One Drop works for clean, safe water worldwide
This is the fifth year Cirque du Soleil has held “One Night for One Drop,” a special performance featuring cast members from all seven Las Vegas Cirque stage shows. The benefit was created to raise money and awareness for water conservation and preservation, with proceeds supporting One Drop, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing access to safe water, founded by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté in 2007. Since 2013, the event has raised more than $24 million to support One Drop’s mission. When: 7:30 p.m. Friday Where: Zumanity Theatre, New York-New York, 3790 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Tickets and more information: onenight.onedrop.org the years.
Dewhurst was already famous in circus circles when he was recruited to be artistic director of “Mystere.”
The show opened at Treasure Island on Christmas Day 1993. That night, Dewhurst’s wife of 40 years, Julie, passed away.
“That changed everything,” Dewhurst says. “We had been very happy here, had everything going well for us, had a house up in Summerlin. Then I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. I found after a year, or 18 months, I was not really feeling ‘Mystere,’ I was just looking at the show. I needed to get away from it.”
Dewhurst went on tour with Cirque’s “Saltimanco,” returning to be artistic director of “O” at Bellagio. He returned to the stage after “Mystere’s” original clown/usher, Wayne Hronek, left the show after suffering a knee injury.
At 75, Dewhurst again donned a circus costume.
Dewhurst has been hindered by the expected physical maladies caused by playing a clown in his eighties. He missed a few shows recently while recovering from a knee injury, but is back onstage in his regular rotation in a show that this month celebrated its 11,000th performance on the Strip.
“The only time it’s a grind is driving to the theater,” Dewhurst says with a chuckle. “But when I get here, I feel at home. It’s so fulfilling, it’s unpredictable with a different audience every night. As long as I’m enjoying it, I’ll keep going. When you stop enjoying it, is when you stop. I still look forward to coming to the theater, performing, and getting the applause.”