Franco Dragone still thinks highly of Las Vegas audiences. These days, that's very charitable of him.

Like many people, the Belgian director had a better decade in the 1990s. He was part of the Cirque du Soleil team that opened "Mystere" in 1993 and "O" in 1998.

Having raised the bar for artistry and intelligence on the Strip, Dragone left Cirque to freelance, creating "A New Day" for Celine Dion and "Le Reve" for Steve Wynn.

"A New Day" sputtered, then righted itself. "Le Reve" is still seeking ticket-buyers. "Every time you try new things, you are always in a transition period between failure and new doors," he says with his heavy French accent.

"I wanted to change Celine. I wanted to transform her." But he realized: "I have to respect her. I have to let her be beautiful."

"Le Reve" is more problematic. Dragone's shows often are termed "surreal," so he uses an art analogy to explain his differences with Wynn: "I prefer (Paul) Cezanne and he loves (Henri) Matisse."

Matisse is "more colorful," but Cezanne "never reveals the subject. He is teasing, not telling everything."

When Dragone is reminded that many early viewers found "Le Reve" to be more like the nightmarish art of Francis Bacon, he says, matter-of-factly, Bacon was an influence on Cirque's touring "Quidam."

"From Bacon to Cezanne is good, no?"

But is it good enough? Dragone laments that he had to purge "Le Reve" of pregnant women and eerie statuary hauled up in a fishing net, suggestive of monsoon victims.

"What I am saying to people is, 'I am not the same man I was in '98. I have seen 9/11. I have seen the Iraq war, Katrina. I have seen all these things happening. I grew up, too. Yes, 'Le Reve' is darker, but why not?"

Good question. Which brings us to Dragone's belief in Las Vegas audiences: "Can we in Las Vegas be part of the world? Or do we have to stay in Las Vegas, an island where we only party?" he asks. "Las Vegas is part of the world, not anymore in the desert."

He is proud of the fact that three "Le Reve" performers are in "This Is Our Youth," a Kenneth Lonergan play staged at Las Vegas Little Theatre through Friday.

He is proud of finally buying a house here, after seeing so many Cirque performers do so.

He would like to stage an opera here, and believes tourists would pay to see it. I remind him the lighter-than-air comedy "The Producers" will be cut to 90 minutes here, partly because of a lack of faith in attention spans.

This lowest-common-denominator approach is "regression ... not good for Las Vegas," he says. "What is the future of Las Vegas? Audacity. Audacity is the future."

"We can not only talk to the wallet, we can talk to the art of the people. This is what I think, which is not always good for the investors," he adds with a laugh.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 383-0288 or e-mail him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.