The new Cirque du Soleil show “Criss Angel: Believe” debuted Halloween night to mixed reviews. Some have said the show was a lot worse than what they expected while others have stated it was just as horrible as they thought it would be. The title “Believe” has taken on new meaning because it’s obvious audiences will “be leaving” early every night. (Click here for an incredibly well written and very detailed review of “Drug Henning’s” performance)
Cirque du Soleil and the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas have invested a reported $100 million in the production and have signed Angel to a 10 year deal. D’oh! I suppose the renowned performance group had to learn their lesson about flashes in the pan at some point (They were wise enough to avoid “American Chopper: Irony” as well as “Livestrong Bracelets: Forever Around,” and now perhaps they will rethink future productions like “Joe the Plumber: Snake Trap” and “Tina Fey: Palin Comparison.”)
This is yet another shining example of someone way too full of himself given way too much money to share his greatness with the rest of us. At least Criss Angel doesn’t make it worse with self-deluding feigned humility like Garth Brooks and Kevin Costner – Angel is up front about how great he thinks he is.
We have an idea for your next trick, Criss. Put yourself in a brown bag on someone’s porch, set yourself on fire, and ring the doorbell.
****UPDATE 11/04/08 – Here’s another great bad review of the show from the LA Times.
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Fans shouldn’t go to his show expecting Mindfreak or Cirque. It’s a meld of the two that brings something new and original. I work with Cirque and fans are being unneccesarily hard on the show because they’re expecting it to be Mindfreak. My co-worker saw the show and enjoyed it! Criss did co-write the show, but doesn’t sing in it anymore…
R.
The should change the name to BeLIEve:
“Suck doo Solame”
THE CARTOON IS PRICELESS!
SAW THIS CRAP BEFORE OPENING NIGHT AND TRY AS I MAY, CANNOT SEEM TO ERASE THOSE TRAUMATIC MEMORIES.
MAYBE CIRQUE DU SOLAME SHOULD OPENING “TITANIC” NEXT.
aaahhhhh, BRILLIANT! Thanks for this. I couldn’t have said it better. Even with my free tickets, I have nothing good to say about the performance. Garbage. Garbage. Garbage. I can’t stop getting Criss Angel’s “ta-da” movements out of my head. Button up your shirt at least, Criss. Save the flesh for Holly.
It’s a shame Cirque du Soleil is tied to this “stinker.” Great job of trashing the show while at the same time giving Cirque a “pass” on this one.
Indeed, Jerk du Solame is brilliant.
Jerk du solame is such a great line! I’ll never call it anything else.
Drug Henning? Ouch! (The truth hurts) Angel and Blaine are doing some serious PR damage to the art of magic. The “Believe” review link you provided (GREAT review, by the way) started with two words:
No wonder.
Perfect! Magic is all about rekindling a sense of wonder in folks. Here’s a good discussion with some interesting magic folks that probably won’t have a Cirque du Soleil show or be frozen in ice any time soon:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/festival/2008/10/presto-changeo.html
And if you are even mildly interested in magic you should read the article Adam Gopnik wrote that inspired this video called “The Real Work: Modern Magic and the Meaning of Life” – it’s available online here:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/17/080317fa_fact_gopnik