Editor’s be aware: TPG’s Ashley Kosciolek accepted a free journey from Virgin Voyages to attend the maiden voyage of Resilient Girl. The opinions expressed beneath are completely hers and weren’t topic to evaluation by the road.
“What the f*cking f*ck simply occurred?” flashed throughout a sequence of screens, uncensored, shortly after Persephone determined she was in love with Hades. Demeter, Persephone’s mom, was not completely happy concerning the new underworld coupling.
No, it wasn’t a complicated dream I had after a very irritating day. It was simply one other evening within the Crimson Room theater on Virgin Voyages‘ new Resilient Girl. The efficiency, dubbed “Persephone,” satisfied me that the road’s reveals are actually the very best at sea — partly as a result of they push boundaries with their grownup language and themes and partly as a result of they characteristic among the finest singers, dancers, acrobats and aerialists I’ve ever seen on a ship.
Resilient Girl debuted with an inaugural season of Greek Isles cruises from Athens (therefore, the present’s title), full with shiny, new nighttime leisure choices. They rely as a lot on racy sexual references, forbidden love tales and notes of S&M and burlesque as they do the unimaginable expertise of the forged. The present ideas are trendy and fascinating, and most have been designed from scratch by partnerships with big-name manufacturing firms.
Right here, I discover how Virgin Voyages has created, tweaked and darn close to perfected its leisure choices.
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Virgin Voyages’ leisure evolution
A high-energy dance and acrobatics present, an immersive nightclub activation that options three hours of burlesque in a library, and S&M-heavy dinner theater (full with a metaphorical threesome) are just some of the brand new leisure choices cruisers can expertise on Resilient Girl.
The road’s newest vessel is basically the identical as sister ships Scarlet Lady and Valiant Lady when it comes to format, meals and quirkiness. Nonetheless, every ship has its personal leisure, drawing tons of repeat cruisers to the brand new cruise line backed by enterprise mogul Richard Branson.
Learnings from the primary two ships have influenced the forms of reveals created for Resilient Girl, in addition to how they have been created. Virgin is infamous for pushing exhausting in opposition to the boundaries of ordinary cruise-ship productions. Generally it really works; typically, it does not.
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One present, “By no means Sleep Alone” — a one-woman efficiency the place a “intercourse therapist” asks attendees to share bits of their sexual historical past with strangers (no, thanks) — has been faraway from the unique two ships following passenger suggestions. (Cruise line officers inform me it’d return ultimately.)
“‘By no means Sleep Alone’ was us pushing, pushing, pushing the boundaries, and lots of people cherished the present,” stated Richard Kilman, Virgin Voyages’ vice chairman of leisure, throughout an interview with TPG. “However some folks weren’t certain. I feel there was a notion created that wasn’t actually what it was. It is a comedy cabaret present.”
“It additionally tied up a band of ours as a result of we had a stay band each time we did the present … Now we’ve these 5 musicians — we’ve a trio and a duo — so we have basically doubled the chance to have stay music in numerous areas of the ship. Individuals love stay music, and it provides us extra selection with stay music.”
Alternatively, “Duel Actuality” — a contemporary tackle “Romeo and Juliet” that is punctuated by rival “gangs” and jaw-dropping stunts like aerial acrobatics, hula-hooping and juggling — is so well-liked that it’s going to tour on land. This marks the primary time a present created particularly for a cruise vessel has gone from ship to shore.
In the end, all of Resilient Girl’s new predominant reveals really feel like winners to me. It helps that they have been created in partnership with well-known entities like famed Brooklyn nightclub Home of Sure and Emursive, which operates New York’s model of “Sleep No Extra” — an interactive “select your personal journey” efficiency that splits you off out of your group and lets you wander by a number of flooring of the outdated warehouse the place it takes place.
As well as, a rotating roster of musicians, comedians and magicians carry out on board for just a few weeks at a time earlier than switching out. Each one in all them was spectacular.
“Our intention once we began this was to create leisure experiences that folks would fortunately pay cash for in the event that they have been on land,” Kilman stated.
I might say the endeavor was a hit. Here is a breakdown of what you possibly can count on from every new title on Resilient Girl’s proverbial marquee.
Exhibits you will not wish to miss on Resilient Girl
One other Rose
When Virgin Voyages tapped manufacturing firm Emursive to create a brand new present that is a partnership between the ship’s leisure and meals and beverage groups, the outcome was “One other Rose.”
“The unique launch of Scarlet Girl was meant to have ‘One other Rose’ on it,” Kilman defined. “And so, it has been like three years within the wings ready for that proper second … The world modified, and it actually hadn’t been the proper time to convey that sort of present again.”
Now it is right here in full drive.
