| rev:text
| - I was fortunate enough to see this show last evening as an unexpected surprise. I really hadn't heard anything about it, but I was glad that I got the chance to experience it.
The show itself is very charming. Hearkening back to what I consider the "Golden Age" of Vegas, it highlights moments and acts from the 1950's, 60's, and '70's, covering all the staples of the vintage Vegas entertainment scene (save for the Beatles), but that's another show at Planet Hollywood.
The performances are really solid. Not impersonations (the cast doesn't look like their respective cover songs in many cases), but their performances are earnest and heartfelt. And there is a lot of diversity in the acts. Singing, dancing, a clever magic act including birds out of every and any scenario, and a few other highlights.
There is a Liberace marionette that is an excellent caricature of the pianist himself, right down to a shiny little car, and an even shinier costume and piano. I've never heard a "live" Liberace performance, but the recording used highlights how utterly effortless Liberace found playing the piano. The voice just chatted away like it was nothing, and then decided to "do something more". The puppet was amusing. The actual recorded performance was something else.
Then the tap dancers, Shaun and John. Those two have moves. They are utterly remarkable in some of the things that they can do. I could have watched more of their work, and wish it could have had a return performance.
The whole cast was good. There's a lot of talent in that production, so good for them in having a nice ensemble like that. At the end, during a rendition of Elton's John's "Rocketman", they had a montage of favorite Vegas entertainment moments.
Then came the sobering part.
The whole show is this love letter to decades of talent and incredible acts, in all of these legendary venues defined by the true stars that graced their respective doors, and then you see the open/close dates of SO MANY VENUES, followed by the implosion shots of these places exploding. Gone. And it's sobering. I've never experienced any city like Las Vegas so callous and eagerly zealous to destroy its own history, and for anyone who grasps that sense of history that was once here, it's like a punch in the gut.
That aside, Vegas: The Show is a fond reminder that something greater once existed in Las Vegas, with a fantastic cast, great music, and a lot of ground covered.
I've never heard of Vegas: The Show until last night, but now that I have, I'm glad for it. It's a remarkable "hidden gem" in all the shows out here, and worth the time.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)