| rev:text
| - So after waiting for so, so long. Using any excuse I could to get to Vegas so I can watch BeLIEve. I finally get to watch it Sunday October 26th, just days before it's premier on Halloween night. Which also leaves me to believe I was pretty much watching the show without further changes.
If you've read my first reviews, I had very very high hopes for this show. I've seen O, Ka, Mystere, and Corteo and loved all of them. I love Criss Angel Mindfreak. I love old Vegas with Segfreid and Roy's illusion show, and how new Vegas is all about Cirque Du Solei. I figured this show would be the perfect blend. I'll admit my hopes started dying down a bit prior to my actual show as initial pre-screen reviews were bad.
I tried my best to go to this show with an open mind. From the way beginning it started off bad. Apparently no cameras are allowed in the show (pretty standard), but Luxor/Criss Angel are taking it a step further by having metal detectors to make sure no one is bringing in cameras, and requiring you to check in your camera prior to entering the theater. No other Cirque Du Solei show does that, and I can guarantee you the average person out for the night in Vegas is not going to leave their camera in the room. The whole process of checking in my camera took an added 5 minutes I could've used to wait in line to get a drink (I know patience is a virtue..blah blah).
Rather than ruin the show for you (if you intend to see it). I'll say that watching Criss Angel Believe is like looking at a "classic" painting that you may be able to appreciate but really don't care much for. I could appreciate the parts of the show that were Cirque Du Solei, Criss Angel's tribute to Houdini, and of course Mindfreak. But all in all, I really just didn't enjoy the show.
There was a heavy focus on dancing which although good, I didn't care much for. In a Cirque Du Solei show you want gymnastics, there was very little of it. With a Criss Angel show you want magic/illusion. There was some of it, but very, very basic (understandable but you still want more). His best trick was probably in the way beginning (I'll admit I didn't expect it...and he shook my hand...cool beans). But in one trick they closed the curtain and had some malfunction and the audience had to wait for 5 minutes while they got it worked out....this is why they have clowns. To take up time while they get Criss out of his contraptions, set up the next scene, and keep the audience entertained during the process (like in the other Cirque shows).
At the end of the show my girlfriend asked me "so...what did you think?" And I just paused for God knows how long, and said "I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it either. And I wanted so much to see a good show". To make things worse at the end, the line to pick up your cameras was horrible. I ended up gambling at Luxor for an hour and coming back to pick it up (I'm sure Luxor didn't mind...but I won $100 so HA! half my money back).
I won't give this production 1 star, because that's for shows I will actually walk out on. But I definitely can't recommend this show to anyone either. I think there's still plenty of potential, but in the mean time there needs to be a lot of work done to make this show enjoyable. The typical Vegas crowd wants to be entertained, and this show was not entertaining. If anyone in the production department for this show is reading this. My only requests are less dancing, more Cirque gymnastics, use the clowns the way they were meant to be used as time-filler, less TV watching, and if possible better magic/illusions from Criss Angel. Hell this is supposed to be a tribute to Houdini, maybe involve him in the story somehow?
~G
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