As Resilient Girl’s solely added-fee present and eating venue, “One other Rose” is dinner theater at its most interesting. You possibly can sit in one in all three areas: balcony ($55), flooring ($65) or premium close to the stage ($75). Once you enter The Manor — the ship’s nightclub space, the place the occasion is held — a crew member will hand you a wearable magnetic flower in a colour that corresponds to your seating part.
From there, you may stroll down a mirrored hallway set aglow with 1000’s of white lights — essentially the most Instagrammed location on the ship, I am instructed — the place servers give you an alcoholic welcome drink. (It is the primary of three grownup drinks included within the value.)
After servers direct you to your part, members of the forged hand out actual roses. They might additionally choose you to maneuver to a different location within the membership to partake in one in all your programs — a really “Sleep No Extra” contact.
Dinner is a four-course set menu that gives cruisers two appetizers (candy potato chaat with tamarind, cilantro-mint chutney, yogurt and pomegranate seeds; and a tuna bomb with avocado inexperienced goddess dressing, spicy soy and semolina puri), a predominant course (alternative of pan-roasted sea bass with moilee sauce, basmati rice grit and roasted okra; or braised brief rib with Kashmir chili-coconut sauce, basmati rice grit and scallions) and a dessert.
I left feeling simply the correct quantity of full, though I solely took one chunk of the dessert — the world’s tiniest piece of cheesecake — which fittingly tasted like a rose. There’s additionally a vegetarian menu obtainable. (I don’t eat uncooked tuna, so I ordered the vegetarian celery apple bomb for my second appetizer, and it was improbable.)
Alcoholic drinks are served all through the meal. Tipples embody Love Potion (gin, Cointreau, citrus and lavender), Elixir of the Poppy (Amaro Averna, jasmine tea and silver shimmer) and a glass of Champagne, which reveals up in between the opposite two.
The present, which occurs round you as you eat, is a mix of dancing, aerial acrobatics and small-group interplay with the forged. The storyline follows a princess compelled to decide on between two males she loves. In the end, she chooses and marries one in all them. Her husband then falls in love with the discarded suitor, and the trio results in a steamy throuple by the tip of the efficiency.
Regardless of the wonkiness of all of it, the present was fascinating to look at, and the meals was, arms down, the very best I ate on the whole cruise. It was seasoned to perfection — not too bland, not too spicy and with simply the correct quantity of taste. The timing of the service was additionally impeccable, coinciding flawlessly with the present. There wasn’t an excessive amount of time between programs; as a substitute, there was simply sufficient for attendees to look at a little bit of the efficiency with out continuously being distracted by meals.
By way of each the present itself and the delectable delicacies, Virgin’s entry into dinner theater succeeds the place different traces have failed. Specifically, I am pondering of Norwegian Cruise Line, which had improbable leisure however horrible meals when it supplied an analogous idea years in the past.
Lola’s Library
Maintain on to your favourite titles as a result of there is a guide bandit on the free.
Three-hour-long “Lola’s Library” is a sequence of performances — a “nightclub activation,” as Kilman calls it — divided into three one-hour chapters that run consecutively from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. a few occasions per voyage. The expertise was created in partnership with No Ceilings Leisure, which runs the Mayfair Supper Membership on the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Passengers can dip out and in as they please, taking in a single or two elements on one evening and returning once more for the remainder or staying for the whole efficiency from begin to end. Kilman stated the idea was born out of a must make the identical nightclub interesting to cruisers for a couple of evening on a weeklong voyage.
“When folks go to Vegas or New York, if you are going to go for an extended weekend or per week, you are going to go to a nightclub on an evening; you are not going to go to the identical nightclub 4 nights in a row,” Kilman stated. “That is simply not a factor. Right here, we’ve folks crusing with us for a full week, so how can we make the nightclub extra interesting, the place folks will wish to come again [and not] really feel like they’re doing the identical factor?”
Once you arrive at The Manor, you possibly can sit wherever you need and settle in to fulfill Lola, a librarian who retains the library open for some after-hours hanky panky.
One evening, after all the pieces shuts down, a guide bandit steals a number of tomes, and Lola wonders how she’s going to clarify their absence to her boss, Mr. Dick. (Of course, that is his title.)
What begins as a burlesque-style present within the first chapter ultimately takes a extra S&M route, that includes just a few amusing sexual tropes: The horny librarian (Lola); the ugly-duckling nerd-turned-heartthrob, who’s secretly sporting six-pack abs (Lola’s assistant, Dewey); and the French maid (Mary, the cleansing girl, who is not French and who we discover out later within the present is definitely an engineer).
There’s additionally a very random character referred to as Jack the Stripper, a serial flasher who’s a play on Jack the Ripper. He was my absolute favourite, merely for the shock worth.
