Sun Group’s Sunset Town on Phu Quoc Island in southern Vietnam features the world’s longest cable car and an assortment of dazzling attractions in a stunning natural setting. The latest addition to the offerings at the resort is Kiss the Stars, a new show that soft-opened on 24 December 2022.
To find out more about what visitors can expect from the spectacular multimedia experience, blooloop speaks to Daan Duijm, Sun Group’s director of operations as well as key creative personnel at ECA2, a leading creator and producer of spectacular experiences.
The show, a multimedia legend created by ECA2 in conjunction with Sun Group, tells the story of the island’s creation, explaining why it is a destination for lovers.
An immersive musical experience that leverages architecture, depth of field, new technologies, ingenious technical implementations and a compelling love story, the show draws together original music, new technologies, live performers and multimedia effects, including multiple water effects such as mist, geysers, fire, video, lights, lasers and fireworks.
The centrepiece is a custom-made Cascade Screen of 1000 square metres in a 30-metre-high elliptical arch. The show is designed to work as an all-multimedia experience or a hybrid one that includes more than 50 live cast members.
Kiss Bridge
“Kiss the Stars is genuinely the harmonious integration of a monumental architectural multimedia show within an existing destination,” says Jean-Christophe Canizares, chairman & CEO of ECA2, introducing the concept. Part of its purpose was to add some story and colour to Kiss Bridge, a new addition to Sunset Town in Phu Quoc.
Over the last three years, Sun Group has been working to construct Sunset Town and offer more world-class entertainment options in Phu Quoc, explains Duijm.
“It’s a big real estate development with a beautiful view over the An Thoi beachfront, which includes the cable car, but also a beach. The project started with the idea of building another bridge.”
The Sun Group already has the striking Golden Bridge at its Bà Nà Hills resort, near Da Nang. Designed to connect the cable car station with the gardens, this is a tourist attraction in itself. It features two giant ‘stone’ hands supporting the structure.
“We wanted to create another iconic bridge. So, we’ve now got the Kiss Bridge, which has a 50cm gap in the middle, allowing two people to meet across a divide.”
The Hon Bridge, or Kiss Bridge, designed by Italian architect Marco Casamonti, joins the two sides of Pearl Island. The higher curve of the bridge, over which people can walk, is incomplete. This leaves a symbolic gap across which couples can kiss. Meanwhile, the lower part is complete.
“It’s going to be a great picture opportunity. The whole idea is to connect the elements: the sky and earth over the sea.”
The bridge is designed so that, from 24 December to 1 January, the gap between the bridge’s halves is filled by the setting sun.
About Sunset Town
Giving some background on the Sun World’s other attractions in the area, alongside the new bridge and the Kiss the Stars multimedia spectacular, Duijm says:
“We also have our cable car. This takes guests on a stunning journey over the ocean from Phu Quoc to the Aquatopia Water Park on Hon Thom Island. Then we have Exotica Village, where we added the wooden roller coaster and an observation tower. We’re working on a third attraction, which will be a drop tower, opening later this year.”
The coaster, Roaring Timbers, was the first attraction to launch as part of Sun World Hon Thom Nature Park’s ‘Exotica’ expansion. It was Vietnam’s first wooden roller coaster. Roaring Timbers reaches heights of 32.4 metres, with maximum speeds of 80km/h across 890 metres of track. Both the observation tower and the upcoming drop towers are by Huss Park Attractions, the German ride manufacturer.
Duijm adds:
“There are more real estate developments in progress. The island is expanding, with more facilities to enable guests to stay longer. At the same time, we were looking at how to maximise the potential of Sunset Town. That’s where the idea of the show came from.”
A brand-new multimedia spectacular
Sunset Town is Mediterranean inspired:
“It’s unique, and beautifully designed, but it needs something to activate that whole area,” he says:
“After they return from the island in the evening, our guests will either watch the sunset on the bridge, from the beachfront, which has just been extended by 400m, or from the many beautiful viewing points we have within Sunset Town.”
