Celebrity List for CRISS ANGEL Believe Premiere

This past Friday (Halloween) was the official opening of our newest show, CRISS ANGEL Believe! It was an amazing experience and I plan to share it over the next few posts. To start, I thought I’d list some of the celebs that were present and walked the Black Carpet (our version of a Red Carpet):

1. Adam Shankman (So You Think You Can Dance)
2. AJ Buckley (CSI NY)
3. Alan Thicke (Growing Pains)
4. Alizma (Violin)
5. Amazing Jonathan (stand-up comedian/magician)
6. Anthony Cools (Hypnotist)
7. Bridget Marquardt (Girls Next Door)
8. Carrot Top (Comedian)
9. Christina Hendricks (Mad Men)
10. Clint Holmes (Singer/Songwriter)
11. Deborah Gibson (Singer/Songwriter)
12. Dirk Arthur (Xtreme Magic)
13. Evangeline Lilly (LOST)
14. Dominic Monaghan (LOST)
15. Fantasy Girls
16. Frank Marino (Le Cage)
17. Gerry McCambridge (The Mentalist)
18. Hinder
19. Holly Madison (Girls Next Door)
20. Jeff Beacher &  Ooompaloompas
21. Jeremy Jackson (Baywatch)
22. John Thompson (The Great Tomsoni)
23. Jonathan Togo (CSI Miami)
24. Justin Long (Apple’s Mac Campaign)
25. Keir O’Donnell (Wedding Crashers)
26. Ken Baumann (The Secret Life of an American Teenager)
27. Kerry Simon (Chef)
28. Louie Anderson (Comedian)
29. Marie Osmond
30. Michael Goddard (Artist)
31. Michael Johns (American Idol 7)
32. Michael Strahan (NFL)
33. Mike Tyson
34. Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother)
35. Nathan Burton (Comedian Magician)
36. Penn & Teller (Illusion and Comedy Headliners, Rio Hotel)
37. Rasheda Ali (Daughter of Muhammad Ali)
38. Reid Scott (It’s All Relative)
39. Vanessa Branch (Orbitz Gum)
40. Robert Hoffman (Dancer, Step Up)
41. Siegfried Fischbacher (Siegfried & Roy)
42. Sully Erna (Godsmack)
43. Tanya Roberts (That 70s Show, Charlie’s Angels)
44. Tera Patrick
45. Evan Seinfeld (The Spyderz)
46. Tila Tequila (MTV)
47. Tony Curtis (Some Like It Hot)
48. Victor Webster (The Lot)
49. Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe)
50. Wilmer Valderrama (That 70s Show)
51. Zowie Bowie (Red Rock Casino Nightclub Act)

WOAH! That’s a lot of celebs. You can see some of the candid pictures from the Black Carpet here. Check back later as I continue to add pictures (there were A LOT!)

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Guest Post #1 – Meet the Director of CRISS ANGEL Believe

Below is a guest post written by Cirque du Soleil with quotes from CRISS ANGEL Believe Co-Writer and Director Serge Denoncourt.

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“I find the links between attraction and rejection, good and evil, and sexual urges extremely interesting. This is the world I investigate in my creations.”
—Serge Denoncourt

Co-Writer and Director of CRISS ANGEL Believe, Serge Denoncourt

Serge Denoncourt is known as a true man of the theatre with more than 80 productions to his credit, but he was planning to study medicine when he decided at the age of 18 to audition for the theatre program at a Montreal college called CEGEP Lionel-Groulx. He was accepted, and when he graduated in 1983 he started his career as an actor. In 1987 he demonstrated his inventiveness as a director for the first time, with the play Grand et Petit, by Botho Strauss.

Serge Denoncourt is steeped in theatre tradition and known for the visual beauty of his shows, which are typically marked by heightened imagery, vivid use of color and a deep examination of subtext. A versatile artist, Serge also stages operas and even delves into the world of variety shows.

With CRISS ANGEL Believe Serge has sought to return a sense of nobility to magic.

“I don’t like magic shows in general,” he says. “They lack emotion and any sense of a storyline. I took on CRISS ANGEL Believe from the position of one who doesn’t like those kinds of shows because they treat magic as an end in itself. My aim here is to take magic – and Cirque du Soleil – in a completely different direction.”

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My Secret

I have had a secret. The first time I saw CRISS ANGEL Believe I was disappointed. The storyboards that I had seen and the vision that I had heard for the past year were unbelievable. But, they hadn’t quite translated to the live show. Yet.

I saw the show every night during its first week of public preview performances. Then, I took a week off. Tonight, I saw it again. And wow, was I impressed. I wrote a little bit about the Cirque du Soleil process in my last post, but I didn’t fully understand it. Now I do. Tonight, illusions had been added, lots of scenes had changed and even the sound had improved. I now understand that those changes couldn’t have been made without the help of a live audience. An audience that changes and reacts nightly. An audience that has no idea what the story should be and is 100% brutally honest.

Do I think the show is going to go through even more changes in the next few weeks? Absolutely. But then again, KA and Zumanity are still going through changes and they’ve been opened for years! However, I can tell you one thing; I’m now more excited than ever to see the show on October 31 the “official” Opening Night!

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My Favorite Pieces of CRISS ANGEL Believe

For the first week it opened, I saw CRISS ANGEL Believe every night. Some thought I was crazy, others were jealous. But, I really enjoyed watching the show change, evolve and how each audience reacted differently.

If you didn’t realize it, CRISS ANGEL Believe is currently in a “Preview Period”. Before most shows open, they travel around and perform on smaller stages before debuting on Broadway, etc. But, Cirque du Soleil performances don’t do that; they open on the stage they’ll perform on forever. Because of this, there’s usually a five week Preview Period before the show “officially” opens. During this time, the audience helps the cast and crew refine their timing, understand what the audience likes and dislikes and how they will react.

By seeing the show every night for a week, I could really see some of the show’s evolution. It also gave me a chance to pick my favorite part; although, I’m a little torn. I LOVE the stage, the music and the costumes (especially those for the rabbits). In fact, I like the music so much that I started listening to it at work. And the costumes? Well, they’re just cool, especially because every rabbit has a completely different one; almost like they’re people, with totally different personalities. What about the stage you wonder? Well, that will have to wait for another post… I haven’t figured out a way to describe it while still doing it justice. However, those aren’t really scenes, just pieces. I guess you’ll have to wait until a future post to learn my favorite scene 🙂

In the meantime, below are links to a few recent reviews:

Review by Robin Leach

Criss Angel talks about the show with the Las Vegas Sun.

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Launching CRISS ANGEL Believe

Tonight was the first public preview performance of CRISS ANGEL Believe. While I’ve seen dress rehearsals almost everyday this week, tonight was special. Tonight was different. Tonight, I felt like a proud Mommy; racked with both unbelievable excitement and also nervousness.

While Criss Angel, Cirque du Soleil and Luxor have worked on this for several years, my work for the show “officially” began in September 2007… one year ago.

For the past year, I’ve seen countless story boards, website mock-ups, creative ideas for all mediums- TV, building wraps, billboards, magazine ads, online banners, etc. Throughout it all, I envisioned the effects, the dances, the costumes, the stage and so on. But, no matter what I envisioned, seeing it come to life is something difficult to put into words. Although, cool, awe inspiring and surreal come to mind 🙂

Here’s to a great preview period (September 26, 2008 – October 29, 2008) and an even more exciting Gala Opening on October 31… Cheers!

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