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Does Criss Angel's Cirque du Soleil Show at the Luxor Really Suck That Much?

September 30, 2008 at 4:54 PM | by Jenna | 12 Comments

When hotels open, they've got kinks. We're usually willing to forgive those little issues that are clearly a product of the just-opened jitters -- lack of training, new facilities, green staff, the whole bit. And as we've always thought of hospitality as a sort of performance art, we imagine that the opening of actual performances -- like Criss Angel's Cirque du Soleil show at the Luxor (we use the term "performance art" loosely) -- would be no different. The show has been getting some pretty bad buzz, but we were willing to cut it some slack since it was still technically called a "preview."

If you're lost: the show -- called "Believe" -- was originally set to debut on September 1st but was delayed until September 26. The show has been in "preview" mode since then, and will continue to be touted as a "preview" until October 28th.

And there has been a lot of buzz going around lately that's been saying the show is, well, crap. We ignored it until some commenters came into our house and told us about it in the comment thread of our last story.

EastDakota started it off with:

A group of us in town from Boston saw the Chris Angel show last night. I had a free ticket and I still felt ripped off. It is sad to watch Cirque, which I generally have enjoyed over the years, put their name on something so awful.
...
Unlike "Le Reve" or "Ka" or some of the other Cirque-like shows that started bad but they have tinkered with and made fairly good, the Chris Angel show seems unlikely to be fixable because the concept itself is so flawed.

Then northlasvegasgir seconded that sentiment and came out with a visual that made us giggle:

At the end of the show, Criss comes out and lipsynchs the "Mindfreak" song and the clowns are behind him acting as his back-up dancers! Any illusions I might have had that Criss Angel was "cool" evaporated during this grotesque display.

Even jg agreed. But do you know who does not agree? Angel's publicist.

In response to a post much like this one which merely reported claims that the show was "a big piece of poo," Angel's publicist wrote in to Perez Hilton to clear up any confusion: the show is, in fact, in its preview period, and the person who reported that it sucked was a bad journalist. Seriously:

Just because the reporter chose not to find anyone that said anything positive, or rather did and didn't use quotes from them, is no true indication of the direction that the show is headed.

I do want to thank you for mentioning the preview period, because that was a key element that went lacking in the story. The show will be more than ready by Halloween night. I'd like to invite you personally to come see it, meet Criss and judge for yourself.

Yeah, that's not very convincing. Really. We'll come out there too -- post-Halloween, if you can assure us that we will be seeing the "finished product."

Just like hotels with opening kinks, we'd like to believe this show is still in its, er, "soft-opening" period and that things will get better. But we're still sure this is Criss Angel we're talking about, right?

12 Comments

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Return to » Does Criss Angel's Cirque du Soleil Show at the Luxor Really Suck That Much?

  1. babysistah

    HotelChatter Member

    Another Opinion

    I'll admit that I have not yet seen the show. But I'll tell you one thing, until I get a comp ticket it will stay that way.

    The television advertisements are awful and are played back to back on almost every major station in LV.

    It's a major blow for the Luxor, who had upped it's reputation in my book after their recent rooms renovation.

    September 30, 2008 at 7:54 PM
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  1. emlofti

    HotelChatter Member

    Waste of time and money

    The show is horrible and a big disappointment.  If you are going because of Cirque Du Soliel - don't bother, it is an afterthought.  If you are going because of Chris Angel - it is grade school magic at best.  I really couldn't believe how bad it was!  Don't go.
    October 6, 2008 at 3:39 PM
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  1. texas pedro

    HotelChatter Member

    Disappointment

    I was horrible and a waste of money. I was ready to see a magic show of the Great Criss Angel just like his hit TV show. On Oct 13 I got the chance to see the show and as I waited outside the lobby area I notice the reaction of the crowd coming out of the show. Everyone look disappointed, nobody talking about Criss's magic tricks as they exit the theater. First clue that should have told me to run away and take your money with you. The stage was very impressive with a dark feeling to it, just like Criss Angel charater. Then 3 clowns/jesters were greeting the audience, which I thought that was the best part of the show. To make long story short...lots of dancing and 5 to 6 magic tricks by Criss. He should had called it Criss Angel the Musical. I fell asleep during the show...warning..save your money and time. I wish I should of read the reviews before purchasing the tickets.
    October 19, 2008 at 10:38 PM
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  1. tinykitty

    HotelChatter Member

    Worst Show in the HIstory of the World

    This post is meant for anyone who is even contemplating going to see this show...DON'T.  You will be completely disappointed and pissed off that you spent even one dollar or one minute of your life seeing this utter nnonsense.  

