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IT COULD BE ARGUED that the best shows in Las Vegas happen out of the theaters. In one mild instance, on a recent evening in a Mandalay Bay bar, several men in clerical collars led a makeshift conga line while one of their group talked intently on a cell phone. Explaining to their bishop, perhaps?
Be that as it may, the in-theater Vegas attractions continue to draw thousands—while earning millions. And these days, one organization stands astride the world of Las Vegas entertainment like a colossus—Cirque du Soleil. From its modest 1984 beginnings as a street troupe in a Quebec City suburb, Cirque has grown into a global entertainment giant, with six companies touring and five settled in their own theaters, four in Vegas.
Cirque is in partnership with the MGM Mirage group, so Cirque shows are the main attraction in four of the MGM resorts. The oldest is Mystere, which debuted at Treasure Island in 1993. Five years later, the Bellagio opened, boasting the aquatic theater that houses Cirque’s O, one of the most successful shows in Las Vegas history. Last year, Cirque opened Zumanity, an adult-theme show, at New York–New York; then February brought Kà to the MGM Grand.
Kà is a wonder, topping the many Cirque shows I’ve seen and ranking as one of the most thrilling theatrical productions ever. Like all Cirque shows, it has an overall theme into which is woven unusual circus acts. Here, the story is Shakespearean—separated twins take an epic journey to a reunion—and the specially designed theater, with speakers in every seat, combines the cast’s physical talents with high-tech magic. A mobile and versatile stage rises and sinks into a seemingly bottomless pit and even turns vertical for several scenes, including a climactic and breathtaking battle. You feel as if you’re watching from overhead as the warriors advance and retreat, then you realize that they’re all suspended from above, and their weaving movements compose a marvel of acrobatic choreography.
Zumanity, the only Cirque show not appropriate for kids, offers thrills of a different kind. Here the athleticism mixes with eroticism, as when two topless women contort their bodies in a liquid-filled vessel like a large champagne glass, an aerialist enhances her twists and turns with the moans of a bondage-and-domination session, two males tangle in a homoerotic wrestling match, and a nearly nude male and female glide through what is likely to be the most sensual pas de deux you’ll ever see.
But while the show is certainly sexy, it has an equal abundance of humor, making the whole enterprise good dirty fun. It’s hosted by a drag queen resembling Liza Minnelli, features an Elvis lookalike as a male stripper and includes a hilarious group dance called the “S&M Hoedown.” A couple of caveats: The flashing strobe lights can be irksome, and unless you’re a would-be performer, you may want to pick seats a distance from the stage.
THE CIRQUE INFLUENCE has spread beyond its proprietary productions. When Celine Dion signed her multimillion-dollar deal with Caesars Palace in 2003, she turned to Franco Dragone, director of Mystere and O, to create her stillrunning show. Vegas mogul Steve Wynn did likewise when he planned his eponymous new casino, making Dragone, who left Cirque to form his own company, the man to design the Wynn’s main theater and its opening production, La Reve.
Wynn’s theater is spectacular, with superb sightlines from every seat. The audience surrounds a pool filled with a million gallons of water, in which platforms raise and lower. Overhead, rows of windows with moving images encircle a grid that opens and appears to rise into infinity.
That overall design, however, may be too limiting, because La Reve (French for “dream”), which opened in May, seemed too much the same—high diving plus aquatic acts and gymnastic choreography. For those of us with such memories, it was like Busby Berkeley directing an Esther Williams movie and adding some Olympic diving. Four clowns supposed to provide humorous interludes were generally tiresome. Or maybe they seemed so because a technical snafu delayed the show 90 minutes.
Aside from Cirque du Soleil and its spinoffs, there remain plenty of shows to see in Vegas. Probably the best-known is Danny Gans at the Mirage, who’s won the title Vegas Entertainer of the Year eight straight times from readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Gans, backed only by his band, isn’t the greatest mimic, comic or singer, but he may well combine those talents better than anyone, and he constantly projects an audiencewooing warmth. His impressions and songs come at a rapid fire, and some, like his Tom Jones (whom he resembles), are uncanny. Gans’ vocal skills allow him to go into higher ranges to sound like Anita Baker or Natalie Cole, and he regularly refreshes his act. Thus, along with old favorites like Sinatra and George Burns, he does Five for Fighting and Dave Matthews. Why see Gans? Well, where else can you see a duet between Jimmy Stewart and Kermit the Frog?
SEVERAL AIRLINES FLY DAILY to Las Vegas. Driving, straight up I-15, takes about five hours. For Ka, tickets run $99-$150 (MGM Grand, 702-891-7777); Zumanity, $65-125 (New York–New York, 702-740-6969); Danny Gans, $100 (Mirage, 702-796-9999); and La Reve, $110 (Wynn, 702-770-7100).
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