Preview + photos: Cirque’s ‘One Night for One Drop’ at ‘Zumanity’ Theater

More than 200 performers and other volunteer stage crew units from rigging, costumes, scenic props, hair, makeup, lighting and sound departments all play a vital role in tonight’s one-time-only “One Night for One Drop” clean-water benefit production presented by Cirque du Soleil at “Zumanity” Theater at New York-New York.

The inspirational time-machine journey had its one-and-only dress rehearsal Thursday afternoon after six months of behind-the-scenes preparation. Juggling heart-stopping circus acts from around the world, putting all the logistics into place and ensuring that everything runs smoothly is the responsibility of Krista Monson, who directed the first “One Drop” at Bellagio in 2013.

A NEW CIVILIZATION ON MARS?

The vintage circus theme is so bold, imaginative, exciting and exhilarating that it could well be a new Cirque show in its own right. Conceived, written and directed by husband-and-wife Cirque performing team Nicky and Laetitia Dewhurst, they enlisted their family to tell the tale through time-machine travel of a grumpy old ringmaster played by Nicky’s dad, Brian Dewhurst, the 84-year-old star of “Mystere” at T.I.

With no signs of retirement looming, Brian represents miserable mankind’s mistreatment of Earth’s resources, and Laetitia’s brother, Perry Ray, is The Timekeeper who teaches the old ringmaster a lesson he won’t forget and one for all of us to remember as to how we need to care for Mother Nature or wind up trying to start a new civilization on Mars.

Our thanks to contributing photographer Tom Donoghue for his extraordinary photo gallery. He’s captured perfectly the images of the stars appearing in the show: Grammy-winning rapper Redfoo, “America’s Got Talent” winner Grace VanderWaal, multiplatinum-selling vocal group The Tenors, global stars Duo Sky Angels and “AGT” finalists Malevo with their high-speed foot-stomping, drum-banging and bolo-twirling Malambo gaucho act.

Tonight for the one-and-only performance, William Shatner will join the cast for the finale, a Radio City Rockettes lineup of high kicks around the entire edge of the “Zumanity” stage under old-fashioned cannons firing confetti and the Monty Python-themed closing “Screw It, We’re Moving to Mars”:

This planet is a huge disgrace

There’s only one solution for the human race

Let’s pack and get out of this place

Screw it, we’re moving to Mars

No passport needed, there’s no immigration

Everybody’s welcome at this destination

Let’s all let go of our daily frustrations

Screw it, we’re moving to Mars

The circus acts come at a dizzying speed. Your heart has just a second to settle down after watching incredible derring-do feats of the teeterboard team before the award-winning aerialists Duo Sky Angels from Uzbekistan send it racing again 60 feet high in the air held only by each other’s teeth! She’s balanced only on the feet of her partner — truly amazing.

Eve Diamond, “The Desert Queen of the Sky,” is just as extraordinary and matched by an aerial trapeze artist known as Cuckoo because of outrageous antics near the rafters. Eve’s aerial activities are so death-defying that she has to wear a harness for safety, but my forehead began to sweat as the safety precaution slid precariously down her body.

The seaside British crass-comedy duo known as Daredevil Chicken also entertained with a volunteer from the audience playing the role of Simba from “The Lion King” who wound up in a cage with another lion actor. Totally insane and madcap and welcome relief from the aerial dramas unfolding from the ceiling above.

GRACE ‘LIGHTS UP THE SKY’

Grace, with her ukulele for her solo, “Light Up the Sky”; The Tenors, with their beautiful voices on two Queen songs, “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Who Wants to Live Forever?”; the old ringmaster, who cries about his awful, past cruel behavior; and Redfoo, for his interruptions, are standouts, but the audience falls in love with Orbis, a little person who is badgered and belittled by Mortales, the creepy, wicked ringmaster of the imaginary Circus Tempest.

