Angel hopes to bless cursed magic show in Vegas
LAS VEGAS — Magician-escape artist Criss Angel hopes he can work a whole lot of magic Halloween night here at the Luxor Hotel and Casino.
That’s because it’s the official opening of his long-awaited and controversy-plagued magic extravaganza. Two years in the making, and a collaboration with the venerable Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil, “Believe” combines Angel’s brand of artistic (and sometimes-shocking) magic and Cirque’s trademark artistry.
“Believe” has just finished a month of previews, during which the buzz on the Internet and in one Las Vegas Review-Journal article has painted a less-than positive picture of the production. Those “reviews,” though, appeared more than a month ago, when “Believe” was still being tweaked and reworked and fine-tuned. Will mainstream press be as critical? The reviews will be out in force in the next few days.
In “Believe” (which takes its name from the last word supposedly uttered by legendary magician Harry Houdini before his death), Angel, according to the official Cirque Web site, “stars as a surreal, enigmatic Victorian Noble. Along a path of imaginative exploration, he encounters Kayala and Crimson, two women who represent different aspects of femininity, four bizarre Ushers, who will introduce the audience to the baroque theater of Criss' mind and a high-energy troupe of characters and dancers who mix a multitude of styles into a high-energy visual feast, punctuated by moments of grace and sensuality.”
That’s a far cry from Angel’s most famous incarnation, that of goth bad-boy on his shocking A&E cable series “Mindfreak.” Angel will now be stepping up to bat in a town famous for its megaproduction shows and its magicians, most notably the iconic Sigfried & Roy and the perennial David Copperfield. Is he ready for a 10-year commitment — with 4,600 shows on the schedule?
I sat down with Angel and the show’s co-writer and director, Serge Denoncourt, in Angel’s goth-inspired dressing room to talk about dreams coming true.
Q. Why did Cirque decide to join forces with a magician for its latest production?
SD: [Founder] Guy Laliberte wanted to do a magic show for the last 20 years. He met Criss a few years ago, and they talked about a magic show project. Then he called me about directing. And I insisted on meeting Criss first to see if there was a connection there. If not, I would not do the show.
Q. Serge, you have directed many theatrical ventures. Is this your first foray into directing a magic show?
SD: No, I’ve done two magic shows before. [Laughing.] I hate magic, truth be told. And that’s why Guy called me. I’m trying to direct in a way that even people who don’t like magic will enjoy the show. I think magic for the sake of magic is not interesting, and fortunately Criss thinks the same.
Q. What inspired you in the journey to “Believe”?
SD: When I met Criss, I asked him what book or movie he loved most and he said “The Wizard of Oz” movie, and in my case it was the book “Alice in Wonderland.” So we tried to be inspired by Dorothy and Alice’s journeys. Sometimes Criss is in a beautiful garden in the show, sometimes he’s in an ancient forest, sometimes in a dark world. He deals with good and evil, love and death.
Q. Some describe “Believe” as just a big magic show with some Cirque elements thrown in. Is that a harsh assessment?
SD: I don’t even think of it as a magic show anymore. It’s much more about emotions than tricks.
CA: You can see a magic show, and what do you feel? You feel dumb because you don’t know how it’s done. [The magicians] make you feel inferior because they know something you don’t. That’s why magic has become this kind of hokey novelty, why it hasn’t been provocative in popular culture. We want people to come to this show and connect on an emotional level. The last thing we want people to think about is “How was that done?”
Q. Why did you decide Las Vegas was the right fit for your “dream come true”?
CA: I first made a trip to Las Vegas 13 years ago and I was a huge fan of Cirque. I always wanted to do for magic what Cirque did for circus — there’s no three-rings, no animals. They brought poetry and art to the circus in a way no one had seen before. I wanted to do the same thing with magic. I always felt magic was amazing art, a beautiful art, but that magicians just basically beat the s--- out of it for so many years that it never got the respect that cinema did or music did or quite frankly Cirque did.
Q. What’s magical about magic to you?
SD: In the magic world they prefer to say “illusions” because it’s more chic. But it’s all the same. The difference here is that we use magic to help our storytelling. We never stop the show. It’s not one act after another. There is no “showstopper.” The dance is more about character dancing and how it relates to the story. There’s a real journey inside Criss’ head. [Laughing.] I personally now call the show “Criss in Wonderland.”
CA: Magic brings out the inner child in everybody. It allows you to see that anything is possible. I think that’s a necessity for people. They have to have that escapism.
Criss Angel, “Believe,” open run, Luxor Resort, 3900 Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas. Tickets, $59-$150. Call (800) 557-7428; cirquedusoleil.com/crissangel