The Big Show With The Cast Of Cirque Alice!

0:00Mike Minogue:The Hauraki Big Show with Jace, Mike and Keyzie. Tune in weekdays at four on Radio Hauraki.

0:07Keyzie:Yes indeed, Nirvana there on the Radio Hauraki Big Show this Wednesday evening. Now the fellas have been waxing lyrical the last couple of days about a theatre show that they went to see, Cirque Alice. Yeah. And they both went to see it on the Friday night. Both of them gave it rave reviews. who's five stars out of five from Recollection, fellas. I will take it. Yes, stars, yeah. We've got two. We have got two of the stars from that very show, Sir Calis. Dizzy and Layla, how are you going? We're good. You speak for us, Layla. Yeah, I'm good. We're good. It was so great to be here. Oh, sorry, you speak for us.

0:47Mike Minogue:So we've got Layla and Dizzy. So Layla, you are Alice? Yes. Dizzy, you are the Mad Hatter. I am. First things first Alice, magnificent voice Aw, thank you, I really appreciate that Because I've seen a Cirque du Soleil show before It was one of the ones in the tent It was in the round And there was no sort of singing and performing and stuff And then you came out and had this amazing operatic voice And I was like, holy cow Awesome, thanks Yeah, does it take much sort of warming up and things like that? Absolutely, it does take a lot of warming up I think even this morning I was trying to get my voice to start happening today and it's taken like two hours.

1:23I was like, oh.

1:23Mike Minogue:What do you do for that? You've got to steam. You've got to sometimes like vocalists use like vocal humidifier, like there's like a vocal mist and stuff. Some people do straw work. But it's just like a lot of like SOVT stuff to warm up your voice.

1:37Keyzie:I used to do like five cigarettes and a couple of whiskeys. Yeah, that's pretty good to do that. You know, and I used to find that that really loosened up the larynx. And when he's saying it sounded horrendous. So I suggest you don't try that. But Dizzy, tell us about the show, man, for people that don't know anything about it. Give us a bit of an explainer. So you mentioned you saw the Cirque du Soleil version inside a tent. The producers have basically done a runway catwalk with a big round stage on the stage, but it's a lot smaller. So it's about the size of this table. What is this? Maybe 15 feet?

2:11Yeah. 15 feet round. And then they've got VIPs that sit on the stage. Wow. I wasn't invited up there, Dizzy. I don't know what happened, man. No, they're pretty expensive seats, I believe. But I believe they're all sold out. But sitting there, you're just immersed in seeing the sweat and the actual... Because nowadays we're watching stuff on phones. Is it real? Yeah, totally. Seeing these guys. You're up in the action. You're part of it. For the producers and the directors pushing us to be on stage for the finale trick of every single act that they do, we'll come out as a whole company and just stand and watch the finale final trick.

2:49Yeah. It's death-defying and we have to stand there with a straight face. When they change just a slight bit, it's just like this is it. You've seen some of the acts that they're doing.

2:58Mike Minogue:So that's the bizarre thing is you all get into the civic theatre, you're all sitting in the tiered seating, and then there are people that are sitting on tables literally one metre away from the action. There were four Kiwi dudes sitting to the right of stage on the first night, and they were on the beers, and I feel like they didn't realise what they were in for. They had the biggest eyes, the biggest expressions. it was incredible and you guys are up on stage feet away from these people doing the most bizarre stuff tell me I think I remember these guys and they were asked to keep their seatbelts on it was that kind of situation they were freaking I remember that it was brilliant because it was so expressive but Mike and I had the same experience we went there, we watched it, it was amazing, very entertaining beautiful singing, good performing very stressful super stressful, I'm like please Let everyone get through this okay.

3:48Mike Minogue:Do you guys feel the same watching the performances around you? Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's where I come in, where I'm the comedic relief. Yes. I come in, what, 15 to 20 minutes into the show? Yeah. So the audience are already begging for, like, let me just breathe.

4:03Keyzie:Yeah. So my job is so easy. Like, they're just begging to relax.

4:09Mike Minogue:The Horaki Big Show, weekdays from four on Radio Horaki. You know how good the Hauraki Big Show podcast is? Yeah, I love those fellas. Backbone. Yeah, backbone, you get it. You've got to get around the live radio show. Oh, yeah, when's that? Four to seven weekdays on Radio Hauraki and iHeartRadio. Backbone. Nice. The Hauraki Big Show podcast. For the people at home, what you're watching is different forms of acrobats. There's people hanging from the ceiling. There's people on roller skates going a billion miles an hour. There's people, you know, they're not tethered to anything. I don't know how it gets past the safety laws of the country, but, you know, if these people fall, it's all over.

4:56And so it is super, super, super stressful. It's a weird thing because you think, well, is this entertaining? Because I think I'm about to watch somebody die. But then you come out as a hatter and it is a relief. You're pulling people out of the crowd. You're mocking them. You're mocking yourself. And it is a huge relief. but as the show goes on, it gets more and more stressful, and I'm not sure how much of it is. I don't think we're selling tickets by saying this. Oh, no, no, no, we've been talking about it for days, but it is, but it's incredible, because then you get the payoff at the end. They're just so professional.

