Viva ELVIS - At ARIA Resort - Las Vegas - 16 Dec 2009

[sfogviper]

Most of those bad reviews came before the revamping of the show took place during early previews. The reviews have been more positive as of late.

I strongly disagree with this statement. The below graph shows the overall VE ratings on Yelp and their trend over time. It paints the exact opposite picture.



elvisratings.jpg (13.39 KiB) Viewed 2467 times

[MarkJ]

That's just ONE source and not a large amount of personal opinions at that. I'm just saying that most of the harsh negative reviews came before the changes were made. Robin Leach has been following it closely and he thinks it's one of the best. This review doesn't sound like the show is in panic mode to me. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/ja ... elvisem-a/

[sfogviper]

Yelp has the largest aggregate amount of general public reviews on the Internet. Yes, there are more official published reviews, but if you want to prove your point, you need to link to them and provide quantitative evidence that there were more negative reviews in the first few weeks of the show and more positive reviews in the last few weeks. I simply have not seen that to be the case.

Tripadvisor has 12 reviews, so it has the second-most quantity of general public reviews. All of them were posted in January and it currently ranks 3*, again on a scale of 1-5. That leaves it at a ranking of #417 out of 577 "things to do" in Las Vegas. By comparison...

LOVE: #19
"O": #20
Mystère: #23
KÀ: #32
Zumanity: #80
Viva ELVIS: #417
Believe: #499

So regardless of what Robin Leach thinks, Viva ELVIS is clearly NOT currently well received, as far as the general public Internet reviews are concerned. When five Cirque shows are in the top 14% of Vegas attractions, and two shows are almost down at the bottom, there's a problem.

[foobar]

There are new videos on CdS's website for Viva ELVIS available in the Video Gallery, recorded some months ago.

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/ ... ideos.aspx

[JW]

Do anybody know the song line-up for the show?

[MarkJ]

The setlist is as followed:

Intro 2001
Blue Suede Shoes
Don't Be Cruel
Too Much
One Night
All Shook Up(Female)
Saved
Got A Lot of Livin To Do/Shake Rattle & Roll
Heartbreak Hotel
Love Me Tender(Duet)
Didja Ever
Return To Sender
Are You Lonesome Tonight(Duet)
Medley: Mystery Train/Let's Play House/I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine/Tryin To Get To You/Baby What You Want Me to Do/Tiger Man.
Burning Love
Bossanova Baby
King Creole(Duet)
Jailhouse Rock
It's Now Or Never
Can't Help Falling In Love
Love Me/Don't (Duet)
Viva Las Vegas
Suspicious Minds (live version)
Hound Dog (70's version)

The soundtrack is Elvis singing, remixed with modern day contemporary arrangements and is slated for a September 2010 release worldwide.

[JW]

Thank You very much for info MarkJ

[fly121]

I saw the show on Friday 1/28/2010 and liked it very much.
It is not like Mystere or Ka but I think it is very similar to Love.
There is lots of dancing and the soundtrack is great. I really like the live band playing along with Elvis' singing. There are also 4 songs where women are singing songs and they all have great voices. The clips of Elvis on screen look great as most are from the 50s and 60s. The costumes are very detailed especially the super hero and jump suits. The cast looks like are enjoying themselves and are always smiling and moving. It must be exhausting doing 2 shows a night and I saw the late 9:30pm show. The cirque acts are a variation of other acts but I enjoyed them, especially the trampoline. I thought at the end rather than dancing the last big number there could have been some kind of acrobatic act included in Viva Las Vegas and Suspicious Minds. I'm sure the show will improve and I will definitely go back and see it again. I was sitting in the front row and that is too close, you should watch this show from at least 8-10 rows back. I hope the soundtrack is released soon!

[Anne]

Nice review Fly 121. I'm also looking forward to the CD!

[Brian Quinn]

Plans are well underway for the star-studded VIP celebration for Viva Elvis’ premiere in 11 days -- Friday, Feb. 19 -- and I’m reliably told that Cirque du Soleil is expecting Paul McCartney and members of The Beatles Love family at The Mirage to attend.

Cirque officials also are hoping for Ringo Starr with Barbara Bach, Yoko Ono with Sean Lennon and George Harrison’s widow Olivia. All of them are fans of Elvis’ music, and both John Lennon and George have admitted that the King of Rock and Roll inspired the two Brits.

Additionally, Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley are scheduled to attend next week’s premiere at the Elvis Theater in Aria at MGM’s CityCenter. Other musicians and Hollywood stars have already accepted invitations, and we’ll reveal those identities as we get closer to Feb. 19. It will not be a red carpet gala, per se, but in fact a blue carpet celebration paying tribute to Elvis and those blue suede shoes.

Information from Robin Leach Blog in Vegas.


Brian

[No One]

Sounds like a lot of fanfare for a show that might not deliver unless they've done a decent amount of tweaking... :/

Hey, I've heard about the touring shows naming their tents... but do the resident theaters actually have names (unofficial or official) or does Cirque just say " the Elvis theater" or "The Ka Theater.."?

