Criss Angel: Mindfreak Live is ‘Ready to Go!’

MindfreakLiveAfter several years of defying death on his hit A&E series “Mindfreak,” master illusionist Criss Angel is now about to perform even more dangerous and mystifying stunts for the stage-show version he’s ready to launch at the Luxor. Concerns over safety prompted Fire Department officials and Cirque du Soleil execs to request him to delay last night’s previews until they are certain that his cast and crew are prepared and insurance coverage can be fully in place. Robin Leach has already seen the run-through at his 60,000-square-foot factory and watched various scenes during his backstage tour with Criss last weekend. He can tell you that this is his best work ever, the top magic show of all time! All that and more in this Q&A with Criss Angel…

# # #

Criss has been working nearly around the clock with just three hours of sleep a night to pull off this magic miracle. What should have taken a few years to perfect Criss achieved in three weeks, since April 20 when the last remnants of “Believe” were hauled out and new lights for “Mindfreak Live” were loaded in. “After seven years of ‘Believe,’ that became a dinosaur compared to what ‘Mindfreak Live!’ will present,” he told Bloomberg. Bloomberg reported that “Believe” generated $70 million a year, with the biggest sales of any magic show in Las Vegas.

But Criss wanted to show that the illusions he pulled off onscreen could be done live onstage, too. To reinforce the point, he told me: “This time we have 50 illusions in 90 minutes of show time. It’s way beyond what we did on the television series. This is already Criss Angel of tomorrow.” I sat backstage in his Luxor dressing room office suite over the weekend to talk with him, and he gave me an expansive tour of the new stage. We started by talking about the delay that shifts his previews from last night to a new date expected to be known by the end of this week.

Q. Skeptics will say it’s just to buy you extra time because there has to be trouble?

Trouble is actually a good thing for a magician, but here it’s the most sophisticated, not only as a magic show ever to be performed in the history of the art, but it’s probably the most sophisticated, technological show in Las Vegas. We have 3D immersion. We have nine screens that project images. We have over 1,000 lighting instruments. We have the craziest illusions, costumes, brand new pyrotechnics in the show, state-of-the-art lasers. We’re doing something with lasers that ‘s never been done before. We’re doing something that is revolutionary. I believe it’s going to shake up and change the game in the world of magic. It’s a whole new approach. When Cirque or most shows open, they have two or three years to put it together. I had three months to put it together physically. One illusion took four months to put together. It’s the time that it takes to get certain permits. We built items in the theater that need to be permitted. We have new pyrotechnics, which need to go through fire marshals. There are things that are out of my control, the bureaucracy of putting a show together. You don’t know all of the elements, and you’re figuring things out, then, “Oh, no, we need a permit, we need engineering, we need that signed off” because everybody has to cover their ass.

Q. When will you start previews? Do you have a new date?

It will be announced I think this week. Two dates are being tossed around. This week, we will have a definitive date. They wanted you to hold off on everything until then.

Q. What is different about this new show than “Believe” in terms of your approach toward the show and magic itself?

This is a brand new show. This is not a refresh. Everything is completely new. Everything is completely different. The approach just conceptually with how I’m presenting the illusions. The cast in how I utilize them. Forget about the illusions themselves or the fact that we have lasers, 3D immersion and nine surfaces that we’re utilizing to have images play on, or the pyrotechnics, or the brand new music soundtrack. The whole approach to showing magic is unique and different. “Believe” was a great show that fulfilled its mission for people to see Criss Angel perform incredible illusions and have an intimacy with me. But Criss Angel was one-dimensional. It didn’t give me an opportunity to flourish and show people what I’m really capable of as an actor, artist and creator. This show gives me the opportunity to show the evolution of Criss Angel. People will see different forms in different eras of Criss Angel that perform in this show with a very different look, presentation and what the feeling and experience will be. This is as if it is somebody completely different with a different name coming to the Luxor and launching a different show. It’s a brand new show, even though I had “Believe” and “Mindfreak.” They’re two different shows other than that I created and directed them.