It finally ends up being extra humorous than raunchy when he poses as different characters earlier than stripping right down to nearly nothing. It occurs a number of occasions all through the present, however think about my utter shock when he, along with his borderline dad bod, pulls off a complete aerial routine sporting nothing however boxers with little crimson hearts on them.
I’ve by no means tried acid, however I think about watching this present is much like what could be happening in my mind if I did. Take the entire above, and swirl it round with singing, dancing, acrobatics and pole dancing to music from Blondie, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner and The Police. Sprinkle in some nods to “Star Wars,” appearances by the Seven Dwarfs (who, after all, are homosexual) and soiled references to sharpening Harry Potter’s wand, and that about sums it up.
This present receives excessive marks from me as a result of it stored my consideration — and stored me laughing — for 3 hours. The sudden twists have been spectacular (Jack the Stripper) and boundary-pushing (homosexual Seven Dwarfs).
It is also fascinating to notice that Movie star Cruises as soon as tried an analogous strategy to leisure, that includes a considerably disturbing and hard-to-follow three-hour present within the Eden lounge on its latest cruise ships. In the end, the present needed to be pared right down to 90 minutes and was ultimately changed by a sequence of shorter unrelated performances. Virgin’s concept of splitting “Lola’s Library” into three simply digestible segments makes the idea extra audience-friendly.
Thoughts Mangler
The Thoughts Mangler is not any odd magician. The idea was born from a personality created by Mischief Comedy, the corporate answerable for “The Play That Goes Flawed” and “Magic Goes Flawed.” It is one of many few reveals Virgin Voyages has licensed moderately than creating one thing new, based on Kilman.
You will not discover drained illusions; as a substitute, you may witness a comedy routine blended with mind-reading and different sudden twists, together with an apparent viewers plant who’s a part of the present and wears an “viewers member” T-shirt. He steadily reveals as much as volunteer all through the efficiency and pokes enjoyable at accusations that magicians collude with folks earlier than their reveals after which plant them within the viewers to assist them with their tips later.
As Kilman famous, it is extra concerning the comedy than the magic, however cruisers will obtain loads of each.
Persephone
Along with Emursive, Virgin has a next-level partnership with Home of Sure, the famed Brooklyn artwork area and nightclub that attracts crowds for its weird reveals and themed costume occasions.
To tie in with Resilient Girl’s Greece itineraries, Virgin’s leisure executives labored with Home of Sure to create “Persephone,” a dance showcase that additionally makes use of singing, aerialists, acrobats and pole dancers to inform the story of the goddess Persephone.
Persephone falls in love and runs away with Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. When her mom — Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest — discovers she’s lacking, she flies right into a rage, and perpetual winter ensues, killing the crops.
Demons sporting horns and muzzles climb the partitions, and dancers coated head to toe in mirrors pop and lock to a robotic-looking quantity that, in my utterly unprofessional dance opinion, is the very best on the whole ship.
Between dances, the singer who performs Demeter belts out in style songs with spectacular vocal vary, the forged members who play Persephone and Hades enter into a few superb acrobatic routines, and a dance battle between the gods and goddesses lends a little bit of competitors to the entire expertise.
The story is a traditional story most of us discovered in grade college, however the degree of vitality, the intricate costumes and the truth that the viewers looks like part of the present are what make it a standout efficiency. Attendees stand the whole time, proper up in opposition to the efficiency areas, with forged members shifting by the group at numerous intervals.
“The power to have an occasion the place folks can stand and transfer across the area and be near performers is a unique expertise in and of itself, however then you’ve got all of the recognizable music … and we actually went excessive manufacturing value-wise,” Kilman stated, referring to “Persephone” because the ship’s big-spectacle present.
He additionally famous that it is the first time the versatile Crimson Room has been used to its full potential, providing three totally different vantage factors for passengers — beside the stage, out on the ground’s perimeter or one deck above on the second degree, the place seating is obtainable.
So as to add to the intrigue, a Greek refrain of prerecorded actors seems on the stage’s LED screens behind the forged. They rap concerning the scenario to spherical out the plot line, even tossing out a few F-bombs. “F*cking youngsters,” they are saying after Persephone makes her escape.
Competition Stage
Slightly than a selected present, Competition Stage is a brand new Virgin Voyages idea that brings a rotating listing of rigorously chosen expertise on board to carry out for just a few weeks. The roster adjustments out to maintain the leisure recent.
Kilman stated he constantly heard from passengers who sailed the primary two Virgin vessels that they needed extra comedy. The cruise line delivered.
“Now we’ve that aspect of rotating leisure the place, in case you come again, there’s one thing you are going to see that is new,” Kilman stated.
