I got to see Viva Elvis on Friday night. It was the first public preview of the show. It is expected to be a work in progress until sometime in February when they decide on a full version. As you know, Elvis had a lot of fans and still has many very serious fans. Elvis had very little private time, so most facts about his life are documented and there are very few gray areas. It would be very difficult to make a show about his life that would be both entertaining to all and still be accurate enough to satisfy the most serious fans. Las Vegas is also a town of Elvis impersonators, so that was a subject they had to deal with in making the show. There were a lot of challenges in how to do the show and still be entertaining, accurate, and be a show that "the King" would be proud of.

First the showroom. The lobby is beautiful. It is fancy without being gaudy. I posted some pics of it in one of my Aria sets. There is a nice Viva Elvis store out front that sells a lot of Elvis related items. Prices are not cheap, but they aren't as outrageous as some other stores might be. For instance, the program to the show is a nice heavy 12x12 size with a lot of cool pictures. It sells for $15. And as you enter the showroom, the door handles to the theater are made like lightening bolts and have the letters TCB on them. As a true Elvis fan knows, this is the logo for the Memphis Mafia...his handlers. TCB, means Taking Care of Business, which was the name of his band from the early years. He got TCB from a Diana Ross TV special, and it represented a code of ethics to Elvis. The lightening bolt came from Marvel comics that Elvis was very fond of. The show is full of situations where you can enjoy something very much at face value, such as those handles. But if you are an Elvis fan, you can further appreciate the steps taken to present this to you. Back to the theater, it is beautiful inside. Think orange, brown, flowing, and big. It's a pretty good sized theater. As with most Cirque shows, the ideal seat would be center, maybe 5 rows back. Not only are the seats comfortable, the front section of seats are couches! Yes, couches. And very comfortable couches at that. The showroom also has a great sound system.

Most Cirque shows start with clowns that come through the audience to warm them up. This show starts with Colonel Tom Parker. He comes out with a spotlight on him while people are being seated and talks to the crowd, plays some trivia games, gives away some memorabilia, and finishes on stage to start the show. He also comes out several times during the show to present the next act. He is a little bit cheesy and obnoxious, but as I understand it, so was the real Colonel.

The show is not big on Cirque style "wow" factor. If you are looking for flying twisting stages, bungee jumping, 10 speakers in each seat, unimaginable stunts, and special effects at every turn, this isn't a show for you. There are some special effects, there are some stage stunts, there are some special stage effects. They are subtle.

If you are looking for Elvis music that mimics your favorite record, this is not the show for you. The music is great, it's played by an excellent live band, and it is sung by a variety of people. Some of the songs are sung by women. The songs are a tribute to his music in a more modern style. It is done very well.

If you are looking for Elvis impersonators, this is not your show. The show knows there was only one king and they decided not to glorify the impersonators. They spoof the Elvis impersonators on some occasions. At first, there is somewhat of an impersonator, but he is on stilts. That's about as close as it gets. Towards the end, the whole cast wears Elvis masks that are almost cartoonish and an obvious spoof on the impersonators. There are a few times where a person is on stage to depict Elvis, but it's just a guy from that time period. It could be any guy. There are no traits to impersonate Elvis.

To address the accuracies of Elvis, the show uses film/videos and photos from the past. They are usually in a secondary role while the company is singing and or dancing.

As for the show, it features a great live band. A percussion player, a drummer, two guitar players, a bass player, and a 3 piece horn section that include Dave Perrico who you might have seen playing trumpet with Lena Prima's band. And of course, the singers. In an effort to not have a real Elvis impersonator, the male singer of Elvis songs is not on stage, it is Elvis. There are a few women that sing some of his songs and they are usually the focal point of the stage set.

The show is generally just one song after another. No drama with story lines except for an occasional Col Parker story while the set changes. Here are a few of the songs and Cirque factor. Not enough to give anything way. I hope it's enough to see that isn't huge "wow factor" but does have significant meaning.

The song Blue Suede Shoes features a large blue shoe as the main stage prop. Mostly singing and dancing.

The song One Night With You is a dramatic piece with two male trapeze artists. They swing from what looks like a wire outline of a huge guitar. The two swing around the guitar as if they were two kids playing. At the end of the song, one falls. This is supposed to symbolize Elvis and his stillborn twin brother.

