‘We want to bring back the blood, sweat and tears’

The new “One Night for One Drop” benefit performance in March from Cirque du Soleil promises to be radically different than the previous four one-night-only productions that have raised millions of dollars for the water charity One Drop Foundation. Husband-and-wife creators Nicky and Laetitia Dewhurst, working alongside director Krista Monson, the creator of the first “One Drop,” promise that it will be “more dangerous and daring” than ever before.

“We’re actually going smaller than year one as in smaller cast, smaller theater. This will be more about the individual talent of circus artists and performers. We want to bring back the blood, sweat and tears. We want the audience to really feel what it is to be a performer, and because we’re going back in time, we can go back to the traditional circus where the acts were a little more risky as in a danger aspect to the show. A little more jaw-dropping, much smaller, more intimate and thus more dangerous,” Laetitia told me.

On Monday, the trio make the final cut of just 60 performers who will appear in their production. Auditions ended last Monday, and 16 weeks of rehearsals begin Tuesday as tickets go on sale for the March 3 show at “Zumanity” Theater in New YorkNew York. The tax-deductible VIP tickets are $1,500 for the show and post-show extravaganza with performances and Cirque-themed festivities. Show-only tickets start at $100.

Go to Onedrop.org/onenight or call 1-844-33-WATER. Proceeds benefit One Drop’s global-water initiatives, with a portion locally benefiting our Springs Preserve. “It will be a little more dangerous,” Laetitia continued. “We’re really pushing the boundaries in the sense that we’re looking at the planet as a whole. I know that the charity is about water, but if it wasn’t for the planet, we wouldn’t have water.

“We’re trying to look at the broader issues of what’s going on with the planet right now. The previous four shows have all focused on the search for water. There’s no searching for water this time around. We wanted to make this show very different from the ones in the previous years but still focus on the broader issues with the planet rather than draw attention to the one particular subject.”

We talked as auditions from dozens of volunteer Cirque show performers and artists from our Las Vegas community ended. Along with Las Vegas Review-Journal photographer Jason Ogulnik’s rehearsal photo gallery, we have an exclusive inside look with the new “One Drop” producers. For the first time, dancers from our Nevada Ballet Theatre will perform onstage with Cirque.

DAMAGE TO THE PLANET Laetitia revealed: “Basically we have two main characters. One represents mankind and the other represents Earth. Man treats Earth really poorly throughout the whole show. The metaphor throughout the show is the damage we’re doing to the planet we call home. We’re doing it with characters rather than actual physical things and visuals. We have reached out to guest stars and singers, and we’re in conversation with a couple of solo artists. This year we really bring them into the show as a real part of it as actual characters.”

The husband-and-wife team who perform in “Zumanity” submitted a similar idea for this year’s show performed at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts last spring. Their hope to present extraordinary aerial excitement couldn’t be achieved there, so Cirque officials who had long wanted to use the “Zumanity” Theater for “One Drop” decided that the fifth production would be there. That meant the duo had to redesign their production for the smaller-scale theater.

“It let us go back farther in time with more of a cabaret vaudeville show, so it’s completely different to what we envisioned at The Smith Center and a completely different concept from past productions,” said Nicky. “(Cirque founder) Guy Laliberte had always wanted to use the ‘Zumanity’ Theater for ‘One Drop.’ He doesn’t know anything about the show until the night we present it. He only knows that we’re directing it.”

Laetitia added: “We know the theater. I was literally born here. I’ve been with ‘Zumanity’ since it opened. The roof wasn’t even on when I first came here. I was an original dancer on straps and pole, and now I back up the clown character played by my husband. We thought that we knew the theater from performing here ...