The hybrid multimedia show, which is, effectively, a sunset spectacle, offers a backstory for the Kiss Bridge. It also helps extend the guests’ length of stay by making a feature of this part of the evening.
“It was the challenge to offer a show that fits perfectly into the existing storytelling of the island of love,” says Charline Munnier, artistic director at ECA2.
The show is a journey through the galaxy and an interplanetary love story, telling the story of Mok, a young man from a Mediterranean island, who likes to wander on the beach as night falls with his grandmother, Gaia, and their dog, Khee.
Mok dreams, gazing at the stars. Meanwhile, Gaia tells him extraordinary legends about the galaxy. One of her favourites is the story of an astronomical object, a Black Hole. This links the centre of the galaxy to the Earth. It is a legend that explains the origin of Kiss Island and the Kiss Bridge.
Sun World and ECA2 join forces
The initial studies for the Kiss the Stars project started in September 2019, with a contract initiated with ECA2 in September 2020.
“At the beginning, we looked at quite a few different suppliers,” says Duijm. “But the shows that ECA2 has done in the past really set it apart. For instance, the light and laser show it created for the Burj Khalifa Dubai’s New Year celebrations and the Athens Paralympic Games opening & closing ceremonies.
“Plus, the previous shows such as Wings of Time, and the recent work the company has been doing in China – ECA2’s work is an inspiration. The grandiose quality of these amazing shows was exactly what we were looking for because we wanted to do something unique.”
The keyword for the show was, from the start, ‘Monumental’. This referred as much to the design as the implementation.
“The scale of this show is what makes it stand out,” Duijm says. “We’ve got almost 5,000 seats: double to triple the number of seats that an average similar show of this type has. Then there are some outstanding features, including a thousand square metre Cascade Screen in the main arch.”
Canizares adds that Kiss the Stars is: “The most monumental and stunning show that we have designed, created and produced so far.”
Unique inspiration behind Kiss the Stars
The early discussions involved deciding how to connect the elements – wind and sky, earth, water and fire – into an integrated show. The characters featured in the show are each related to one of five natural ‘elements’: wood, fire, water, metal, and earth. Multimedia effects support each of these characters.
The show’s location, the seaside of the island of Phu Quoc, in South Vietnam, is a tourist resort with accents of Cinque Terre in Italy, complete with hotels, restaurants, cable cars – and young lovers, who inspired the Kiss Bridge that forms the background to the show.
“We had to deal with this bridge not only in the theme of the show’s love story but also in the scenography. As you sit in the audience area, your gaze is drawn through the arches to this bridge,” says Erminio Serpente, lead architect and stage design at ECA2. He adds:
“The development of our show is a harmonious architectural dialogue between this place and the bridge in order to have the sunset as a vanishing point. We have reinvented the depth of field and perspectives. The public is drawn, through the successive arches, into a tunnel towards the sun.”
From an engineering perspective, the integration of the equipment was designed to the millimetre. The cladding of the arches comprises 2000 pieces of reinforced concrete. These were all handmade by a Vietnamese craftsman, and the stage is designed to be completely versatile, accommodating the show and any other performances for special occasions.
Kiss the Stars features cutting-edge tech
Concerning the creative process, Emmanuelle Charotte, VP of business development at ECA2, says:
“The project began three years ago. The decision to incorporate a permanent spectacular part of the destination – the show – was partly driven by the studies and work that had been done previously. By the time we came to create the show, we were familiar with each other’s business, expertise and cultures. It was a natural fit to work together on a major project – the most amazing permanent water and multimedia show ever seen in Asia.”
The Vortex show is in three layers, focusing on three successive arches, the first of which is 32 m tall. These draw the eye to the bridge and sky:
“The black hole, which is the biggest of all our projects, and which is visible from the cable car, is the first layer of the field of vision for the spectators. The Kiss Bridge is the second layer, and the sunset is the background.”
