LAS VEGAS (AP) - Criss Angel, the long-haired, punky magician
whose "Mindfreak" show is shooting its third season for A&E,
will team up with Cirque du Soleil to produce its sixth permanent
show on the Las Vegas Strip.
The show will start in the summer of 2008 at the Luxor, the
pyramid-shaped hotel-casino where Angel has been filming, officials
said Thursday at news conference to announce the still-unnamed
show.
Director Serge Denoncourt described the live production as "Criss
in Wonderland."
"He appears in a world he doesn't control and he has problems with
girls, with giants, with evil," Denoncourt said.
"It's that kind of acid trip show. It's like being in Criss's head
for two hours, which is something."
In the June 5 season debut of Angel's TV show and in a spectacular
feat of cross-promotion, the magician levitates some eight metres
above the light beam that shoots from the Luxor's pinnacle into
space. On the televised show, Angel, 39, has dressed up as a woman,
performed card tricks, walked on water, been lit on fire and caught
bullets with his teeth.
In one illusion for the live show, Angel said a tornado will "come
out of my mouth."
"The Luxor will experience a tornado 10 times a week. That's just
one small element in a show filled with things that have never been
experienced," he said.
The Cirque du Soleil (French for circus of the sun) show will add
its signature acrobatics performed by dancers and puppets
accompanied by music composed by Angel himself. The production has
a story line and is filled with characters in a strange
world.
"Criss is prisoner of that world and he will try to escape,"
Denoncourt said.
The Luxor has been looking for a headline act since the Tony
Award-winning Broadway musical "Hairspray" closed there last June
after just a four-month run.
Luxor president Felix Rappaport said Angel comes with a "built-in
audience," while "Hairspray" had a hard time drawing a crowd.
"Mindfreak" is A&E's No. 1 show among 18-45-year-olds and
averages about 1.5 million viewers a week, the show's executive
producer Dave Baram said.
"Broadway is still an open-ended question in Las Vegas," Rappaport
said.
"Criss right now is just starting to erupt as a star. Cirque is
going to give him exposure to a whole new level of audience."
Luxor parent MGM Mirage Inc. will spend US$75 million in
pre-production costs, Rappaport said. Most of the money will be
spent on the show itself, with only minor changes to the 1,520-seat
theatre, he said.
The show joins other Cirque productions on the Strip, "Love," "Ka,"
"Zumanity," "O," and "Mystere." The Quebec-based circus troupe
formed in 1984 is known for its extravagant theatrical performances
that combine music, dance and acrobatics.
A seventh Cirque show with an Elvis theme is planned at MGM Mirage
Inc.'s $7-billion CityCenter. The megaresort, set to open in
November 2009, is under construction at the centre of the
Strip.