“Viva ELVIS” mixes Cirque du Soleil style with old-school Las Vegas showmanship

Leslie Navarro

14 years ago

There are a couple of things that you just have to do while
you're in Las Vegas.

Drive the Strip and gawk at all the lights
Hit a buffet
Catch a Cirque du Soleil® show

But which of the Cirque shows should you see while you're in
town? To be honest, that's kind of a tough question to answer. For "Mystere," "O," "Ka," "Zumanity," "Love," "Criss
Angel Believe" and "Viva
ELVIS^TM" are each unique pieces of entertainment that dazzle & delight
their audiences in very different ways.

But if I really had to choose here, I'm guessing that I'd go
with Cirque du Soleil®'s newest extravaganza, "Viva ELVIS^TM." If only because a
trip to this show then gives you an excuse to explore Las Vegas' resort of the
future, MGM
Mirage's $8.5 billion CityCenter complex.

Cirque (working closely with "Viva ELVIS^TM" 's host hotel,
the Aria
Resort & Casino as well as Elvis Presley Enterprises) clearly spared no
expense when it came to this musical tribute to the king of rock 'n' roll. A
reported $180 million was spent on the
construction of the theater, while an additional $50 million was spent on the
development of this show.

Which – you'd think – would result in "Viva ELVIS^TM" being
this cold, slick, overly produced stage show. But that's where you'd be wrong. Sure, thanks to that ginormous projection
screen that serves as the backdrop for this Cirque production, a king-sized
version of the King looms large over these proceedings. And often (because of
the various video & audio snippets were harvested from the 914 albums, 33
full-length films and dozens of old home movies, documentaries and audio
recordings that Elvis Presley Enterprises made available to "Viva ELVIS^TM" producers) seems to comment on
the action in this 90-minute long fusion of dance, acrobatics and live music.

But in its heart-of-hearts, "Viva ELVIS^TM"
isn't so much a tribute to the King as it is a throwback to those sorts
of shows that Las Vegas used to produce. We're talking about huge production
numbers with showgirls a-plenty. And did I mention that 29-foot long, 1,500
pound blue suede shoe that gets rolled out on stage as the cast gets ready to
perform (you guessed it) "Blue Suede Shoes" ?

Of course, if you're a diehard Elvis Presley fan, you're
just going to love the attention to detail that you'll see in "Viva ELVIS^TM."
Take – for example – the American flag that's featured in this show (You
know? The one that's made entirely out of boxer shorts & long johns?). This flag only has 48
stars because – when Elvis went in the Army in 1958 – Alaska and Hawaii had yet
to join the Union.

And did I talk about how – while "Viva ELVIS^TM" was still in rehearsal – all 75
members of this show's cast flew from Toronto down to Memphis so that they
could tour Graceland and get a real sense of how the King lived?

I'm not entirely sure what sort of impact (if any) that trip
actually had on this show. But when you see "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"
performed as a delicate, aerial pas de deux or "Return to Sender" transformed
into a precision military drill routine, it's clear that this Cirque du Soleil®
show's sizable cast & production team put a lot of time, effort and energy into
honoring Elvis' musical legacy.

So whaddaya say? The next time you come back to Las Vegas,
why not pay tribute to the music legend who had his own comeback in this city (i.e.
Elvis' stint in the showroom at the Las Vegas International Hotel back in July
of 1969) by grabbing a fried peanut-butter-banana-and-bacon sandwich off of the
buffet and heading on over to the Aria Resort & Casino to see "Viva
ELVIS^TM."

Not only will you then get to see this great new Cirque du
Soleil® show. But – if you order your tickets through BestOfVegas.com – you'll then be able to
get a free upgrade (a $30+ value) for "Viva ELVIS^TM."

FYI: This is a limited time offer. So if you want a free
seating upgrade to this new Elvis-themed Cirque, to quote the King, "It's Now
or Never."Ar