Michel Laprise, the director behind Cirque du Soleil's Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities, has revealed how a meeting with Madonna led to him directing her Super Bowl Halftime Show, as his signature production prepares to return to London's Royal Albert Hall.
A Meeting with Madonna
When Madonna contacted Laprise to direct her Super Bowl Halftime Show, his initial response was a cautious "maybe." He wanted to ensure they shared a creative vision before committing.
"I thought, 'as an artist, what does she want to say with this?'" he recalls. "If her approach is very commercial, I would not be the right guy and she deserves somebody else than me."
Laprise, who lives in Quebec, Canada, flew to New York the next day to meet Madonna's manager. During their discussion, the singer entered the room holding a piece of paper.
"She says, 'I'm recording my album here,'" he remembers. "And at this point I really thought, 'F***, it's Madonna.' And she's holding a piece of paper, and she's trembling, and she says 'I'd like you to listen to a track.'
"And I thought, 'after 30 years of career, with all her achievements, she's still a little bit nervous to show her new work. She's in the right place, and I want to work with that woman. Not the brand, I want to work with that artist.'"
The collaboration saw Laprise mount Madonna on a golden throne at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, in front of a global audience of 114 million. He also directed her 2012 MDNA tour, which spanned 88 dates over six months.
"I loved working with her," he says. "She's so smart, and she has respect for what it is to make a show on the stage. She's doing her f***ing homework on every aspect. And so it was a real, real pleasure."
Reviving Cirque du Soleil
At the time, Cirque du Soleil was struggling following a series of poorly-received shows, leading to the company's first ever redundancies. Laprise, who joined the organisation as a talent scout in 2000, believed he knew how to turn things around.
"I thought 'ok, I need to bring back the smile on people's faces.' I had been at the company doing casting, special events and stuff, but this was my first show," he explains.
"And I said 'look, we're going to list things that we usually find at Cirque du Soleil shows. And then we're going to write out everything that I feel we do out of comfort or habit.' Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!"
This process gave him the starting point for Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities, a touring big top show that premiered to critical acclaim in April 2014.
The World of Kurios
Set in the lab of a genius inventor, the steampunk-themed spectacle takes audiences on a hunt for a hidden, invisible universe, told through gravity-defying acrobatics and displays of human talent.
"The inspiration is the second half of the 19th century," Laprise says. "It was very rich in inventions. There was a movement of population. The gramophone allowed us to immortalise our voices.
"And it was also the golden age of magic because you know, if you could move without the power of a horse, if you could hear someone's voice after death, maybe that woman on stage was really doing levitation."
"We had been doing great shows before, but they were a bit repetitive. But that show changed my life, it changed the life of Cirque and it's been touring for 12 years now," he adds.
Laprise is also putting the finishing touches to a follow-up, Finding Utopia, which will premiere in 2027.
Honouring the Artists
Despite his celebrity collaborations, Laprise insists the real stars are the acrobats, jugglers, contortionists and clowns he works with at Cirque du Soleil, many of whom remain unknown to the public.
"It's the artist that people don't know their names," he says. "They're completely devoted to their art form, to the audience. I mean, there's nothing that pleases them more than a standing ovation.
"It's a hard life because to reach our level, you need to do your training from age four and then your career is going to last 10 years. Maybe 12, depending on the discipline. So you give everything. It's a lifestyle."
Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities will run at the Royal Albert Hall from January 13 to February 28, 2027, with tickets available via cirquedusoleil.com/KURIOS.