The song Got A Lot O' Livin 'To Do is done on a stage set that represents a theme park. The actors are dressed in Capt Marvel type outfits. This is supposed to represent how Elvis would sometimes rent an entire theme park for just himself and his friends. It also represents his love for Marvel comics. The actors bounce a lot on trampolines and some of thier moves appear to defy gravity.

The song Love Me Tender is sung by a woman who stands still by a screen while movies and photos of Elvis play.

Some songs, including Mystery Train, features a western setting, with a pink Caddy, and cowboys doing some fancy lasso tricks.

Jailhouse Rock is a done with a multi level jail setting, and the inmates are in black and white stripes. There are a few stage tricks including defying gravity.

Can't Help Falling in Love is done on the wedding cake of Pricilla and Elvis. Love Me, Don't is done on big replications of their engagement rings.

Of course, Viva Las Vegas is done up in big Vegas style including showgirls and the highly spoofed impersonators.

It is mentioned a couple of times that they want this to be a show that Elvis would be proud of. I think they met that goal. It is a very modern tribute to what Elvis accomplished. If this were produced by anyone other than Cirque, I think that it would be a huge instant success story. The biggest problem will now be critics trying to compare the show to the past accomplishments of Cirque du Soleil.

The verision I saw was officially pre-production. There were a few hiccups and few pieces that I don't think worked as well as they were supposed to. There were also a few minor technical issues, mainly in the sound system. They should be fixed easily. I walked away very satisfied. I recommend booking a couch seat, enjoy the beautiful theater, watch a very entertaining show, listen to great music, and have a good time. If you go with a Cirque du Soleil scorecard, you might be disappointed. BTW, there was an Elvis impersonator from California on the same couch as me. He gave his approval of the show. His wife had recently seen a Cirque road show and was a little disappointed in Viva Elvis because she expected wow factor.

Thanks, JMT. Great review.

Not sure here, but doesn't TCB stand for "Taking care of business"?

I'm one of those persons who expect a lot of "WOW" in Cirque shows, so I'll put it off until some of my Elvis fan friends come to town and insist on going.

My favorite Elvis song was "Old Shep" (Poor Shep??). Was that song in the show?

How about "I'll Remember You"?

Thanks for the review, JMT! I'm very envious that you got to see it so soon. I'm not a huge Elvis fan but I'm a big Cirque fan so I'm really looking forward to this one!.

Thanks for the review Joe. I dont know what to make of this. I am a huge fan and have been to a live concert, graceland a couple of times, seen every movie he made etc. etc.
I was assuming that this show would be a timeline of his life from early sun record days to the present something like Jersey boys and the four seasons so I'm not sure what to make of this.

Don't worry will. You'll get your chance when company talks you into it. Elvis had a good following in Hawaii, so I'm sure you'll get dragged there soon.<g> And you are right about TCB.

Mike, I know that you like your Cirque. If you remember when Love came out, there was (and still is) discussion about whether it works best for a Beatles fan or Cirque fan. And it was a relatively even split. Then we Belive came out, it was almost all Angel and almost no Cirque influence to the average audience. Without a doubt, this is an Elvis show. However it is done by one of the best and richest production companies. With this show, I thought that the stage and props were something any major production company could pull off. It was nice, but not off the charts as some may expect from Cirque. I don't think that Viva Elvis is an elaborate of a stage production as Bette Midler's production. IMO, the highlights of Cirque talent is the creativity where one act doesn't necessarily lead to the next and how props come from up, down, left, right, etc. Cirque always shines in audio, and the sound system is great. Cirque theaters are usually nice, and they nailed this one. Cirque usually has a warm up clown or two or three, and they use Col Parker for that. There are probably a few instances through the show where you'll detect other Cirque influences. Even though I am grasping for Cirque praises here, I do think that you will enjoy the show. And hopefully it will rejuvenate your Cique enthusiasm after seeing Believe. Get a couch seat with your friends and enjoy a show.

rukiding, this is not like Jersey Boys at all. It's not a drama or play or timeline. It does touch most of his life from birth to youth to gospel to military to Precilla to Vegas. You should NOT expect it to be loaded with fun facts or fill in the blanks of the timeline you know. Except for Col Parker, it's all music. One song after the next. With your background, you'll pick up on the extra effort that they went through for certain stage sets and songs. I don't really want to give away much, but you'll probably recognize a whole stage set from the movie Flaming Star. While an average guest might see the acrobats on the guitar as a weak trapeze act, you'll know it's him playing with his brother, and when one falls and the other rides the guitar up, it will mean more to you than some people. You might pick up on some of the military references and the big American flag made with boxers and long johns with 48 stars...or maybe not since you are Canadian.<g> Seriously, I think you might be the perfect target audience member. I think that you might recognize the show as a very nice tribute to Elvis. I think you'll enjoy the theater, the curtain, the awesome sound system, and that you'll have a real good time. You might second the price though.

