MSC Cruises is dedicated to bringing one-of-a-kind experiences and around-the-clock entertainment for all the family. Steve Leatham, global head of entertainment at MSC Cruises, offers an insight in the importance of the entertainment offer for the cruise line.
While delicious food, well-stocked bars, exciting activities and sensational destinations are essential during any vacation at sea, the entertainment is equally important in the overall cruise experience. Responsible for making sure guests of all ages never experience a dull moment on board is Steve Leatham, MSC Cruises global head of entertainment.
Prior to joining MSC Cruises, Steve Leatham was creative director at The Experience Department (ted) where he came up with the idea for MYüT, one of the seven new shows created exclusively for the brand’s Meraviglia Class ships. To find out more about the spectacular new shows click here.
What can guests look forward to entertainment-wise on board MSC Cruises?
The fundamental aim is to offer every member of the family a rich and varied entertainment programme from morning right the way through to late at night. It’s a really important part of their holiday and we work extremely hard to deliver something memorable and enjoyable for each and every one of them.
There’s always a wide range of activities, games, events, live music and grand-scale theatrical shows on every ship and on every voyage. There’s always some 16 hours of daily entertainment with onboard activities and mainstage shows and more than 300 different entertainment activities per week for our guests to choose. And always something to meet the desires of every type of guest, no matter what their age.
Can you give a few examples?
Let’s look at music. On all of our ships, we set a high bar to offer the best of live music with a range of outstanding classical, jazz and contemporary artists.
For our ships with a pub, guests really enjoy some earthy live musician playing modern and classic covers. Larger lounges feature soothing emotive classical music that drifts into our restaurants to accompany the dining experience and the pianist is regularly joined by additional artists and musicians to create genuine connections with our guests.
Our entertainment programme is always filled with a great mix of live bands and musicians that perform at both indoor and outdoor venues and play what we hope will be the soundtrack to the guests’ holiday. And every day is not just another concert for our artists. They treat it as if it’s our guests’ most memorable moment of the year.
And what about your theatrical productions?
We offer a wide range of choice and magical experiences with up to twelve grand-scale theatrical shows every week and we use the latest technology for some fantastically fun experiences.
We create standing-ovation productions with accomplished artistic directors, choreographers, set and costume designers, lighting and sound engineers, together with gifted singers, dancers, acrobats and artistes from every corner of the world
Also read: Broadway on MSC Bellissima
On all of our modern and elegant ships, we curate an extensive entertainment product that suits all audiences that are made up typically on any given voyage by up to nearly 200 different nationalities. This means that our entertainment product has to be, and is I believe, the most diverse in the industry.
Are there any entertainment concepts that you would like to particularly highlight?
Absolutely, we always thrive to challenge our ideas and continuously deliver new entertainment concepts. We have recently launched Carousel Production at Sea – an all-new entertainment concept created especially for the Carousel Lounge venues on our Meraviglia Class ships; MSC Meraviglia, MSC Bellissima, MSC Grandiosa and MSC Virtuosa.
We developed an exclusive production brand and started in September last year with MSC Virtuosa featuring the shows ‘AJEDREZ’ based on the world of chess and ‘ARKYMEA’, revealing a scientist’s story in a hidden world.
Following the success of these new shows, we have designed five more new shows. In essence, each ship has two very different, contrasting shows, each with a different concept, ambiance and storyline, MSC Bellissima and MSC Grandiosa share a common musical show called ‘SWEET’. Each show features an original soundtrack, staging and costumes. Work is already underway for the next two new shows for MSC Meraviglia: ‘HOUSE OF HOUDINI’ and ‘ROCK CIRCUS’.
With these original productions, we bring our guests to multiple universes, including an original theatrical performance called ‘STRINGS’ on MSC Grandiosa, or even ‘MYüT’ on MSC Bellissima, an emotional journey through magical worlds
We always aim to create something with an engaging storyline and take our guests on a fantastic journey. We take inspiration in designing a multi-sensory entertainment experience for our guests of all ages.
During a 40-minute show, everything is set to help guests unwind and reconnect with their inner child. We design shows to captivate especially for the intimate state-of-the art venue for an experience that cannot been seen anywhere else at sea.
Entertainment is always at the core of our thinking which we always have front-of-mind during the whole production process. The end result, sound and dazzling acrobatic performances are a perfect way to enjoy a spell-binding evening. We make sure that each time our guests attend any performance they enjoy a different and memorable experience.
For more on the exciting entertainment on offer visit MSC Cruises.