Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Come together with ‘Love’

Magic has returned to the former Siegfried & Roy Theatre at the Mirage - in the form of a Magical Mystery Tour.

Cirque du Soleil and Apple Corps Ltd. have joined forces to create an enchanting evening of entertainment featuring the music, words and imagery of the Beatles.

Gone are the dragons, levitations and illusions of two of Las Vegas' most beloved entertainers, whose careers were cut short when Roy Horn was injured by a tiger during a performance in 2003.

Instead, the new, $120 million showroom features a magical journey through the lives of the Fab Four - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Although the production could benefit from some tightening, with a couple of scenes needing to be either shortened, reworked or cut, the 90 minutes are filled with eye-catching costumes and scenery, Cirque's trademark breathtaking acrobatics - and music.

A few may not like the fact that classics such as "Eleanor Rigby," "Yesterday," "Strawberry Fields" and "Help!" are not played in their entirety.

Some will be disappointed that their favorite Beatles songs aren't included, but if all of the No. 1 hits were used, the show would go on for hours.

And others won't like the fact that there is no live music. Almost everything is taken from the master recordings of the Beatles, with oversight by the legendary George Martin (who produced most of the group's records) and his son, Giles.

"While we certainly respect Cirque, we wish they had incorporated some live music into the production," said Frank Leone, president of the 700-member Musicians Local 369.

"Cirque uses tracks in all of its other shows, but they are augmented by live musicians for the ambiance that only live music can create. There are five in 'Ka' and a half dozen in each of their other shows."

George Martin shrugged off the criticism.

"That would have been tampering," Martin said. "It wouldn't have been the Beatles. If we used live musicians instead of the recordings, first of all you would have gotten rid of Ringo. A lot of instrumentals are going on, but the Beatles are playing. There's nothing in the show recorded by me for this production. It's all Beatles, every bit of it."

Creators have said the show's intent is not to have a concert, but to tell the story of the Beatles by re-creating the musical world they dominated in the '60s and to immerse the audience in that world by making it part of the show in the 2,013-seat theater in the round.

That is accomplished in part by thousands of speakers, three in each seat, 20 video projectors and a dozen screens.

The story is told using metaphors and symbols, beginning with the band's final concert, held on the rooftop of the Apple building in London on Jan. 30, 1969.

The concert then segues into the blitzkrieg of World War II, when Germany bombed London and the Beatles were children, and then moves forward, highlighting the most important moments and phases of their lives.

Scenes cover everything from the early years of their success and the Beatlemania that swept the world to the transcendental meditation period with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

The production covers the peace movement, the sexual revolution and many other social influences on their lives, including the drug culture the Beatles embraced, a fact not ignored in "Love."

"I Am the Walrus," one of the production's featured numbers, reportedly was written by Lennon while under the influence of acid. The song is based on Lewis Carroll's Walrus in "The Walrus and the Carpenter."

As in every Cirque production, there is more than enough exciting acrobatics, although a scene involving in-line skating (backed by the song "Help!") is out of place. It would be better suited for a more plebeian Vegas production such as "Splash!", which features motorcycles racing around the inside of a globe, or "Headlights & Tailpipes," which includes a BMX bicycling number very close to the in-line skating bit.

While the music and the visuals of "Love" provide a spectacular evening of entertainment, showgoers would benefit from a brief explanation of what they are seeing so they are not forced to try to figure everything out.

The production moves quickly and is much too esoteric for the audience to absorb all of the nuances. For example, the exploding VW, the train of light and the black bird scene, which is based on the McCartney and Lennon song "Black Bird," from 1968's "The Beatles," better known as the White Album.

"Black Bird" is especially troublesome. Although it is meant as comedic relief, it was not all that amusing and went on too long.

The words of the song are spoken by actor Fabio Esposito, rather than sung by McCartney in the original recording.

But McCartney liked the number in the show, and so it probably will stay.

Chantal Tremblay, associate director of creation, said "Black Bird" was one of those elements in the production that "pushed the envelope."

"Paul was OK with that," Tremblay said. "He thought it was a funny moment."

Martin said the Beatles were always edgy.

"When we did 'A Day in the Life' (an important scene in 'Love') I worried if we had gone too far," he said. "But Paul said no. Go further.

"They were always being dangerous."

But there is no danger in this production failing.

Combing the resources of the MGM Mirage, the musical library of one of the most popular singing groups in history and the creativity of one of the world's foremost production companies has virtually assured fans that "Love" will be around for a long time.

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