Cirque du Soleil's first musical and Broadway production opened May 2016 at the Lyric Theatre in New York City.
It is The Golden Age of Hollywood. Singer-lyricist Indigo James is discovered by the biggest director in Hollywood, AJ Golden, and cast as the leading lady in his next film; her composer partner Joey Green is also hired so that the duo may provide songs for the production. She is poised for stardom...but. Joey has nursed unrequited love for Indigo for years. As filming commences, her director takes a shine to her as well. Yes, the classic battle between art and love is about to play out once again in a story that journeys from Hollywood to New York City, and is dramatized via musical numbers, acrobatic setpieces, and combinations thereof.
The Broadway production closed in April 2017 to make way for the first American production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, but will relaunch in Hamburg, Germany in 2019.
This stage musical contains examples of:
- All Musicals Are Adaptations: Averted, though the plot is very similar to such works as The Red Shoes and Moulin Rouge! and critics noticed.
- The Golden Age of Hollywood: The setting is explicitly described as such in the program and by the characters.
- Gorgeous Period Dress / Hollywood Costuming: The Cleopatra and Calamity Jane movies being shot feature both tropes, as actual films of the era did. The "real world" scenes also are drenched in Costume Porn and qualify as the former trope out-of-universe.
- The Great Depression: The specific time period of the story.
- Hollywood History: Invoked in-universe with films that take place in...
- I Kiss Your Hand: Joey kisses Indigo's at one point.
- "I Am Great!" Song / Opening Chorus: "The Hollywood Wiz", set at an awards ceremony as AJ Golden accepts a lifetime achievement award.
- "I Want" Song: "Something More".
- Love Triangle: The central premise and the title of one of the songs.
- The Muse: Indigo is/becomes this to both of the men in her life. The trope name also provides the title of a song.
- The Musical
- One-Word Title
- Roofhopping: The climactic chase through New York City involves this.
- The Western: The Calamity Jane film is one of these.
