Corteo is such a feast for the eyes that the exceptional importance of its aural dimension can easily be overlooked. Compared with that in previous Cirque du Soleil productions, the music is more varied and integrated with the acts; there’s a clown-faced percussionist who coaxes two teeterboard acrobats higher and higher with his drumbeats, and a violinist who duels with a whistler while the cast plays wineglasses and Tibetan bells. The musicians themselves are simply more present, on or off the stage.

Roger Hewett, the production’s bandleader and one of its two keyboardists, says the show’s layout poses particular challenges: Corteo’s seven musicians sit in four pits in corners on either side of the split stage.

“We’re clearly visible to the audience, but because we’re separated we can’t communicate by visual cues, so we all have monitors to hear the others and a click track to keep everything in time,” says Hewett, interviewed in the artists’ green room at the Grand Chí¢piteau in Concord Pacific Place, where the show continues till July 20.

“A great deal of communication is required. Corteo’s director [Daniele Finzi Pasca] wanted a lot of cross-fading, where one piece of music disappears and another gradually comes in. Obviously, it’s difficult to play that live. We have many transitions. From the top of the show to halfway through the first act there’s nonstop music, all linked together.

"At the same time, everything is structured to be really flexible, so we can stay on a certain measure or phrase, or cut one, or juggle things around to fit whatever action is on-stage. I have a screen and a headset mike, and I’m constantly giving cues.”

The other musician with a monitor is Christopher “Kit” Chatham, who has a pit all to himself, filled with an array of percussion instruments. He not only has to negotiate a United Nations’ worth of world rhythms, he’s also on-stage for several acts, usually with a drum, at one point leading a fantastical funeral procession that devolves into a Carnaval-style party.

“The director was really big on making the musicians part of the show,” says Chatham. “As much as possible we integrate with the rest of the cast. Most of the instrumentalists are in full clown costume, with white faces.”

Chatham’s role in Corteo has its specific challenges, as well as ones more familiar to a musician in a show. “I have to place actions here and there, and a lot of the time we all have to mimic actions, so if the acrobats are doing a salto or a big flip I’ll do a crescendo or decrescendo with it. I have to be focused not only on the music but on what my character would do, interacting with the Dead Clown, the Little Clown, or whoever.

“Everything is real organic in terms of fitting together—the instrumentation, the mix of the acoustic with the synthetic and electric,” Chatham continues. “We want to be perfect, but if it’s a bit rough around the edges that’s okay. It fits within the whole concept of Corteo.

"At the same time, consistency is crucial in a show where people depend on hearing things, timing what they do off what you play. You have to be right on the ball when life-or-death stunts are going on. And things change every night. If the acrobats miss a trick then Roger’s got to call it, and we all have to adjust. But the biggest challenge for me is putting on all that makeup!”