Thursday, January 05, 2006

Le Reve at the Wynn

Our kids gave us tickets for the new show at the Wynn, Le Reve. It’s a Franco Dragone production, similar to all of the Circ du Soleil shows on the strip.

We went to see “O” at the Bellagio a few months ago and were really impressed. (pictures someplace in History). Le Reve is similar in that it all takes place over a pool of water. But while the stage for “O” did come out into the theatre there was still a curtain that closed, and a backstage area where performers and things came from. Le Reve takes place in a theatre in the round, where the stage is surrounded on all sides by seats. There are three entrances where performers wander in from, but most of the action takes place right in the middle of the audience.

The stage is composed of a lot of round areas and sections, is on hydraulics, and raises and lowers as the show progresses. At some point the whole stage is just a the surface of the water, so performers can walk around, and at other steps areas drop down so people can swim and dive. A lot of the action takes place in the air, with people and objects dropping down from the high ceiling, and others being lifted from below the water to disappear up in the sky. I don’t know how deep the pool is, but as in “O” there were some divers dropping into the water from above the ceiling, over sixty feet high. There are lots of fountains, falling water, and at times rain falling from the sky.

(Sorry, my camera does not do too well in low light situations).



The show starts out with the stage being a circular ring around the pool. A group comes out, and starts interacting with the audience. As at the other Dragone shows there are performers that wander through the audience periodically, picking on some people. At this show it was bald guys that were singled out for attention. There were about sixty performers; almost all the swimmers and male acrobats had shaved heads. The women wore an assortment of bathing caps with different plastic hairstyles, from short red hair to curly blond.

Things get confusing very quickly. More and more people swim and fly in. There is no story line to this show, it is all supposed to be short dream sequences. The show starts with somebody coming out and climbing into the bed floating center stage (you can see it in the above picture). The bed sinks underwater, and the ‘sleeper’ then wanders through periodically, interacting with the rest of the group. At the end he again climbs in bed, but this time is lifted up to disappear into the sky rather than sink down below the water.

I tried to get some shots of the performers flying up and down,


Most of the shots show something hanging in the air.


It really was rather impressive. These guys are real acrobats, with muscles to show for it. The climb on a big metal tree that rises up, they hang from swings that come down, the lift each other up and throw people around. It was all really confusing. There was usually too much going on to take it all in.


But all in all it was rather impressive, and worth going to. If you have not been to Vegas in a while, or seen any of these shows, I would recommend starting them in sequence. Start with Mystere at the TI, then perhaps hit “O”. I liked those better. I think the cost reflects the shows, Mystere is the least expensive, with seats starting at $60 – with two for one deals for locals during December. “O” tickets start at $99, and Le Reve tickets are all $110, except for the front row, where you WILL GET WET (called the “splash zone”). You have to add some fees to these base prices. I would most recommend the very top row for “O”, it’s up high, but you get to look down under the water and see what’s going on.

If you want to come out in December, we can get the locals deal and save you some money. Rooms are usually cheaper then too (except for the New Years Eve period).

So, we loved our Christmas present. Hope you all enjoyed whatever you received.

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