What an extraordinary production. It isn’t theater, yet it’s the best spectacular you might ever sit down two hours for to watch. Call it the ultimate cabaret-style musical. Call it the party before the nightclub-DJ parties. The music, dancing and energy are frenzied — a pulsing and throbbing high-speed locomotive that roars through the night. This “For the Record” is “Baz”!
The story of “For the Record: Baz” is, well, a whole other story. In fact, three stories of star-crossed love all mashed up and crisscrossing one another in glorious confusion. There’s even a duke and a showgirl prostitute.
But trying to figure out if you are in Paris in the 1890s, New York’s Long Island in The Roaring ’20s or Verona Beach in the ’90s is irrelevant and unnecessary. Just know that Light nightclub and its LED walls in Mandalay Bay are the perfect setting for “Baz,” which has it all — murder, suicide, death, poisoning. “Baz” summed up in two words: “Truly unique.”
This flamboyant, captivating cabaret showcase is exhilarating, happy, thrilling, riveting, sexy, sassy, mesmerizing and thoroughly entertaining — and for the performers more energetic running, sprinting, jogging, walking and jumping than any cast has ever tackled before while still singing full pelt and acting the script.
They perform from every nook, cranny, corner and even the ceiling of Light, where “Baz” celebrated its grand opening Friday night. The lighting displays are dazzling, although, with the dizzying speed of the performers, it’s going to be tough to keep the spotlights trained on them perfectly during the nearly two-hour spectacle.
Australian Baz Luhrmann is the highly talented and praised avant-garde creator and director of the hit movies “Strictly Ballroom,” “Romeo + Juliet,” “Moulin Rouge” and “The Great Gatsby” among his 15 director and 13 writer credits. He currently has an untitled Elvis Presley project in development.
“For the Record: Baz” is presented by Cirque du Soleil’s new theatrical division headed by Scott Zeiger, who brought “Phantom — The Las Vegas Spectacular,” “Jersey Boys” and “Peepshow” to the Las Vegas Strip. “This vision of turning popular cinema into immersive entertainment is the perfect match for Las Vegas,” he said.
Our thanks to Denise Truscello for her amazing gallery of opening-night photos.
Baz was originally performed in a bar-club in Los Angeles as part of revolving shows saluting directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese and John Hughes in mashups of their movies. Everybody from Barbra Streisand to Rumer Willis have fought for tickets, so much so that Rumer even wound up a guest in the Los Angeles cast run.
The incredible color, nostalgia and romance of Baz’s movies come to life right in front of your eyes. You are immersed in the action. The performers are above, below and around you, and they encourage you to join in by singing, dancing and talking.
Get a drink from the bar, and you’ll find the actors there, too. They hang from poles, over railings, they leap up steps and zoom from the ceiling. Twice the performers landed in my booth, and a third and fourth time I had to park their champagne and scotch at my table.
Not only is it difficult to describe the storyline, but also it’s unnecessary because it’s whatever you make of it. This isn’t “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” but similar. It’s not “Absinthe” but just as edgy. Like those two unusual winners, “Baz” claims top title in the new territory of nightclub-entertainment productions — and no backbeat thump from wheels of steel. It’s postmodern cabaret.
Baz said after he saw the tribute to his films: “Simply f*cking amazing.” It was the only way to say it. The producers don’t want to use the word Broadway musical because its connotation here isn’t a big-ticket seller on the Strip. But I will tell you that the singing is above Broadway quality — majestic, thrilling voices matched with a band that powers through the night with force.
It’s difficult to single out the stars of this ensemble because they are all triple-talent threats, but big bravos to Ginifer King, Constantine Rousouli, Ciaran McCarthy, Ruby Lewis and Jason Paige, who toured with Blood, Sweat and Tears for a year as the group’s lead singer. The six-piece band is a blast as they rock the nightclub playing “Young and Beautiful,” “Lady Marmalade” and the epic “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody.” Talk about the joint jumping! It’s 1,000-megawatt electricity.
Over celebratory champagne, Ginifer told me: “This has been an unbelievable experience. Our first-week audiences for previews and the premiere have been fantastic. They’ve cheered, shouted and applauded, and it’s all better than we dared dream. We’re on fire, they’re on fire, and we are all having a ton of fun.”
Whoever thought you would witness a sexy two-man, one-woman tango inside Light? The players hold nothing back in their dedication to this part rock concert, part nightclub and part musical theater all mixed in a full-force explosion.
“Baz” is a reinvention of cabaret for a new generation and was created by producer Shane Scheel, director Anderson Davis and musical director Christopher Lloyd Bratten. Bravo to Las Vegas’ own Otto Ehling, who whips up the band’s frenzy from his pulsing, pounding piano and Roger Ross on drums who doesn’t miss a beat.
You may well walk out of “Baz” dazed still wondering what you just saw, confused trying to untangle the twisted plots and/or exhausted from the cast’s physical workout, but you will walk out saying that you experienced a glorious night of song-and-dance entertainment at its finest.
You also will be telling your friends about the experience. The cast encourages you to take photos and hashtag them while enjoying the show. Times have changed for theater, and “Baz” is the best of the changes.
{ SOURCE: Robin Leach, Las Vegas Sun | http://goo.gl/1lycTZ }
