John Katsilometes provides a glimpse of Cirque du Soleil’s production using plenty of familiar Beatles music, which was unveiled for the media at the Mirage for a brief preview

Thursday, May 25, 2006 | 7:15 a.m.

After absorbing the swirling psychedelic animation and adventurous pop music in the Beatles' 1968 film classic "Yellow Submarine," a reviewer stated what was obvious to many of the band's fans: To get the full flavor of the film, you might want to smoke pot beforehand.

While we cannot and would not suggest using mind-altering substances prior to watching "Love" at the Mirage, be warned that - similar to "Yellow Submarine" - the production is out there, like Pluto, man.

Which is only appropriate - much of the Beatles' best music evoked colorful, otherworldly images. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album is famously loaded with odd and obscure references, cellophane flowers and newspaper taxis and whatnot. And if Wednesday's 15-minute sampling of "Love," the Beatles/Cirque du Soleil collaboration, is any indication, expect your mind to wander.

The show's preview period runs from June 2 to June 29 and opens officially on June 30. A few segments were unveiled for media types at the customized Love Theatre, once home to Siegfried & Roy, and the performances were (for Cirque) characteristically surreal. A host of Cirque performers were presented carnival-style, as if pulled straight from Beatles' material (such as a jewel-encrusted female elevated by a long ladder during "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," and an old VW Beetle similar to the car shown on the "Abbey Road" cover carrying dancers across the stage). A blended version of "Good Night" and "Octopus' Garden" is staged as if the audience was floating in a giant aquarium, and an enormous silk-like tarp is pulled over the entire audience, then retracted into the descending stage area in the middle of the arena.

But the Cirque stuff is familiar territory, if you have seen any of the Las Vegas Cirque productions or even "Le Reve" at Wynn Las Vegas. The refurbished songs are the real star. The remastered music leaps from the theater's enveloping sound system (which employs 6,305 speakers, including one installed in the back of each of the theater's 2,000 seats). The crafty production of the musical's "soundscape," compiled by original Beatles producer Sir George Martin and his son, Giles, takes snippets of Beatles' music and creates a single seamless 90-minute track - a Beatles mix, in other words. Thus, "Tomorrow Never Knows" is blended with "Within You Without You" and "Lady Madonna" dances with "Hey Bulldog."

During a news conference from the stage after the brief showcase, George Martin said he expected "brickbats" as a result of updating the Beatles' material in such a way, but he has the blessings of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison (George Harrison's widow) and Yoko Ono. Some hard-core Beatles purists - those who still groom with "I Love George" pocket combs - will not like new versions of old classics, but from here the production shows a lot of well, you know.

NoteMart

Four on the floor: Cirque founder Guy Laliberte said the four Apple Corps principals - those mentioned above, including McCartney - would be at the June 30 gala opening. It was Laliberte's friendship with George Harrison that sparked "Love"

Had enough Cirque?: If not, expect the Cirque touring production of "Delirium" to appear at an MGM Grand venue - the Grand Garden Arena or Mandalay Bay Events Center - in early September, probably Sept. 8-9. "Driven by an urban tribal beat and awe-inspiring visuals, musicians, singers and dancers transform the arena into a joyous frenzy," is how a Cirque news release describes the production

Blowin' in: Trumpeter Randy Brecker is scheduled to perform tonight at 7 at the Las Vegas Academy jazz concert at 315 S. Seventh St. The event will also mark the renaming of the Las Vegas Academy Theatre for the Performing Arts to the Lowden Theater for the Performing Arts. The venue is being dedicated to Paul and Sue Lowden, longtime Clark County School District benefactors. Becker has backed Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Steely Dan and Frank Zappa, among others. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at www.starticketsplus.com

Leftover from ACMAs: Making fast friends backstage at the "41st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards" were the odd couple of Kix Brooks and Carrot Top (aka Scott Thompson). The muscular, copper-coiffed Thompson, still headlining at the Luxor, cuts a striking figure wherever he roams, but no more so than when hanging around a country artist wearing a black trench coat and matching cowboy hat

"O" my: In Monday's item updating the happenings at CineVegas, computer higgledy-piggledy switched the name of Christina Ricci to "O." How this happened, I don't know. I am but a mere mortal. So to clarify: Christina Ricci is the actress receiving a CineVegas Half-Life Award at CineVegas on June 17. "O" is the Cirque du Soleil aquatic production at Bellagio.

Dodge it! A reader reports of a "bodacious copper-penny painted Dodge pickup with big spoiler" with the plate KZNTRBL. This appropriately titled rig was being driven quite aggressively en route to Boulder City, we understand.