WATCH: Inside Look at Cavalia’s Odysseo in San Francisco – Bay Area HQ’s Ally Williams went behind the scenes to talk to cast members and get a sneak peak at one of the most spectacular and grandest live shows to come to the city by the bay, Odysseo. The internationally acclaimed entertainment company Cavalia pushes the limits of live entertainment once again with its latest production Odysseo – a $30 million extravaganza that expands the definition of performance into an epic experience that is astonishing audiences and wowing critics across North America. Just in time for this year’s holiday season, the world’s largest touring production will make its Bay Area debut under the White Big Top at AT&T Park in San Francisco with performances beginning November 19th and into January 2016. Tickets for Odysseo are now on sale and can be purchased online at www.cavalia.net or by calling 
1-866-999-8111 FREE.
When the show toured in the East Coast, The Miami Herald called it a “rare sequel that surpasses the original. If Walt Disney were still alive, he might create a show as magical as Cavalia’s new Odysseo. But it wouldn’t be better than the wonderful world mastermind Normand Latourelle has created under his Big White Top.”
About Odysseo:
The horse has marked human history and progress more than any other animal. Horses have taken us to the ends of the earth, enabled us to build bridges between cultures and expand civilization. It is the beauty and harmony of this ancient relationship, this meeting of two worlds – those of horse and man – that inspired the creators of Odysseo. As friends, partners and inseparable performers on stage, 65 horses and 45 artists lead the viewer on a great journey in yet another world – a world of dreams – where, together, they discover some of the planet’s most unforgettable landscapes.
Odysseo marries the equestrian arts, stage arts and high-tech theatrical effects at never-beforeseen levels. A veritable revolution in live performance, Odysseo comprises a list of superlatives: the world’s largest touring production and traveling big top, the biggest stage, the most beautiful visual effects, and the greatest number of horses at liberty.
The creators of this ode to the horse made the decision to indulge their wildest artistic ambitions. Their gamble paid off: Odysseo pushes the limits of live entertainment by creating a larger-than-life show that sends hearts racing, but it is also a feast for the eyes that succeeds in delivering the spectacular with soul.
Scenography and Visual effects
To give life to this extraordinary equestrian adventure, a 17,500 square feet stage was created in the middle of which rise a three-story tall hill. Some 10,000 tons of rock, earth and sand are trucked in and then sculpted to create the vast space of freedom where humans and horses come to play in complicity.
Above the stage hangs an imposing technical grid capable of supporting 80 tons of equipment including, a full-sized merry-go-round, far beyond anything attempted to date on any touring show and comparable to the best-equipped theaters of Las Vegas, London or New York.
Odysseo is a show unlike any other on the planet. This unique theatrical production is a grandiose multi-dimensional show. Spectators are taken to a live Hollywood-style movie set while the touching interactions between human and horse are at the heart of the action. Layers of mesmerizing decors combined with gravity-defying acrobatic and areal stunts and the staggering effects created by state-of-the-art scenery makes this humongous stage a feast for the eyes. To enhance this breathtaking experience, the production presents a splendid voyage with extremely high-definition computer graphic images, transporting the audience across the world’s most beautiful landscapes. To project these breathtaking graphic backdrops on an immense cyclorama the size of three of the largest cinema screens, Odysseo uses projectors as powerful as those illuminating the grandest movie theaters. But whereas a cinema has only one projector, Odysseo uses 18 simultaneously. This live multi-dimensional voyage is a veritable revolution in live entertainment production.
FACTS ABOUT ODYSSEO
Odysseo features 65 horses of 11 different breeds including the Arabian, Australian Stock Horse, Holsteiner, Lipizzan, Lusitano, Mustang, Paint Horse, Quarter Horse, Selle Français, Spanish Purebred (P.R.E.) and Warmblood.
The horses are from Spain, Portugal, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Australia, The United States and Canada.
There are 45 artists – riders, acrobats, aerialists, dancers and musicians.
The artists are from around the world including the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, Guinea (Africa), Poland, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, Japan, and Italy.
There are 350 costumes and 100 pairs of shoes and boots in the show. Artists may have up to seven different costumes.
An artist may have no more than 30 seconds to do a quick costume change between numbers.
A team of 13 dressmakers, one property master, one designer and one shoemaker worked in the Odysseo studios to create the costumes.
Materials used in the costumes include linen, silk, cotton, leather and some imitation fur. The use of natural fibers gives the clothes sheen and lets them fall in a way that synthetic fibers simply cannot match.
The costumes are adapted to the artists’ needs, especially those of the acrobats and riders, to facilitate their onstage movement while not compromising their appearance.
The on-tour costume department consists of one wardrobe person and three dressers who launders, mends and cares for the costumes. At times during the show, they juggle 15 simultaneous wardrobe changes. They have two sewing machines, one shoe-repair machine and one overlock machine.
