‘Believe’ crew still fine-tuning latest Cirque show

By Melissa Arseniuk (contact)

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008 | 1:18 p.m.

Criss Angel may have partied ‘til the sun came up this past Saturday and taken the following day off to rest and recover, but when the magician returned to work the next day, it was time to get down to business.

His $100 million Cirque du Soleil show, “Believe,” premiered last Friday to a fury of less-than-enthusiastic reviews. Some critics have torn the show apart.

After “dark” days Wednesday and Thursday, Angel resumes his show Friday – one week after its highly anticipated premiere.

Angel has his work cut out for him.

He and the show’s director, Serge Denoncourt, worked during the days leading up to the premiere to put the finishing touches on the spectacle. The two are now tasked with making additional alterations to further enhance the 90-minute performance.

Cirque founder, Guy Laliberté, told reporters before Friday’s premiere that while he was pleased with “Believe,” changes would continue being made.

The post-premiere “fixation” period is standard for all Cirque’s shows.

“For the next six months, we will still be looking if we need to change costumes, adjust the music,” he said.

“We want to make sure each of our shows is like a living organism, that it has its own personality and it has its own potential to grow in time,” he said. “This is why ‘Mystère’ is going on for 15 years. … this is important to keep a show alive.”

Laliberté called Cirque’s first production featuring magic and a high-profile celebrity personality, “a great opportunity to explore a new artistic field in the field of magic.”

“We’re always pushing our boundaries, artistically and technically,” he said.

The usually boastful Angel admitted the show would require further changes. He anticipated the evolution would be “a never-ending process.

The 40-year-old “Mindfreak” star said he was thankful for the challenges that the show, which he co-wrote with Denoncourt, presented him.

“It’s very easy to stay inside the boxes and do what works but to try to do what hasn’t been done, to try to push your own envelope as an artist, and be the best that you can be, (isn’t),” he said. “Doing the same thing, it kind of gets a little boring and you become a caricature of yourself and I’m not interested in that.”

Denoncourt admitted that figuring out how to present Angel’s signature illusions in front of a live audience was “a nightmare” but he said he was very satisfied with the work that had been done.

“I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished on this show,” he said.

Luxor COO Felix Rappaport has dismissed the negative buzz surrounding his hotel’s newest in-house show. He said Angel represents a high point in his hotel’s history.

“The reality is his TV show and ,of course … Cirque du Soleil is the best thing that has ever happened to Luxor,” he said.

His hotel’s resident magician is under contract to give more than 5,200 performances over the decade.