Q. But in a sense, this is the “Mindfreak” T show and not the Cirque invention?

It’s even beyond the TV show. It’s the TV show, it’s Criss Angel from the ’90s, it’s Criss Angel from now, it’s Criss Angel tomorrow, it’s all different elements of Criss Angel throughout the course of my career. It’s the evolution of me, from when I was born to when I got into magic. To all the highlights and all the trends that I got into or approaches that I was doing magic, it’s all of those things wrapped up into 90 minutes. Coupled with the most spectacular, revolutionary illusions, lasers, lighting, 3D immersion, graphics, video. It’s all of that integrated into a seamless show. There’s more magic in this show than any magic show that I’m aware of in the history of the art. There are over 50 illusions in this show. Over 50 in 90 minutes. I’m probably going to be a little long, and I’ve done that by design because I wanted to listen to the audience and see what people connect to and what people might not like as much. I have a kill ratio built into it like I do with my TV series.

Q. In these illusions, were you able to do something on this stage now that you couldn’t do in “Believe”?

I get to do the levitation that I’ve been working on for 18 years. I’ve been dreaming about doing this live. I get to do that, I get to do my new, crazy revolutionary cutting in half.

Q. Explain the difference between the cutting in half that you’re going to do here and the cutting in half that you did with the princess in “Believe”?

The old cutting in half, which was great, was basically my third rendition of that illusion in trying to get the design and try to become as flawless as it possibly can be. It sat on a 9,000-pound structure, a tremendous, mega piece. But it had its limitations. The new design, which is now the sixth incarnation, has about $2 million rolled up into the one illusion. Now it’s sexy, it’s sleek, it’s simple, but it’s much more impactful because of the statement and how I surround that illusion. The storyline, the tableau, is much more engaging. This is not about me coming out and presenting puzzles of how I do things like every other magician has done and continues to do. This is about getting the audience immersed and in an experience that takes them somewhere that goes beyond magic. There’s something more to the magic than just a trick. It’s the magic of emotion; it’s about the images that are created and the roller-coaster ride that they go on because they never know what’s going to happen next. It’s scary, it’s sexy, it’s seductive, it’s creepy, it’s funny, it’s heartwarming. There’s something in this show for everyone.

Q. The magic gets inside their emotions?

Absolutely. I’ll take a gamble and say that probably at least 50 to 60 percent of the audience will shed a tear from the excitement and emotions. I’m able to provoke that by bringing my personal life into this show. This is really exposing and allowing myself as a human being to be vulnerable. To allow the audience, who knows me, to get to know more about me that they never knew, and for those people who might not know who Criss Angel is, to understand who I am and to feel a connection with me and to understand why I’m doing what I’m doing onstage. It’s part of the evolution of my career.

Q. Despite the delay, you’ve already run the show?

We have run the show. We keep on working diligently at tweaking it. To give you the magnitude of it right now, this building, this theater, is operating 23 hours a day. Around the clock, people are working on this show. Seven days a week, 23 hours a day, this show is the priority.

Q. What time are you here in the morning?

I get up between 5 and 6:30 a.m. I do my workout because this show is incredibly demanding, more demanding than anything I’ve ever done in my life. I do a 90-minute workout, then start my day depending on what it is — if I need to go to my studios to work on material. Eventually, I make my way over here no later than 10 a.m. I do training for my new levitation, and by 1 p.m. we have the full cast here. We’re running and staging the show without stopping except for a meal break.

Q. Until when? Midnight?

I don’t leave here until probably 2:30 to 3 a.m. Then I do the whole thing all over again the next day. I’m sleeping right now between two and four hours a night.

Q. I don’t know if that’s enough sleep for you?

My adrenaline is going crazy because when I’m here and working, I never want it to end. I have my family, my mom and my brother here. Other people, friends and people who I trust, just watch the process, and I see how excited they are and how excited about what I’m going to be presenting. Even they are saying this is completely a whole new Criss Angel. This is something that not only have we not seen from me, but we’ve never seen anything like this from any other magician. If people come to see my show, then other magic shows in town, they will realize how outdated they are. I don’t say that to be conceited. I say that because of my confidence because I work my ass off harder than anybody and because of Cirque and the theater and all of the incredible people I have working for me. We are able to bring something to the stage that’s very special. I don’t think anybody is going to come close to topping this for many, many years because they would have to have the resources, theater, team, ability to have things at their disposal like I have. That’s not an easy thing to do, and it took me a lifetime to get to this point.

Q. How many people do you have working on this show? How long did it take you from while you were still performing “Believe” to get to this stage with the new show?

