Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Getting a Rise out of novel performance
Note: This column is the latest in the series “Surviving Shutdown,” examining the effect of COVID-19 on the Las Vegas entertainment industry.
Anew Las Vegas production designed to overcome COVID-19 restrictions talks of “finding a solution.”
This crew might have found it, in the form of sidelined acrobats, circus clowns and musicians performing amid oversized storage containers in an off-Strip warehouse.
“Rise: A Socially Distanced Entertainment Experience” was sampled Thursday and Friday night at the 4Wall Entertainment complex at 3165 W. Sunset Road. The show’s title is right. This show is attempting to rise out of the pandemic and perform in a safe yet also inspiring capacity.
The two performances, geared toward potential investors, featured expert acrobatics, staging and musicianship from about 40 outof-work artists from Cirque du Soleil, “Le Reve” and many smaller shows. The full production team, including stagehands and technicians, reached about 100, and the entire show was assembled in 10 days.
The grassroots initiative is spearheaded by none other than Franco Dragone, who is advancing his efforts to return to Las Vegas with a new residency show. Dragone, of course, is the former Cirque mastermind behind “Mystere” at Treasure Island and “O” at Bellagio. The producer, who resides in his native Belgium, is also the visionary behind Celine Dion’s “A New Day” at the Colosseum and “Le Reve” at Wynn Las Vegas.
In the show’s promotional material, Dragone signaled that he is eager to work with Vegas artists once more.
“They all put aside their corporate boundaries, their affiliations and dedicated their energy to create something beautiful that the world deserves to see,” he said.
Damien Long, of Dragone’s production’s company, is the “Rise” director of creation. He is more than hinting that the company wants to establish roots once more in Las Vegas. Dragone still maintains a residence in town.
“The main goal with ‘Rise’ is to find a venue somewhere in Las Vegas and have a signature show,” Long said. “We are developing something that is very easy to maintain, that can be a hub for entertainment in Las Vegas. Once conventions and tourism return, we want to show what we can perform for audiences inside any space.”
Wayne Wilson, Danila Bim and Patrick Larsen of
the Velvet Crane live-performance company have been at the wheel — and the crane — of the concept. Such familiar Vegas artists as the Composers Showcase of Las Vegas co-founders Keith Thompson and Michael Brennan (also the music director of the closed “Le Reve,” originally a Dragone production) and Elvis Lederer from the Blue Man Group band and Criss Angel’s show contributed to the project.
Elsewhere, Napoleon and Tabitah D’umo, aka Nappytabs, furnished choreography. That tandem has worked with Jennifer Lopez, Celine, Ricky Martin and Britney Spears, among other superstars. Dragone CEO François Girard, ex-Cirque exec Jerry Nadal, and former Caesars Entertainment official Gene Lubas are consultants.
The numbers included an opener in which Philip Fortenberry performed Liberace’s arrangement of “Chopsticks,” only to have his grand piano collapse in a comedic heap. Cirque clown performers RJ Owens and Jimmy Slonina, dressed as road-construction workers, hurriedly picked up the mess. Owens was then buried by a cascade of what appeared to be sawdust in a giant bag held aloft by a crane and sliced open by Slonina. That material was actually crushed cork from the “Ka” stage at MGM Grand.
A rock number featured a classic Cirque trampoline-scaffold act as the guitarist performed on a rusty old Ford pickup. The show incorporated aerialists, projection and ensemble dance numbers. The “money pitch” at the end was a blazing performance of “Rise,” Thompson’s original theme song, by vocalist Savannah Smith.
It’s a lot to pack into a couple of 30-minute warehouse shows. But “Rise” gives rise to the idea that Cirque- and Dragone-style artistry can be achieved in an uncommon setting. The containers are themselves part of the venue. The show can move into a socially distant parking garage, at a sprawling entertainment complex like Area15 or Las Vegas Festival Grounds, or in a smaller venue to create an environment similar to Container Park.
A sizzle reel for a documentary about the “Rise” project is also being completed.
“We are in talks to take over a plot of land and build out from there,” Long said. “We have a huge community of artists who were eager to put something together. They want to get back to work, 100 percent.”
And they fit with the “Rise” ideal, which is to take what has been cast aside and make it new.