Thursday, February 10, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NORM: Critics: 'Ka' marks shift in theater

Justin Timberlake reported to be planning LV visit. Cameron Diaz might be tagging along on Vegas trip. Appearance by Harvey Fierstein at Luxor show would be coup.

Critics around the country are lavishing praise on "Ka," Cirque du Soleil's martial arts extravaganza.

According to the Chicago Tribune, "Ka" marks a momentous shift in the theater world, with Las Vegas taking center stage.

"When they write the history of how the center of the American commercial theater industry moved slowly but inexorably to Nevada in the first decade of the 21st Century, they'll probably memorialize Robert Lapage's dark, intense, $165 million Cirque du Soleil production of `Ka' at the MGM Grand Hotel as the spawner of the perfect desert storm."

The Tribune added, "Broadway's historic place as the premiere global showcase for popular theatrical spectacle has never looked more threatened. Las Vegas has taken over for New York -- certainly for a generation, perhaps for good."

In the Los Angeles Times: "May well be the most lavish production in the history of Western theater. It is surely the most technologically advanced."

Variety's take? "Safe to say that there never has been a more visually spectacular piece of theater."

"Probably is the most sophisticated marriage of live entertainers and digital technology produced anywhere," according to the Tribune.

Time magazine said the most ambitious Cirque show ever "turns an evening at the theater into an exalting hallucination. `Ka' induces rapture."

Media moves

KVVU-TV, Channel 5's new morning anchor Andy Gobeil joins the staff on Feb. 21.

He'll team up with Heidi Hayes, who is preparing for a nine-week maternity leave. She is married to Ted Pretty, KVVU's morning weather man.

Gobeil, pronounced go-beel, has been the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Meredith Broadcasting. Prior to that, he was the main anchor at WHNX in Greenville, S.C.

Also leaving soon for maternity leave: KVBC-TV, Channel 3 anchor Kim Capozzo. She and her husband, KVBC weatherman Dana Wagner, are expecting a baby girl June 20.

The Scene and Heard

Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz are reported to be heading for Las Vegas and next week's Men's Apparel Guild of California (MAGIC) convention. FUL apparel has scheduled an 11 p.m. party Monday at Pure nightclub at Caesars Palace and all proceeds go to Timberlake's foundation that promotes music education as an essential part of a child's development. ...

Nineteen performers from the MGM Grand's new Cirque du Soleil show "Ka" will perform tonight on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno (KVBC, Channel 3, 11:30 p.m.). Appearing in the montage piece will be artists performing as crabs, the Wu Shu martial arts performers and musicians. ...

Broadway smash "Hairspray" is tentatively set to open at the Luxor in the second half of November. And wouldn't it be a coup if the Luxor landed Tony Award-winning star Harvey Fierstein, the show's first star, to open the show? ...

Centennial flashback: On Feb. 10, 1987, Las Vegas icon Liberace is buried at Forest Lawn in Hollywood Hills, Calif., with Robert Goulet delivering the eulogy.

The Punch Line

"My age is 39 plus tax." -- Liberace.

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.