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Arts and Culture

LOVE Conquers All at The MGM Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas
By Jesse Schmitt

As one of the most talented and original groups in the world that I have ever seen, Cirque du Soleil and their current production of "Love" at the MGM Mirage Hotel and Casino is well worth any expense. If you are a fan of great art; if you are one who loves feats of expression; if you enjoy rare glimpses of cultural icons - go see this show

Cirque du Soleil means "Circus of the Sun" in French, was founded in 1984, and has one of the most recognizable brand names in the world. You say to someone who has any world view "Cirque du Soleil" and they pretty well have an idea of what you're talking about. Some may think "dance" some may think "performance" some may think "acrobatics" some may think "tricks" and all of these may be right. However this "Love" show currently playing in Las Vegas raises the bar and leaves audiences breathless twice a night Thursday through Sundays.

The set itself is amazing with rising and lowering parts of the floor, four huge hanging scrim and two wide screen wraparound monitors. The seating is "in the round" which means that the stage is surrounded on all sides by audience members and there are numerous entrance and exit ways for this larger than life cast.

All told there are 2013 seats in the theatre and a reported 6341 speakers in the house. Every seat has three speakers fitted to it including one in your headrest. This fact was actually unbeknownst to me at the time; however this may explain why my head was ringing at the end of the night. So, all told, the "Love" show at the MGM Mirage in Las Vegas is truly a sensory, auditory, visceral experience the likes of which are unparalleled for me.

I have been to IMAX, I have been to the film studios screening theatres, I have been in control rooms, I've seen live theatre, I've seen HD projection units, I've seen HD televisions; nothing in my memory even comes close to the experience this show offered.

Then, of course, there's the music. I'm a pretty big fan of The Beatles; I'm no "Abbey Road Tapes" fanatic but I pretty well know a great deal of their catalog. There was only one or two of the nearly thirty tunes which I could not place immediately and I was not alone in the audience at MGM Mirage. Much of it sounded like well mixed versions of very familiar tunes; Eleanor Rigby, Hey Jude, Sgt Peppers…: I felt very comfortable in remarking to my wife immeaditely after "Wow, a lot of those sounded just like the originals!" So imagine my surprise (and allow me to demur) when I found out that 130 songs were sampled to whittle away the 27 musical experiences in this show.

What they did was actually use many of "The Abbey Road Tapes" (something you could probably get; or you could just get The Cirque du Soleil disc from the show "Love"!) These were a clever amalgam of the familiar and the unheard; John, Paul, George, and Ringo razzing one another behind the scenes, out of the limelight, in the studio. Compiled upon this are recordings from albums, concerts, screaming fans, and private interviews.

So if you're a pop music fan (and how many of us are not?) and if you are prepared to feel "Love" in the best way possible, you should go see "Love" without delay. True love is everlasting; "Love" at the MGM Mirage Hotel and Casino, though, is under copyright restrictions and will eventually give way to something new.