Well, okay, maybe hate is too strong a word. But it was a MAJOR
disappointment. When I heard that Cirque du Soliel would be putting on some sort of
Beatles Tribute show at the Mirage (to replace the Siegfried and Roy Theater), I
thought it would be a great idea. One thing I didn't like about Cirque very
much was their music. So I thought that the great Beatles music, combined
with some of the Beatles themes would be a good idea. Imagine the bright
colors and costumes of the Cirque in a Yellow Submarine tribute, complete with a
sad sack clown as the Nowhere Man, perhaps disappearing in and out of holes
like in the cartoon movie? Imagine "Here comes the sun" with bright red
costumes and aerialists being lifted up higher and higher, or climbing poles
reaching for the sun. Imagine Sgt. Pepper's Band in full regalia, accompanied by
colorful characters and perhaps a full marching band in formation with the
marching band turning out to be tumblers and acrobats. Imagine...
Imagine a different show from the one I saw tonight!!!
I love Beatles music, and as long as I kept my eyes shut, the show sounded
great. Unfortunately I opened my eyes.
Now I must tell you that after the show I heard people raving about how much
they loved it. When I asked if they'd ever seen Cirque du Soliel shows,
they said no. Maybe if I hadn't seen their other shows, I wouldn't have been
disappointed.
But for me, the primary problem was that this was just a bad Cirque show.
There were only 3 numbers that were excellent: "An Octopus's Garden under the
sea" was charming and showed what a good number could look like. "Help" was
a bit weird, with a lot of different people in quasi-Beatles costumes,
without faces, and exaggerated hairdos. But then on came 4 skaters who were
excellent, and mimicking skiing on an interesting set, they did some fantastic
skating - doing more like skateboarder moves than what you think of as skating.
Then came "Revolution" and "Back in the USSR" which featured some good
trampolining. It might have seen great to me, but I'd seen the Cirque show at
DisneyWorld (sorry I'm forgetting its name) which had similar but even better
trampolining. Still, this was good. These 3 numbers were excellent Cirque
type numbers.
Unfortunately there was a lot more to the show. Many numbers had a crowded
set with myriad people in odd costumes. Often they were more dance numbers
than acrobat numbers. But seemed to me to be acrobats attempting to dance,
rather than dancers. And they'd been choreographed by someone who didn't know
how to choreograph very well. One number was sort of like "Stomp" but with
dancers in big, clunky rainboots and no buckets, sticks or anything which made
"Stomp" known. A number of "dancers" were break dancers. But when large
groups danced, they wore clunky shoes (after all, they were probably acrobats),
and they didn't tap or ballet or do the precise, great stuff I think of as
Broadway dance numbers. So the "dance" numbers didn't pack much punch.
Perhaps part of the problem was the Cirque is running out of performers to
fill all the many shows in Vegas, which also include some semi-Cirque like, but
not-really-Cirque shows choreographed by Dragone (like Le Reve and Celine
Dion's show). Dragone isn't a great choreographer in my opinion. He may be a
good stager, but he's not a dance director. Still Dragone does a better job
than whoever choreographed "Love."
At any rate, the things one looks for in a Cirque show in the way of
acrobatics and aerialists was pretty much missing except in the 3 aforementioned
numbers. When there were aerialists, they just didn't seem to be as good as the
usual Cirque (or even Le Reve) performer. Their moves were more simple,
less spectacular. There seemed to be fewer of them performing. There were no
pole climbers (like the ones who stun you in Mystere), no great high flyers
in a trapeeze (like in O, Mystere, etc.), etc.
The bad news was that soon I found myself thinking that "Zumanity" had
better performers, and I thought "Zumanity" was Cirque's worst show. The Beatles
"Blackbird" number was turned into a strange comedy routine, and I found
myself remembering "Zumanity's" Pilgrims, who did amuse me somewhat (though they
were trashed by the critics).
Many of the numbers were staged with an overcrowded, busy style. Sometimes
less is more. In a great song like "Yesterday" which is a ballad - you'd
kind of like to see something going on the stage which is simple and beautiful.
