Clowning Around

Morning All,

*A few of you have pointed out that my e-mails have turned a little too negative as of late, so this morning I’m not even going to hazard a look at the incredibly depressing and awesomely bad news that dominated markets yesterday across Europe and the US. Rather, let’s talk about a far more amusing and uplifting subject matter, and no I’m not talking about the fact that an espresso at Starbucks is now more expensive than a Citi share – I’m talking about a simpler form of entertainment: Clowns.

Cirque Du Soleil is in Dubai-town. Doesn’t that just make you feel better already? The images of multi-coloured, acrobatic and extremely talented/agile contortionists, jugglers and of course clowns running around to choreographed music, undertaking breathtakingly dangerous manoeuvres and thrilling any crowd that has come to watch. “Cirque” is a perfect example of the sprucing-up and commercialisation of a traditional form of entertainment – its slick production values and highly engrossing story-lines and carefully controlled yet still seemingly death-defying routines have become synonymous with big-ticket entertainment and all that is glitzy and fun – a particularly fitting and reflective description of Dubai, right?

What’s interesting about how this great money-making machine started (from Canada incidentally) is it would not have been possible without a government-grant. How’s that for a reflection of today’s move towards government intervention across financial institutions and a shift-away from pure private enterprise to state-sponsored “activities”. What would be nice of course, is that all the entities the world’s governments were looking to assist in this economic downturn were able to become spectacular success stories akin to Cirque – growing from one show with 73 employees in 1984 to approximately 3,500 employees from over 40 countries producing 15 shows over every continent except Africa and Antarctica (only last week’s failed US satellite and a few penguins are there), with an estimated annual revenue exceeding US$600 million – those numbers would be like music-to-the-ears of many a CEO today - and how does that compare to the $62bn loss AIG made in 3mths last yr huh? – sorry sorry, I promised I wouldn’t talk about any of that..moving on swiftly...

In fact, so successful is this show, which is part-owned by Dubai’s very own Nakheel incidentally, that its Las Vegas flagship plays to more than 9,000/night (that’s 5% of the city’s visitors!). The “O”-show as it is know there, is the most expensive and impressive of them all. Now, let’s take a look at the pricing shall we to determine whether the Dubai ticketing agents have decided to provide a value-for-money experience to both the residents of Dubai and those visiting the city during the show’s run or attempt to rake-in as much cash as possible a la Emirates excess-baggage-charging-conspiracy (must be said though, Dubai clearly has every right to vociferously market the allure of the prestigious show as it is rare for the city to have a combination of both a glitzy and relatively cultural activity to show-off):

The lowest and highest priced tickets in Vegas for the “O” show are $100 and $150* (the normal shows are even cheaper of course, coming in at $60 for the lowest priced seating, and $109 for the VIP seats). I was fortunate enough to catch the excellent Quidam in (freezing) London just back in January where the cheapest tickets were (in US$ terms to keep things simple) $63 for the bargain-“seats” and $97 for the most expensive. And how does Dubai stack-up to this? - remembering that Nakheel is a part-owner of the company so this could arguably be thought of as a “home-coming” show – well…Alegria in Dubai (a “normal” show anywhere else in the world) is providing a decent $65/ticket at entry-level. Only problem is, that’s for seats so-far-back-you-may-as-well-be-watching-from-Sharjah (that’s like watching a show staged at the Royal Albert Hall in London from Primrose Hill, or listening to a New York Central Park concert from Harlem).“Medium-tier” seating, that would be considered the equivalent of normal seating anywhere else, comes in at a lofty premium of 26% at $85. At the top-end of the ticketing schedule, where many of Dubai’s “elite” banking community would no doubt only consider themselves worthy of sitting, they will find themselves paying a full 81% more than the exclusive seating at the Vegas “O”-extravaganza.

I know a lot of people often disparagingly compare Dubai to Vegas (without the fun of gambling – am I missing something or isn’t that the whole point?) but once again how can we honestly sit here and expect to be asked to pay a premium over the prices enjoyed by the rest of the depressed world for a show that Dubai itself is an owner of – surely there should be some sense of loyalty and favouritism provided to the Dubai faithful? An example to others that investing in such a successful global act brings windfall gains to those smart enough to recognise its potential from the outset and how about providing fun-filled-family-fun at affordable prices to counter the doom-and-gloom still so prevalent (and growing) across the increasingly barren lands of Dubai. Well..actually…no. And especially “no” if you are one of the lucky few that can afford the almost laughably priced VIP tickets – how high a price can exclusivity really set you back? Dubai is certainly trying to find out with its pricing scheme - is it fair though?

Oh dear Dubai – why must you disappoint us so (and rip us-off) once again? As if it wasn’t already extortionately expensive to go out and share a few drinks with friends after work, or to eat a decent plate of soft-shell-crab without calling the bank to ensure the-huge-cheque you’ll be writing at-the-end-of-the-meal won’t bounce and land you in jail, now you go and suck the fun out of a wondrous experience like witnessing the carefully practiced and perfected movements of some of the world’s most-loved-characters-of-fun – the clowns. I wonder what pricing scheme either Abu Dhabi or Qatar would have employed if they were in such a position to provide this spectacle to their visitors – would they have turned it into an eye-poppingly-priced experience or simply allowed visitors’ eyes to pop at the show. Come on Dubai, even the Clowns here aren’t that funny.


*All info obtained from the official “Cirque Du Soleil” websites: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com and http://www.cirquedusoleil.ae/


Rgds,
Hani