On my recent trip to Vegas, I saw Love, the Cirque du Soleil at The Mirage based on music by The Beatles. This completed the.... uh... pent-fecta? Point being, I've now seen all five of the Cirque shows that play regularly in Las Vegas: Mystère (the first I ever saw, and in my opinion, the best), KÀ (which I saw last trip, and also quite liked), Zumanity (which I also last trip, but never got around to talking about in detail; maybe I'll do that soon, but suffice it to say, I was lukewarm about it), O (sadly, a rather big disappointment), and now, Love.
I'm pleased to say that Love fit on the "shelf" next to the two Cirque shows I enjoyed, rather than the two I found lacking. Like all four of the others, though, the creative forces behind Cirque du Soleil found a way to deliver a rather different experience, even if it did at time use some of the same kinds of "acts."
I've never really been a particular fan of The Beatles, so while I'm sure that the musical aspect would add a great deal to this show for some people, for me it was just one more piece of the whole. A good piece, though -- the music was thoroughly re-mastered and re-mixed for a powerful new presentation here.
I was more interested in the staging, however. This was the first Cirque show I've seen that was "in the round" (that is, seats completely surround the stage in all 360 degrees, for any non-theater folks reading this). Some of the sister shows come close with thrust stages, but there's just something different about facing directly opposite other audience members, and having their energy play directly at you.
The show also uses a great deal of projection, which none of the other shows really incorporate in any measure (well, KÀ sort of does). Two wide screens are placed above and behind the audience on opposite sides of the theater, and something is featured on them throughout. In addition, at some points during the show, the stage is cut into quarters by see-through screens that fly in, and still more material is projected onto them.
In short, this show really gives you extreme sensory overload, even by Cirque du Soleil standards. You could see Love three of four times, and still not see everything there is to see before you, between this screen, that screen, that side of the stage, this side of the stage, above the stage, and in the four aisles leading onto the stage. The rush of spectacle manages to kind of bypass the conscious mind, so you end up taking it all in on a base, gut level. Which, I suppose, is a pretty effective thing for a show named after an emotion to do.
So, whether you're a Beatles fan or not, I would recommend going to see Love if you're in Las Vegas and can spare the time. It's well worth it.
4 comments:
"I've never really been a particular fan of The Beatles"
These words don't make sense to me in this order, its meaning escapes me. I think you used never when you should have used 'always'. :)
joe hated the seating at the show.
did your ushers speak with (what seemed to be) fake british accents?
seats all around the stage? are you sure you weren't at a Wrestling match? :-P
the mole
Erika -- I could definitely see getting bad seats in that theater. And it would make a WORLD of difference as to whether you liked the show or not, I'm sure. And yes, the ushers all spoke with fake British accents. That's one of the things about the Cirque shows; all the ushers go with the theme. At KÀ, they're all ancient Far Eastern warrior looking types that scan your tickets and point sternly where you're supposed to go. :-)
Mole -- Yeah. Very sure. :-)
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