Dead Elvis Twin, Jailhouse Schlock Take Viva Out of Vegas Show
'Viva Las Vegas'
Julie Aucoin/Cirque du Soleil via Bloomberg
Actors perform in the song "Viva Las Vegas," from Cirque du Soleil's "Viva ELVIS." The show is at the Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter in Las Vegas.
Actors perform in the song "Viva Las Vegas," from Cirque du Soleil's "Viva ELVIS." The show is at the Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter in Las Vegas. Photographer: Julie Aucoin/Cirque du Soleil via Bloomberg
'Jailhouse Rock'
Julie Aucoin/Cirque du Soleil via Bloomberg
Acrobats in Cirque du Soleil's "Viva ELVIS," in Las Vegas. The "Jailhouse Rock" number serves as an homage to the Elvis film of the same name.
Acrobats in Cirque du Soleil's "Viva ELVIS," in Las Vegas. The "Jailhouse Rock" number serves as an homage to the Elvis film of the same name. Photographer: Julie Aucoin/Cirque du Soleil via Bloomberg
Performers in Cirque du Soleil's "Viva ELVIS," in Las Vegas. Acrobats bounce on trampolines and scramble up walls in Elvis's song, "Got a Lot of Livin' to Do." Photographer: Julie Aucoin/Cirque du Soleil via Bloomberg
It should be a jackpot: a tribute to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the city that revived his career and performed by a troupe beloved for its acrobatic, offbeat shows.
Instead, Cirque du Soleil’s “Viva Elvis” at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas gets smothered in sentimental hooey and flabbergasting kitsch. In the most jaw-dropping moment, Elvis Presley bonds with his twin brother, Jesse Garon -- who, in real life, was stillborn -- as they clamber upon a half moon to the tune of “One Night With You.”
The production, which had its premiere in February at the recently opened CityCenter megaplex, features a narrator playing Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, and highlights milestones in the singer’s life, including his stint in the Army and marriage to Priscilla Presley.
Elvis’s late-1950s military service is commemorated with not one, not two, but three separate numbers. One would think Elvis was a career officer as opposed to a draftee serving just two years.
The singer’s nuptials are celebrated with a two-story wedding cake, ballet dancers and roller skaters. While those elements could lend verve and humor to the number, home movies of Elvis and Priscilla flickering in the background and a female singer crooning along to an Elvis recording of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” convey mainly syrupy earnestness.
The show gains some energy when it reverts to overt campiness -- performers in feathered showgirl outfits and Elvis- slicked hair spill down a staircase to the strains of “Viva Las Vegas” in one number -- or highlights the acrobatics Cirque is known for, as in a “Jailhouse Rock” piece that serves as an homage to the Elvis film of the same name.
Acrobatic Superheroes
A highlight of the show has superhero-costumed acrobats bouncing on trampolines and scrambling up walls to the strains of “Got a Lot of Livin’ to Do.” But the number both overstays its welcome and seems tenuously connected to the singer and his life. (Elvis apparently was a comic-book fan, which serves as the justification for the routine.)
Overall, the stage is too often packed with countless dancers trying to make up in quantity what they lack in choreography -- an unfortunate throwback to the worst excesses of Elvis-era Las Vegas.
After the show, there are souvenirs, naturally. Audience members who didn’t soak up enough of the Elvis aura during the performance can purchase a foot-high Elvis Pez candy dispenser ($28), a three-bottle assortment of Elvis-branded hot sauce ($19.95), or an Elvis-themed metal lunchbox ($18).
The show lacks one Vegas perennial: Elvis impersonators. Instead, it relies on recordings of the King and female-only live singers because, according to the production’s website, “only Elvis could do justice to Elvis when it came to portraying his vitality and seductive charm.”
Exactly.
Rating: *
“Viva Elvis” is at the Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter in Las Vegas. Information: +1-877-253-5847.
What the Stars Mean: **** Excellent *** Good ** Average * Poor (No stars) Worthless
(Lauren Coleman-Lochner and Daniel Taub are reporters for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are their own.)
To contact the reporters on this story: Lauren Coleman-Lochner in New York at llochner@bloomberg.net; Daniel Taub in Los Angeles at dtaub@bloomberg.net.
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