Belgian-born director Franco Dragone has died of cardiac arrest. His death was confirmed Friday by Cirque du Soleil, in a short statement sent to the media.
Posted at 3:31 p.m.
“We are wholeheartedly with his friends, his family and the entire Dragone organization,” wrote the management of Cirque du Soleil in a press release. His passing is a great loss not only for his loved ones, but also for the industry. »
It must be said that the director Franco Dragone signed some of the most emblematic productions of the Circus in the 1990s, in tandem with the artistic director Gilles Ste-Croix. Saltimbanco, Alegria Where Who, without to forget La Noubawhich ran for 20 years in Orlando, and permanent shows in Las VegasMystery and O. The performances of this Friday evening will be dedicated to him, specified the Cirque.
When both shows resume in Las Vegas in 2021 (after the forced shutdown due to the pandemic), The Press had also met him to come back to these creations. He was then recovering from leukemia.
To our colleague Silvia Galipeau, he recalled his mantra: “Speak to a large audience, in a popular but sophisticated language. Offer something of high quality, but with a thought behind it. In the show, there is a substance, we must defend a cause. If there is no cause, it is gesticulation!”
Franco Dragone left the Cirque family at the turn of the 2000s to devote himself to his own company Dragone, based in La Louvière, Belgium. He also directed the show A New Day by Celine Dion at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.