The program for the Cirque tours is called Insider Access and is only available on bestofvegas.com. Currently there are only two shows that have a tour. Long term prospects hope for tours of all the shows, except maybe Believe, where Chris Angel doesn't want people to see his props up close. The cost is $260 for the tour, and totals out to $277 with all of the fees. You do see your seat assignment before you "check out" on line. Through extensive online trial and error, I found which seats were used by the tour and how full the tours were based on how they assign the seats. I picked the day of my tour as I determined a tour that had relatively few guests and used computer technology loopholes to grab me an aisle seat. There were 7 other guests in my tour group.

When I arrived off to the side of the box office, I met up with 2 tour guides and 1 Cirque rep. Each guest was handed a gift bag, ticket, and a VIP lanyard. The gift bag had a program for LOVE, a 2 CD set of Cirque music featuring 25 years of Cirque, and a line pass for JET nightclub after the show. The lanyard with the VIP badge identified us as okay to be backstage and gave us front of the line access to the concession stand. Just out of coincidence, my entertainment buddies Tony Sacca and Josette LeBlonde were on the tour also.

The tour began as the guide described the outside of the theater and the gift shop The gift shop has special licensing where they can carry items that you can't find anywhere else in the world. She talked about the Rainbow Walkway that changes colors. We went inside and talked about the history of Cirque and Love. We sat in some of the theater seats and talked about the show and the theater. I asked if there was a front or stage left or stage right for the actors, since it was a round theater. The answer was no, they identify everything by compass quadrants, North, East, South, and West. We talked about the stage, the speakers, the seats, the overhead, the lights, the stage manager booth, the light booth, the projection booth, and the stage booth. There was a rehearsal/practice going on and we talked about the actors and the rehearsals, and how every practice on stage is video taped for the management to evaluate. We talked about how each actor was trained in two other roles so that there are always backups to any position.

We went downstairs to stage level and talked about costume making and harnesses. Each harness is specific to each actor. Actors are evaluated regularly to see if the harness needs to be changed for their height or weight. We went into the practice room where all but two acts are practiced. This room had all the bungees, training equipment, balls, mats, ropes, etc. It was the room where Sig and Roy used to keep their cats. Cirque had to dig out and replace the floor to get the cat stink out.

We went into the West Wing. This has the practice area for the inline skaters and the trapeze board. It also had the breakaway Volkswagen Beetle. This Beetle is exterior looks only and is held together with magnets. The car is used to describe and pay tribute to John Lennon's mom who was killed by a car driven by an off duty policeman. Further down they had a rack of costumes worn by actors who had left the show and were for display only. We got to closely examine many of the costumes and learn why some were thin, some were very heavy and some had harnesses in them.

Further down, we saw the bed that the four boys were in that has the sheet that comes out over the crowd. This is the writers idea of a mushroom trip. Down another hallway, we saw the costumes of the inline skaters. Their skates have white fur on them and that is symbology of the Beatles ski trip to the Alps. The skates they use are the very best for the type of skating they do. These skates are no longer in production. There are Cirque people that go over eBay every day looking for those skates or parts or pieces of them. We also saw big piles of musical equipment. Most of it was plastic and painted to look real.

We walked some hallways through various departments behind the stage. Yes will800, we did visit the green room, where actors hang out or take breaks or surf the web or whatever. It had a pool table, a couple of fridges, some couches, a TV, computers, etc.

Positvies. The tour guides were very friendly and open to questions. It is a great resource for someone who wants to know the significance of what certain scenes are about. It is great for someone who has seen the show and still has some burning questions about a particular act. And it's great for someone like me that just likes to take in more and more Las Vegas and adventure to areas that most people would never even think about. During the tour, I learned a lot about things to watch for as the show is going on. And it's a fine primer for someone wanting get more out of the show.

Negatives. Due to partnerships with Apple, Mirage, Cirque, etc., every aspect of the tour must be approved by all parties. Where we can go, what we can see, what we cant see, what they can say, what they can't say. For instance, they can't even offer us comp popcorn without Yoko's approval (and thousands of others). So there was a lot of stuff we did not see. We did not see under the stage. We did not go on stage. We did not go up to the overhead area. We did not go see the East wing.

It's a very structured tour. They don't actually work for Cirque, they work for the company that does the tours. They like to be asked questions so that they don't have the same old song and dance each time. While they can't take us to many areas, they do like to talk about most anything. I highly recommend this tour that anyone that has a genuine interest in it. I'm looking forward to seeing the backstage O tour which promises to be much more thorough. While I think the O tour may have more bang for the buck, I suspect my excitement over the LOVE show and The Beatles would make this tour my favorite.

The tour starts at 3:00pm and lasts about an hour or sometimes a little longer. The show doesn't start until 7:00pm, so there is a little time to put the bag away if you wish, have dinner, and casually make it back to the show. The tour guide is there when you come back to give you VIP access to the concession stand. After the tour, I put my gift bag in my car at the Mirage garage, had a fine BBQ chicken and ribs dinner at BB Kings, visited my friend that is a Mirage Concierge, and made it back to the theater lobby about 30 minutes before show time. I got my VIP beverage, talked to the tour guide a while, tipped her, and went to the show.

