(Lake George) After dark, the historic fortress in the small village of Lake George, New York, comes to life on a peaceful note. With sound, music and light, Fort William Henry becomes the scene of a winter wonderland that charms audiences of all ages: a magic trick for which Montreal-based Moment Factory has developed an infallible formula.
Enchanting music pierces through the ramparts of Fort William Henry on this premiere night. It eclipses the vocation of this British fortress, built in the 18th century to protect against French attacks. Immersed in the naive dream of Winter’s Dream, an immersive show embroidered around the joys of winter, visitors will forget the echoes of the cannons.
As soon as you enter the enclosure, balls of wool and rocking chair announce the colors of the comforting experience that is offered at the end of the corridor. In the interior courtyard, campfires welcome the public. We’ll go and warm up there between two interactive tables. On one side, the occupants of a forest are revealed – a wolf, a bird of prey and a full moon beside which the shadows of the visitors are projected. On the other side, a quilt that takes shape on a log cabin with each ball thrown.
By taking the steps or the ramps, since the organizers were careful to make the places accessible to all, you reach the top of the bastions where the immersive installations recall the beauties of nature in winter: the sparkling of a frozen lake, vibrant full moons, icy forests and the enchantment of the first snowfall.
These luminous paintings are complemented by a recital of sounds set to magical music by Anaïs Larocque, which is a key element of this experience. The whole thing creates a spell that is difficult to resist. Next to us, a boy spontaneously opens his mouth to collect a flake of light, while a couple dances under the “snow” a little further away.
Moment Factory has mastered the art of entertaining with unifying multimedia installations that it spreads from Paris to New York and from Tokyo to Singapore. Disney, Billie Eilish and Universal Studios are among the big players who appear in a well-stocked list, to which the name of footballer Lionel Messi will soon be added with an installation which will be revealed in Miami this spring.
The multimedia studio is also in its 20th installation on natural sites around the world, with the series of Lumina night tours, started in 2014 in Coaticook and which changed the vocation of the city. Added to this are unique events such as the lighting of the Jacques-Cartier and Invalides bridges, or a winter reverie like that of Winter’s Dream, designed to boost the tourist offering of the village of Lake George in winter.
“It’s another project in an improbable and atypical place,” notes the general director of signature experiences at Moment Factory, Christian L’Heureux, met on the evening of the premiere, December 7.
The same evening, the multimedia giant launched another parallel experience, in Seattle.
Winter’s Dream was put together in just six months: a particularly rapid pace, he points out. At this rate, one might wonder if the company has come to reproduce a winning recipe. “I think that the great strength of Moment Factory is to have an immensely diverse field of intervention and to be constantly in adaptive mode to create unique experiences almost anywhere,” answers Christian L’ Happy.
Creating magic in a fortress comes with certain challenges, points out creative director Gabriel Pontbriand. The magic trick in this case was to ensure that the technique remained as invisible as possible to maintain the illusion and evoke emotion from a 360-degree perspective.
The enchantment takes place. Winter’s Dream plays on the heartstrings by focusing on childhood nostalgia. She uses all these clichés which immerse us, whether we like it or not, in the wonder and joys of winter. “I just saw a lady who must have been 80 years old dancing the waltz. It’s beautiful to witness people’s reaction,” he says, delighted with the effect.
We will easily let ourselves be carried away by these memories of cold nights, winter adventures and warm moments that contrast with the cold of the season. We won’t shy away from the opportunity to grab a ball to activate a light show or dance with the wolves. The magic of winter clearly has a universal side that crosses borders. Will we want to drive three hours to have this one-hour experience, at most? By combining it with a getaway in the Adirondacks, most certainly.
