Beatles-themed Revolution Lounge to close next week

Cirque du Soleil is out of the nightclub business, severing ties to two once-lauded ventures.

 

The Beatles-themed Revolution Lounge will close at The Mirage on Wednesday, the hotel announced today, and Light at Mandalay Bay already is free of its Cirque ownership and branding ties.

 

The Montreal-based Cirque sold a majority stake of the company to a U.S. private equity fund and its Chinese partner in April. The new partners announced plans to expand into China and push the company's core product -- live circus shows -- into a larger presence in New York and London.

 

"Cirque du Soleil is now completely focused on its existing live-entertainment/shows and creating new live shows.  We have decided to pull-out of all hospitality projects to ensure we stay focused on that objective," company spokeswoman Renee Claude-Menard said in a statement.

 

"We therefore have no more business and creative links to Light and Daylight.  We have a concluded a very amicable agreement with Yucaipa," a private equity firm active in the nightclub industry.

 

The uncoupling was already underway at Light but not yet official in late August, which made it hard to explain at the time why "Baz," a live, ticketed show co-produced by Cirque's young theatrical division, was given an eviction notice.

 

Co-producer Scott Zeiger was not able to come out and say the club would no longer be under Cirque's domain. But he claimed the show was continuously building its ticket sales, hinting that outside factors were involved.

 

Revolution is a small nightclub, or "ultra lounge," which opened in tandem with Cirque's Beatles-themed"Love" show in the summer of 2006. Both were part of a rare branding partnership with the surviving Beatles and Apple Corps Ltd., which controls the band's business operations.

 

A brief statement about the Revolution closure said it will "make way for a new concept" next year.