It’s set to make a splash; City of Dreams’ “The House of Dancing Water” makes its world premiere this month (September 17). But some analysts are concerned Melco Crown Entertainment has splashed out HK$2 billion (MOP2.06 billion) on a production that does not bring much in the way of value to the property. “‘The House of Dancing Water’ is believed to contribute to City of Dream’s brand appeal to the mass market,” says Sunny Yu, vice-president of entertainment and projects at Melco Crown. “The show is tailor-made for the vast Chinese and Asian market by drawing creative inspiration from Chinese culture.” Not everyone is so bullish. With Cirque du Soleil’s “Zaia” at the neighbouring Venetian Macao resort failing to meet expectations, analysts fear the same fate for the water show. Designed and performed by the Franco Dragone Entertainment Group, the show will increase operating costs at City of Dreams by about 10 percent to US$1.1 million (MOP8.8 million), CLSA analyst Huei Suen Ng wrote in a recent report. “The House of Dancing Water” has a pricing strategy that is similar to “Zaia” for adults but for children, the Venetian show offers cheaper tickets. Ticket prices for the 70-minute show at the City of Dreams range from HK$380 to HK$1,280 for adults and HK$270 to HK$1,280 for children. No goals have been made public regarding the attendance numbers for the first year of operations. Big numbers The production will be housed in a specially designed, 270-degree theatre-in-the-round with approximately 2,000 seats. The world’s biggest commercial pool forms the stage. To fill the 50-metre diameter, eight-metre deep pool, it takes more than five times the volume of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The pool includes 258 automated fountains and 11 10-tonne elevators that convert the aquatic stage to a solid floor in seconds. The show’s cast includes 77 international performance artists. Faye Leung, who was Hong Kong Ballet’s principal dancer from 2001 until early last year, has the leading female role. Backstage there is a team of about 130 production staff, technicians and professional divers. The show’s plot tells the story of a princess who is imprisoned by her evil step-mother once her father dies. Her rescuer is a young European stranger, washed ashore during a storm. The man falls for the princess, vows to set her free and then defeat the queen. Bullish Dragone The plot is an original from Franco Dragone, a creator who spent 12 years with Cirque du Soleil before leaving in 2000 to found his own entertainment company. In Macau, he says he has built something great. “‘The House of Dancing Water’ will be the world’s largest water-based show,” Mr Dragone told Macau Business. But he admits it has been a long ride. “Dealing with water is the hardest part,” he said. “Also, creating a fusional encounter and relationship between the human performers and the extraordinary and complex machinery and technology offered by the theatre.” Mr Dragone “absolutely” believes that the show can be a key element to promoting non-gaming entertainment at City of Dreams. It “represents the live entertainment centrepiece of City of Dreams’ overall leisure and entertainment offering.” The “Zaia” show across the road is something Mr Dragone says he is not worried about. “We don’t view ‘Zaia’ as competition. In fact, having two international shows on the Cotai Strip is actually complimentary to Macau as an entertainment destination,” he said, adding that his show was “tailored to meet the needs of Asian audiences.” The Italian-born, Belgium-raised artist dismisses any comparison with “O”, a Cirque du Soleil permanent water show in Las Vegas that he helped to create. Although both are permanent, water-based shows, “The House of Dancing Water” actually “represents the largest of its kind ever developed in the world,” he said. “The scale is much bigger, the show is therefore more dramatic in its scope and scale.” The beginning The new show is the first of a set of three non-gaming attractions that City of Dreams has in the pipeline. The next attraction is nightclub Club Cubic, which was until recently based in AIA Tower. It is scheduled to move soon but no official date has been made public. Once in its new home, Cubic will triple it size and become a 2,800 square metre live entertainment venue. “We are confident that Club Cubic at City of Dreams will bring our clubbers even more fun and excitement, and we intend to continue to shake up the night life of Macau and be the ‘must experience’ hotspot,” said Cubic’s CEO John Choi. The third non-gaming attraction is the Hard Rock Café, which City of Dreams aims to roll out later this year. That ends the cycle of investment in big, non-gaming facilities. The question is whether the bet will pay off. More changes at the top Executive vice-president and chief financial officer Simon Dewhurst has resigned from Melco Crown Entertainment as the company spills more top management. “As Melco Crown Entertainment transitions from a development company to one focused primarily on maximising its operational profitability, and as a logical next step in the management reorganisation announced last month [July], the company’s intention is to identify a CFO who, in addition to having solid financial and operational experience, also possesses skills that are aligned with the current needs of the company,” Melco Crown said in a press release. Leanne Palmer, the current vice-president, financial compliance, has assumed the role temporarily while the company “conducts a global search for a suitable candidate with exceptional calibre to fill the CFO position.” Geoffrey Davis has been promoted to deputy CFO and treasurer on a permanent basis and will be based in Macau. Prior to joining Melco Crown Entertainment as senior vice-president, corporate finance in 2007, he was the lead equity research analyst at Citi Investment Research covering the gaming industry.
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