I don’t want to ramble on about how bad Believe is again. I figure at this point everyone knows they are paying for the most embarrassing big ticket show since Storm at Mandalay Bay.
But unlike Storm, which swiftly closed, Believe lingers at Luxor with the never quite here date where Cirque will fulfill a promise to improve Believe rather than, say, just make it smaller by removing live musicians or reducing the number of cast members. The last time I spoke to someone from Cirque on the topic, I was told Believe would be fixed by the end of January. We are now into March. But recently two things (via Robin Leach) have emerged about changes in Believe: the dancers are being dropped and new illusions are being added. New to who?
The topic of “new” illusions for Believe reminded me that Believe star Criss Angel bought used illusions from Lance Burton just about a year ago. Back then I could not get a straight answer if those illusions were meant to go into Believe.
I wrote Cirque yesterday to find out if these old Lance Burton tricks are part of the new version of Believe, and so far I have not heard back. Why this matters is the one consistent promise that Criss Angel made about Believe is that he was going to offer “an experience that redefines what magic is and what it can be.” This is why right now it is better to see Angel as more P. T. Barnum than magician.
He is a pitchman for Believe who isn’t really speaking about the merits of his show. If magic was redefined when the show opened how come no one noticed? Was that the trick? No, Angel doesn’t do subtle.
The magic in Believe is so pedestrian Las Vegas Review-Journal critic Mike Weatherford wrote:
“The magic makes it painfully obvious that Angel is a showman whose gift was creating his persona, not anything new in his field. The dude’s buff and tough enough — hanging upside down over the audience in a straitjacket — but the big illusions plod to predictable conclusions; dressed-up versions of the typical Vegas big-stage show.”
Now, a year later, new illusions are turning up in Believe, and so the old question is back: are any of the new tricks Lance Burton’s leftovers? This might not be so bad. As I noted a year ago: “Lance Burton’s tricks have always been impressive and so ultimately this might help the quality of “Believe” even if it does little to improve Angel’s reputation for promising one thing and delivering another.”
UPDATE: Just heard back from Cirque: “Criss purchased Doug Henning collector pieces from Lance Burton last year for his Doug Henning collection spanning Mr. Henning’s career. None of those items will be added to Believe. The illusions in Believe are entirely custom made for the show.” And, so we will see if in Believe 2.0 Angel fulfills that faded promise to redefine magic or those words remain an illusion.
(Photo: Lanie Crossman)
Does anyone really care about this? I mean how long did it take to write this post? It seems it’s going to be a few years before anything interesting happens in Las Vegas again.
Tell me this how did Criss Angel get as far as he did if he wasn’t a great magician?
He has won the Magician Awards for years.
Was he that good in fooling people? He is going into Season 6 of his Mindfreak show. That must say something good that he is still doing a TV show.
I think Vegas has it out for him. I wish he would take his talent someplace else because Vegas doesn’t appreciate him.
That’s an insult to PT Barnum!
WOW I used to love this guy. There wasn’t one show of Mindfreak that I missed. Now since he dated that bimbo Holly Madison if I hear Criss’ name mentioned I switch the channel fast!!!
Gave the site a new look, eh? Not bad — I definitely like the header more, the previous montage reminded me of a real estate brochure or coupon book.
Richard, sorry, but I am going to make an attempt to get comments back on track. I could care less who the hell Criss
Angel is dorking. He could sodomize sheep, for all I care.
I can pretty much sum up what is going to happen with this stinker of a show though.
The new tricks are guaranteed to not be new at all. They will be re-packaged stuff seen elsewhere, but changed around so as to not give that outward appearance of stealing it outright from someone else.
And this is fine. Because they may be actually awesome tricks/magic.
But, if indeed this show is going to be changed around, it still doesn’t address the core problems that keep re-occurring.
And that is the glaring problem that Criss Angel possesses zero talent, absolutely no stage presence and has no personality, precluding zilch, nada ability to have a meaningful entertaining rapport with a paying audience. And the bad boy rock star image and copious amounts of dudinal attitudinal stuff don’t make up for those previous mentioned shortcomings.
But other constants exhibited by this show will still happen though:
1. Criss Angel will still come up with excuses for his inadequacies. And he will play it off by using gobbledeegook nonsensical words/phrases like “soft opening,” “fixation,” “work in progress still,” etc. etc. ad nauseum.
2. Cirque du Soleil will still come up with excuses for their miserable show. And they will continue to back up their star by making excuses for him. Because the money rolling in is FAR more important than anything else. They HAVE to get their $100 million back. Period.
and
3. The tourists that pay full money to see this stinker of a show (now and in the future) will still complain they were ripped off, were not entertained and were misled by the flowery advertisements promising to produce some kind of wonderous event, yet failing abysmally, only providing shit.
So, I really think we can expect to see audiences continue to howl rip off after seeing it, and still scream fraud for the next eight years or so.
Keep up the excellent reporting, Richard. I think it’s great that someone makes sure tourists are well informed. I have always said it is important to tell the truth about things on the Las Vegas Strip. Entertainers are supposed to entertain. It’s that simple. Because if that standard of ethics does not occur, and it is not called out, then you can kiss tourism goodbye in Las Vegas. Tourists are our commodity. And they have to be treated fairly. If they aren’t, then they will not come anymore.
Saw the show, saw the changes loved it.
I saw BeLIEve four times and thoroughly enjoyed the show because of Criss. I’ve seen David Copperfield and Lance Burton and he is as talented an illusionist as either of them, and beats both personality wise hands down. I continue to be puzzled by the mean-spirited press Criss receives in Vegas despite his continued success on stage, on TV, and with his book. It matters not – his fans are fiercely loyal and pay no attention.