Show Vegas Reaches New Epic High Mark Mink Swed Los Angeles Times Money doesn't talk in this town It screams it hums it ululates it whistles Dixie it sings a coloratura coloratura coloratura col col- aria at stratospheric ra To look like a million bucks is not impressive especially if you are a show To look like million is ismore ismore ismore more like it That is what Ka Ka the latest extravaganza from Cirque du duSoleil duSoleil duSoleil Soleil is said to have cost the official official official cial price tag is million It opened at the Grand last week and it is spectacular as any high roller with eyes and ears for a ticket and the connections to get a decent seat will readily er Indeed this show which is also said to need around 1 million weekly to operate may well be the most lavish production in the history histo histo- ry of Western theater It is surely the most technologically advanced And it will undoubtedly do what it is intended to do namely draw people into the hotel where a casino and expensive shops and restaurants are keen to remove additional quantities of cash from its customers But Ka Ka is meant to be more than a thrill-ride thrill shill The ambitions ambitions ambitions ambi ambi- of Quebec's circus arty-circus- turned-empire turned are enormous Conceived written and directed by the sometimes garde avant-garde Canadian theater film and opera director Robert Lepage Ka Ka attempts not only to redefine the Cirque du Soleil formula of daring acrobatics and sophisticated clown clown- ery presented in visually stunning and slightly mysterious settings but also to redefine the possibilities of theater itself While retaining Cirques Cirque's trademark trademark trademark trade trade- mark acrobatic daring Lepage integrates integrates integrates inte inte- grates more traditional theatrical and dance elements along with the phenomenal special effects to tell a narrative on an epic visual scale It Itis Itis Itis is not theater however that Cirque here creates as much as the environment environment environment environ environ- ment of theater Superficially Ka is the story of the Imperial Twins masters of Chinese martial arts who are separated separated separated sepa sepa- rated in a shipwreck attacked by the Archers and have adventures adventures adventures tures among the Mountain Tribe and Forest People overcome the Wheel of Death and lead a victorious bat bat- tle If that sounds simple-minded simple it is The narrative even with all its j J J 1 Acrobats maneuver dangerously on an elaborately engineered Wheel of Death The official cost of the Las Vegas production million pretentious symbolism ka we are told is the Egyptian concept concept concept con con- of spiritual al duality operates in the way the narrative narrative narrative narra narra- tive does in a porno film as asan asan asan an excuse for forthe forthe forthe the action But given the sheer extravagance of Ka Ka even this simple story is not simple enough and it hardly registers What does does' register and register in ina a big way is the richly detailed world that f th r o lt t the th trio sto of T r 1 ij h J kM i- i iI I 0 4 h Y WL C 1 4 r. r t. t c y y I t Q QIn Ji o J In Ka Cirque du Soleil's contortionist crabs pop out of a sandy beach Tons of sand fall into the pit as the stage platform turns 90 degrees 4 L ry evokes Rich in fact barely begins to describe it The first element of Ka is the theater created for the show Designed by Mark Fisher best known for designing rock shows it feels larger than a seat 1950 venue in part because the stage or more accurately the deep pit where a stage should be is so huge The scale here suggests a theatrical equivalent to IMAX Acrobats can certainly fly high and in the pit are two stages or platforms that perform their own mechanical acrobatics c ro assuring that the show will always be in motion Still the strange thing about Q C to Ka Ka is that while movement is continual relentless even especially espero espeE espe- espe E ro when driven by the excruciatingly excruciatingly m loud and usually vulgar n rock score by longtime Cirque o 0 collaborator Rene Dupere what 5 o amazes are the tableaux A jungle jungles s a c. c scene populated by fabulous a insects and reptiles created by byE E puppeteer Michael Curry and N ope operated by amazing contortion contortion- 9 L Lists S and brought to life by acrobats acrobats acro- acro S bats swinging on ropes is so enthralling that it gives magic ino inthe in ing g o the relation to stage effects new 1 I meaning Watching acrobats dangerously work the Wheel of Death which looks like something the artist Marcel Duchamp might have dreamed up after a particularly nasty nightmare continues to haunt me There is joy in much of the movement movement movement move move- ment throughout Ka movement inspired by various traditions including Chinese opera oper and martial I arts and Brazilian Capoeira The flying machine manipulated by the Mountain People returns human air travel to the realm of poetry that frequent fliers no longer remember Enchanting are the contortionist contortionist contortionist con con- crabs that pop out of a sandy beach enchanting even is the sand itself when tons of it fall into the pit as the stage platform turns 90 degrees One thing after another amazes Fire is a theme its dual role as a force of illumination and destruction destruction destruction tion and the stage is often brazenly aflame in what would appear in defiance of all fire laws Another law defied as is always the case with Cirque is that of gravity The cast is large and typically astonishing astonishing astonishing astonish astonish- ing full of performers able to make PA body do what should be impossible That is is s the heart of the circus and the best use of technology the theart theart theart gy in Ka is when it enhances art of these performers One exquisite ite example is when the twin sister and her nursemaid plunge in the depth and rise to the surface flying great heights through video of water It was nice as well to be occasionally reminded of low- low tech devices such as the shadow puppets and a slapstick starfish which offered respites from the otherwise otherwise otherwise oth oth- persistent action But the overall impression is one of overload There are so many details in the costumes in the props in the video lideo productions and in the movement that get lost because the scale is so large From my seat a reasonable distance from the stage everyone looked miniature And the special effects can get pushy when tied to heavy-handed heavy over-amplified over sound effects In fact this show with its zillion-amp zillion super sound system is often sonically offensive Where there are a seemingly infinite variety variety vari vari- ety to the visual nuances a grubby- grubby sounding fuzz guitar represents a asolo asolo asolo solo wooden flute at one point poin large Tibetan-style Tibetan horns homs at another A trite melody first heard on solo cello to accompany dazzling baton twirling soon turns into synthesized overkill that sours an otherwise sweet scene ti H n J i I I In the end the scale of Ka Ka does oes excite It includes so many different movement traditions so many different different different dif dif- dif dif- ferent cultures so many different See Vegas c continued on page 8 I Vegas continued from page 7 kinds of creative forces so many clever people given all the resources that they could possibly imagine so much fire that it would take several several several sever sever- al to appreciate its many levels It is a show meant to last 10 years and it probably will Grand already has begun the branding branding branding brand brand- ing even the room keys are I Ka But the scale of this grand spectacle is humanizing and dehumanizing Amid the onslaught of technology the eye hungrily hunts for anything anything anything any any- thing less than perfect Mine found it when an acrobat looked unsteady for a second or two jumping rope on the torturous Wheel of Death Worried I suddenly cared about nothing else on stage There are some things that money cant can't buy I |