Cirque Du Soleil: High-Flying Fixes

T3, E3: In Las Vegas, Cirque Du Soleil’s legendary stage show technicians work tirelessly behind the scenes to maintain the show stopping custom-built machinery that wows audiences night after night. At the Bellagio, “O” performers dive and swim around seven hydraulic lifts in a custom-built pool that gets maintained daily. Mike dives in between shows to inspect and fix the hydraulics on an underwater scissor lift, as well as the carousel above the stage. Hour before showtime, the power to the entire theatre goes down, and teams must adapt to continue the fixes. Meanwhile at the MGM Grand, “KA” the teams have shut down for a two week “dark” period to address the wear and tear that the show’s moving stage has endured. Mike fixes pieces of the stage’s roller system, and the pegs that shoot out of the stage. He replaces cables on the Forest Grid, nine stories above the stage, and key elements on the notorious Wheel of Death. As “O” starts back up and “KA”’s two-week dark period ends, it’s a race to ensure that the show will go on.