If I told you Las Vegas casinos are staking millions on an artsy trend in fine-arts culture, you'd call me a liar.
But if I told you this trend is hiding behind the name Cirque du Soleil, you probably would change your tune. It still doesn't mean you -- or anyone used to time-honored formulas in casino entertainment -- will like it.
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These thoughts come amid reaction to the past two Cirque du Soleil efforts, "Ka" and "Love," both of which attempt to turn the corner from gussied-up circus acts to more ambitious theater.
With the multimillion-dollar investments come the expectations that these shows will be huge hits and make tons of money. But so far, audience reaction has been mixed.
From a structural point of view, both Cirques have a lot in common with two titles nobody expects to make money. In fact, many would be surprised to know they're even here, at Krave nightclub.
"Fashionistas" stubbornly hangs on as a labor of love financed through the deep pockets of creator John Stagliano, who happens to make a lot of money in porn. Recently, it was joined by "Shag With a Twist," which is completely different but also attempts storytelling through dance and mime.
What do you call this hybrid form?
"It's so hard. We've searched our brains and had many sessions," says Cynthia Bradley, the choreographer behind "Shag." "I think 'dance musical' fits, but I don't know."
Bradley points out British director Matthew Bourne has been hailed as a pioneer of what he calls dance-theater. His New Adventures troupe recently adapted the movie "Edward Scissorhands." On his Web site, Bourne says the story was "simple and universal enough to be told through music and movement alone."
It's also based on a movie that one could assume most ticket-buyers have seen. Not so "Ka," which tries to tell an original fable without words, lyrics or video close-ups. "Love" has the instant familiarity of the Beatles. But that doesn't mean patrons instantly get, as a press packet explains, that Lucy (in the Sky With Diamonds) is "the glamorous, albeit rebellious, daughter of wealth and propriety. She seeks to find what money cannot buy, soaring to new heights only after she meets the brutish Fireman."
Maybe they could put this information in a program, so you don't have to be a journalist to obtain it.
Or what about those video close-ups (easy to do with the giant screens at "Love")? At both "Ka" and "Love," the experience changes based on where you sit. My first "Love" viewing, from on high, accented the acrobatics. The second, from stage level, clued me more into the characters. Sitting close at "Ka" helps to tell the main twin characters apart and track the action through their facial expressions.
Because it's Cirque, it will be given extra time to figure this stuff out. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for "Edward Scissorhands."
