Garou Bids Adieu to <i>Zarkana</i> in NYC

It's Saturday, Oct. 1 at 7:40 p.m. and Garou has most of his costume on.
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It's Saturday, Oct. 1 at 7:40 p.m. and Garou has most of his costume on. His make-up, consisting of heavy eye-liner, is essentially complete. All he needs next is his top hat, jacket, wig, and pasted on Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart goatee to complete his assemble. The celebrated French-Canadian singer is literally just 20 minutes away from walking on stage to a near sold-out Radio City Music Hall crowd, but before doing so, he's in his dressing room talking to me (AKA "this reporter" as my journalism professors would've advised me back in the day) about his role and show.

Garou, born Pierre Garand, has played the central character Zark in in Cirque du Soleil's latest visionary spectacle Zarkana since it opened in New York City in June, and while he's taking a break when the show travels to Spain later this month, he'll be back in full force when it opens in Moscow. The show marks a detour of sorts for the Quebec native -- not just in nature of the art form he's in but in the fact that he's stayed in one place for months. Throughout his career, Garou has toured the globe off the highly successful career he has in his homeland. Known for his role in the musical Notre-Dame de Paris and for his hits like "Belle" and Seul," Garou is a household name in Rick Moranis country.

Admittedly, after spending the summer in the Big Apple, Garou has the itch to concentrate on his own material and play his music to audiences. That said, he's smitten with Zarkana. I asked him all about it in the interview below:

Photos courtesy of Cirque du Soleil

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