Monday, February 9, 2009

Legend Vince Paterson To Direct/Choreograph Cirque's Elvis Show

Update: Mike Weatherford has already reported this as well. It didn't come up when I went looking all over for prior references, but I wanted to give credit where it's due.

The Cirque folks have been extremely tight-lipped about the much-anticipated Elvis show at Aria opening later this year. But very solid sources told me Vince Paterson will be directing and choreographing it, and Cirque has now confirmed this. And that's a huge, huge deal.

Who is Paterson? One of the world's most sought-after choreographers, that's all. Among his credits is Madonna's "Blonde Ambition" tour and Michael Jackson's "Bad" tour. Here is a 1-minute YouTube clip where he explains how Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" video came to be.




He's also responsible for the Marie Antoinette image of Madonna struck (left) for her "Vogue" performance at the MTV Video Music Awards. He got a Tony nomination for his work on the stage version of "Kiss of the Spiderwoman," did the choreography for such films as "The Bird Cage," "Closer," and "Evita," has created videos for Van Halen, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and David Lee Roth. Last year, he was a judge on the Bravo dance competition "Step It Up and Dance."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know I'm older and out of touch, but, most of the items you list are over 10 years old. Does he choreograph much lately, or has he moved on to other things behind the scenes?

Jeff in OKC

Anonymous said...

Well, I am a huge fan. He directed Cabaret in Berlin and it became the longest running show in the history of Berlin. In a cool tent from 1918. Ended a year and a half ago. He directed the opera Manon with Anna Netrebko conducted by Placido Domingo in LA. It was also a sold out smash in Berlin. And a few years before that he acted in, choreographed and directed the dance sequences in Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark. He's been working on this cirque show for 3 years, writing and directing.