Originally written 9/25/08.
Cirque du Soleil has been a main staple of quality entertainment throughout Las Vegas, not to mention the world. Their productions feature elaborate sets, extraordinary costumes, wonderful music, flawless choreography, remarkable stunts, and the best acrobatic performers in the world. Las Vegas is lucky to host five permanent shows, soon to be seven. Currently offered is Mystére at Treasure Island, O at the Bellagio, Zumanity at New York New York, The Beatles LOVE at The Mirage, and KÀ at the MGM Grand; with Criss Angell BeLIEve at the Luxor and an unnamed Elvis Presley-based show at CityCenter joining the lineup in the near future. I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing all of these with the exception of Zumanity (a sensual side of Cirque du Soleil that requires one to be twenty-one years and older to enter). They are all simply wonderful productions, but the two that take the cake for being the best are The Beatles LOVE and KÀ, two spectacular experiences that over simulate the senses on every level.
The Beatles LOVE, located at The Mirage, is one of the more unique Cirque du Soleil shows out there. It combines a unique collaboration between The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil, a very unusual one considering how protective The Beatles are with their music. Because of a personal friendship between one of the original Beatles, George Harrison, and Cirque du Soleil founder and chief executive officer Guy Laliberté, they were able to form this collaboration and produce one of the best shows one could ever see.
One of the best and most unique aspects about LOVE is of course the music. For this new production, original Beatles producer Sir George Martin was brought on board to remix and digitally remaster a collection of songs exclusively for the show. The sound quality is astronomical compared to their original recordings; digitally remastered to the highest surround sound standards of today. To make it better, the theatre also includes an impressive sound system to showcase The Beatles’s music to the highest degree. In fact, each seat has its own speaker system built in so the sound is literally up close and personal. The ending bass of Tomorrow Never Knows rumbles through every seat. The opening synths of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds seem to sparkle from throughout the theatre, including right up against the audience’s right ear. There’s a very three dimensional feeling to the music. It all just sounds amazing; not to mention it’s already The Beatles’s music to begin with. It’s pure bliss.
Then you add the visuals and it becomes a spectacle on all senses. Upon entering the theatre’s entrance, one arrives at the sixties inspired lobby with brightly colored fun decor. The ushers are all dressed in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band inspired clothing and given a certain quirky character. The theatre itself is a very intimate environment, a theatre in the round, with all the action taking place on a center stage in which the audience completely wraps around. Performers, sets, and props enter from every direction, including a large blanket that flows right on top of the heads of the audience and onto the stage. There is one segment where a whole entire city made of bricks suddenly appears and is all knocked down into thousands of individual bricks all over the stage and disappears as quickly as it appeared. Cars come in and drive around, skateboard ramps fill the stage along with the usual trampolines and other unusual props and sets. They even incorporate a lot of video projection technology. It’s an ever changing stage with each scene. Then there are the performers who make it all work; they are truly the stars of the show. They play the characters that live within each Beatles song while performing amazing acrobatics. Put everything together and The Beatles LOVE becomes a spectacular journey through the minds of those who created these memorable songs.
About a year later, KÀ opened up at the MGM Grand. Like LOVE, this is another unique Cirque du Soleil show that branches off from the regular abstract circus-like performance. Instead, it tells a straightforward tale of two twins of a royal family separated at youth and their quest and battles over an evil enemy to find each other. One is immediately immersed in the story as soon as they enter the lobby. Villagers roam the lobby and theatre grounds as though it was part of their own village. A few minutes before show time, more villagers appear within the high trees on either side of the main stage, swinging around from branch to branch. Fire erupts from the fog filled center stage every few minutes as the audience finds their seats. All that is heard is the ambience of this particular village within the jungle. It’s a perfect setup to have the audience enter the world that is KÀ, one that is far above any other Cirque du Soleil production. Then the show begins. Unlike LOVE, which is like an entertaining abstract dream sequence, KÀ is more reminiscent of watching an epic Hollywood blockbuster right before one’s eyes. The audience gets attached to the characters, on the edge of their seats during the battle scenes, and in awe of the impressive stunts and acrobatics. The story and characters win here above any other Cirque du Soleil show.
What makes this show truly awe-inspiring are the impressive mechanics. One of the most prominent is the huge 50-ton floating stage measuring 25 x 50 feet that twists in every direction via a huge robotic arm allowing the actors to stand or climb the structure. At one point, the stage is filled with tiny pieces of cork to simulate sand where it is suddenly tilted over dumping it and the actors into a darkened pit. Poles pop out of the structure when placed vertically to allow the performers to climb. There is even a special touch sensitive video technology built into the surface that displays images as it reacts to the touch of the performers. It’s the star of the show in terms of technology, but the supporting roles sure do make an impression as well. Like LOVE, each seat has a simple built-in stereo system, however, it’s nowhere near the same power. This is to showcase the amazing soundtrack, by far the best in terms of complete originality. The theatre itself is much grander to support such a grand production. Unlike many Cirque du Soleil shows, including LOVE, pyrotechnics and fire are involved in many segments of the show. There are many aspects of an impressive grand production design, including an acrobatic boat, a flying machine that glides over the audience, large puppet controlled creatures, and one of the most impressive, a contraption where cages spin around a center axil. Not to mention the detailed costume designs, it all comes together to produce one of the most awe inspiring productions out there.
The Beatles LOVE and KÀ are two completely different beasts, both truly spectacular in their own right. LOVE is more of a dream-like experience featuring more of a traditional Cirque du Soleil fare with The Beatles thrown in. The music, choreography, costume design, and acrobatics certainly win here. KÀ is more of an epic movie, featuring a driven storyline, amazing use of technology, impressive production design, and death defying stunts--all on a grand scale. But like most epic Hollywood blockbusters, there is usually something missing, and it’s certainly the case with KÀ; a heart. There’s something about LOVE that, well, has more love in it. Maybe it’s the fun loving spirit, high energy, wackiness, dreamlike production; or the love that brought this unique collaboration into fruition; or the love that comes from the Beatles music and onto the stage; or the fact that the show ends with All You Need Is Love and is the underlying theme of the whole production. It could be all of the above, but without a doubt, there’s something about LOVE that just can’t be beat and makes it a step above the rest. It can’t be explained. It just is. Although KÀ may have the spectacle, LOVE always wins.
✘ Brian
