LAS VEGAS — “We would like to reinvent fundraising night,” said Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte to the Las Vegas Review Journal, explaining why six of the seven venues hosting Cirque productions would go dark on Friday, March 22. The day is designated “World Water Day” by the One Drop foundation, a charity Laliberte founded to save lives among the world’s poor with sustainable clean water and sanitation systems.
The fundraising target for One Night for One Drop, an original one-off production featuring more than 230 Cirque performers in the Bellagio’s O Theater and, Cirque has hinted, atop the Bellagio pool, is between $2 and $3 million. Along with One Drop, some of the proceeds will also go toward youth education programs at Las Vegas’ Springs Preserve.
Laliberte’s One Drop charity, founded in 2007, has already raised more than $41 million toward its 25-year goal of $100 million. Attendees witnessing the one-off spectacle, with its own narrative story line tying in with water issues and original music by composer Danny Elfman and a performance by 12-year-old vocalist Jackie Evancho, will be paying more than $1,500 per seat within the 1,890-capacity venue.
The production will be filmed; viewers online will be able to see it online at www.onedrop.org for a $5 donation. Laliberte is also once again supporting One Drop this year with donations accrued from a week’s worth of Cirque show revenues (more than $1 million).
The Cirque founder also teamed with Caesars Entertainment’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2011, entered the tournament himself in 2012 and finished fifth. He donated his $1.8 million winnings to the charity.
For more information, please visit www.onedrop.org.