    First of all, this is NOT a magic show.  The most elaborate magic trick this idiot did was to pull doves out of his cape.  BIG DEAL.  Every trick was obvious.  At one point he runs behind a screen and comes out in a different outfit within seconds.  That might have been an ok trick if it wasn't obvious that every other time he appeared from behind the screen it was a  double.  Hey Criss buy a better wig for your double, he doesn't even look like you!  Even more ridiculous are visible trap doors all over the stage so the tricks involving disappearing and reappearing are not magical, they are just stupid.  At one point the trap door didn't go down all the way so someone from underneath the stage had to reach up and pull it down making everyone in my vicinity burst out laughing.  At another point the levitating lady trick was painful to watch as you could see the wires attached to her.  At anohter point when he is "electricuted"  and is supposed to be dead, the person next to me said, please don't save him, let him die!  I shared this feeling.  At another point in the show Angel comes out and sits in a chair and talks to his four ushers, ignores the audience completely, and is so boring I wanted to leave right there.  I think what kept most people there is they were thinking..something good must happen soon...unfortunately nothing did.  This guy obviously needs to do his "magic" on camera where it can all be edited to look good because in person he was a joke.

    In between all of the ridiculous tricks you will be treated to a bunch of dancers dressed like demonic rabbits who come out and dance around like they are having muscle spasms.  I know they are supposed to be Cirque de Soleil performers, but they must be the reject performers that didn't make the cut for the good Cirque shows like "O" and "Mystere."  

    I cannot overstate that this is the worst show I have ever seen, from the concept, to the tricks, to the lame performances.  What a mistake the Luxor made paying this guy a dime.  They should make this idiot pay back every penny they paid him as I'm sure that the sheer lameness of this show must be a breach of the contract, not to mention the emotional harm he does to his audience every night when they have to pay money to watch this nightmare.

    Just to give people a taste of what people thought of the show...here are a few quotes of what I overheard people saying when my group left the theater..."Criss Angel - Mindless" "The magician at my 8th birthday party was better" "Is there a meet and beat after the show?"  "The only magic this a$$hole did was make my money disappear."  "The Luxor got rid of Blue Man Group for this $hit??"  "What a rip off!"  "I want to sue this dickkwadd for wasting two hours of my life."

    So to all of you thinking about spending your hard earned cash on this show, don't...any other show on the strip is better, actually any lounge act is better than this.  Give your money to a slot machine instead, at least you will buy a chance to make yourself happy.  

    November 17, 2008 at 5:56 PM
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  1. terryberry

    HotelChatter Member

    Chris Angel Review seen 24 Mar 09

    Very dissappointed by the parage of weird dancing bunnys and only a few tricks that weren't even very believable like you see in the show.  "Believe" as he calls it was a waste even at the cost of $180 for 4 tickets and that was a discount.  What a waste! Don't waste your money, just watch the TV show.  I wished I had checked the reviews online first before wasting the money.
    March 25, 2009 at 8:33 PM
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  1. bbb

    HotelChatter Member

    Criss Angel...Worst show in the Universe!!!

    My husband and I saw this show on 3/23/09 and it was terrible. As part of a package we received, two tickets to any of the Cirque shows (e.g. O, Ka), and unfortunately, without reading any reviews I choose this poo. It was so incredibly bad that people were walking out in the middle of the performance. The best part of the entire experience was complaining with all the other people who saw the show about how we never saw anything worse. My high school variety show was 1000x better.

    There is no excuse for this show especially if they had since September of 2008 to work out the kinks. I felt cheated and I didn't even pay for a ticket.  I can only imagine anger the family in front of us who purchased 4 tickets to this crap must have felt. There is no defense for this show.  Anyone, who tells you it is a good show is a LIAR!!!!

    At the beginning, Criss said that he has a 10 year contract with the Luxor. This makes me feel bad for the hotel because they will for sure have to buy out his contract because this show is more then just bad. Definitely, the worst show in the universe.

    March 28, 2009 at 5:07 PM
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  1. bbb

    HotelChatter Member

    Great post!!!

