Big cats scrambling back to the Strip with Dirk Arthur’s ‘Wild Illusions’ at the Riv

By John Katsilometes

Published Monday, Oct. 6, 2014 | 12:56 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014 | 12:49 p.m.

The onstage mix of magic and big cats, absent for the past two years in Las Vegas, is about to return. Dirk Arthur, a longtime illusionist and trainer of a variety of endangered big cats — particularly white and orange tigers — is back on the Strip with “Dirk Arthur’s Wild Illusions” at the Riviera.

Arthur’s show opens Dec. 1 and is tentatively scheduled to perform nightly at 7, dark Fridays. Over time, he’ll likely add matinee shows to the schedule on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets, set tentatively, are $40, $55 and $80 and go on sale at the Riviera box office on Oct. 18. The show is for ages 5 and older and will run about 75 minutes.

Arthur’s production supplants the outgoing “Illusions,” starring Jan Rouven, who closes at the 535-seat Starlite Theater on Nov. 17 and opens Nov. 28 at Tropicana.

Arthur has been signed by Red Mercury Entertainment, founded by ex-Caesars Entertainment exec Carlos Reynoso. Red Mercury books all shows at the Riv. Reynoso’s chief business partner is Darin Feinstein, part owner (with Corey Harrison of “Pawn Stars”) in Beauty Bar on Fremont East and owner of El Dorado Cantina attached to Sapphire Gentlemen’s Club on Industrial Road.

Arthur has appeal for his brisk sales at Harrah’s in Laughlin and Reno, where he performed through the early months of this year before returning attention to Las Vegas.

“I’ve found that the popularity of the cats is greater than ever, and people are just crazy and excited over these animals,” Arthur said today in a phone conversation. “It is so unbelievably unique for them to walk out onstage, what (audiences) have forgotten is how cool it is to see that.”

Arthur plans to use seven exotic cats in his act, intertwined with magic, big illusions (including a helicopter) and comedy. Arthur says that of his featured cats, the 2 1/2 year-old snow leopard Putin is the only animal of its kind being used in a ticketed show anywhere in the world.

He also says Putin was indeed named for the Russian president “before he started acting like such a (jerk)” and was named by a Russian ex-girlfriend.

Arthur says the cats will “appear out of nowhere and disappear instantly.” The cats are connected to a segment of aircraft cable to keep them from moving off stage. He’ll also employ such familiar close-up tricks as the dancing handkerchiefs.

“People see all this stuff, the helicopter and the big cats, but they still love the dancing handkerchiefs,” Arthur says. “So, we’ll give ’em dancing handkerchiefs.”

Arthur returns to the Strip as one of a shrinking culture of entertainers who still incorporate exotic cats into his stage performance — not just in Las Vegas, but anywhere. High insurance costs and complying with safety regulations that have become more stringent in the 11 years since Roy Horn was nearly killed by the white tiger Mantecore at the Mirage are the chief reasons.

But Arthur has a 33-year history of working through such issues and just this March had to clear up safety infractions issued by the USDA against his show in Reno, citing the size and conditions of his cages during a periodic inspection conducted by the government agency. Arthur says that the issues were “corrected immediately, in the matter of a day or two.”

Arthur’s resume in Las Vegas dates to 1997 when he starred in “Jubilee!” at Bally’s in his first run on the Strip. He also has headlined at Silverton Casino Lodge, Plaza, Tropicana and O’Sheas. His show closed at O’Sheas when the hotel was shut down in April 2012. Month later, Rick Thomas’ illusion show at V Theater, which also featured white tigers, closed.

Arthur says he is returning to the Riv at just the right moment.

“This has always been one of my favorite hotels, I love the room, and we are seeing a renaissance now on that end of the Strip,” Arthur says. “We are in a really good place, and we’ll give people a lot of variety.”

Arthur has kept his 14 big cats in a remote habitat near Las Vegas and plans to use his stage show as a way to educate students in Clark County about the cats used in his act, all of which are endangered species.

“We’re going to formalize that program more with this show,” he says. “We’ll go everywhere to teach kids about endangered species.”

As Arthur says, using big cats onstage is rife with challenges and is not cheap. So why keep leading the cats to the showroom?

“You have to be sort of a fanatical lover of animals to do it,” he says. “If you don’t have that drive or will, you won’t do it. It’s not a practical business. You do it because you love it.”

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.