarre believes it should still be run like a family operation.

    Every year he visits every show, conveniently leaving snowy Montreal in the winter months for sojourns to sunny locations where Cirque is in full swing. In Houston, on this very day, he has made a two-hour Cirque update to the more than 150 employees in Ovo and then individually meets with anyone who wants a few moments of his time.

    "In a selfish way, it's a way for me to understand what's going on on the tour," he says. "People know me, so they're candid. We have this kind of relationship that they're not afraid of raising questions."

    When Lamarre joined Cirque a decade ago, it had only seven shows. But he sensed something special was about to happen.

    "I thought this brand was ready to explode, because what Cirque was doing was so unique. Don't forget that with (shows about) the Beatles and Elvis and Michael Jackson, we have created a new category that is a hybrid between Broadway and a Cirque show. It's working beautifully for us."

    Lamarre credits founder Guy Laliberté for Cirque's phenomenal success. "In the word 'show business,' show comes first. If you have a good show, you'll have a great business. If you don't have a good show, you won't have a business. Sadly our industry is led by business people who don't understand the artists. We are led by an artist who does not creatively compromise."

    Lamarre and Laliberté's business relationship is a prime example of how you should always treat people well because you never know what might happen in the future. It began in 1987 after Lamarre's Montreal-based communications firm did some work for Laliberté, who was too broke to pay him. However, Lamarre thought that what Laliberté was trying to do with Cirque was amazing and wished him well.

    Flash forward 12 years later: Lamarre was head of a TV network and Laliberté's Cirque was a runaway success. Lamarre wanted to secure television rights to Cirque, but Laliberté explained he had already entered into negotiations with another company. So the next day Lamarre was surprised to receive a copy of a note that Laliberté had sent to his head of marketing. It read, "This guy helped me out 12 years ago. He wants my TV rights. Do what you have to do."

    "I was so touched that he rememberd and that he acted on it," Lamarre recalls.

    In 2001, Laliberté called Lamarre out of the blue from London. "He said, 'Daniel, I had this amazing flash last night. You are going to join the circus.' I said, 'Whoa, cool down.' And here I am 10 years later."

    To maintain the easygoing atmosphere as Cirque grows larger, Lamarre likens the organization to a big piece of steak. "We cannot be a piece of steak in one bite. The more the steak gets bigger, you have to slice it in smaller pieces," he says.

    So Ovo is an organization within itself, like all Cirque shows. "I tell people in corporate to leave them alone," Lamarre says. "We have this big machine because we need the big machine to put up the big tent, to sell the tickets, to do the fiscal issues that we have in each country. And that's fine if you protect the creative cell. The only thing I want my people to worry about here is the show."

    More "steak" will soon be on Cirque's plate : A new show, Zarkana, will open at Radio Music Hall in June for a four-month run and then move to Moscow's Kremlin Theater. A Hollywood-themed show, Iris, starts previews at the end of July and premieres Sept. 25 at the Kodak Theatre (home of the Academy Awards ceremony). Two Michael Jackson shows are in the works: An arena show that opens in Montreal Oct. 2 before going on tour, with a planned February 2012 stop in Houston, and a permanent show in Las Vegas.

    "It's a busy summer. There's a lot of sweat going on in our studio in Montreal right now," Lamarre says. " I feel good about it because there are three different teams. Only Guy and I who are looking over everything. The other people are totally dedicated to that one show."

    In recent years, the Cirque family has expanded to include an increasing number of former Olympic gymnasts, divers, and synchronized swimmers. Lamarre says that around 300 of the 1,500 Cirque performers have participated in an Olympics.

    "I'm so proud of that," he said. "Unlike professional athletes that become multimillionaires, those poor athletes have nowhere to go after the Olympics."

    Cirque has an agreement with the International Gymnastics Federation not to try to lure such athletes away before an Olympics. "We won't touch them but after the Olympics we want to make it known that this opportunity exists for them," Lamarre said. And many of the athletes can move up in the organization once their performance days are over.

    Lamarre's travel schedule sounds grueling, but he finds it invigorating. "I sleep well on airplanes. I love hotel rooms. I love everything about travel," he says.

    However, his home office is not always so thrilled with his travels. "People in Montreal are worried when I'm on the road because they know I will get crazy about thousands of new ideas of things we can do," he says with a broad chuckle.

     Ovo continues at Sam Houston Race Park through Sunday.

    unspecified
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    Movie Review

    New Superman movie forges into the future while honoring the past

    Alex Bentley
    Jul 11, 2025 | 3:30 pm
    David Corenswet in Superman
    Photo by Jessica Miglio
    David Corenswet in Superman.

    When the character of Superman was invented in 1938, it was perhaps easier to see the world in good and bad terms. Fascism was already on the rise in Germany under Adolf Hitler, and the idea of an all-powerful superhero who stood up for people in need was a welcome one. In the nearly 90 years since, though, the world and the character have undergone multiple evolutions, and the thought of someone who is purely good is often met with cynicism or worse.

    The new Superman, written and directed by James Gunn, puts the superhero (or metahuman, as the film calls him and similar creatures) squarely in the midst of the modern world, with geopolitical conflicts, mega-corporations, and social media all combining to make the altruism of Superman/Clark Kent (David Corenswet) questionable. That skepticism even extends to his coworker/girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), whose knowledge of his exploits puts her in a tricky position personally and professionally.

    Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is out to dominate the world and take down Superman, with his eponymous corporation and vast group of underlings dedicated to doing both. Superman is generally a one-man fighting crew, but he’s occasionally aided by a group calling themselves the Justice Gang, comprised of heroes many have never heard of like Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), a version of Green Lantern; Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), a flying metahuman; and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), who knows all kinds of technology.

    One of the best things about this new version of Superman is that it mostly dispenses with introductions, putting the audience in a world where Superman is already a well-known quantity who’s adored by many and hated by some. Gunn has used his new position as co-CEO of DC Studios to honor the past of the hero and take him into the future. With the 1978 John Williams theme song echoing throughout and Corenswet giving off Christopher Reeve vibes, it’s clear Gunn wants audiences to feel nostalgia while still getting something new.

    He also appears to want viewers to fight against the negativity that the modern world can bring. The plot involves manipulation of the public, usually at the hands of Luthor, through bombastic talk shows, political theater, and social media, the latter of which — in a great joke — comes to involve hundreds of typing monkeys. The film could be read as a rebuttal of many real-world ills as, despite Luthor’s machinations, many choose to continue to believe in the goodness of Superman.

    There is a lot going on in the film, but somehow it never comes off as overly complicated. Superman’s relationship with Lois Lane and Luthor’s attempts at taking him down are given the most prominence, with everything else supporting those two main things. The Justice Gang is a fun addition, with Mr. Terrific becoming the breakout hero of the group. The addition of the (CGI) dog Krypto provides levity, poignant moments, and unexpectedly great action scenes. The only part that gets somewhat short shrift is the crew of The Daily Planet, with everyone besides Lois and Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) getting little more than face time.

    Being the new Superman is a lot to live up to, but Corenswet is completely up to the job. He, like Reeve, plays the character as someone who is earnest but not naive, a quality that comes through even when he’s in the middle of fight scenes. Brosnahan is also fantastic, providing a nice balance to the relationship while also proving the character’s own worth. Hoult makes for a great new version of Luthor, and Gathegi nearly makes the case that Mr. Terrific should get a starring film of his own.

    Just as he did with the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, Gunn has shown that success can be found through making characters people want to see. Not everyone in this Superman will be familiar to viewers, but in the end a group of people working together toward a goal that serves the common good is one worth watching and cheering for.

    ---

    Superman is now playing in theaters.

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