Interlude

Jo and I went and saw Le Reve last night. We got a great deal on the tickets and it all benefitted the Human Rights Campaign. Part of the ticket price included cocktails at XS, a new hotspot at the Encore Casino down on the north end of the strip. We met our friend Alice at the club and had a few glasses of wine before heading in to the theatre.

There was not a single bad seat in the house. As you can see Le Reve (French for The Dream) is a water based show. The first thing you see as you enter is a bed floating in the center of the stage.

From there it is 1 1/2 hours of pure amazement. Synchronized swimmers stay under water for inhuman durations. Performers dive off of different parts of the theatre and different apparatus as well as swing from the ceiling. The water level rises and falls to allow for parts of the stage to be revealed and danced upon. The highlight of the show (for me) is when one performer drops 96 feet from the top of the theatre straight in to the dead center of the pool of water. You could hear the crowd exhale in relief when he emerged from the depths of the pool.

The one thing I really enjoyed about Le Reve was the fact that there was no "wasted time." Often when watching shows I can tell when they are doing a big scene/act shift because the clown character trots on out and does a shtick. Usually the shtick is funny, but more often then not it drags the pace of the show down. Le Reve moved and by the time it was done I was amazed by how much the production had accomplished in such a short time. The show ended with a beautiful display of giant flowers blooming from the ceiling and the sides of the stage.

Le Reve has quickly placed itself in my top five shows on the strip, falling only behind KA for its beauty and showmanship. A definite must see.

Dreaming of Water in the Desert,

Cory