Criss Angel Believe
| Criss Angel: Believe | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Company | Cirque du Soleil |
| Genre | Contemporary circus |
| Show type | Resident show |
| Date of premiere | October 31, 2008 |
| Final show | April 17, 2016 |
| Location | Luxor hotel, Las Vegas |
| Creative team | |
| Co-writer and star | Criss Angel |
| Director and co-writer | Serge Denoncourt |
| Director of creation | Pierre Phaneuf |
| Associate director of creation | Christiane Barette |
| Set designer | Ray Winkler |
| Costume designer | Mérédith Caron |
| Composer | Éric Serra |
| Choreographer | Wade Robson |
| Lighting designer | Jeanette Farmer |
| Sound designer | Jonathan Deans |
| Projections designer | Francis Laporte |
| Acrobatic equipment/rigging | Jaque Paquin |
| Acrobatic act designer | André Simard |
| Props and puppets | Michael Curry |
| Makeup designer | Nathalie Gagné |
| Other information | |
| Preceded by | Zed (2008) |
| Succeeded by | Ovo (2009) |
| Official website | |
Criss Angel Believe (also written as CRISS ANGEL beLIEve) was the sixth Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas, which was premiered at the beLIEve theatre (which holds 1,600 when at capacity) inside the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas in 2008. It is a theatrical production created in partnership of Cirque du Soleil and magician Criss Angel, who is billed as the "co-writer, illusions creator and designer, original concept creator and star" of the show. The show had its final performance on April 17, 2016, being replaced by Criss Angel MINDFREAK LIVE on May 11 of the same year.
Angel claimed to have been developing aspects of the show for over 15 years. He originally tried to develop the show for a Broadway run, as well as other casinos, but nothing came to fruition. Eventually, Believe came together when he entered a partnership with Cirque du Soleil and the Luxor's parent company, MGM Mirage Resorts, which financed the show with $100 million. The partnership marked the first time Cirque built a show around an individual performer.
After the failure of the musical Hairspray at Luxor, MGM Mirage signed with Cirque to install a new show for the theater by 2008, the sixth Cirque show on The Strip. That show became the partnership with Angel, which was formally announced on March 22, 2008, in a press conference with MGM Mirage and Cirque executives, and Angel that included an awkward speech by the latter. The title was announced in a press release on April 17. During this period, Angel received bad press from incidents during the Miss USA 2008 contest. After his then-girlfriend, Miss Nevada, was eliminated, Angel was filmed on NBC giving the finger; afterward he threatened Las Vegas Review-Journal gossip columnist Norm Clarke over negative press regarding his actions earlier in the competition: Angel told Clarke, who had an eye removed and wears an eyepatch, "Don't ever write another word about me, or you'll need an eyepatch over your other eye." Angel refused to apologize and later denied the incident ever occurred, despite an assertions from several including the Review-Journal's publisher.
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Wikipedia