"Le Reve" performers hang out backstage before a recent show at Wynn Las Vegas. The show will close for a month for an $8 million makeover of the theater. Photo by Jeff Scheid.
After all the talk about what to do with the troubled aquatic revue "Le Reve," the Wynn Las Vegas theater housing it will get an $8 million makeover before anyone gets around to the show itself.
The theater will close March 6 and reopen April 5 with fewer but "the most luxurious seats on the Strip," casino officials announced Wednesday.
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Seating capacity will be reduced from 2,087 seats to 1,606, and from 14 rows surrounding the circular stage area to 12.
About 100 tickets will be sold as a $159 "VIP Indulgence Package," with a larger seat, champagne services and video monitors offering backstage, overhead and underwater views of the production.
Other tickets will go for the current prices of $99 and $119. The lowest price, $79, will be dropped.
"With the inventory of tickets in town, everybody realizes you need to have a distinct entertainment offering," said Jennifer Dunne, vice president of entertainment marketing for Wynn Las Vegas.
"Le Reve," which opened with the hotel in April 2005, "still needed to find its place and be in and of itself," she said.
The break for "Le Reve" is timed with the March 8 opening of the Broadway musical "Monty Python's Spamalot" in an adjacent theater.
"We want to give 'Spamalot' every chance to succeed," Dunne said. "Giving it a month on its own allows it to take its place at Wynn."
"Le Reve" was created by former Cirque du Soleil director Franco Dragone.
After its charity premiere, the spectacle was chided for being too long, having occasionally disturbing imagery and being overly reminiscent of Dragone's Cirque shows.
Dragone continued to tinker with the show until last June, when casino developer Steve Wynn paid him nearly $16 million to buy him out and assume creative control.
Wynn has said he wants to place more emphasis on dance and sensuality in the show.
He reportedly has had discussions with Moses Pendleton, the choreographer who co-founded the nationally renowned Pilobolus Dance Theatre.
The Wynn theater's new interior is designed in part by British scenic designer Mark Fisher, who created the "Ka" theater for Cirque du Soleil.
The monthlong remodeling will include infrastructure to "lay down the path" for new lighting and other artistic changes, "looking to the future of the show," Dunne said.
