Noise Issue Takes the Stage at Cirque du Soleil

COSTA MESA — If Joan and Tom Murphine were in town this weekend--if they could stand to be in their own home--they would sit in the back bedroom and turn on the television full blast to try to drown out the music and sound effects from the Cirque du Soleil tent down the street.

When the couple are home, “we just hunker back in the farthest corner,” Joan Murphine said Friday. On weekends, they go to San Diego and rent a quiet place at the beach to escape the critically acclaimed but locally maligned show at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

The couple and their neighbors in College Park across Fairview Road from the Big Top have filed what Cirque du Soleil officials say are the first noise complaints in North America against the renowned French Canadian acrobatic troupe.

Those complaining about the high decibel level are many of the same folks who fought to close the fairgrounds’ Pacific Amphitheater and succeeded in 1993. The rock concerts there were infrequent, while the circus puts on 10 shows a week that run 2 1/2 hours each.

Resident Don McGee, one of those who supported the amphitheater fight, said the circus noise is so loud that it frightens his pet, rattles his windows and keeps him awake at night.

“They’ve let the circus poke a sleeping dog, and it’s mad as hell,” he said. “Any music, no matter how well composed or performed, just gets old after 22 hours a week.”

Residents have taken their complaints to the Orange County Fair’s Board of Directors, but trustees have taken no action and have no meeting scheduled until March 27. Even if they were to act then, the worst would be over, residents say--the circus leaves town April 13.

Relocating the tent is not a reasonable option, officials said, because it would mean at least a week of canceled shows during the move, and the change of venue might not accomplish anything but to stir complaints from another neighborhood.

College Park residents have complained too to the Costa Mesa City Council, but it has no jurisdiction over the fairgrounds. Council members did write a letter to the fair board, however, on behalf of constituents.

Not everybody who lives near the circus site is upset, though. Many say they even open their windows during performances to let in the music.

“I am so proud to live in the city that Cirque du Soleil plays,” resident Maureen Winters said.

The biggest source of help for those complaining about noise has turned out to be the circus itself, which has brought in sound experts to install special speakers and direct the music and special effects away from homes.

“All it does is cancel out sound propagating from the Big Top,” said Steve Dubuc, Cirque’s technical director.

Before sound technicians began making changes on Feb. 18, the fairgrounds had logged 34 complaints from neighbors. Since then, there have been only eight.

“It’s not as bad as it was,” resident Bill Ward said.

Artistic expression has not been stifled, Dubuc said. “We have clients who are paying for their tickets, and we do not want to compromise them.”

About 250,000 people are expected to see the show in Orange County--an average of 2,000 for each performance.

Though the changes have helped, College Park residents say, their windows still shake, their pets are disturbed, and those who turn in early cannot fall asleep.

In deference to early risers, the circus has also agreed to start some upcoming shows earlier so that no performances will run later than 11 p.m. And more sound work is planned.

“The less they hear, the better,” Vincent Gagne, tour manager, said of the residents. “Right now, we’re trying to keep up our mitigating actions.”

In fact, few of those complaining have put all the blame on the circus, which has been performing annually in the United States for 10 years. In previous years, the Orange County show was at South Coast Plaza, but it did not return there this year because shopping center officials could not guarantee sufficient parking space.

“I don’t blame you, I blame the fair board,” resident Betty J. Griffin told circus officials at a community meeting last week to hear residents’ concerns about noise.

Fair officials said there was no way to foresee the problem. The fairgrounds staff previewed the show late last year when it was playing at the Santa Monica Pier and heard of no complaints, though homes and a hotel are nearby.

“No one goes into a situation like this knowing that it is going to happen,” said Gary Hayakawa, a member of the fair board.

Residents concede that they have little recourse but to continue to sleep with pillows over their ears until the circus folds its giant blue and gold tent next month, though the situation has stirred lingering hard feelings from the Pacific Amphitheater fight.

“It’s a little like deja vu, but this is different,” said Jill Lloyd, spokeswoman for the fairgrounds. The circus, she said, is “something we will have here until mid-April.” Unlike the amphitheater rock concerts, which were scheduled throughout the year, “you’ve got an event that comes in for a certain period of time and then it goes.”