[sfogviper]

Sounds like I may want to go early to watch this blue carpet event. In my warped mind, more celebs = more good food after the show. I can't wait!

[Cirqueling]

but do the resident theaters actually have names (unofficial or official) or does Cirque just say " the Elvis theater" or "The Ka Theater.."?

I believe they just call them the Ka Theater, Elvis Theater, LOVE Theater, etc...

[sfogviper]

To follow up on the Yelp discussion from earlier...

I check the Yelp reviews for this show daily. Almost all of the negative reviews that get posted are gone within a day or two. The last one still posted was from 27 Jan; I've read at least four since then that are no longer visible.

There have long been rumors about companies' paying undisclosed sums of money to Yelp in exchange for their monitoring and removal of negative reviews. Yelp of course denies it and says that "a small number" of reviews are flagged for removal based on some automated criteria. But I simply do not believe this to be true, given what I've observed for both Viva ELVIS and Banana Shpeel. Something is causing the majority of negative reviews to disappear while the positive ones remain. So I'm definitely refusing to take this rating as gospel - its current 3* rating would definitely be 2.5 or 2 if you factored in all the missing reviews.

On the other hand, Tripadvisor is up to 3.5* and #223 overall, so it has improved there. Of course, the only three reviews from February are all 1*...

"The show is an embarassment to Elvis."
"The show offers nothing Cirque like at all. Mainly a bunch of dance routines to some retooled Elvis tunes that came off like bad Summer Stock performances. Abyssmal staging that was cheesy and overblown to the point of tacky."
"The show needs a lot of work. Loved the songs when Elvis was singing but when you put three women on stage to sing Elvis songs, it's pretty bad."

A lot of people are commenting on how they don't care for the female singers' interpreting Elvis music... it will be interesting to see how long they last in the show. (I'm totally on board with the idea since I love female singers!)

Jeff

[No One]

It's easy to see why, monetarily, CDS would be so dishonest regarding these review sites and e-pinions, but it's difficult to see why CDS would be so uncommitted to any remote hint of ethics.

I mean, Starbucks admitted the green tea frappucino was a disgusting failure and lived to tell the tale.

Just sayin'.

[sfogviper]

I should have been more specific - I don't necessarily mean to imply that CdS is the one with the agreement to remove negative reviews from Yelp, if that is indeed what's going on. In fact I doubt it's CdS. It could be anyone - MGM Mirage, the Elvis company people, whatever. I'm just saying I find the site to be untrustworthy!

Jeff

[MarkJ]

Time will tell what the average visitor thinks of the show. So far, it's been mixed but mostly positive as of late. There's been alot of changes recently. Some numbers added while others dropped. There's also a lot of people who are jealous and hate Elvis for odd reasons so they will say and do anything to discredit him. Especially Michael Jackson and Beatles fans. I'm both an Elvis and Betales fan. So I know how they work.

[foobar]

Come on, that's lame! People hating Elvis and being jealous? Why? Because he's dead and his music not? I know not a single person personally that ever said they would hate Elvis or The Beatles. Sure, not everyone likes to listen to their music but that's way different than saying you hate somebody.

Michael Jackson can be seen different because he has been critizised a lot for his weird life style and strange behaviour in public. He was accused of child molestation and found not guilty. Not everyone can accept this verdict so there you can see a lot of hate, not because of his music but because of these accusations.

Obviously, you consider some freaky opinions posted in some boards being real statements. But if you would really think about it, you wouldn't give a damn about these idiotic hate statements. They're worthless and not based on facts.

What makes me sick is that there are some Elvis fanboys out there that simply don't understand that a show using Elvis' name and music has to be at least a good show to honor his great work. If it isn't, you won't do anything good to the King and his legacy. But only because it's about Elvis doesn't make it a good show automatically. There has to be more, especially that Cirque du Soleil is involved. Two big brands can create something wonderful but they also can fail. If only the fanboys could start to realize this. Postings like "I doubt The Beatles LOVE show will continue after another year" are simply stupid. The Beatles LOVE is a huge success and with Viva ELVIS around, the success will not come to an end. Why should it? Viva ELVIS can reach all the fans that love Elvis' music. That wasn't the goal for The Beatles LOVE and everyone can notice that when you look at the name of the show.

I'm hoping that the criticism about Viva ELVIS will lead finally to an improved and good show. They're still working on it. That's good. We'll see how it looks like in a year. Until then, there can be many changes.

[Anne]

Good Grief! Give the show a chance. I saw it and I loved it.
It's still in the tweaking process. After you see it, then you
can condemn it. Or, love it. I thought the female singers
were good. I would have liked more Cirque acts, but the Trampo
act was great and maybe they will add more acts in the future.
It was good to see Elvis in his glory days, not at the end. And, I
have had problems with Yelp in the past, so I don't trust their
honesty.

