Le Rêve – The Dream begins its seventh year of performances at the Wynn Las Vegas next month

Leslie Navarro

13 years ago

This Saturday, it's Lucky No. 7 for the Wynn. Seven years
ago on April 28, 2005, this $2.7 billion dollar mega-resort opened at the
corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sands Avenue. And the town has never really
been the same.

Of course, there are some old timers who still miss the
Desert Inn, that hotel & casino which previously occupied this spot along
the Strip. But when you consider the state-of-the-art facility Steve Wynn built in its place (not to
mention all of the accolades that this 215-acre complex has received over the
past seven years. To date, the Wynn Las
Vegas has been awarded the AAA five diamond, the Forbes five-star and the Mobil
five-star. Which is why this 2,716-room resort is considered to be one of the
finest hotels in the world) … It's clear that the Desert Inn (which — FYI —
was just the 5th resort to open along the Las Vegas Strip when Wilbur Clark
initially built the place way back in April of 1950) was replaced by something
infinitely better.

The original entrance to Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn circa 1950

Mind you, not all aspects of the Desert Inn have
disappeared. The 165-acre, 18-hole golf course (which — back when this $1
million venue was first being built in 1951 — was called "Wilbur's
Folly," because it was thought that no one would ever want to play golf in
the Nevada heat) served as the jumping-off point / inspiration for the 7,042-yard,
par 70 course that Tom Fazio and Mr. Wynn built in its place.

(L to R) Ed Sullivan, Red Skeleton and Wilbur Clark out on the
links at the Desert Inn's golf course back in 1959

And given all of the famous stars who performed at the
Desert Inn's crystal showroom (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Wayne Newton, Jerry
Lewis, Tony Bennett and Don Rickles … to name just a few) over the 50+ years
that this hotel & casino was in operation … Well, Steve Wynn knew that —
in order to top all of the historic
entertainers who'd previously performed at this spot along the Strip — the
Wynn Las Vegas would have to feature one hell of a show. Which is where Le Rêve – The
Dream comes in.

Now Le Rêve – The Dream has often been compared to a Cirque du Soleil
show. Which is understandable, given that this elaborate production was put
together by Franco Dragone, the director of such well-received Cirque shows as
O, La Nouba, Mystère and Quidam.

But what makes Le
Rêve -The Dream different from all of the other Cirque-like shows that you'll
find being presented in Las Vegas right now is that it's presented in a one
million-gallon tank of water. Which is
why 87 members of this cast has to be scuba-certified before they're then
allowed to perform in this show.

More to the point, what makes this entertainment spectacular
especially memorable for anyone visiting the Wynn Las Vegas is that there are
only 12 rows of seats in this aquatic theater-in-the-round. Which means that
there isn't a seat in Le Rêve – The Dream that's more than 40 feet away from the
action.

The end result is that you're so close to all of the aerial
acrobatics, the high diving and feats of strength that Dragone dreamed up for
the Wynn Las Vegas' signature
show that you yourself can't help but get caught up in Le Rêve – The Dream.

This is why — for nearly seven years now — guests have
been making return trips to the Wynn. Just so they can once again marvel at
this show's beautiful costumes and/or be dazzled by its stunning choreography.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy of ABC's "Dancing with the
Stars" (R) choreographed three of the numbers in
Le Rêve – The Dream.

If you'd like to experience Le Rêve – The
Dream for yourself the next time you're
in Las Vegas, please keep in mind this show (which is 75 minutes long and
presented without an intermission) is performed twice nightly Friday through
Tuesday at 7 & 9:30 p.m. There are no performances on Wednesdays &
Thursdays.

Better yet, the nice folks at BestofVegas have a limited time offer
that you may want to consider taking advantage. Which will then allow you to
save $20 on Premium Seating for Le Rêve – The Dream performances beginning on June 29th and then
lasting through August 31, 2012.

So even though it's the Wynn that'll be celebrating its 7th
anniversary this Saturday, why not give yourself a present by taking advantage
of BestOfVegas's great Le
Rêve – The Dream ticket offer. You
won't be sorry.