I caught the new Cirque du soleil show last night at the Mirage. ThreeL is in town visiting and we decided to go. It was fantastic. The new show features music by The Beatles. It is amazing to me that after so many years, Beatlemania is still alive and well and charging at least $35 for a t-shirt.
All of the cirque shows are good, and each one seems to get progressively more elaborate in terms of costume, stage design and sheer creativity when it comes to jumping, flying, and resting your ass on the top of your head because you apparently have no spine. This show was no exception. So much creativity, it was hard to know where to look. The stage set up is very nice and surprisingly intimate. The stage is essentially round with various spokes that lead to and from the stage. With all of the action happening in the center, there didn’t appear to be a bad seat in the house. Even the furthest row seemed very close. We had front row seats and I almost wish we were in the back. Next time…
You have to wonder with such an extensive body of work to refer to, how they decide on the songs to use for the show. I was under the very strong belief that I was going to recognize every song. In fact, I had never heard the very first song. (I have since figured out it’s Because from Abbey Road.) Anyway, aside from that first song, I believe I knew all the others. In addition to the music, voice recordings of conversations and interviews were also creatively used to transition between the musical pieces. If you have seen any of the cirque shows, they all tend to use the clowns/mimes for these transition pieces. Starting with the pre-show all the way to the finale, these characters are woven into the entire show. In some cases, I find their presence seems to provide the only continuity for the shows bizarre interpretive dance nature. I especially found that to be the case for Mystere.
But I digress. So, coming back to the music choices, you had to figure that in addition to using any number of their hits, they would also try and find a balance between who was singing the songs. I would say in general that was true. John and Paul performed the majority of songs (in terms of the primary voices). George’s songs included Here Comes the Sun, Something, and a very beautiful (and strangely emotional) While My Guitar Gently Weeps. George’s songs have always struck me as being so peaceful and beautiful in a simple and elegant way. I think that the interpretation by the performers for these songs reflected that as well. And then there was Ringo’s contribution. I wish I could tell you they used A Little Help from my Friends. To me, that is his best vocal contribution. But no, I understand from a performance perspective that there was going to be much more to visually work with by using Octopus’s Garden, and so it was. And it was incredible.
The performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps had a very memorial/tribute feel to it, so I wondered what they were going to do for John. I think the iconic song for him is Imagine, but since it isn’t a Beatles song, I wondered what they might use instead. If indeed they were going for a tribute to John, I would say it happened with the song A Day in the Life. I have always found this to be an oddly depressing and dark song anyway, and it was interpreted as such, I thought.
Now if you know anything about me at all, you know I was singing along for almost the entire show. I think most people probably were. However, I think it is one thing to sing along because you know the music and enjoy it, and another thing to be forced into a sing-along. For me, the cheesiest part of the show was during the performance of Hey Jude. I love this song (and Julian Lennon!), but having the performers encouraging the audience to clap and sing along with the Na-Na-Na-Nas was a little too much for me. Luckily it didn’t go on too long.
The other thing I found to be a little strange was the 4 children in the show. There were 4 boys that appeared periodically throughout the show, representing the “four lads from Liverpool.” It was strange for me because I found it took me out of the show and made me wonder about what they were doing about school, why they were up so late, how they were allowed to be in the shows in the first place, blah, blah, blah. Regardless of my child labor internal dialogue going on, the boys were very good, and I decided that since in fact, they were not my boys, I would let it be. Oh yeah, I said it.
My first and final impression of the entire experience centered on the sheer commercialism of the entire operation. By that I am of course referring to merchandise. The gift shop was a complete zoo the entire time we were waiting for the theater doors to open. They had pretty much anything a new or “seasoned” Beatles fan might want and for a ridiculously high price. One area that I might re-visit is the CD’s. I have a number of Beatles CD’s, but for some reason I am still missing a few, such as the White album. Anyway, they had CD’s, DVD’s, and all kinds of other Cirque du Soleil stuff too. I still have my eye on a Beatles watch, but I settled for expensive t-shirts instead. Then there were the pictures. There is never any flash photography allowed in these shows, but there is always a group of photographers available to take pictures while you are seated. ThreeL and I already knew that if the picture was going to turn out decent that we were going to buy it regardless of cost. And we did. Aside from the fact that I look like I am about to fall right out of my shirt, I can’t complain too much about it. I may try and mess around with cropping the picture, but until then, please just disregard the strange urge you are going to have to fix my shirt. And if it’s any other urge, then keep your pervy comments to yourself.