Right now, directly and indirectly, I would say over 200. The thing about “Believe,” it was incredibly challenging because I would come here in the morning, work until show time, then do two “Believe” shows, so we weren’t able to fully engage the new show because we couldn’t remove certain things or change things because that night we had to do “Believe” again. We really had to get through our final performance of “Believe,” which was a spectacular night, then load out “Believe,” which took three days, then load in “Mindfreak Live!,” which started immediately. Final things are still being built as we speak. I won’t have some things for another two weeks. It’s getting really, really close. I have people from Hungary working on video content for me. I have people from California living in my house, living in the studios, working around the clock. Considering what we’re creating and the time frame, it seems nuts. But it comes so easy.

People watch my creativity, and they go, “How did you just come up with that?” I’ll give you an example: A lot of the work I do in my studio, but some of the work I can’t because I don’t have the height to do certain things. I didn’t want to do the sawing in half the way I used to do. I wanted to do something different because it’s a new apparatus, it’s a new piece of music. It’s the whole thing. I was sitting here, and, because of a technical reason, I wanted to fly this thing 20 to 30 feet from the air down with a girl on it. We needed some type of sheet to cover this thing up. So, yesterday, I came up with a sheet that evolves into a bed, into a dream, into this girl having this dream in this beautiful environment, but quickly it transforms into a nightmare. When the sheets and the canopy get pulled off, the bed becomes this torture device. Then her nightmare comes to fruition once she literally gets ripped into two pieces, very much like I did the park bench but for stage. So the skeptics who watch the park bench and think, “Oh, well that’s trick photography.” Well, to answer that B.S., people now can come see the show and see what I do on television is no different than what I can do live onstage.

Q. How many are in the cast of the new show?

We have incredible world-class athletes and entertainers. More than “Believe.” Right now, 16 or 17. I’ve got people from Russia, from the Ukraine, from all over the place, to be able to bring this crazy vision and really feature these artists who are so incredibly gifted. Their magic is the physicality. I can bring it to life in the most unbelievable ways that it almost looks like an illusion. But it’s not.

Q. You’ve been linked with Chloe Crawford, who left “Fantasy” at the Luxor to be in the show. How much magic is she performing?

Chloe is a feature in the show, and I think that people are going to see her in a very different light. Chloe is in the best shape of her life, she trains like a maniac, she moves unbelievably, and she’s going to perform magic in the show. She’s basically my right hand when it comes to performing illusions like the metamorphosis, which is a key illusion that I’ve been doing since I was 14. We’ll be doing the switch in world-record time. She’s doing a lot of illusions with me, and she’s also going to do some on her own.

Q. Are there any Cirque elements?

Yes, some, but done in a very different way. One of the things I wanted was to take the magic and make that the apparatus that they would use to do their physical movement. They utilize my apparatus in order to showcase their talent. We don’t have to bring a trapeze in here to showcase that we have a trapeze act. We utilize the magic as an example to have them utilize that apparatus, which also showcases what they do, so it really integrates well with the illusions. I have a guy who is unbelievable: It’s martial arts meets breakdancing meets acrobatics. This guy does incredible freestyling stuff. It will blow people’s minds. We have an incredible breakdancer, we have really incredibly talented people: gymnasts, dancers, specialty acts all lending their talent to the illusion, to the presentation, in a way that fits seamlessly.

Q. Who is directing — you or Cirque?

Cirque has given me complete creative license. That means creating, that means directing, that means going through the cast, going through the costuming, the pyrotechnics. Every creative element that’s on that stage, it’s Criss Angel. It’s my DNA there. I am an executive producer of the show, which as you know I wasn’t on “Believe.”

Q. Let’s go back to let’s use the word gamble. The first gamble was Cirque producing rabbits dancing on the stage in “Believe.” It didn’t work. Everybody says it didn’t work. Even you said it didn’t work.

It would have worked if I wasn’t in the show. It was a good show. But people came with expectations of seeing “Mindfreak,” but they got instead Criss Angel playing somebody else from a Broadway show. For some reason, “Believe” didn’t want to bank on all of the television that I had under my belt. They wanted to try to do something different, so I went along with the ride. I agree it wasn’t the right decision. But the challenge was to refocus it, and by 2010 we had countless reviews saying that it was the best show in Las Vegas. Newsweek calculated we produced $150 million in one year. We beat every other magic show in town and did it by leaps and bounds. So this wasn’t a decision to change the show because we had to change the show. This was a decision because the world of entertainment in Las Vegas has completely transformed. You see how many shows are closing, you see how many shows are struggling. There are shows in Las Vegas that are giving free tickets away, and the only thing you have to pay is the box office fee. I am somebody who loves to create. I created a touring “Mindfreak Live!” We sold out every single show we did throughout the country. We were doing one-nighters.

