Show: Criss Angel: Believe. Cirque du Soleil.

Location: The Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Starring: Criss Angel.

Running Time: 1 hr 45 mins.

Date of Viewing: October 9^th 2008.

Show Officially Opens: November 2008.

Reviewed By: Victoria Asikis (Toronto Correspondent)

Being sceptical of magic is not out of the ordinary. It is fairly hard to believe that a person has paranormal abilities of disappearance, levitation, and mind reading. If magic, however, is your thing, there is nothing wrong with that; all are entitled to their own opinions. In the case of magician and star of the hit TV show Mind Freak, Criss Angel certainly makes it hard to trust the notion of magic.

Angel is now the central star in a brand new swanky Las Vegas show entitled Believe. I was lucky enough to catch the show on a trip I took to Vegas at the beginning of October. Although it was still in its previews at the time I saw it, the final glitches were essentially fixed and the show was awaiting its big premier. With a vast stage set-up and the prospects of seeing a show incorporating Cirque, I was rather excited to see what Angel could sluice from his knowledge of magic. How do magic and acrobatics relate to each other? The two seemed contradictory.

When the show began, it became blatantly obvious that if you did not have an open mind or at least some background familiarity of avant garde theatre, you would be hard pressed to follow along knowledgably. Cirque du Soleil is meant to be eccentric, and that was unquestionably the case with Believe. The show centres on a stunt gone wrong Angel “attempted” at the beginning of the show. The amusing thing is that the actual stunt was clearly a fabricated one; he was going to endeavour to electrocute himself with a flash of scientifically created lightning. When Angel opened the gate to the electrically charged room containing the lightning, an explosion of light and a cry of agony preceded complete darkness in the theatre. The rest of the show centres on Angel discovering and exploring a land of…rabbits?

Enter the participants in the Cirque do Soleil component of the show. They make up the part of Angel’s coma; what goes on in his head while he has been knocked unconscious from the bolt of lightning. To any regular person, seeing an hour of people wearing odd masks and performing acrobatics is anomalous and hard to understand. What did I pay to see? Magic or freaks dressed as rabbits? I am not saying Cirque du Soleil is a freak show; it is far from it. If, however, you are not aware of what Cirque is, Believe would be a complete disaster for you. The men in the audience looked bored, and the women in the audience looked confused. With countless, lengthy scenes showing purely acrobatic stunts and Angel nowhere to be spotted, it became obvious that Cirque du Soleil was what you truly paid to see.

If the ticket holders seeing Believe think they are in for a magic show, they are mistaken. In fact, the majority of the show is Cirque du Soleil featuring Criss Angel, not Criss Angel featuring Cirque du Soleil. There is magic within the show, and although I find magic typically appealing to watch, this one just seemed awkward. Angel is not a stage performer; he is a street magic performer. To put him on a stage in front of an audience became an observably bad idea; he simply did not have any stage presence. Considering he is the magician, he was a big disappointment. When he talked to the audience, it seemed uncomfortable for him. If it was uncomfortable for him, imagine how uncomfortable it was for a room full of people; not a particularly nice feeling.

However real the magic he DID perform may be is up for discussion, but it was still there nonetheless. Angel managed to somehow go from sitting on a chair up on stage to emerging from behind one of the masks. He did a dove trick (only one), and a couple of disappearing tricks (two maximum). He even sawed himself in half to close the show; false or factual? To see it happen in front of my eyes may make it seem easy to believe, but I choose to believe delusion over actuality. Conversely, I will allow you to be the judge of your own interpretations of magic.

Believes’ logo is rather comical upon further notice: it in fact reads BeLIEve, a clear emphasis on the word LIE. This can have one of two connotations: you, as a watcher, can choose to believe or not to believe, or the whole show is one big sham! Either way, unless you are an immense fan of Cirque, stay away from Believe. To reiterate, when I went to see the show, it was in its previews. The show has just officially opened in Las Vegas to less than stellar reviews. If you are looking for a good laugh and another reason to hate Criss Angel, by all means, purchase a ticket. Even so, I noticed the Osmond’s are back in Vegas. Perhaps you should check them out instead!