Viva Elvis show in Las Vegas

So my friend Johanna Sapakie who just happens to be DancePlug faculty member is in the new Viva Elvis Show. She invited me to come up to Las Vegas to see the preview show which I happily said yes. After the 5 hour drive up (ahh gotta love traffic) we arrived pretty early and decided to take in some sights. I had not been to Vegas in a while and things had definitely changed. But ill just talk about Viva Elvis. First of all the show is set in the new ARIA Resort and Hotel casino. This hotel is A. MA. ZING! You cant miss it on the strip because it is so massive. Its pretty much a complex with a huge high end shopping center, two business buildings and then the 4000 room hotel which has its own shopping mall, several starbucks(of course I checked) and plenty of 5 star restaurants. We ate at the Sirio Italian Restaurant, which was good, but not impressive.

Its pretty easy to find the theater once you are pointed in the right direction. Just listen for the Elvis tunes that are blasting out of what seems like hundreds of speakers. The entrance to the show is nothing to write about, but once in the theater that changes. Its massave, and your attention is immediately focused on the the big red curtain that has records all over it. There is an MC that is walking around the theater getting people to scream " I LOVE ELVIS!" or get them to dance like him. He needs a little work on his Schtick. Suddenly the lights dim and who should run out but some crazed Elvis fans(and Johanna) complete with costumes and make up to match the era. The run on to the stage very excited, the music builds, the girls grab the curtain and WHOOSH! It comes tumbling down, the show begins.

It doesn't run like a regular cirque show because of the story line which basically chronicles Elvis life. The MC that was in the audience is playing Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis' manager. He is the narrator of the show and tell us some tidbits along the way on Elvis that I thought were quite interesting, like Elvis didnt like Gargoyles and one day went and painted all the Gargoyles oina hotel Black!

One of acts of the show involves a Jungle Gym shaped like a guitar that is about 50 feet long and is suspended in the air. Two male acrobats dressed the same do some CRAAZY stunts all over the guitar, leaving people gasping and grabbing the arm next to them for fear that these two FEARLESS men could fall(yeah, theres no net below) At some point the two men come together and touch, and hug. Im thinking(wow this is very unexpected in an Elvis show) It turns out that Elvis had a twin brother that died and that number was about that. But if you didnt buy the program booklet(i didnt) you would never know that. Several other acts where similar in nature, such as the Massive Trampoline apparatus, which, by the way was one of the best acts in the show, The Jail house rock number, which dancers and acrobats dance upside down, and an army number which involved booty shorts, high bars and parallel bars, yeah that one was interesting. Johanna looks, as usual, flawless in all the acts that she is in, especially the pole number, thats all im gonna say on that one.,with out giving away too much(you should go see it after all)

All in all, I think the show has a lot of work to do before their grand opening in February, but it should turn out to be a decent show.