Awhile back I saw Beatles "Love" at the Mirage and wrote a review. I didn't
like the show very much. This week I was able to get a comped ticket and
took another look. This time I enjoyed it more. One thing that really helped
was having a great seat. Unlike at other Cirque du Soleil shows, "Love"
isn't a case where all seats are pretty much equally good. The problem with
"Love" is that the theater in the round isn't exactly round, so some seats rise
at a different angle than others, and many screens are lowered which have
images projected on them. If you sit in the higher levels, as I did the first
time out, the screens may block part of your view. The screens can also be
somewhat distracting. My perfect seat this time was the $165.00 Row K, Seat 15
- directly in the center, at a level just slightly higher than the stage.
Some other "orchestra" seats are lower, some even actually almost below the
level of the stage. If you can get Row K or a few rows above that, I would
suggest that.
Since I love the Beatles music and admire other Cirque shows, I did enjoy
the show this time. I guess my big gripe is still that the show could have
been a lot better. If you've never seen a Cirque show, you definitely will
enjoy this one, with all the usual Cirque items such as clowns, interesting
costumes, great aerialists, and some good acrobatics. Even if you have seen the
better "O" or other shows, you probably will also like this one. The big draw
here is definitely the Beatles music - so unless you hate their music, you
will enjoy it.
On second viewing, I think I would rate current Cirque shows in this order:
"O", Ka and Love, Mystere, Zumanity. Ka was great on first viewing, but
diminished quite a bit on second viewing, when we knew what to expect. I've
viewed "O" about 4 or 5 times now, and would love to go again....so for me, that
shows me it's the top show.
As for "Love" I think the problem basically is that Cirque stayed with its
standard shticks and characters and kept using the same characters throughout
the show. What works well with one Beatles tune, didn't mean it would work
as well with another. Also "Love" uses many, but not all of the most famous
tunes. Perhaps George Martin and others felt that some of the songs had been
heard too much, were too famous to use. In the liner notes for the Love CD,
he indicates that they agonized over using "Yesterday" in the show because it
was so famous. Yet, why not use the famous songs? The show is in fact a
Beatles tribute -- so why not use "Hard Day's Night", "Nowhere Man" and "Yellow
Submarine," to mention three that come to my mind as being missing?
On second viewing, I realized that a number of the Beatles songs are
strange, if not outright depressing (I am the Walrus for strange, Eleanor Rigby for
depressing). Maybe using a happier song such as Yellow Submarine would have
made it easier to mesh Cirque with Beatles?
One suggestion for Cirque -- sometimes less is more. On a song like
"Yesterday," Paul McCartney clearly realizes that sometimes less can make a song
more powerful, since in his concert show, he sings that one alone on stage, with
his guitar, rather than with the full band treatment. In Love, a full
regalia of Cirque characters cross the stage during Yesterday. Often there were
just too many people on stage, and the number of performers plus the number of
screens with projected images could be distracting (especially if you were
sitting at the wrong height!).
I find it hard not to nitpick on the show, since it just seemed obvious to
me that some moments could have been better. "Help" is one of the best
numbers, with fantastic skaters going up and down large curved ramps that
immediately evoke images of the Beatles skiing as they sang "Help" in the movie. "An
Octopuses Garden" is probably the best meshing of Cirque and Beatles. Even
the comic version of "Blackbird" works well in this show.
But other numbers in the show sort of grated on me. For example in "While
My Guitar Gently Weeps" one of the clowns stands holding a cello throughout --
huh?? It's about a guitar, people!!! And the finale "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band" where pretty much the whole cast goes on stage -- but no
one dresses up as Sgt. Pepper's Band! I also thought "Lady Madonna" came off
strangely, with a little bit of racist images -- was it all in my mind or was
it there? -- with a pregnant black lady dancing with a black guy in
coveralls and nappy-haired wig and I thought of "Stepin Fetchit" from 1930's films.
And as "Lucy in the Sky" did her lovely aerialist act while strobe lights
flashed like diamonds all over the ceiling -- why was there a guy in coveralls
with a weird wheel barrel contraption that was kind of distracting? And in
beautiful "Here comes the Sun" I would have expected bright orange and reds but
instead we get "Here comes the candles" with subdued lights, people carrying
candles, a train with candles goes across the stage, and a large orb rises
up to brighten things, but it is made from candles.
Maybe part of the problem was that the show seemed full of symbolism, trying
to evoke various thoughts about the Beatles and their songs and their
history, and sometimes the symbolism was murky, leaving me scratching my head as to
what it all meant. And sometimes it seemed pretty silly -- like when one of
the Volkswagon Beatles car shows up on stage and breaks apart -- they had to
be saying "The Beatles broke up!"
The Beatles tracks have been reworked by George Martin and Giles Martin, and
they did a great job. On my first viewing of the show, the music sounded
just great. However in this seat, with the great view, sometimes I found the
soundtrack too loud.
A little girl sitting beside me found the show fascinating, and most people
remarked about how great it was. Certainly it is an entertaining show. But
it is the Beatles, and I just thought it could have been better.
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