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Arts & Entertainment

McCallum Theatre Becomes a "Boom Town"

Cirque Mechanics bring their popular (and unique) acrobatics show to Palm Desert for three nights.

On the surface, it’s an unusual combination:   Structural engineers, and circus performers. 

But starting tomorrow at the McCallum Theatre, Cirque Mechanics new show “Boom Town” shows that the two seeming opposites can co-exist in a delight for the eyes. 

See for yourself here

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Cirque Mechanics is much in the same mold as the popular Cirque de Soleil, but Creative Director Chris Lashua told patch they tend to do things different when compared to their larger counterparts.   

“What we do differently is we set it in a real time and real place, not a fantasy setting.” Lashua said via phone.  “It’s something you can easily relate to.   So with Boom Town, we have mechanical acrobatic apparatus, so we had the idea to get it set in a mining town in the 1800s.”  

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Welcome to Rosebud, the mythical mining town that provides the backdrop for Boom Town.   A place where cranes swing performers over the audience, where vertical poles used for acrobatics become telegraph lines, and trampolines are hiding in mining trains.   

Lashua said the concept came from brainstorming and creating the mechanical apparatus first, making the show work around those pieces, and expanding from there.  

“What a location that would support those sort of machines?” Lashua explained how the thought process of putting Boom Town together went along.    “So a mining town would allow us to do all sorts of things. Once you decide on the locale, then you can work on other things.  What else is in a mining town?   A saloon.   You can have a fight in a saloon… a saloon has a chandelier, so you can swing from the chandelier.”  

The three night Palm Desert run for Boom Town is the final stop on a 28 city tour that has been on and off since October 2011.  

For showtimes and tickets click here.

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