The mesh between Beatles and Cirque quickly turned into a mash - a mishmash!
That was the word that came to mind as images appeared/projected on
movie-type screens showing World War II, while snappy Beatles tunes belted, and
people ran around the stage destroying brick rooftops, scenery disappeared into
the floor and came out, various people bungy jumped and flew around on ropes
without much acrobatic virtuosity to note, and various costumed characters
appeared and disappeared. Children showed up, sometimes appearing as a
mini-quad of quasi-Beatles, then rode around on a bed. Were they supposed to be the
4 Beatle boys as boys and perhaps all these scenes and images and melodies
were coming out of their heads at night? I don't know.
Some of the great Beatles songs didn't seem to go with what was going on on
stage. You'd think "Lucy in the Sky" with Diamonds would be an easy
transition. Just put a beautiful aerialist on some of those curtain-like ropes that
Cirque is fond of using, and have her fly around with artistic grace. But
the "diamonds" in the song proved too much for a Cirque that now seems
Techno-Dazzled. They had to dazzle us with their technology - and lights - lights
everywhere. They were pretty, but they sort of took away from the performance
of the aerialist. Also, they put her on some sort of ropes (not the curtains
as in my suggestion), and had a guy with a strange wheel-barrel/ladder thing
on the ground to push her around and pull her up. The guy was totally
distracting as was his wheel-barrel. And the girl's act just didn't look all that
difficult or spectacular.
"Strawberry fields" - I thought that referred to a cemetary, didn't it? Not
in this upbeat number.
And talk about disappointment - where was Yellow Submarine and all those
great songs? When "Octopus Garden" came on, I was sure this would be next. But
it just wasn't there at all!
The biggest disappointment came at the end - Sgt. Pepper - without the band
showing up. No set of 4 guys in those uniforms we all remember. No marching
band. Just a fast segway from the previous number into Sgt. Pepper - it
seemed almost an afterthought -- like - well, we have to stick it in somewhere.
Perhaps my seat was part of the problem. The theater-in-the-round isn't
really round, and some parts are at various levels. I wasn't that far from the
stage, but high enough that when various screens dropped down from the
ceiling, where things were projected on - my view of the stage was partially
blocked. The screens and opening curtains just didn't seem necessary. And from
some vantage points, just blocked the action.
The juxtaposition of various actions on the stage with various songs left me
saying "I don't get it" more than once. I couldn't figure out what
relationship there was between the staging/costumes and the lyrics.
Then there was the "Here comes the sun" number - but the globe that rose
from the stage was a light gold, as were the costumes, and the theater was
pretty dark. It looked more like "here comes the moon!"
As a Beatles lover I was dissatisfied. As a Cirque lover I was really
disappointed. I don't know what they were thinking in the staging of some
numbers. I don't know what the critics were thinking in their glowing reviews. As
I've said, perhaps if I hadn't seen every other Cirque show in town, I might
have been dazzled by the colors and sets. But instead I was underwhelmed.
My list of the best Cirque (or Cirque-like shows) in town is:
1. "O" - This is no doubt the best. The staging, acrobatics, and technical
level is amazing. I've seen it several times and could be happy watching it
nightly.
2. "Le Reve" - yes, it is a lot like "O" - and that is the good part! I
thought the reviewers were wrong to complain that this was too much like other
Cirque shows. Yes it is similar, but it is similar to the good parts of
Cirque, not the bad.
3. "Ka" - On first viewing this has jaw-dropping pieces. Well put
together, it does what it wants to do.
4. "Mystere" - the original still has a lot going for it (but I don't like
the music)
5. "Zumanity" - my main complaint is it didn't go far enough - if you are
going to be erotic - go for it - make the people really naked, not just wearing
nude body suits and falsies. Performers are good, but the show really
doesn't do what you want it to or what the producers said they wanted to do.
6. "Beatles Love" - bottom of the barrel. What a disappointment. And
what happened to "Yellow Submarine?"
The good news - the tickets were freebies courtesy of Harrahs!
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