Travel: Cirque du Soleil rolls the dice on ‘R.U.N,’ its new Las Vegas show
It’s only 2.3 miles from Treasure Island to Luxor walking The Strip, but the distance between Cirque du Soleil experiences at each place is as vast as easing into a comfy slipper versus wobbling over jagged glass in a 6-inch stiletto heel.
Since 1993. T.I. has housed “Mystère,” the storied French-Canadian troupe’s re-invention of the circus. This was Cirque’s first show not in a traveling big top tent, but in permanent residence a Vegas casino.
Meantime, a radically bold rethink of the Cirque concept called “R.U.N” (think “are you in”) is around three months old at Luxor.
My enthusiasm for the company stretches back to its original 1987 arrival in America, so a recent 48-hour trip to the desert lent itself to back-to-back viewings of oldest Cirque and newest Cirque.
And while the walk back in time of “Mystère” was pleasant and familiar, the pace and content of “R.U.N,” while innovative, is markedly jarring.
Mystère itself has, literally, baby steps. Two of the focal characters are toddlers encountering the world for the first time. Through Cirque’s blend of acrobatic derring-do — precision set pieces spin above you and trampoline in front of you — and street-theater hijinks — if you’re lucky, sometimes these are in your lap — the choreographed swirl of color, new-age instrumental music and fanciful figures in all shapes and sizes divert.
This 90-minute, no-intermission show has been performed more than 11,000 times over the years with an estimated 10 million or so seeing it. But the style and themes of “Mystère” are also woven into all Cirque’s subsequent Las Vegas productions. Even the overtly themed shows, like 1998’s “O,” which emphasizes water, and 2006’s “Love,” based on The Beatles’ music, tap into the never-neverland enveloping tempo and benign tone that is Cirque’s overriding mantra and model for continuing success.
Which is what makes Cirque’s new show at Luxor both ambitious and jolting all at once. “R.U.N” is a 180-degree pivot, unlike anything Cirque’s faithful have previously experienced.
This has, for the first time, a structured narrative told through filmed and graphic novel-style illustrated projections as well as live performance. An action movie with plot twists, “R.U.N” is set in a somewhat dystopian Las Vegas.
Organized into nine scenes which feature, in turn, a wedding scene that turns into a brawl, stunt men and women duking it out in intermittent choreographed fight scenes, falls from various heights, a character set on fire, a contortionist, a sword swallower, and characters roaring around ramps in tight quarters on dirt bikes.
Violence is in, whimsy is out. (One scene has episodes of torture that put sharp teeth into the recommendation — unenforced on the night I saw it, when, a bit disturbingly, kids as young of 6 or 7 were on hand — of the show being for “mature audiences 13-year-olds and over.”
The other radical change from other Cirque shows is the surprising percentage of “R.U.N’s” 75-minute run time that isn’t live, but filmed. It’s a clever, fluid interaction between live performance and stylized, illustrative movie sequences (even film credits roll early on) that speaks to Cirque’s determination not simply to trade on its core products yet again.
(An if-you-go tip: because the filmed components are projected on side walls as well as the huge screen behind the stage, for a change the best seats may be some of the cheaper ones, midway in the rear center orchestra in sections 202-204, as the best place to absorb the intermission-free experience).
The gamble here is whether the Cirque acolytes will even try a show clearly not designed to appeal to them and if the company can generate a next-gen audience for a show that is antithetical to the core tones and components that have made Cirque du Soleil so beloved a live, unique phenomenon.
Seeing “R.U.N” at Luxor led me to tap into an intermittent and vague life goal, which is to try to stay at least once at the Vegas’ strip major properties. This is a rather contradictory aim since the noise/smoking/sprawl of casino hotel ground floors are never a lure for me.
But those annoyances were banished this time with a stay at Delano, the all-suite high rise at the Mandalay Bay complex that easily accesses an indoor and enclosed skyway bridge walk across into Luxor and the “R.U.N” theater.
Delano’s lobby, soothing, sedate and with a classy color palette of browns, tans, cream and gold, set the tone for the stay from the outset. The room was airy and modern, but not severe in design touches, understated elegance rather than nouveau hipness being the vibe.
Plus, I scored a high-floor room with a view onto the ongoing construction of Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders, just across the 15 freeway. During daylight hours I was able to monitor and — in my imagination — supervise the work on the gargantuan property that will open this fall.
My wife, Sherry, happily skipped an afternoon in the casino for a getaway from the getaway to the hotel’s Bathhouse Spa. The trip was easy, just an elevator ride down to the quiet haven of steam rooms and saunas. For her treatment, she selected an aromatherapy massage, and appreciated that the therapist was more interested in concentrated on her body’s specific needs, not just supplying a superficial, generic comfort session. Her back enjoyed it most of all.
On the 64th floor of Delano is Rivea, a restaurant I have long hungered for. With exemplary views looking north along the strip (outdoor seating capitalizes on those views, which are best in spring and fall), Alain Ducasse’s only remaining western U.S. outpost is exemplary eating.
Ducasse has amassed more than 20 Michelin stars at 34 restaurants around the world — most in his native France — and was a last late century pioneer of high-quality French cooking rooted in wedding technique to local ingredients. The price for this level of dining can be daunting, but his Las Vegas restaurant, which focuses on Italian as well as French notes, delivers while somehow keeping to a three-dollar sign price point.
After addictive breadsticks, which came with a yum olive/anchovy/secret ingredient dipping sauce that was almost a puree, superlatives started to lose all potency in the face of a starter of thinly sliced sea bass in a citrus marinade of grapefruit, lemon and orange. It resembled ceviche and was light and fresh tasting.
My wife went bigtime on a thick filet seared with a lovely crust and a topping of foie gras all on a mound of whipped potatoes. This savory trio of flavor paid off for her with each bite.
Meantime, my lobster and pasta was a special, and, for once, a special that actually embodied the word. The generosity of the fresh, shelled lobster meat itself was terrific enough, and a shaving of black truffle across the pasta and its cream sauce was less decadent than a supplement to the lovely shellfish.
Overall, a terrific final experience during a brief trip long on sensory engagement.
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