John Katsilometes on how the vision of Siegfried & Roy inspired the union of Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil

Friday, March 23, 2007 | 6:54 a.m.

Criss Angel is a master magician, but the expectations surrounding his coming Luxor production are no illusion. One of the principal figures behind his partnership with Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Senior Vice President of Creative Content Gilles Ste-Croix, has helped make sure of that.

"I think that if you want to do a magic show, you need a character who carries the magic, who can carry the power and who has charisma and credibility," Ste-Croix said after a news conference announcing that the $75 million Criss du Soleil (my working title) show at the old "Hairspray" theater would open in summer 2008. "To me, Criss Angel is the new Siegfried & Roy of Las Vegas."

So much for lowering the bar.

Actually, Siegfried & Roy's production at the Mirage inspired Ste-Croix and Cirque co-founder Guy Laliberte to think big. They visited Las Vegas in 1989 to see the opening of Siegfried & Roy's show at the Mirage and saw opportunity for Cirque to blossom on the Strip.

"It was the first time we saw magic where it wasn't just numbers, numbers, numbers. There was a big production behind it, using very big props," Ste-Croix said. "We were like, ' Whoa! A production!' At the time we were just a little circus show just starting to be known. We thought we should try to make a show like this in Vegas." They did that, many times over. Angel's will be the sixth Cirque production on the Strip, and No. 7 will be at the MGM Mirage's Project CityCenter. Pretty good for a little circus show.

NoteMart

The Rainbow Bar & Grill on Paradise Road is temporarily closing after Saturday night to begin relocating. Co-owner Jerry Greenberg says nothing is official, but there are two locations being discussed, one at a major hotel and another on the "west side," as he puts it. Rumors are the club is headed for an Industrial Road/Dean Martin Drive locale, which is west of the Strip. What is certain is that the club, which for now sits across Paradise Road from the Hard Rock Hotel, will stay open Saturday until the last patron leaves. Greenberg says he needs a bigger space with more parking ...

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Vanity plate on a big silver truck (no make reported, but in this case it does not matter): ICMPNS8