The Quebec company Scéno Plus signs the design of the Resorts World Theater in Las Vegas, which Celine Dion was to inaugurate before the postponement of its series of performances. It is finally Carrie Underwood who will baptize the place on Wednesday evening with her new show. Press discussed with Olivier Berthiaume-Bergé, president of the Montreal SME, the implementation of this gigantic project.
The Resorts World Theater is Scéno Plus’s seventh project on the Strip. It is also his greatest accomplishment, underlines Olivier Berthiaume-Bergé, joined in Vegas on the eve of the grand opening of the 5,000-seat venue. “It’s not the biggest room we’ve done in terms of capacity, but few projects have this pictorial, architectural and aesthetic quality,” says the president and chief operating officer.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
Olivier and Vincent Berthiaume-Bergé, at the head of Scéno Plus, have taken over the business from their parents.
Scéno Plus, which has worked on more than 200 projects around the world, had notably thought of the modernization of the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, which hosted Celine Dion’s first residence in Las Vegas in 2003. The new hall that we are opening today hui was initially to see the light of day a few years later. You have to go back to 2006 to understand how the Resorts World Theater was born. At the time, Scéno Plus was already in charge of the project, then named Echelon.
“Construction had started, but when the 2008 economic crisis hit, everything was stopped, the owners decided not to go ahead,” explains Olivier Berthiaume-Bergé.
We have done several other rooms since and every time we came to Vegas, we saw this Resort that we had designed halfway into the desert and we said to ourselves that it would be good if we finished it one day!
Olivier Berthiaume-Bergé, President of Scéno Plus
Very recently, when the theater was bought out and Scéno Plus was able to resume its place as designer, the production companies AEG and CDA (which produces Celine Dion’s shows) renewed their bond of trust with the Quebec company, which , from 2019, took the original drawings of Echelon to imagine the Resorts World Theater. “We reviewed the architectural concept a bit, we reviewed the concept of interior design a lot. We also signed the lighting design, acoustics, all the integration of infrastructure and specialized equipment. We did the stage, the room, the hall, almost from A to Z, ”describes the president of Scéno Plus.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SCÉNO PLUS
The lobby of the Resorts World Theater was entirely designed by Scéno Plus.
Postponed
Everything was well underway for a grandiose launch with the Celine Dion show, in a room designed in partnership with her team. From their premises on De Lorimier Avenue in Montreal, and in the field when possible during a pandemic, the twenty or so Scéno Plus employees have set up a duly thought-out concept.
“All their technical needs, they were able to [examiner] with us at the design stage, so it was integrated into the design, ”says Olivier Berthiaume-Bergé. In recent months, as the premiere approached, “we spoke almost every day with Céline’s team, we had staff on site almost continuously.” Everything was in place.
But in October, Celine Dion announced that she could not take the stage as planned on November 5 due to medical problems. “I can’t hide that it was a disappointment for us,” says Olivier Berthiaume-Bergé.
We can say mission accomplished because the room is magnificent. But not to see the project come to fruition when you imagined it, to conceive a project and not to use it, that takes away part of the feeling of duty accomplished and of the adrenaline.
Olivier Berthiaume-Bergé
Everyone knows at least that it is only a postponement, “that Celine will come back”. In the meantime, Carrie Underwood will take the stage first at the Resorts World Theater. Then Katy Perry will take over with her own unique show before giving way to Luke Bryan.
“We can’t wait to see what it will put on a show,” says the president of Scéno Plus. It will be fun to see how each artist will bring their color. This will allow us to see if we have succeeded in this idea of having a blank page that everyone can take up in their own way with as few restrictions as possible. ”
In complete privacy
Because the idea with the Resorts World Theater, even if it was designed in close collaboration with Celine Dion, is that it can be used by several artists as they wish.
All details matter. The Resorts World Theater stage is the tallest and tallest in Vegas. But the designers also put a lot of effort into creating a space so that the artist teams could set up their quarters. The decoration of the room puts all the attention on the artist, while the sound system is the most advanced of its kind.
Also, the furthest seat is only 150 feet from the stage. “This proximity, this intimacy, facilitates the exchange and the transfer of emotion from one to the other, affirms Olivier Berthiaume-Bergé. And one of our goals is that in the first or last row, the experience is not diminished. ”
The public will now be able to live the experience that the company has worked to build in recent years, in the midst of a pandemic. “It was a difficult period for all sectors, especially SMEs,” he says. We were able to export our know-how internationally and deliver something that pushes back the level we had reached before. I find there is a message of hope. It’s about resilience. We at Scéno Plus, in Quebec, have to push our limits and not let go. ”