VStar Entertainment Group
TypePrivate corporation
IndustryEntertainment
PredecessorsVee Corporation
Blue Star Media, LLC
FoundedMarch 14, 1980 (1980-03-14)
Headquarters
Minneapolis, Minnesota
,
US[1]
Number of locations
2
Key people
  • Eric Grilly (CEO)
  • Neil Goldberg
  • (Cirque Dreams president)[2]
ParentAUA Private Equity
Divisions
  • VStar Production Services
  • VStar Costumes & Creatures[1]
SubsidiariesCirque Dreams[2]
WebsiteOfficial website

VStar Entertainment Group is a family entertainment production company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It produced Sesame Street Live, a live touring stage show based on the television series. It has also produced stage shows based on Dragon Tales, The Muppets and Muppet Babies, Bear in the Big Blue House, Curious George, Barney & Friends and PAW Patrol.

History

Vee Corporation

Vee Corporation was started on March 14, 1980[3] from an idea by founder Vincent Egan to produce a live character show just for Sesame Street. At the time, there were only three touring family shows, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and two ice shows, Ice Follies and Holiday on Ice.[4] He based it off his time working for the Ice Follies which had a segment with those Sesame Street Muppets. Egan approached Jim Henson's company and Children's Television Workshop, who were interested. He then found an investor in Gordon Stofer, whose Norwest Growth Fund took half ownership in the company for $500,000. Egan refinanced his home mortgage for $25,000 in additional funding.[1] With the funding, Vee was able to sign a licensing agreement with the Children's Television Workshop for the characters.[4]

The first Sesame Street Live show opened in September 1980 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, Minnesota for a five-day run. That show was successful. The following shows in five locations had lackluster attendance costing VEE the profits made in Bloomington. Egan figured that the marketing material was confusing people in those markets as what type of show was not specified. He overhauled the script and marketing while getting his creditors to wait for payments. That Christmas, the show went on to play for four weeks at Madison Square Garden's 4,000-seat Felt Forum in New York City before an audience of 100,000 people.[1]

Around 2000, Egan purchased Norwest Fund's stake in the corporation. He also formed two divisions, Vee Costumes & Creatures and Vee Production Services, to successfully diversify the company.[1]

Blue Star

Sanjay Syal started Blue Star Productions before 1995 to produce trade shows. Where Syal produced over 100 events per year, Syal then formed Blue Star Media in 2011 for the traveling exhibition, Discover the Dinosaurs, which became one of the most successful traveling family events in the country with over 120 event per year. With the success of the exhibition, Syal then proceeded to wind down Blue Star Productions as contracts expired.[5] Blue Star Media then started to look for a partner finding AUA Private Equity, who purchase a share of the company from Syal in early June 2014 via a leverage buyout.[5][6] A tented version of the Discover exhibition was launched in 2014 at two state fairs, New York State Fair, and the California State Fair, and had 14% of total yearly attendance for the exhibition.[5]

VStar Entertainment Group

On April 1, 2015, Blue Star Media, LLC under the direction of Sanjay Syal as CEO purchased VEE Corporation with Egan continuing as a consultant.[5] In 2015, VEE Corporation and Blue Star Media, a producer and promoter of consumer shows and events, became VStar Entertainment Group.[3] In August 2015, the company agreed to partner with the Pro Football Hall of Fame for a mobile tour.[7] In April 2016, Vstar hired Eric Grilly as CEO from Comcast Sports Group.[3]

In November 2016, Sesame Workshop announced an agreement with Feld Entertainment for a new Sesame Street Live show thus ending VStar's arena version in July 2017.[8] The company continues to support and produce other Sesame Street shows at various locations and the United Service Organizations tour while still providing costumes.[2]

In January 2017, Vstar acquired Cirque Productions, based in South Florida. Neil Goldberg, Cirque Productions founder and Broadway director, was retained as president of Cirque Dreams.[2]

Aftermath

On July 5, 2018, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group announced that it was acquiring VStar.[9]

On June 29, 2020, Cirque du Soleil filed for bankruptcy in Canada. Three days later, on July 1, 2020, they filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy.[10][11]

Productions

Cirque Dreams

  • Cirque Dreams Holidaze (2007–present)[2]
  • Cirque Jungle Fantasy
  • Cirque Dreams & Dinner, two Norwegian Cruise Line shows
  • Cirque Dreams Rocks
  • Cirque Dreams Unwrapped
  • Cirque Dreams Revealed

Nickelodeon

Nick Jr.

  • Nick Jr. Live! Move To The Music (2019-2022)

Others

Sports

  • "Honor the Heroes" tour (October 17, 2015-) football Hall of Fame inductees on the tour included Tim Brown, Joe Greene, Charles Haley, Randall McDaniel, Warren Moon and Fran Tarkenton. Tour consisted of four attractions: Legacy Hall, Traditions Stage, Impact Zone and Hall of Fame Locker Room, a store. The hall has holographic busts, football memorabilia and feature multimedia stores. The stage had NFL Films large-screen productions plus "chalk talk" sessions and hourly kids press conferences. The Zone is a football skill and activities test area.[7]
  • NBA Jam

Units

  • VStar Production Services: creates and manufactures exhibits, props and sets for corporate and entertainment events and museums[1]
  • VStar Costumes & Creatures: creates and manufactures costumes and puppets for special events, sports teams and other stage productions.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ One Muppet stage show was taped at the Toronto Centre for the Arts in Toronto, Ontario from October 16–20, 2002. A filmed version of the production from Bear in the Big Blue House was released on April 1, 2003, on VHS & DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and in 2004, it was never released during Disney's acquisition of the Muppets.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 St. Anthony, Neal (December 28, 2009). "Bringing Muppets to 'Live'". Star Tribune. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Weissberg, Brad (January 9, 2017). "VStar Buys Cirque Productions". Venues Today. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Nakashima, Rebecca (April 6, 2016). "VStar Finds New CEO". Venues Today. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Hopps, Megan (December 6, 2016). "Dayton resident, creator of Sesame Street Live, dies at 74". Sun Press. ECM Publishers, Inc. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Deckard, Linda (April 7, 2015). "Hello Sanjay, New Owner of VEE". Venues Today. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  6. ↑ "The Weekly Wrap: PPG, Southcross, Moody's". Mergers & Acquisitions, Latest News. SourceMedia. June 13, 2014. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  7. 1 2 Suttell, Scott (27 August 2015). "Pro Football Hall of Fame to launch 'Honor the Heroes' tour". Crain's Cleveland Business. Crain Communications, Inc. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  8. 1 2 "'Sesame Street' to Take the Stage". License! Global. UBM. November 18, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  9. ↑ Deckard, Linda (July 11, 2018). "VStar Acquired By Cirque Du Soleil". VenuesNow. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group Announces $50 Million in Funding from Existing Investors TPG, CDPQ, and Fosun". www.cirquedusoleil.com. Archived from the original on 23 July 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  11. ↑ "Cirque du Soleil files for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in Delaware". Bloomberg Law. July 1, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  12. 1 2 "A Guide to the VEE Corporation Archives". www.lib.utexas.edu. Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  13. ↑ "BABY SHARK® TO MAKE A SPLASH IN "MUST-SEA" NEW PRODUCTION BABY SHARK'S BIG BROADWAVE TOUR! FROM NICKELODEON, THE PINKFONG COMPANY AND VSTAR ENTERTAINMENT, MAKING WAVES ACROSS NORTH AMERICA IN 2024". PR Newswire. September 27, 2023.
  14. 1 2 Churnin, Nancy (January 18, 2011). "Barney and friends celebrate his birthday with a kids' rock concert". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
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