5:26But what's amazing about it is, what I'm interested in is, how dangerous is it? Because there's got to be some selling from the performer's point of view as well, right? To make it seem like it's much more dangerous than it is, the acting as well as the skill level is just phenomenal. Well, I will say with the directors, the producers that book these acts, they've gone, right, you do that chiffon, you fly from the ceiling and do that. We've seen that before. We don't want it. We want something that you've never seen. Like the guys that are doing the flying elements, you haven't seen the way they're gripping each other by the most unsafe manner.

6:05Yes. And then everyone's seen somebody balance on somebody's hands, we don't want to see that. So let's make it even more, like, impressive. Epic is the word. Yes.

6:15Keyzie:Well, that's what sort of suit de Soleil, as I know it, is sort of known for is this kind of magnificent physicality. The first time I met Mike, he was doing trapeze. And I remember watching him and just going, oh, my word. It was amazing. It must just take hours and hours and hours of practice. I was just a natural. and sometimes you come across those people, don't you, that are just natural performers. I'm lying, by the way, and you're taking it.

6:46But when it comes to, I guess I've probably seen three or four of these circus shows over the last few years. How do you guys, and I know this would be annoying because you've probably been asked a billion times, but how do you find your way into the circus? That's crazy because I'm a musical theatre performer and I've done music my whole life. I've grown up in a very musical family, so I had no idea what it was going to be like being in a circus show. And it is just like just next level entertaining. Like you just absolutely are gasping for air. Like, honestly, I'm on stage with these people every night and they're just out of this world talented.

7:24Like it is just absolutely amazing. The strength that they have and just like the love that they have for their art and their athleticism. Like it's just beyond what you can imagine. So like, yeah, like I just had no idea what I was getting myself into with these guys. And it has been a crazy ride. That's for sure. Well, it is, right?

7:43Mike Minogue:Because obviously you're a performer with a beautiful voice. Dizzy, you're very comedic. You know, you're up there having fun, making people laugh. And then you've got a guy whose skill is, first of all, being ripped to shreds. Yeah. And hanging upside down with something in his mouth, holding another performer in her mouth, spinning wildly. It's ridiculous. It's like nothing like you've ever seen before. No, exactly. And when we say it's stressful, it's in the best way. It's like not often you go into a theatre. In fact, I associate theatre traditionally, no offence, with, oh, God, I hope this is good.

8:11Mike Minogue:I hope I don't fall asleep, that sort of stuff. Instead, you walk out of there like you've been on a roller coaster. Yeah. And you've been watching a movie at the same time. Like, it's bizarre. You guys must absolutely love doing it, right? Yeah. It's awesome. It's amazing. And just the idea, the story behind Alice in Wonderland, everyone's, you know, seen the movie or read the book. So coming in, you're going, okay, we're going to see Alice. and then she comes out. Yeah. She's singing, which is incredible. Then the Tweedles come out. Who are they in the show? Every performer has a character and you just relate to that and then next minute they blow your minds.

8:46Mike Minogue:Yeah. Tweedledee and Tweedledum were both jacked. It was crazy.

8:51Keyzie:And I think you made a really good point. And that's the magic of theatre. You know, these days we're all on our phones. But the great thing about theatre is this sort of live element to it. You know, you're in the building, you're feeling the atmosphere. You know, Mike and I go to a few plays and, you know, it's a very different beast as opposed to watching something on your phone, you know what I mean? Actually seeing live performers. Yeah. Yeah. For me, I've realised word of mouth, everyone's talking about the show afterwards. It just says it in ticket sales. I think we're up to like 90 % capacity.

9:31And so it should be. I really left there and it sort of, it makes you feel so positive about the human race, the things that is possible, the amount of training that people put into their art. As you say, it's so inspiring. And my seven-year-old daughter was sitting there with me. Her greatest passion in life is eating ice cream. And she had an ice cream and she was sitting there and her mouth, she was holding it in front of her and her mouth was open and her ice cream melted down. That was how amazing it was. You guys are so incredible that you made her forget she had an ice cream and I can't tell you how big a feat that is.

10:06Keyzie:Yeah, that's successful. Dizzy and Layla from Sir Callis, thank you so much for coming in. Thank you for having us. Sincerely, thank you. All the very best for the rest of the season. It sounds like you're going great guns anyway.

10:17Mike Minogue:Yeah, and if you'd like to go and see it as well, it's on tonight, tomorrow night, Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. Good luck to you guys. There's a big shift ahead. But if you'd like tickets, go to ticketmaster.co.nz. Beautiful. Thanks for coming in, team. Thank you. Thank you, guys. The Hauraki Big Show with Jace, Mike and Keezy. Tune in weekdays at four on Radio Hauraki.