Crystal by Cirque du Soleil – Photos from Portland, Oregon shows

Photos from our run in Portland Oregon (May 2025) with the Cirque du Soleil ice-skating show Crystal at the Veterans Memorial Arena. I’ve been looking forward all year to visiting Portland, Oregon and it did not disappoint! Voodoo Donuts, vibrant nightclub scene, street art and the wacky crazy street life that makes people say “Keep Portland Weird”. (Photo above is my bandleader station at Crystal)

This is our second-to-the-last run of Cirque du Soleil’s Crystal show as we wrap up the Crystal world tour. In the last three years we performed across 5 continents and it was the experience of a lifetime. Much love to our cast and crew as we prepare to move on to our next adventures, and of course much love to the wonderful Crystal audiences worldwide that made this Cirque du Soleil show such a monumental success. Thank you!

Photography by Coral Scoles-Cobrun. Visit her IG page at: https://www.instagram.com/coral.scolescoburn/

Crystal by Cirque du Soleil – Photos from Kelowna, Canada

As the Cirque du Soleil ice-skating show Crystal nears the end of its 6 year world tour, here are some behind-the-scenes and show photos from our run in Kelowna, Canada in May 2025. Performing with this show as bandleader and accordion has been an absolute pleasure with such wonderful cast and crew. This has been my third show with Cirque du Soleil. We performed across 5 continents for well over a million people. The adrenalin performances and travels across the world have been absolutely amazing. Thank you to Tegan Klein for the wonderful photos!

Photos by Tegan Klein. Visit Gloam Media at: https://www.instagram.com/gloam_media/

Watch “Pray the Gay Away”® the musical on YouTube

Watch “Pray the Gay Away”® the musical on YouTube! Book, Music and Lyrics by Conrad Askland. This video is from the original 2019 community theater premiere at the Historic Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon, WA USA

“Pray the Gay Away”® delves into the challenging realm of gay conversion therapy, offering a raw and impactful portrayal. Experience the mix of entertainment and raw emotion that left audience members describing the show as both gut-wrenching and emotionally devastating.

No More Musical Theater from the musical Pray the Gay Away®

I’m finally starting to release some clips from my 2019 original musical “Pray the Gay Away”®. This song “No More Musical Theater” is a turning point in the musical where it quickly switches from a comedy to a tragedy. This is the last of the “fun and games” moments in the script as we follow the journey of two boys going through gay conversion therapy.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more PTGA clips and other music video projects I’m working on at: https://www.youtube.com/@ConradAskland

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Cirque du Soleil CRYSTAL – Christmas 2023 in Montreal, Canada

Yes, that’s me (Conrad Askland) sitting at the ice piano during a performance of the Cirque du Soleil show CRYSTAL. (Photo by Caroline Thibault)

We just finished a wonderful two weeks performing in Montreal, Canada over Christmas with the Cirque du Soleil show CRYSTAL. Not only were the audiences wonderful to perform for, the cast of Crystal also got a private tour of the Cirque du Soleil International Headquarters in Montreal. Wonderful city. Wonderful audiences.

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Photos of Crystal by Cirque du Soleil in Malaga, Spain

Photos by Hugo Cortes of Crystal by Cirque du Soleil in Malaga, Spain in December 2022. This is in the middle of our European Tour of Cirque du Soleil’s only ice-skating touring show “Crystal”. A couple shots in here of me playing accordion on stage during the Malaga, Spain run. Thank you Hugo Cortes for the wonderful live photos of our Cirque du Soleil performance!

Photos of Crystal show by Cirque du Soleil in Frankfurt, Germany 2022

Photos from our Frankfurt, Germany run of Cirque du Soleil’s #Crystal ice skating show #cirquedusoleilcrystal #cirquedusoleil #frankfurtgermany #iceskate #iceskaters

Thank you so much to our German audiences for being so much fun. It has been a thrill to play with the musicians on the wonderful Cirque du Soleil music score to Crystal (Music by Maxim Lepage). The ice skaters and acrobats never cease to amaze me with their beautiful ice skating and circus stunts

Photos by Jan Heesch @janheesch

Askland’s Romeo and Juliet musical translated into Chinese language

My musical of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been translated to Chinese! This work was done by a Chinese student majoring in Linguistics who goes by the handle “CocoKissh”. We did some Zoom meetings preparing for the project and that was really fun working between Seattle, WA and Beijing, China. Read more for additional info and link to the Chinese language subtitles to my Romeo and Juliet musical.

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