[jessewalker]

I went to see VIVA ELVIS the other night and really loved every minute of it. People keep saying that there is no acrobatics in the show, but thats wrong. There was the shoe, guitar, trampolines, upside down people, a chair guy, amazing acrobatic dance couple, and others that I can't remember, PLUS it was a killer song and dance show! I love the Cirque shows and have seen quite a few of them, and watching one acrobatic act after another, after another, after another is cool....but the ELVIS show took those acts, put then in with some amazing dance, some killer music, GIGANTIC sets and BAM and amazing show! I have read people on here that say it is not "cirque" enough...well, what is "cirque"? Mystere, O, KA, LOVE??? If that is "cirque" then you have those shows in Vegas to enjoy as well as seeing this great show that has what I would call "cirque" and whats more has "new cirque" with the great dancing!

This is an article I found, someone who knows a bit what he is talking about....

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 46,00.html

For those that posted on here weeks or months ago that went to see the show or not, I don't know how Cirque does thier shows, but assuming it was not as ready then as it it today just a few days before it "officially" opens, then all you need to go back and see it again, perhaps with more of an open mind that this is 2010 and cirque can do the "cirque" style shows like they did with Kooza, and the "new cirque" style shows like they did with this one.

I recommend it...maybe not for those that are stuck on Cirque being what they were 10-15 years ago, but for those that want a GREAT night of amazing entertainment! VIVA ELVIS....VIVA CIRQUE!~

[foobar]

I don't think there is any new footage in this video from E! Online about Viva ELVIS but isn't that the Chinese Poles act from Mysterè at 0:26?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72xLcXHIqfM

[Cirqueling]

Yeah, that totally was Mystere at that point. And the footage of the umbrella act was new. I liked it looked cool. However i feel umbrella's are becoming overly used props all over live performances.

[Evil Jeremy]

My dad was in Vegas in the first half of this week for a company meeting, and the company surprised the 800 of them by taking them all to Elvis on Tuesday. I am going to pass along what he said about the show (this is his 10th show, so he is no Cirque noob.)

When I first told him about this show years ago, he said he was not a fan of Elvis music, but that didn't impede his judgment of the show. He said the show was not a traditional Cirque show, but it was very entertaining. This is what he loved about the show:
The graphics, lights, and other effects he said were the best thing about the show (not to say the rest was bad).
The isolation of Elvis singing blended with a top notch live band and female vocals.
The set

The "ok":
The dancing, both in quantity and quality. Too much of it and not much is "breath taking", but he is aware that a new choreographer took over and the show is still adjusting.
The acts, just in quantity. The acts were top notch (although he said they were anti-climatic), although there were not as many of them. He knows this is themed around Elvis, but there is room for more acts. He also said that more ariel acts would have been welcome.

The bad:
Absolutely nothing.

He understands that the show is still a work in progress, but he had a great time. He is still not a big Elvis fan, but he loved the live music and was disappointed that the CD was not available yet.

My dad's summed up opinion of Viva Elvis: A work in progress that is already very good.
8.5/10

[Brian Quinn]

Excitement is growing for the premiere of the newest Cirque du Soleil production Viva Elvis one week from tomorrow. The blue carpet world premiere on Feb. 19 will be led by Priscilla Presley, Cirque founder Guy Laliberte, Armand Thomas (director of creation, Viva Elvis), Vincent Paterson (writer and director, Viva Elvis) and choreographers Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo of Nappytabs featured on So You Think You Can Dance.

Although rumors still circulate that Elvis’ daughter Lisa Marie Presley will be attending with Paul McCartney, the other confirmed stars who have accepted invitations for the celebration weekend include Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, Justin Long, Peter Facinelli and Jennie Garth, Chris Noth, Christina Hendricks, Gene Simmons, Regis and Joy Philbin, Taye Diggs, Holly Madison, Tommy Lee, Perez Hilton, Danny McBride, Grant Show, Jonathon Togo, William Fichtner, Aaron Paul, Malin Akerman, Jeff Probst, Rita Rudner, Carrot Top, Kelly Killoren Bensimon and Keir O’Donnell. More VIP names will be added next week, and VDLX will have them for you before the grand gala premiere performance and Haze after-party for the stars and cast.

Info. from Robin Leach Blog in Vegas.


Brian

[sammasseur]

I've been reading all the positives and negatives here and kept an entirely open mind when I saw it. Was really jazzed up, anticipating the experience. Loved the lobby of the theater and the inside of the auditorium. The beginning of the show was extremely exciting, then by the 15-minute mark I felt my balloon of enthusiasm deflating. By the time it got the the army boys in short shorts and mesh tank tops, I was already wishing it was over. To me it was an absolute mess and embarrasment on par with BELIEVE. What is with the cheap-looking stage floor and risers? They look like Home Depot plywood painted with primer by a high school woodshop class. Is this what all those millions buys?