The show was MUCH different than when I saw it in previews. I really enjoyed it and I had fun knowing what to look for in certain situations. If you've seen LOVE, you know that the stage is always very busy and if you focus on something you will miss several other things. Most Cirque shows are interesting in that you can watch it from various vantage points and still get a great show. LOVE is no exception. However, the seats we had were extremely close, being row C, in a section that is deep into the stage. My eye level was lower than knee level to most of the actors. I think I would have rather had a seat about halfway up to catch all the stage action in progress. I think an ideal situation would be to let anyone pick their seat assignment through regular channels and add a back stage tour for set price. Since it is an expensive package, I can understand why they gave us these expensive seats.

JMT - Thank you SO MUCH for this review! This is definitely something I'm going to do. I have my next trip planned for the end of April and this will be at the top of my list (along with the Elvis show). I love to learn about the backstage aspects of shows. Being a huge Cirque fan, I'm really going to be fascinated by all of this.

I've seen LOVE twice. The first time was very close, in the 5th row. The second time, I was much farther up, in the last row of the lower section, just under the big screen where everything is projected on. This gave me 2 different aspects of the show and I got to see different things. For instance, the first time I saw the show, I was under the white sheet that goes over the crowd and had no idea what was going on. The second time, I was above the white sheet and could see the bed floating on the "cloud." I often see Cirque shows multiple times and sit in different places because you always see different things.

Thank you again for this review - I appreciate you "taking another one for the team!"

JMT, Thanks for this great 'review'. I hope you don't mind me adding the following but it is somewhat related ......

I had family members in the original Mystere production at Treasure Island who were part of Cirque long before that show opened and we were invited along with family members of the other performers to attend the final 'Mystere dress rehearsal' which was held a day or so before the show was open to the public.

To the best of my recollection this dress rehearsal was only open to close family members of the cast and crew and some cast members referred to it simply as a rehearsal for Mr. Wynn's personal review which was scheduled for the following afternoon.

This was all happening during the days immediately before Christmas, so there was a vast number of the performers' family members in town to see their sons and daughters perform in the T.I.'s elaborate new theater.

Most of these family members had traveled over vast distances to attend this special preview so the excitement among everyone was very high and no one had any idea of what to expect.

All we were aware of was the fact that our sons and daughters were missed at home due to the fact that they were rehearsing some new Las Vegas show in a tent on the grounds of the Treasure Island Hotel/Casino.

Chapter 1: Rehersals (To follow)

Will, I certainly don't mind your input. In fact, I encourage it. That's what this forum is all about.

OTOH, thread hijacking is generally not very nice manners. Please feel free to start a new Topic if there is any question in your mind as to whether you are "hijacking" a thread.

Some forums are kinda anal about hijacking. The biggest issue to me is if I want to research something later. If this was a year later and I wanted to find out about will's Mystere backstage experiences, I might not remember to look in a LOVE topic.

So perhaps on this occasion, a new topic would be best.

Thanks Joe, for sharing!
I really don't think a tour like this would be for me, but hey, you saved me some bucks, I owe you a dinner! LOL
I'n not very good on structured tours, I get antsy, and just want them to be over.

JMT,

Sounds like a great tour and a great review. You get to do some of the best things in Vegas and I always enjoy your posts. (Still waiting for you to do the Sky Jump).

I saw Love during the preview and have not seen it since. But, after your post here I think it's time again to see Love.

Thanks and I am looking forward to your review of the "O" tour.

OK, JMT, will do. Thanks

That's really cool Mike. I'm glad you are coming back to Las Vegas.

I hope you come up with a bunch of questions to ask during the tour. Also, this project is only a few months old, so these tour guides weren't around when they filmed the 3D commercial I saw and certainly weren't around when I saw the show in previews with George Martin, Guy, Olivia, and the gang. Therefore, they appreciate input that they can pass around as well as questions.

If you get seats in section 107, the higher seat numbers are near the entrance where Lucy shoots out on a bungee. I wasn't ready for that, and it startled me.

Hey Mike, also do a little research into Absinthe at Caesars. It's in a tent out in front of Caesars. It might appeal to you. If I can score a free ticket, I'll do a report on it. So far, reports are positive, and free tix are hard to find.

Thanks, Joe, I'll check it out.

I just took the O backstage tour and we talked a little about the Love tour. It seems the Love backstage tour has changed quite a bit. They said it was new and improved, so I asked for details. They said there is much more access. They said the tour goes up into the light booth and across the ceiling grid. It's not for people afraid of heights. They also said that it now starts at 5pm, so you get to be there as they are doing sound checks before the show. They say the sound checks are pretty cool.

So it looks like I will be taking the Love backstage tour again.

Also, I mentioned that the seat selection was probably not as good as it could be. They were shocked. They said those were the best seats in the house and they were the true perspective for which the show was originally designed, even though it is designed to appeal to all of the seats. I mentioned that our seats had the worst possible view of the roller blade scene and was not aligned with the ring leader at the end of the show. We ended up not agreeing on seat selection. It is a very good seat, but I don't think it is the absolute best.