Friday Five
Cirque's lost LOVE and new doc, Spiegelworld's Disco Show, Miss Behave's Mavericks, Vegas Theatre Company's Abandon, Hans Zimmer's 2024 tour
Cirque du Soleil said goodbye to The Beatles LOVE publicly Saturday night with two final bow performances, symbolizing the end of an era for Cirque and The Strip. Love was the first Cirque show to open after September 11, 2001 and the first major departure from the mondo circus themes of its prior Vegas shows.
The final final bow was for friends and family on Sunday evening, when Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group CEO Stéphane Lefebvre poignantly thanked the audience (which included Music Director Giles Martin) for nearly two decades of support for the Fab Four tribute on the 360-degree stage.
“Some people may feel it’s s a bit of a bittersweet moment tonight,” said Lefebvre. “Those who’ve worked on creating this masterpiece over time did it celebrating peace and joy and happiness and love. And tonight, all of us, that’s exactly what we’re gonna do. We’ll celebrate peace, joy happiness and love!”
More than 11.8 million guests saw the show at The Mirage, including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. Starr and Harrison both made pilgrimages to LOVE prior to closing, with Sunday’s special show falling on Starr’s birthday.
Meanwhile, looking ahead, new documentary Cirque du Soleil: Without a Net debuts July 25 on Amazon. Director Dawn Porter (John Lewis: Good Trouble, Trapped) depicts the reboot of When Cirque du Soleil of O more than a year after the pandemic shut down the Strip. “Performers and crew members face uncertainty as they work to return to their world-class standards in time for the (re)opening night curtain in Las Vegas.”
Dance fever
Our friend Jenn Smulo with Rachel Harrison Communications tell us on September 7 “Spiegelworld will celebrate the grand opening of DiscoShow and Diner Ross with a fabulous celebration. Don your dancing shoes and prepare for a groovy celebration as DiscoShow takes you back to the 70’s to relive the rise and fall of disco.”
Looks like this will be at The Linq Hotel + Experience, where Spiegelworld culinary star Anna Altieri (Superfrico) will turn New York diner classics into Diner Ross’s bistro-chic for the menu, which may be akin in presentation to this.
“DISCOSHOW is unlike anything else in the world,” says playwright Michael Lynne on DiscoShow’s website. “The audience members are transported back to 1970’s New York – to the streets and characters from that time and then to a disco where they get to dance with the main characters in the show to the incredible music of the time. The audience are in the show and go on the journey with the characters. They don’t sit down at a distance away from the action – they are in it.”
You should be dancing. Yeah
Downtown darling
Miss Behave is back this October. The maven of mayhem and her unruly crew take over the historic Plaza Hotel & Casino Showroom beginning October 2, with Miss Behave’s “Mavericks.” The “ever-changing, world-class variety show will celebrate and embrace every beat of the venue’s gloriously authentic, vintage-Vegas bones.”
Stripstack caught up with Miss Behave (Amu Saunders) a month ago and got a primer on the new production, but she is keeping details tightly under wraps until the debut. “A flirty, filthy and fabulous blend of comedy, circus, burlesque and variety” is promised though, “never the same show twice and all delivered with an irreverent wink and cut-throat wit.”
Anyone who has caught Miss Behave’s previous productions on the Strip and downtown knows it one of the most raucous times one can have in Las Vegas, with plenty of audience participation. Produced by Matt Franzetti, Amy Saunders, Michael Speyer and Scott Prisand in association with Rob Kolson, it’s a perfect boundary-strecthing fit for One Main Street and the Fremont Street scene.
Stripstack will be misbehaving with Miss Behave as October draws near. Stay tuned.
De Sade story
Darkly humorous theatrical experience Abandon at Vegas Theatre Company has partnered with the First Friday Foundation for a July 19 Mental Health Awareness Night to benefit First Friday’s ARTuOK? initiative. ArtUOK? supports mental health and self-care by serving local students, families, veterans, and community members with workshops, special speakers, and inspirational entertainment as creative, healing alternatives for depression, anxiety, isolation, or suicidal ideations.
Abandon adapts from the life and writing of the notorious Marquis de Sade during his years spent imprisoned in an asylum. Rapid-fire, wordless vignettes are enhanced by a soundtrack featuring the work of composer Joseph Bishara (The Conjuring, Insidious) and sound designer Katie Halliday (Stranger Things) with visual effects enhancing the kinky, macabre experience
General admission tickets are $59.99 plus applicable fees for general admission and $79.99 plus applicable fees for VIP (complimentary alcoholic beverage, front-row seating, backstage tour, merch discount on show merchandise. Nevada residents with a valid ID receive 10 percent off GA tickets.
Speaking of soundtracks
Hans Zimmer has made a few among his more than 500 projects across all mediums. The composer of everything from Thelma & Louise to The Dark Knight trilogy will be coming to Vegas twice this year to perform live, with a Sept. 29 show at Resorts World Theater and an October 12 concert at T-Mobile Arena.
The concert is a spectacular with vocalists, musicians and percussionists helping Zimmer recreate iconic music as the two-time Academy Award and four-time Grammy winner directs the proceedings while strapped into a bass. Zimmer launched his live tours in 2022 after making a splash at Coachella in 2017, and during the course of two hours will perform newly arranged concert suites with music from Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, Interstellar, The Lion King, The Last Samurai and Dune, the latter of which earned Zimmer his second Academy Award.