Orbis proves the highpoint, the high-flying performer soaring out over the audience with a barrage of acrobatics on silks. It’s breathtakingly beautiful and visually stunning, and it’s highly appropriate that he winds up encased in an out-of-this-world miniature globe suspended over the cast in the finale as lord and master of all he surveys.

It all takes place against a kaleidoscope of psychedelic colors and video backdrops, and one hiccup in the technical flow that triggered a 20-second reset and restart was the only cue that went wrong at rehearsal. So many things could have misfired in staging this unbelievable undertaking, and even when a bass struggled to squeeze into the tiny backstage elevator, the player was in position to pop up through the stage waiting for the tech mishap to be rebooted.

“When you think of everything that could have gone wrong, it was such a minor mishap, you can safely call it a miracle,” Krista told me. “We’re still tweaking right until curtain up tonight, and the final video will be inserted into the projectors less than 30 minutes before curtain time so that the audience can sing along with the cast at the finale.

“We are so thrilled nothing really went wrong with this massive jigsaw puzzle assembled around the world. This really was a little glitch, so what we saw was the heart and soul of people sharing who they are and their passion for the charity and being onstage. The whole vision with lighting, projections, performances — all the technical — everybody made sure the humanity is what came out first. It looks gorgeous, and it’s amazing.”

The Tenors chatted with me afterward, as well: “We’ve been asking ourselves the question of when we should move to Las Vegas because we are here so often. We’re actually in talks with two hotel companies and looking at a couple of venues that would work for us to perform here as residents. We’re definitely excited about the possibilities of having a Las Vegas home and still tour the world, but at some point we’re going to be here for a long stay.

“Touring is getting old on these bones! It’s so exciting to be back for ‘One Night for One Drop’ with award-winning artists from around the world. It’s so moving for us to be sharing the stage with these folks. Cirque is such an amazing brand worldwide, and it started in our home country of Canada, so we’re extra-proud.

“We performed in the second show after performing at the party for the first ‘One Drop’ production. Now we’re back for show No. 5. I think that they’ve captured the story more this time than they have in the past. This theater is great; we like the intimacy. This is a little more in the round, and the audience is really up close and personal with what’s going on at the stage.”

To date, the previous four “One Drop” shows have raised $24 million for the water charity started by Cirque founder Guy Laliberte. His execs are hoping that with tonight’s fifth “One Drop” show, they will close in on $30 million.

Cirque clown legend Brian Dewhurst told me about working for his son, Nicky: “For years and years, I would direct him. He learned well from the master who he is now teaching! They created a very unique and interesting concept of how I look back on myself as a young person in the show. It was enlightening especially because I had no input to their story idea. I sort of rubber stamped my approval to everything he came up with. I didn’t have to change anything.

“He’s doing exactly to me what I did years ago with him. It’s very exciting, and I am so proud of them both. They have worked their asses off for hours and hours. It’s going to be a great show. We’re a very open family, so I didn’t have to even tell him to not hold back on any criticism or constructive comment he had on what I have to do.

“We’re all family, so grandkids don’t hold back on feelings. That’s what keeps us together as a family, keeps us honest and keeps us loving each other because there are no hidden secrets. I feel very lucky and very blessed to have them around.

“I started as a clown at age 13, so this has been my entire life. I am 84, but I feel great. I have the aches and pains of life, but I actually feel OK. ‘Mystere’ is still a priority for me, and I’m still working it. I certainly hope that there’s no sign of any retirement yet!”

Tonight six months of volunteer work from around the world comes to an end in a glorious tribute to the origins of old-time circus to tell a story of how we must protect Earth’s resources to provide sustainable clean water for the world. It’s an ambitious creation, and Cirque has pulled it off again.

Everybody will party hearty afterward at a circus-themed party staged around New York-New York pool by another Dewhurst family member, Sally. Then even while basking in its success Monday morning, Cirque officials will have the first conversations for the next — and sixth — “One Night for One Drop” in 2018.