We took our friends to see some Las Vegas shows last week, driving up on Wednesday. It was their first time, and together we did a little damage. Yes! Geoffrey gambled one dollar and picked up $15.50 at the slots. Still wish it all came clinking down in quarters to the sound of sirens and bells. Instead the one-armed bandit just spit out a slip of paper like a gas pump receipt. The winnings paid for a blueberry tart at the Venetian.
We saw Splash at the Riviera, the new Phantom at the Venetian and Cirque's Love at the Mirage. I lucked in -out?- and was able to buy three centre front seats to O for our friends online the day before - they must have been VIP tickets released by the house, because there were no empty seats in any of the shows we saw. These were Wednesday and Thursday night performances, in August, which should be low season in Vegas.
Phantom was pretty much the same old Phantom with more money spent on stage sets. Having seen other productions in Toronto, West End and Broadway, I can't say I was blown away, but it's still a great story, with great songs, and very enjoyable. Jia has been humming "Think of me, think of me fondly, when we've said goodbye" ever since.
Love was... hmm. Cirque was trying hard to break the mold, but they should have waited until the jelly set first. I thought it was a bit of a mess, and I only found one character I could identify with. There were some spectacular effects: the Octopus' Garden was lovely, but we couldn't help feeling we were watching the Beatles England through French-Canadian eyes: a very strange place indeed.
We went to Splash by mistake - Jia had meant to get tickets for Jubilee but forgot the name of the show - and she was upset because it is such a modest show in its production values. But at least it was fun, campy, and unpretentious. Sometimes all that money spent on lights, costumes and sets gets in the way of having a good time.
