LowLife Staff Reviews

"A Roller Coaster of Visual Images"

Joel Berliner, Washington Times:

"Of all the entertainment in Las Vegas, the most electrically emotional is the Beatle's "Love" at the Mirage Hotel, an innovative collaboration between the Beatles and Cirque de Soleil. Combining theatrics, multimedia projections, acrobatics and the music of a band many consider the greatest in the history of rock, "Love" transcends its parts to become an enormously satisfying and magical entertainment.

The "Love" theater is disorienting, although it is surprisingly intimate for a 2,000-seat theater staged in the round. The show is an acrobatic ballet set to a 90-minute re-imagination of numerous Beatles songs melded seamlessly, rising to an emotional crescendo.

Initially devised by George Harrison and Cirque de Soleil, "Love" is the last fully involved Beatles collaboration through the participation and approval of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison.

The soundtrack was produced by original Beatles producer George Martin, working with his son, Giles, from the original master tapes. It is quite an accomplishment. More than a remix, the "Love" album is a 90-minute ride through the Beatles catalog, shifting among the band's hits.

It is a roller coaster of visual images spanning the Beatles' lives and career, interpreting through acrobatics, puppetry, theater and ballet the soundtrack of our lives on a multidimensional stage that envelops us from all angles. "Something" is a sky ballet of lovers on a trapeze; "Mr. Kite" is an onstage vaudeville psychedelic freak show of stunts and acrobatic stilt-walking; "Help" is a rush of in-line ramp skating gone mad.

"Yesterday" is a beautiful pas de duex played out among poignant flying fragments of memory. "Strawberry Fields" is a giant bubble fest that would do Lawrence Welk proud. "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" is an aerial delight on the flying trapeze. The finale, "All You Need Is Love," brings tears to your eyes.

The footage of the band projected at the emotional high point resonates on levels best felt and not described. "Love" transcends whatever minor flaws it may have as it takes us back to a time, long ago, when we were fab."

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"John, Paul, George and Ringo are iconic, their body of work is historic, and their legacy as a band is integrated into the fabric of American culture. There are few, if any, names in entertainment that are more hallowed, and few histories that are more time-honored. Which begs asking, why risk desecrating The Beatles (tickets | music) by dragging their name through the kitsch, camp and overblown grandeur that all too often defines the Las Vegas landscape? "Love" answers that question. And does so profoundly.
The latest Cirque du Soleil (tickets | music) offering to take residency in the neon jungle of the Las Vegas strip, "Love" opened its doors to the public July 1, 2006, and occupies a custom-built, fully-mechanized, 2,013-seat theater-in-the-round in The Mirage. While the Cirque du Soleil name is hailed as the class and pinnacle of Vegas theater, a few questions have followed the productions opening months: How Soleil's high-flying aerials and form-defying acrobats would mesh with The Beatles, how long-time Beatles producer Sir George Martin and his son Giles would morph The Beatles, and how the two components would meld together.

In short, the results are transcendental.

The Beatles were magically minimalist in their musical approach, their profound songwriting offering timeless vehicles for their poetic and melodic genius. While some may find any adaptation of their original recordings to be sacrilege, Sir George and son did a masterful job of mutating the band's original Abbey Road recordings for "Love." Classic songs were given neo-classic, technologically-adept enhancements, their cores remaining unhindered, but buoyed by a remixed depth that sent sonic shivers through their structural spines.

Cirque du Soleil, in turn, worked within the framework of those songs, using the history of The Beatles to acrobatically render the social and political climates that their music soundtracked. From the tumultuous and explosive rooftop setting of "Get Back" and beyond the dynamic and larger-than-life characters that graced the stage through "Eleanor Rigby," the onstage color and flair offered a sensory overload to match The Beatles on "Ed Sullivan," their mania at Shea Stadium, or the psychedelic swizzle and swirl of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

Bungees were integral to the show, as they were climbed and repelled on opener "Because," propelled birds about the stage and into the crowd on "Blackbird" and offered flight to airborne muses during "Come Together." A full-blown carnival sideshow atmosphere engulfed "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" which culminated in a jaw-dropping swing trapeze routine before mop-headed rollerbladers navigated half-pipes on "Help!" From the white-cloaked cocoon of "Within You, Without You," into the underwater embrace of "Octopus' Garden" and beyond the gleefully aloof "Lady Madonna," The Beatles were brought to life in a magnificent and relevant splendor.

As engaging as the Cirque du Soleil performances proved, and despite the sonically astounding nature of the 27 musical acts, neither outshined the other. In fact, it was the sheer brilliance of their adjoining attributes that far outshined any single song or acrobatic display.

In hindsight, if all we truly do need is love, there may not be a better template for this production than Las Vegas. In a city where false hope shines like a beacon, The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil have united to let "Love" light the way. Hope has never sprung more eternal."

More LowLife Reviews

"Cirque Du Soleil LOVE"

This was an awesome show...the sound was amazing and (as always) the costumes and physical stunts were awe inspiring. We are huge fans of Cirque Du Soleil and this show did not disappoint. It took quite a while to convince the Mrs. to see LOVE, as she is not a big Beatles fan but she was very thankful after the show...she even admitted she was singing along!!!

"Good But Not Great"

We'll probably be bucking the trend here but we felt Love was a good show but not great. From a music history aspect it was fun to see them bring out some of the obscure versions of Beatles songs rather than the AM radio tunes we've heard over and over. It was also cool seeing the "boys" come alive with spoken excerpts from studio sessions woven in. However, those very same aspects also slowed down the pace to a crawl at some points, including a very long "acid trip" section in the middle. Often the songs used were slower, acoustic versions or versions where the Beatles were goofing around in the studio so there was talking on top of the song. Again, it was fun to hear the non-mainstream version of a song nearly everyone on earth knows but it also slowed the momentum of the production at times.

The dancing and acrobatics were great and there were a ton of fanciful and fun costumes to go along with elaborate, in-the-round staging which made for lots of head-bobbing in order to check out all the action occurring on every corner of the stage and overhead as well.

We'd see it again and we'd request a different section so we could catch the bits we might have missed. We also might try to score some psychedelic drugs as Love seems like a really cool acid trip (not that we'd know about that sort of thing, of course).