No question about it. Dominic Champagne had the tougher end of the deal between the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil.

The Beatles (as in the business concern that stands for the group today) merely had to license the music for the "Love" show at The Mirage. Champagne had to write and direct something to go along with it, visuals that could hold up to whatever these classic songs mean to millions of people.

If that's not enough pressure, Champagne's cell phone rings midway through an interview with a reminder of more: "I'll arrange that, Olivia," he says to George Harrison's widow.

"Love" is living up to the box-office expectations of such a power-marriage. The show runs neck and neck with "O" as the most successful of Cirque's five on the Strip. If the 10 weekly performances don't sell out in advance, they do with last-minute walk-up.

Still, some patrons walk away with mixed emotions echoed by some reviews: The New York Times cited "a paucity of circus excitement" and The Observer said "Love" wafted "between the bizarre and the literal."

In Cirque tradition, Champagne remains one of the tougher critics of a work still not declared finished. Realizing most people leave happy, "I feel like I've got to just be patient. I don't want to spoil the party with my little things here and there I want to push."

And yet, "The potential that I gave those people is so huge that it's going to take awhile before this show comes to the depth of its execution and its maturity, I would say."

As Cirque tries to expand its artistic reach, both "Ka" and "Love" attempt to be more literal and theatrical than early surreal tone poems such as "Mystere." With "Love," the very choice of seats can influence whether you walk away with more of the acrobatics witnessed from on high, or the cast of Liverpudlians down on the ground.

Champagne says part of his ongoing "cleaning" is "to help the reading, (those places) when I really want everyone to get the point."

And, he notes, "It's pretty Beatle-esque to use metaphors that could be interpreted in different ways. Who's the 'Day Tripper'? Are you talking about drug experience or a frustrating love story?"

Nonetheless, the show had pacing problems that mirrored the Beatles' career: Frantic and crazy at the beginning, fractured and melancholic toward the end. Paul McCartney's main advice was, "You've got to let the people breathe a little more."

Of all that can be said about Cirque in Vegas, one of the strangest aspects of the phenomenon is the audience forgiveness that allows each show time to grow. With "Zumanity," Champagne says, "By the end of the third year, I finally saw the show I think it could have been at the opening night."

But, he also realizes, "You've got to let the baby walk on its own by itself at some point."

Mike Weatherford's entertainent column appears Sundays and Thursdays. E-mail him at mweatherford@reviewjournl.com.