Fans Flock To Vegas For ‘Love’ Of Beatles
LAS VEGAS — When asked about the possibility of a Beatles reunion, John Lennon evoked what he considered the most depressing prospect facing rock musicians who cling to stardom too long: “Going to Vegas and singing your great hits,” as he put it in an interview shortly before his death in 1980.
A quarter- century later, the Beatles made their way to Vegas, but in a far more creative way. In collaboration with Cirque du Soleil, the Canadian producer of spectacles, Apple Corps, the Beatles’ production company, created “Love,” a kinetic theater piece set to 90 minutes of quirkily remixed Beatles music, staged at the Mirage Resort and Casino.
When “Love” opened, in 2006, some critics raised an eyebrow at the prediction by Apple and Cirque that it would run for 10 years. How many Beatles fans, after all, were likely to travel there?
A great many, it turns out. Just after the 10th anniversary performance, on July 14, a Cirque spokeswoman provided an answer: Since 2006, nearly eight million people had seen “Love.”
The anniversary show — attended by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono — introduced a significantly revamped version of “Love.” Dominic Champagne tweaked his script to give it a more coherent narrative arc. The choreography was overhauled, as were the Day- Glo, Pop Art costumes. Both the stage technology and sound system (including more than 6,000 speakers, which had about 7,500 hours on them) were upgraded. And the show’s soundtrack has been remixed.
That soundtrack is a significant part of the show’s attraction. It does not present the music straight: George Martin, the band’s producer (who died in March), and his son Giles, who has since overseen several Beatles archival projects, combed through the Beatles’ session masters and created mash-ups, blending elements from several songs to give the group’s familiar tunes fresh twists. And they mined the tapes for amusing bits of between-takes studio chatter, which are sprinkled throughout the show.
“The first thing is that the music was adapted so effectively,” said John Katsilometes, a columnist who covers entertainment for The Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas Weekly. “But also, the Beatles’ career arc, and the evolution of their music and their image, fits very well with Cirque. Cirque can do the imagery of sound very well, and they were able to match the Beatles’ artistic sensibility in a way that hasn’t worked as well with other artists. ”
To an extent, the show is a tonguein- cheek fantasy version of the Beatles’ history or, at least, selective glimpses of it. As the show begins, to the unaccompanied harmony vocals of “Because,” and a mash-up of “Get Back” and “Glass Onion,” Cirque’s staging and projections suggest Liverpool’s privations during World War II, when the Beatles were born, and just after. Yet instead of Nazi bombers, we see Blue Meanies, the villains from the “Yellow Submarine” cartoon film.
But however much “Love” outlines the Beatles’ career, or amplifies their philosophy (“All You Need Is Love” is the finale), it is no one’s idea of a documentary. Artistic license allows Mr. Champagne to conflate the auto accident described in the first verse of “A Day in the Life” with not only the death of Lennon’s mother, Julia, who was run over while crossing the street, but also with the consolation that Mr. McCartney offered to Lennon’s older son, Julian, upon his parents’ breakup, in “Hey Jude.”
For Beatles fans, the show has turned the Mirage into a pilgrimage site — the only place in the world you can see a Beatles-approved theatrical production with an enveloping surround soundtrack, direct from the master tapes.
A spokeswoman for Apple said that there were no plans for a successor to “Love,” but there is still plenty of material to draw on — “Love” presents only about a tenth of the Beatles’ songbook.
“Love” is a measure of how the Beatles’ music continues to speak to new listeners, and how the group’s constituency has continued to expand: The show’s audience of eight million is vastly larger than the number of people who saw the Beatles perform live. And its 10-year run is even longer than the group’s recording career.
Quirkily remixed music, and Cirque du Soleil dazzle.