    Perfect description of this show. Exactly what I thought too.
    March 28, 2009 at 5:10 PM
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  1. Sam Evans

    HotelChatter Member

    Saw the show on 8/1/2009

    Let me start this review off at the very start --

    We purchased our tickets a couple months ago, and thought that the Will Call line would move quickly.  Man, were we wrong!  We got to the Luxor a good 30 minutes before the show, only to be greeted by a line of well over 200 people.  All of which were waiting in the Will Call line!!

    There was one person working the Will Call line.  Unbelievable.

    Once we got our tickets (45 minutes later), we had to yet go into ANOTHER line which everyone was now standing in.  The line was impressive, it wrapped around the entire casino, almost to the ramps going back up to the Excalibur hotel.  

    At this point, we had determined this was quite possibly the most un-organized show we had ever seen, and we hadn't even made it into the theater yet.

    An hour later (and an hour later than it was supposed to start) we finally start going into the theater.

    The seating was nice, the stage layout was pretty neat.  The typical Cirq pre-show guys were funny and quite honestly, the best part of the entire show.

    The illusions in the show were everything we had seen in previous Mindfreak episodes and there was nothing new or innovative.  I couldn't really tell what involvement Cirq had in the show because it wasn't a typical Cirq presentation.  Missing were any sort of acrobatics; just people dancing around in bunny costumes.

    The entire show felt as if it were thrown together as an idea drawn up on a cocktail napkin from the bar outside.  A few of the dancers lost articles of clothing (gloves, scarfs), even Criss Angel goofed up and trying to bounce a baton off the floor;  only to have it land flat.  

    In all, it was the worst show we had ever seen in Vegas.  Criss Angel asks the audience at the end, "Do you Believe?"  To that question, I say, I do..  I believe that I want my money back and reimbursement for the 2 hours we waited to see your lousy show.

    Save your money and don't bother seeing this show.

    August 5, 2009 at 1:20 PM
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  1. nperfetto

    HotelChatter Member

    Chris Angel's show was a joke

    A group of us decided to go see the Chris Angel show at the Luxor in Vegas.  It was a true disappointment and a waste of money. Much better things to see and do in Vegas.  I actually wanted to walk out of the show but I didnt have the nerve!
    August 16, 2009 at 7:21 PM
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  1. crisssgirl

    HotelChatter Member

    MY DANG OPINION

    PEOPLE JUST STOP THE CRAP ABOUT CRISS ANGEL!  He knows his show needs fixing and he will fix whatever he can.  I don't care if you think the show is "bad" or "awful" i just want to let you know i back Criss every step of the way.  Believe what you see.
    LOVE YOU FOREVER CRISS!!!!
    October 22, 2009 at 9:59 PM
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  1. Anthony Vincent

    HotelChatter Member

    Saw Believe Twice

    Ok, i know im a stupid ass for seeing this show twice...

    I saw the show a couple months after it opened up, thinking it would be amazing since its cirque and criss angel.  However it was horrible... I fell asleep half way into it...

    So about 7 months after that I was going back to vegas and i heard that criss angel changed his show around to make it better.  However I will tell you i couldnt remember if he changed it or not... It was just that bad... I started to fall asleep yet again...

    Luckily i got a bloody nose and had to leave the theatre... it was so dry in there... NEVER WAIST YOUR MONEY ON THIS SHOW... IT IS THE WORST... IF YOU REALLY WANNA SEE IT... EVEN THOUGH EVERYONE TELL YOU NOT TO... GO TO THE 'VEGAS SHOW TIX2NITE' BOOTHS OR STORES B/C YOU CAN GET THEM FOR MORE THAN 80% OFF...

    December 29, 2009 at 8:59 PM
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  1. Enough4u

    HotelChatter Member

    Just as awful as the buzz

    Saw it in January and it was just awfull.  I'm totally embarrased we spent cash money for this show.  Free lounge acts would have been more entertaining.  What was Cirque Du Soleil thinking? I'll never go to another Cirque show without checkiing out the reviews first.  Elvis was also very dissapointing (but not as bad as "Believe") Something bad is going on at Cirque Du Soleil.  We saw four Cirque shows this trip. (two for the second time)  Mystere and Love were noticably different in that the staff seems to have been cut and some of the punch is gone.  
    January 17, 2010 at 10:37 PM
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Return to » Does Criss Angel's Cirque du Soleil Show at the Luxor Really Suck That Much?

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