Acrobat show moving to rebranded Broadway at the Beach theater in Myrtle Beach
Without a building in 2019, the Le Grand Cirque acrobat theater show was held in an air-conditioned 850-seat custom circus tent in the Fantasy Harbour/Waccamaw shops area of Myrtle Beach.
Dublin Worldwide Productions, which owns and operates the show, was going to move the tent in 2020 to an area of Broadway at the Beach.
The coronavirus delayed the move, but that eventually created a better opportunity.
The Big D theater at Broadway became available when magician Charles Bach moved his show to the space formerly occupied by Oz nightclub in The Avenue section of Broadway, and Le Grand Cirque is moving in.
The show in the theme of Cirque du Soleil will begin May 20 at the theater, which is being renovated and will reopen as the Broadway Theater.
“It’s great to be here at Broadway at the Beach, right in the heart of all the action,” said Jay Lodge, chief executive officer of Dublin Worldwide Productions. “It’s about getting in this year, getting a good show on and making people understand this is now the Broadway Theater . . . and building up that reputation as a new live entertainment venue and bringing in several of our shows. We’ve got 46 different production shows.”
The venue opened as the IMAX theater before being rebranded as the Big D. It features steep stadium seating with nearly 400 chairs and a 120-foot high ceiling.
The interior of the building is being renovated with among other things a paint job and some new heating and air conditioning units. The stage is being rebuilt and elevated, the lobby will have a new bar offering beer and wine, and a kitchen allows for a new food menu..
“We want the experience to be good,” Lodge said. “There’s nothing wrong with this building but there’s a lot that could be made right with it. So we decided it needs a face over and it needs to feel fresh and feel new and not feel like an old movie theater.”
Le Grand Cirque has 22 performers.
The Wheel of Death – comparable to a pair of human hamster wheels with two acrobats – will be dropped from the 120-foot ceiling.
“We’ve got 120 feet so let’s use it and fly some people down from it and fill the area up there with something cool to look at,” Lodge said.
Duo Transcend, the acrobatic couple Mary Wolfe-Nielsen and Tyce Nielsen that reached the finals of America’s Got Talent, perform a harrowing trapeze and roller-skating act.
Past America’s Got Talent act Rockardy has a hand-balancing act that includes balancing atop stacked chairs. He has performed in the Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil shows Mystere and Zarkana.
Darren Partridge, whose stage name is Dizzy, has been traveling as one of the magicians on The Illusionists national world tour and will emcee and provide physical comedy as a break between acts.
Aerial acts involve silks, straps and hoops, there is a contortionist, an act includes diabolo juggling balls, and the show has five dancers.
Some of the aerial shows will swing above the crowd.
“It’s the real deal. It’s top-line stuff,” Lodge said. “There’s something for everyone. There’s edge-of-your-seat stuff, there’s really beautiful stuff where you can relax a little and just enjoy it. There’s a bit of a mixture, a bit of a ride of all the emotions. From the minute people walk in the door to the minute they leave they’re going to be entertained.”
Many of the show’s performers will be coming from four sold-out shows with 12,000 spectators each at the Tapei Arena in Taiwan, Lodge said.
There will be nine shows per week – 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 4:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday – and the theater will be dark on Sundays.
Shows are $45 for adults and $15 for children.
Beginning in late August, a late-night adult Cirque show is planned for Thursday-Saturday that will include a DJ and VIP table seating. “That’s a concept we’re working on now and should have that finalized in the next month or so,” Lodge said. “It adds another dimension to it and something new for Myrtle Beach.”
Le Grand Cirque shows run through October, and Hot Jersey Nights featuring the music of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons will have a Christmas-themed show at the theater from Nov. 8 through New Year’s Eve.
Lodge then hopes to reopen the theater in February with some of his company’s other shows, possibly Dublin’s Irish Tenors and The Celtic Ladies and/or Spirit of the Dance.
Tickets go on sale Monday at www.BroadwayTheaterMB.com and 843-626-7645, and the box office opens on April 19.
Lodge said there is a one-year lease agreement for the building. “We’re looking to be here long-term. That’s our goal,” said Lodge, who also operates the Dino Park animatronic dinosaur attraction in Broadway at the Beach.
Le Grand Cirque and affiliated shows were a staple of the Palace Theatre for a few years before the performing arts venue was damaged by Hurricane Matthew in October 2016 and demolished in April 2017.
Dublin Worldwide Productions, which has one of its global offices in Myrtle Beach, acquired the show’s production company. Lodge was executive director of the show during its Palace Theatre run and still resides in Myrtle Beach.
He’s happy to put performers back to work after a difficult year through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It has been a painful time for everybody obviously, but the show biz industry is just completely crippled by it,” Lodge said. “It’s been real hard. We have business all over the world. Everything just stopped. The problem with putting on a great show is it’s high budget, so trying to do it with 20 percent audience just doesn’t work.”
This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 11:58 AM.
