Love celebrates fourth anniversary at The Mirage with Ringo Starr

Rob Shanahan

Ringo Starr and cast members of Love at The Mirage in Niagra Falls.

By Robin Leach (contact)

Tuesday, June 29, 2010 | 7:34 a.m.

The musical legacy of The Beatles celebrated nightly by Cirque du Soleil’s Love at The Mirage marks its fourth anniversary tomorrow. To commemorate the milestone, four cast members traveled to Niagara Falls on Sunday to join Ringo Starr at the launch of his upcoming North American concert tour and were photographed by legendary music photographer Rob Shanahan.

A quote from Ringo, featured in the Grammy-winning documentary All Together Now, explains the catalyst that Cirque director Dominic Champagne used in creating Love with the premise of “four”: “When you hear that (Beatles’) music, there’s always four people. Doesn’t matter that only Paul and I are sitting here. There’s still four people. There are only two of us now, but in spirit there’s four of us.”

You can see and hear Ringo's explanation in this YouTube interview with the longtime Beatles drummer:

Many of Love’s most notable characters come in groups of four, including the Nowhere Men, Kids of Liverpool, Skaters, Nurses, Bungee Couples, Comets, Crinyls and Gopis. The technical design of Love also was created with four in mind: trampolines, traps onstage, giant balloons, scrims, elevators in the theater and automation control boards.

The basis of four prevailed throughout the creation of Love, so when it came time to choose a name for the show, affection, pleasure, attraction, tenderness and desire seemed to be a recurring message in The Beatles’ music. Coincidentally, these elements were all expressed in just four letters, L-O-V-E. The Love album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 in November 2006.

Love premiered to rave reviews at The Mirage on June 30, 2006, and has been seen by more than 3.5 million people. Cirque’s next joint artistic venture is two shows it intends to produce with the Michael Jackson trustees, one a residency show here in Las Vegas and the second a worldwide touring show launching at Mandalay Bay Events Center. It will play there until the world tour and residency show commence.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.