Cirque du Soleil’s Love: Deserving of the Title

There cannot be a show anywhere more aptly named than Love, the Cirque du Soleil tribute to The Beatles that has been drawing sell-out crowds to Las Vegas' Mirage Hotel and Casino since June 26, 2006.

The show uses and interprets the music of the Beatles who thrived in an age of optimism informed by history. Those in the Beatles-boomer generation believed. They believed in the possibility that humanity not only could do better but would do better. They believed people from around the world, from different cultures with differing values, could achieve understanding. They believed peace was possible. Simply (maybe too simply) stated, they believed "all you need is love."

And "love" is a commodity that the creative team behind the production possesses in abundance.

The show was actually the idea of George Harrison, who suggested to Cirque founder Guy Laliberté when they met at a Formula One race that Cirque work with the Beatles musiC. Harrison died in 2001, but the idea lived and, in 2004, work began on the show.

In addition to the cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, Cirque enlisted Sir George Martin and his son Giles. The elder Martin had been the Beatles' producer and for this show remastered the music and threw in audio of the "boys" talking in the studio.

The sound - aided by stereo speakers in each seat - is amazing. (Probably why the CD of Love won two Grammy® Awards.)

But it's not just the music, it's the staging, the costumes, the effects….it's everything. Love is a stunning achievement that, almost, defies description. Beautiful? Yes. Haunting? Yes. Exciting? Yes. You get the point - this is an extraordinary entertainment.

The Beatles here are graphically put into context of time and place. The World War into which they were born is so present as to almost be a character. And it should be, as it shaped their world and, thus, their music.

Each number lasts about four minutes. The pacing is so that the "what's next" excitement - even when you're watching something wonderful - is constant.

There's less of the patented Cirque brand of artistic, "float-through-the-air acrobatics" here. The high-wire work is used as an effective interpretive tool specific to the song where it's used, as in Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds. 

There's the melancholy of Black Bird and Eleanor Rigby countered by the exuberance of I Wanna Hold Your Hand and the skateboarders performing to Help. The fragility of love is hauntingly evoked in Yesterday and While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

The costumes, makeup and effects are dazzling. For example there are sheer scrims on which images are projected, both historic and theatrical. Wisely used, they allow the 2,075-seat theater to seem personal, intimate. This is quite appropriate because, unlike in the way other Cirque shows are viewed - as entertainment about otherworldly matters, the Beatles have a definite frame of reference for most audience members. They know the music, the characters (both real and in the songs) and they know the time frame.

Do you have to be a Beatles fan to enjoy Love? Absolutely not. The show is a wonder that should be seen just for the dazzling sensory experience. It is truly, remarkably - and in the very best way - on "only in Las Vegas" experience.

If you see nothing else in Las Vegas, please see Love.  You'll love it.

Love is performed at the Mirage Hotel and Casino at 7 and 10 pm, Thursday through Monday. Prices range from $102.85 to $165. For tickets, visit www.mirage.com/entertainment.

Photo Credit Tomas Muscionico

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