Cirque du Soleil Addressing Noise, Officials Say

Representatives of Cirque du Soleil met Thursday with residents who live near the Orange County Fairgrounds to give reassurance that they are working to control noise from the show.

Responding to neighborhood complaints, Cirque du Soleil three weeks ago brought in Berkeley-based Meyer Sound to redirect and muffle the music and other noise that come from the tent on Fairview Road during performances six nights a week, officials said.

“We are keeping the efforts to keep up the technology we have,” said Vincent Gagne, North American tour manager for the Canadian acrobatic troupe, which will be in town for another month. “We will be working more on the sound. This has never happened to us before.”

“Quidam,” the recent production that blends surreal dance and acrobatic acts with pop music, did not generate any complaints during a recent stop at the Santa Monica Pier, which is near homes and a hotel, Gagne said.

Experts are trying to redirect sound waves, absorb them and mask them with so-called negative sound to cancel the effect on homes here, said Marc LaFont, Cirque’s Orange County spokesman.

The 150 residents who attended Thursday’s community meeting at the fairgrounds were mixed in their opinions. Most of them live in nearby College Park and restated complaints about the noise, comparing it to years of struggle with rock concerts at the now-shuttered Pacific Amphitheatre.

But a large contingent said they enjoy the avant-garde troupe’s presence.

“I am so honored to live so close that I get to hear the music for free,” resident Maureen Winter said. “If it were storming for two months, would you write letters to God?”

But longtime College Park resident Russell Millar said he would prefer for the circus to go elsewhere.

That would be difficult, LaFont said. Relocating the tent and reconnecting the utilities that serve it would be costly and result in at least a week’s worth of canceled shows before the circus packs up on April 13.

The Cirque does not plan to return to Orange County until 2000, and when it does it will not perform at the same location, he said.

The circus has been dark since Sunday. Performances resume today.