This is out of place, not in the right order but it’s something that I want to get out of my head before I forget it. Tonight was my last night in Vegas & also my last night of traipsing around the US after 3 months. I decided to go all out & treat my self to that time old tradition of “Dinner & A Show!” I bought a package from The Bellargio that gave me the choice of a set menu at my choice of one of their restaurants & also tickets to see “O” by Cirque de Soliel. I had heard about “O” & knew that it was all performed in or around water - they actually use a 1.5 million litre tank - but nothing more. I had never seen anything to do with Cirque. Not a performance, TV program, DVD or even noteworthy snippets!! I’d looked at some of the other shows that were around (there’s about 3 Cirque) & none of them really appealed to me. Cirque it was!!
Even being a theatre nerd, I had avoided contact with Cirque due to the fact that the shows are generally way above my price range but also due to the way in which I’ve been told that they copyright & use material from people when they audition for them. From what I’ve been told, when you send them in a tape of what you can do or they film your act when you do audition it then becomes theirs!! You’re not allowed to perform that piece ever again - even if you don’t get into the show!! I don’t want to take anything away from enjoyment people have received from Cirque so I won’t continue on with that tract at this point. I too now have experienced the magic & sheer wonder that is Cirque & have marvelled at the imagery, stage craft & feats they are able to produce.
I chose to have dinner @ Sensei, which had an Asian flavour. It was pretty damn decent food. Would have liked to see an actual menu to see what kind of prices we were talking but it’s prob better I didn’t. I had another great dose of red meat. It was a beautifully cooked slab of cow!! Any fat on it literally just fell off the meat when poked at with a knife!! I had a very classy bottle of red with dinner too. It was called The Outsider and came from the Linne Calodo winery in California. It was mainly Zinfadel grapes with a touch of shiraz..!! It was a really nice drop & I’m glad as it was the most I’ve ever spent on a bottle of plonk - especially for one - but it was selected after much back & forth with Joseph who was “you’re Wine Server for this evening”. He was great, we talked about Aus wines & he seemed impressed by my really basic knowledge of Argentine wine & that I‘d tasted Hungarian vino!! We eventually decided on The Outsider. He kept topping me up as my meal progressed & chatted etc! I’m guessing he knew that I was dining out of my league & above my station in life but also probably was grateful to be serving a ‘normal’ person, rather than someone with money dripping from every pore!! But I did hold my own in the wine conversation re. Australia thanks to the tour I did with Kiri Tikanewa a few years back - I think that’s how he knew I wasn’t just a boob off the streets (which I was!!)
Then it was onwards to the show!! Because I was just one person, when I had booked, only yesterday - the day before - the lady on the phone started genuinely gushing as to the location of my seat!! It was 5 rows back, in the centre section on the OP or LHS if looking at the stage. Part of the package I’d picked meant you got a ‘Premium Seat’ but they covered a wide section of the lower level. My seat was smack bang there!! Only about 4m from the edge of the stage/pool with a clear view into the overhead grid, which was great being a theatre tech!! It was a prime position as the performers were still very much lifesize & I could stick my inquisitive little theatre nose into the tricks & magic!!!
There was no real narrative to the show, there were around 4 main characters that kept popping in & out but the main spectacle was the way in which the performers interacted with the water. They would literally jump/dive/fall into that water & then never be seen again or appear scenes later from the water!! Combine that with the fact that whole sections of floor came up to cover the entire surface area of the pool & you‘ve got what would be some amazing & literal underwater choreography . I’m not talking just one whole floor that could break down into a few different sized pieces, oh no, I’m talking pillars, round sections, triangle sections - everything. The chaos & madness of how a major musical works side stage but submerged…!!
There must have been airlocks or some kind of crazy trapdoor system to allow the performers to disappear & appear the way they did. At one point 8 guys in full scuba gear became a part of the show, flipping out of the pool & onto the walkway - a tiny part of the secret revealed!! There was also great rolling section of truss overhead. A huge track that ran upstage to downstage and then two smaller ones the ran from side to side. These were highly visible from where I sat & amazing to watch in motion. I’m not saying that I sat there for the entire performance looking at all the pretty lights & trying to figure out how it was done, which is the curse of any theatre tech when they actually are an audience member! I did get caught up in spectacle of the whole!!
There were some truly mesmerising moments when the performers weren’t wearing safety harnesses. When they were & due to the heights they were at, there were very visible wires & especially how near to the action I was, you could see when they were messing around unhitching or hitching someone up. I would have killed for a backstage sticky beak & wish I had been able to take a few pic’s during the show but I wasn’t going to risk it.
It was an amazing piece of entertainment & I wish I could describe it better but there’s no way to do so!! I would now consider seeing another Cirque juggernaut!! “KA” seems quite interesting… saw umpteen commercials for it on The Strip!!
I doubt that Aus would ever be able to stage something like “O” or very few of the Vegas shows, as venues are built specifically for the show. They can then just sit there & the tourist gambling dollars come to them in their droves - as mine did!! Cher is coming up at Caesars Palace… Hasn’t she melted or been locked away yet…?
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