All of the cirque shows are good, and each one seems to get progressively more elaborate in terms of costume, stage design and sheer creativity when it comes to jumping, flying, and resting your ass on the top of your head because you apparently have no spine. This show was no exception. So much creativity, it was hard to know where to look. The stage set up is very nice and surprisingly intimate. The stage is essentially round with various spokes that lead to and from the stage. With all of the action happening in the center, there didn’t appear to be a bad seat in the house. Even the furthest row seemed very close. We had front row seats and I almost wish we were in the back. Next time…
You have to wonder with such an extensive body of work to refer to, how they decide on the songs to use for the show. I was under the very strong belief that I was going to recognize every song. In fact, I had never heard the very first song. (I have since figured out it’s Because from Abbey Road.) Anyway, aside from that first song, I believe I knew all the others. In addition to the music, voice recordings of conversations and interviews were also creatively used to transition between the musical pieces. If you have seen any of the cirque shows, they all tend to use the clowns/mimes for these transition pieces. Starting with the pre-show all the way to the finale, these characters are woven into the entire show. In some cases, I find their presence seems to provide the only continuity for the shows bizarre interpretive dance nature. I especially found that to be the case for Mystere.
But I digress. So, coming back to the music choices, you had to figure that in addition to using any number of their hits, they would also try and find a balance between who was singing the songs. I would say in general that was true. John and Paul performed the majority of songs (in terms of the primary voices). George’s songs included Here Comes the Sun, Something, and a very beautiful (and strangely emotional) While My Guitar Gently Weeps. George’s songs have always struck me as being so peaceful and beautiful in a simple and elegant way. I think that the interpretation by the performers for these songs reflected that as well. And then there was Ringo’s contribution. I wish I could tell you they used A Little Help from my Friends. To me, that is his best vocal contribution. But no, I understand from a performance perspective that there was going to be much more to visually work with by using Octopus’s Garden, and so it was. And it was incredible.
The performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps had a very memorial/tribute feel to it, so I wondered what they were going to do for John. I think the iconic song for him is Imagine, but since it isn’t a Beatles song, I wondered what they might use instead. If indeed they were going for a tribute to John, I would say it happened with the song A Day in the Life. I have always found this to be an oddly depressing and dark song anyway, and it was interpreted as such, I thought.
Now if you know anything about me at all, you know I was singing along for almost the entire show. I think most people probably were. However, I think it is one thing to sing along because you know the music and enjoy it, and another thing to be forced into a sing-along. For me, the cheesiest part of the show was during the performance of Hey Jude. I love this song (and Julian Lennon!), but having the performers encouraging the audience to clap and sing along with the Na-Na-Na-Nas was a little too much for me. Luckily it didn’t go on too long.
The other thing I found to be a little strange was the 4 children in the show. There were 4 boys that appeared periodically throughout the show, representing the “four lads from Liverpool.” It was strange for me because I found it took me out of the show and made me wonder about what they were doing about school, why they were up so late, how they were allowed to be in the shows in the first place, blah, blah, blah. Regardless of my child labor internal dialogue going on, the boys were very good, and I decided that since in fact, they were not my boys, I would let it be. Oh yeah, I said it.
My first and final impression of the entire experience centered on the sheer commercialism of the entire operation. By that I am of course referring to merchandise. The gift shop was a complete zoo the entire time we were waiting for the theater doors to open. They had pretty much anything a new or “seasoned” Beatles fan might want and for a ridiculously high price. One area that I might re-visit is the CD’s. I have a number of Beatles CD’s, but for some reason I am still missing a few, such as the White album. Anyway, they had CD’s, DVD’s, and all kinds of other Cirque du Soleil stuff too. I still have my eye on a Beatles watch, but I settled for expensive t-shirts instead. Then there were the pictures. There is never any flash photography allowed in these shows, but there is always a group of photographers available to take pictures while you are seated. ThreeL and I already knew that if the picture was going to turn out decent that we were going to buy it regardless of cost. And we did. Aside from the fact that I look like I am about to fall right out of my shirt, I can’t complain too much about it. I may try and mess around with cropping the picture, but until then, please just disregard the strange urge you are going to have to fix my shirt. And if it’s any other urge, then keep your pervy comments to yourself.
- If I Fell
- Things We Said Today
- The Night Before
- For No One
- Yesterday
2 comments:
Chris says PLEASE don't change the picture! Pervert.
Figures.
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