When it comes to size, cutting-edge technology, and immersion, the Kiss the Stars show is something that has, ECA2 contends, never been done before:
“It’s a project where the design intertwines deep narrative with an exceptional multimedia setup,” says Charotte. “Sun Group & ECA2 decided to push the envelope even further in terms of dimensions and spatialisation. The dynamic between the vertical and horizontal plans increases the immersion. It goes way beyond classical multimedia theatre, proposing a physically limitless visual show.”
“The ‘Black Hole’ principle enables the narrative to evolve. Space and time merge into one magical journey, where the ‘usual’ no longer applies. The layers of setup within the three arches enable deep, extraordinary and magical experiences to be created through the technology.”
Additional effects comprise an impressive array of lights, flames, lasers, video projectors, and speakers.
Rising to the challenge
Expanding on the technology behind Kiss the Stars Aurélien Bouvier, technical director at ECA2, adds:
“The technical setup is, in itself, pioneering. The biggest technical challenge is the design and construction of the three spaces, where lots of multimedia and water features fit in. The water management of the pool is also a challenge. Emptying and filling the pool for maintenance operations while still being able to do the show on the same day can be difficult.
“Another huge challenge was to design, manufacture and install cutting-edge and tailor-made effects of monumental proportions. For example, the largest Cascade Screen ever designed, measuring over 1000 square metres.”
Duijm adds:
“The fact that it operates with seawater is both an environmental opportunity and an operational challenge. We’ve got water jets behind us that shoot up in 35-metre-high water streams. It’s all seawater, so we’ve got seawater literally going all over our effects. That has been a big challenge for all the equipment, and, of course, our main team.”
This was just one of several challenges that the ECA2 and Sun World teams needed to overcome in order to bring the project to life. Other obstacles included colossal dimensions, the seawater, and the made-to-measure Cascade Screen. There was also the integration of the equipment into the structures.
There was also the issue of staffing, explains Duijm:
“The second challenge is training the staff. All our staff come from Vietnam. They are supported by a very small team of experts employed within Sun World. So, there has been an intense period of learning with ECA2, while they were doing the programming of the show. This has helped us get familiar with all this equipment, which is unique to Vietnam.”
Sustainability is key for Kiss the Stars project
The water effects are designed with sustainability in mind, with no soiling or wastage:
“The water effects are all designed and manufactured especially for this show,” says Julie Cugurno, VP of operations at ECA2. “One of the main special features is the Cascade Screen. It’s particularly challenging because it is for a huge installation that is immersed in seawater. Designed especially for this show, it’s unique: it is a projection surface of 23 by 44 meters. It monopolises the guests’ entire field of vision, immersing them in a unique multimedia show experience.”
“We wanted to make sure that we were able to incorporate natural resources,” adds Duijm. “We have plain water in the mist effects for safety reasons, but everything else uses seawater. That means we can reduce the impact we have on nature as far as we can in other ways, to help compensate for the fact we have a lot of lights.”
The project also benefits the local economy, with a team of up to 200 local people.
A universal story and a spectacular journey
Phu Quoc is, in terms of both natural beauty and the surrounding construction projects, the ideal location for such a show:
“The culture expressed in the narrative to the design which builds on and enhances such a beautiful place, it is the perfect location to raise the bar again in the field of outdoor iconic water and multimedia shows,” says Canizares.
The shows designed and produced by ECA2 always bring their audiences compelling stories explored through cutting-edge technologies and artistic perspectives, connecting them with the local folklore, local people, and culture. In terms of this show in Phu Quoc, Canizares adds:
“We have worked closely with Sun Group, a company dedicated to promoting the beauty of Vietnam. With their help, we imagined a legend that could explain the origin of the Kiss Bridge and Kiss Island. It’s a spectacular journey through our galaxy, highlighting the symbolism of duality between Fire and Water, and supported by stage design such as the arch that represents a black hole.
“In the story of Kiss the Stars, this portal links the centre of our galaxy to the Earth. Spectators will discover why this bridge between Space and Earth will remain forever a symbol throughout the galaxy of true love.”
He concludes:
“It is a show rooted in Vietnam, but with a universal story.”
