Las Vegas Weekly

February 18, 2009 · 6 AM

Morning Call Photo Gallery: Cirque spectacular Ka reaches 2,000 milestone

By Robin Leach

The Forest People of Ka.

Photo: Tomas Muscionico Costume: Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt Copyright Cirque du Soleil Inc.

The first time you watch Cirque du Soleil’s $200 million spectacular Ka at MGM Grand, you marvel in stunned silence at the gravity-defying production and simply think, “That’s unbelievable!” The truth, though, is that the impossible has become possible, and the 80 cast members have performed the miraculous for the past four years. In fact, at tonight’s second show, they celebrate their milestone 2,000th performance.

We’re going to join them for celebration champagne and cake after the finale of the late show in the lobby of their MGM theater as they meet special guests. Some 38 of the cast and 81 of the behind-the-scene technicians have been with Ka since the opening-night performance Feb. 4, 2005.

When I first saw the production back then, I was incredibly impressed by the colossal 360-degree rotating stage for the aerial adventures and perpendicular acrobatics. I know how the acrobats swing on bungee cords and poles, but I’ll never figure out how they climb up that menacing, ceiling-high vertical wall that tilts against them. I’ll even confess my heart stopped several times during the amazing and extraordinary Wheel of Death routine toward the show’s close that still chills and thrills to this day and is unlike anything ever seen anywhere else in the world.

As if that’s not enough, the characters have to dodge 1,200-degree fireballs and live burning arrows!

Photo: Tomas Muscionico Costume: Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt Copyright Cirque du Soleil Inc.

The Ka battle.

You know how I love to dig up all the backstage facts for our Strip shows, so here are some of the unusual statistics for Ka:

*More than 3 million guests have seen the show to date.

*More than 220,000 arrows have been fired during the show to date.

*Exactly 238,000 fireworks have been discharged during the run of 2,000 shows.

*Exactly 240,000 fireballs, each blazing at 1,200 degrees, have been launched.

*The Ka puppet snake has traveled more than 30 miles through the trees in the forest scene, 4 miles more than a full marathon!

*During the beach scene, corks are dumped from the stage, and to date that’s amounted to 700,000 cubic feet of cork, enough to fill eight Olympic-sized swimming pools.

In case you are wondering where the name Ka originated, I’ve got the answer to that. It comes from the ancient Egyptian belief in the “ka” that an invisible spiritual duplicate of our body accompanies every human being throughout this life and into the next!

Vegas DeLuxe will have a full report of tonight’s 2,000th show celebration, so be sure to check back here.

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