On my crusing, I noticed:
Abandoman: By viewers participation, this Irish comic turns cruisers’ lives into hit songs by freestyle rap — proper on the spot. Throughout the hourlong present, he created a number of songs a few passenger who was crusing for her eightieth birthday, a girl who held a grudge for many years as a result of her mom would not let her get braces and a pair arguing over whether or not or to not get a canine. In the long run, he tied all of it collectively flawlessly by rapping about one other couple who, coincidentally, owns a pet store.
Flute Loops: By a mixture of flute, guitar and beatbox, this proficient Irish musician performed well-known songs on choose evenings. The music was gentle however caught passengers’ consideration due to the musician’s means to remix in style songs in ways in which modified their tempo. This created a guessing recreation, eliciting “Oh, what is that this one? It is on the tip of my tongue!” reactions from cruisers.
As for what’s subsequent, in just a few weeks, Tape Face — an “America’s Received Expertise” finalist who does a complete comedy routine along with his mouth taped shut — will be part of the repertoire of onboard leisure. Extra comedy-magic hybrid reveals and acapella singing group acts are additionally coming quickly.
Returning favorites
A number of favourite reveals from Virgin’s first two ships have returned to Resilient Girl. They embody:
Miss Titty Kaka: Drag queen sensation and resident diva Miss Titty Kaka graces phases on all of Virgin’s ships in a rotation. Replete with singing, dancing, fabulous costume adjustments and excessive kicks galore, her performances and witty sexual references will depart you equal elements amused and blushing. Plus, who does not love an excellent drag queen-hosted recreation of bingo?
Miss Behave: Land-based present “Miss Behave” was first dropped at the excessive seas by Virgin Voyages on Valiant Girl. Led by a bunch wearing a glittering gold outfit and a nerdy-looking assistant, it focuses on the concept that nothing actually issues, together with the factors that the viewers earns. Divided into two groups, attendees take part by singalongs, shout-outs and actions like standing up, sitting down, speeding the stage and texting selfies or solutions to inquiries to a devoted quantity through WhatsApp. It is all a bit chaotic, and that is simply the best way passengers prefer it.
Theme events: One among Virgin Voyages’ greatest strengths is the flexibility to throw unimaginable theme events. Take Klub Rubiks and We Fancy, for instance. The previous is an ’80s-themed dance celebration full with a DJ spinning ’80s music. Passengers are extraordinarily zealous about dressing up. The latter is a nightclub dance celebration the place members of the leisure forged mingle with passengers on the dance flooring. You probably have something gold, that is the time to put on it.
Scarlet Evening: Completely no after-hours bash within the historical past of cruise ships can outdo Scarlet Evening. The head of events, it encourages everybody to decorate in crimson to listen to the legend of Scarlet Evening. Informed each within the ship’s Roundabout atrium space — which is adorned with large, inflatable octopus tentacles — by members of the crew and by a lounge singer-style efficiency that runs each quarter-hour within the Crimson Room theater, it includes a hapless sailor who falls in love with an octopus princess. Bizarre? Sure, but it surely’s completely Virgin.
Cracking on with the weird sequence of Scarlet Evening occasions, the crew within the atrium select two passengers to “marry” each other after partaking in a stay, improvised recreation of mad libs that describes how the 2 first met. In the end, the officiant pretend-marries everybody inside earshot of the ceremony — however only for the evening.
From there, members of the ship’s dance crew start popping up, flashmob model, to carry out all through the general public areas as everybody makes their approach to the pool deck, the place the actual celebration begins.
A large inflatable octopus looms over the area, welcoming passengers as dancers invite everybody to leap into the pool. A DJ cranks music till midnight, when the festivities transfer indoors to The Manor, the ship’s nightclub. In all my cruises, I’ve by no means seen a celebration so properly attended or one which concurrently makes use of so many public areas so successfully.
Backside line
By stellar expertise, excessive manufacturing worth and big-name partnerships, Virgin Voyages’ leisure continues to push boundaries. Its new reveals firmly cement the road’s spot on the high of the cruise ship leisure leaderboard. The cruise line has taken ideas that failed on different cruise traces, comparable to dinner theater and three-hour-long performances, and made them work exceptionally properly.
What’s nice concerning the line is that it leans closely into passenger suggestions, tweaking a few of its choices to supply extra selection and to retain the entire quirk, attraction and innuendo in a much less apparent (and, maybe, much less offensive) means. Plus, all however one in all its brand-new reveals are free.
What you possibly can count on from the performances on any Virgin vessel — however particularly Resilient Girl — are among the most awe-inspiring singing, dancing and feats of energy you may see anyplace, together with on land.
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