From the program, here is are the song titles...
*All Shook Up
Are You Lonesome Tonight
Baby, What You Want Me To Do
Blue Moon On Kentucky
*Blue Suede Shoes
*Bossa Nova Baby
*Burning Love
*Cant Help Falling In Love
*Don't
Don't Be Cruel
*El Torro
Good Rockin' Tonight
*Got A Lot Of Livin' To Do
*Heartbreak Hotel
*Hound Dog
I Don't Care If The Sun Doesn't Shine
*It's Now Or Never
I Want You, I Need You, I Love You
*Jailhouse Rock
*King Creole
*Love Me
*Love Me Tender
*Mystery Train
*One Night
Ready Teddy
*Return To Sender
Shake, Rattle, And Roll
*Suspicious Minds
That's All Right
Tiger Man
Treat Me Nice
Trouble
Trying To Get To You
*Viva Las Vegas
You'll Never Walk Alone

Some of these songs were only used in part. Others were whole. I put an asterik by the songs that I think I remember being full songs in the show I saw. Since this was a preview, it could change quite a bit before the show opens as a full production.

Thanks for the detailed information Joe. I could not possibly be there and not go to the show so I'm glad you have laid the groundwork for us.
Got an offer from Harrahs to come down and pick up a TV the end of January. The trouble is I promised Terry to go see Bette before she leaves for good. We are not high rolling enough to get comps for either sooooo we will see what happens.

JMT - I found your comments about Love and Believe interesting. I'm both a Cirque and Beatles fan so I thought Love was fantastic. But I really hated Believe. I hardly knew who Criss Angel was in the first place and you are right - there's hardly any Cirque in that show.

That's a lot of music!
I'm kinda curious what you think age wise this show is best geared toward? Reading this report, it would seem fair to say Sharons mom might really enjoy this show. What was the average mean age?

That's a tough question, Lee. I'd guess almost half were in the late 20s or early 30s, and the same amount over 50. I saw no children, no very young adults. Remember, this show did not go on sale to the general public. It was people who were either Cirque club members or those who went that extra mile to be informed. I would guess about half were Cirque fans and half Elvis fans. I'd guess the Elvis fans got a little more out of it.

With that said, the music arrangements were not from the days of The King. It was more modern versions with more modern instruments. It would probably be too loud for my parents. And probably too modern for the most hard core Elvis fan.

I don't think this show targets a specific age. Take things like Cirque, Elvis, quality music, maturity, Las Vegas, and entertainment. The more you can align with the various aspects, the more you'll like the show. The show would be less exciting for fans of hip hop music, dollar/value analyzers, self centered people, and seekers of wow factor.

Thanks Joe, I guess I kinda knew that already. I do think my mother inlaw would like the show, where as my mother would not.
I am going to put this on my "to do" list but it doesn't have tone done on the nexxt trip. For me, I am not about the wow factor if circ shows, the production and music I enjoy more. It's what made Love, stand out for me!

For some video footage of Viva Elvis check out

http://www.reviewjournal.com/media/video/viva_elvis_preview.html

Check out the "Related Slide Show" link too!

A friend of mine saw the show a couple of days ago and gave it a B+. He said some of it was outstanding and other stuff was just plain bad and should probably be removed from the show.

The Good:
- He said the live band was outstanding. He couldn't believe there were only 8 of them.
- The sound was amazing. I guess they have subwoofers in the floor which makes the whole auditorium vibrate and shake at times?
- Likewise, the women singers were wonderful. He wasn't sure what song it was but there was an Ann-Margret look-a-like belting out a song while some acrobats did their thing on some giant wedding rings. He really liked that part.
- He also loved the Jailhouse Rock and Bossa Nova sequences.
- He liked all the film clips and some of the special effects were good.

The Bad
- He hated Colonel Tom Parker. Said there was too much of him. He was fine to introduce the show and close it, but everytime he appeared during the show, the show came to a halt. My friend thinks there was too much of him and his part needs to be cut down.
- There's some sequence with 4 girls dancing on stripper poles to one of Elvis' songs and my friend said it was cringe-inducing - why would they have strippers dancing to Elvis in a (family) Cirque show?
- There were a few other parts he said didn't work but I can't remember what those were.

