House of Dancing Water | Melco renews contract with signature show

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd. announced yesterday in a press release that the company has renewed their contract for hosting The House of Dancing Water show at its City of Dreams resort in Cotai.

The agreement is equivalent to an extension of collaboration with show-maker Franco Dragone’s company. The latter will carry on staging the influential show “The House of Dancing Water” at the City of Dreams.

The show has been staged for nine consecutive years, having commenced some time after the official opening of the resort itself. The 2,000-seat theater in which the show is staged is another Macau structure designed by the famous Pei Architects. It was designed and its construction supervised by L. C. Pei, son of late master architect I. M. Pei.

The show has also commissioned Hong Kong Cantopop diva Sammi Cheng to be the vocals for the theme song of the show, titled “Water of Love”.

The show is arguably the most successful resident show ever staged in Macau. The show features Chinese elements that are appealing to the main clientele of Macau’s tourism market, including high-hung acrobatic movements and a Chinese pavilion. According to data from the company, in its nine years of performance, the show has attracted a total of 6 million counts of viewers. On travel website TripAdvisor, the show gets an average of 4.5 out of 5 points, with 94% reviewers rating it “very good” or “excellent”.

Now, with the initial 10-year contract up for renewal, Melco and Dragone have mutually decided to continue the show under a new operational structure launched under the new agreement.

In the press release, Melco introduced that Dragone’s founder and theater director, Franco Dragone, will remain as the show’s artistic director and will continue to oversee the artistic and creative direction of the production. Meanwhile, the show will be managed under a new and separate artistic show management entity.

At a given time, the show employs nearly 100 international performers working alongside 200 production staff, technicians and professional divers. The main stage for the show transforms into a 19-million-liter pool.

The respective owners of the two companies, Lawrence Ho and Franco Dragone, are happy about the contract renewal. Both anticipate new heights in the collaboration.

In the show’s nine years of operation, Melco and Dragone have invited local associations and schools to visit the theater. They even drained the performance pool so that visitors could reach the bottom of it. Staff reporter