All in all, he said it's worth seeing and thinks it will get better with time.

Oh yeah - he sat in one of those couch seats and said it was very comfortable.

Thank You Mike. I can't say that I disagree with that review one bit.

It was my opinion at the time that Col Parker was a filler for when they had to change the stage sets. It would grind to halt if they had to change sets without him. OTOH, I think that enough people don't like him, Cirque can find a way to fix that. There is one major stage rig that they use on several sets but it uses different covers and decorations.

The stripper poles didn't bother me all that much. I thought it was a little odd, but they weren't stripping. I dismissed it as pole dancing and that my stripper thoughts were just me being me. It did make me wonder what was going on.

I thought they drug out the military references too much. A lot of marching, monkey bars, and basic training stuff. And I think the song was Return To Sender, which kinda has a hard marching beat to it. What I saw was never the vision I had when I heard the song.

I think the wedding ring song was Love Me/Don't and they might have done another song with it.

I'm sure it will get much better with time. I'm glad your friend enjoyed it. It is a work in progress and we might not have even seen the same show.

If you could, ask your friend if it was sold out. I was surprised by the number of empty seats on opening night. I would guess it was between 80-90 percent.

Also curious if he mentioned the Western scene set. I thought some parts worked well, some of it was horrible. They used it for several songs. Part of it had a couple of guys with lassos. I thought the lassos had good intentions, but flopped.

One more question, how much of Cirque fan is your friend and how much of an Elvis fan?

JMT - My friend is definitely a Cirque fan. He's not much of an Elvis fan but that didn't bother him. He said the place looked full to him. At least the main floor was. He didn't know if the balcony was full. He did mention the Western scene set with the lassos. He said it started out a bit hokey but got better at it went along.

I saw this show on Saturday night (1/2/10). First let me say I am a big Cirque fan and a so so Elvis fan.

While you did see a few issues with the preview performance the majority of the show was enjoyable and I would see this show again after they finalize the show.

In regards to how full the seats were, I sat in the balcony second row center and 80-90% of the balcony was empty. From what I could see the main floor was 80-90% FULL. I have been to a lot of preview performances of Cirque and was shocked how empty the seats were, especially on New Years weekend when the town was packed.

Ed, I too am surprised regarding the "emptiness of the balcony seats" on that holiday weekend.

I was in Los Angeles over the holidays and had no idea if Los Vegas was full or empty while I was away, but I did drive back to Las Vegas on Saturday the 2nd of January, 2010 and was very surprised by the continuous and unrelenting flow of traffic heading out of town along I-15 towards Southern California.

I've never seen that many cars leaving any place on a Saturday. And I had to imagine what the Sunday flow might turn out to be.

So I had to assume that this desert town had one heck of a fine New Year's weekend and am very surprised that Elvis was not filled to his/its capacity.

I have yet to read any LVRJ article regarding the success of this past weekend, but I'm almost sure that this town did well for a change and hope that it will continue for many more weekends to come.

But I tend to think that I might be overly optimistic a bit.

Will,

The town was packed for New Years. I have spent many New Years in Vegas and I have to believe everyone was happy with the crowds, except Viva Elvis. But. I really did not see any advertising for the show except the wrap on the tower at City Center.

Ed

I find this interesting. There are probably any number of reasons why there are empty seats:

- This is the 7th Cirque show now on the Strip. Perhaps there are too many.
- Could the ticket prices be a deterrent?
- I think I read the theater seats about 1,800 people - that's a lot of seats to fill night after night.
- Perhaps people are confused as to what the show is about - maybe they think it's a bunch of Elvis impersonators?
- As Ed said, publicity for this show has been minimal.

I'll be interested in reading the more reviews as they come out!

Maybe they are going slow to ensure they don't have another Chris Angel mess.

Wow Ed, thanks alot. I hope you have a full trip report coming. I agree and I am interested in seeing the show again, once they decide on a final version.

I am glad to see that serious Cirque fan (yourself) enjoyed the show, given the level of wow factor.

I hope the number of empty seats and the lack of advertising is because the show is in preview.

On the show there were absolutely no signs and no physical searches regarding cameras or other recording devices. And I saw them in use in the theater. I thought that this was rather strange.