It was an unbelievable opportunity for me to be able to go out and do that and create what I wanted to create on my own without answering to anyone. Then I created “The Supernaturalists,” another huge smash that broke attendance records — 232 million impressions the first weekend. Cirque executives came with Nik Rytterstrom, who runs the Luxor and saw the show when I wasn’t even there. They were blown away. I have the finest LED walls, the finest lighting boards in the world. They saw what I was able to bring to the stage and how the audience reacted. I can’t speak for them. I think that I have 2 years and 5 months left on my contract. I think everybody sees how difficult it is to have a winning show in Las Vegas that can attract people to their hotel as a destination. Especially when you’re at one end of the Strip. When you have something so successful, you want to try to keep that. So they made me an offer that I could not refuse. They said you have the creative license, do what you’re going to do. We’ll support you; we’ll be behind you. I’ve never in my time with Cirque de Soleil had a better relationship. Cirque has been absolutely amazing, supportive and allowed me to really bring my vision to life in a way that I could not do on my own because of this incredible theater, because of their incredible knowledge.

Q. And their talent pool?

Yeah, it’s incredible. So, for me as an artist who wants to remain numero uno, the most relevant magician in the world, I want to see what I am capable of because I know I’m capable of doing more things that are way beyond anything that I’ve ever done. Besides the money, which doesn’t really matter to me, it was more about the opportunity as an artist to show people what I am truly capable of and raise the bar for myself, push my own envelope, see what’s the best that could come out of me creatively, artistically. In turn, I think it will push a whole art form and show that magic doesn’t have to be what we think it is and what we have seen it be — it can be so much more. I think this show will be the nexus for future magicians to see what is possible and how you don’t think like what we’ve seen in Las Vegas before.

Q. Give me an example of an illusion that shows us that this is completely different than what you’ve done before, what magic has done before?

There are many, many examples of the illusions that we’re presenting. I think that the most important aspect of this show, more than the illusions, is the emotional connection that people will have during the show because the power that that has, when you move somebody on a visceral level, and they shed one tear because of something they’re watching, that’s a profound effect. It will make people, whether they shed a tear or not, it will put them in a space that magic has never done. The reason that I can do it is this is real life.

Q. You escaped the answer because you obviously want to keep it secret until opening night. So let me ask it differently. There are seven magic tricks, seven principals of magic. Have you discovered more?

I found that magic is not about a trick, about an enigma. Magic can be so much more without even performing a trick. One of my signature pieces, and what I get requested more than anything, is to levitate. People will be stunned by the levitation in this show. I’m going to levitate in ways that no magician, no human being, has ever levitated on a live stage, ever, period. No blue lame curtains blowing. This will be just completely in the open in normal lighting, no theatrical lighting, no curtains, nothing. It’s right there as if you saw me on the street and see me in a real environment. Not setup, not slick, but seeing me do things that have never been done, being able to fly up, fly sideways, flip, barrel rolls, and do it literally, some of the levitations just 5 feet away from the audience.

Q. Five feet away? So you’re almost in the audience?

Yep. I’m as close as you can get to the audience and allow it to be done due to insurance restrictions. That’s just one part of it.

Q. Peter Pan comes to life?

This is way beyond Peter Pan. Not only do I levitate, not only do I fly, this is “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” I’m flipping around, I’m doing barrel rolls. There’s a brand new manipulation act with birds that takes place in a 200-year-old cathedral. The dome is cracked, so you can see sunlight coming in while a little snow falls and birds fly into the cathedral. It’s a whole routine with birds flying over the audience in different forms before coming back to life. We send five pigeons to fly over the audience’s heads, which transforms into a feather turning into a snowstorm, then 110 birds flying through the snowstorm. There’s fire floating in my hands, floating around my body that transforms into another bird. Manipulation has been around forever with magic. It’s a beautiful form of art, but we’re seeing it in a very poetic way. Utilizing technology in a way that we haven’t seen, and it really takes the audience from seeing what we’ve seen before as tricks. It’s almost like becoming emotionally engaged to what you’re seeing because it makes you feel like you can go out and conquer the world.

Q. Is it safe to say that there is no other magician who can do this?

No question about it. There’s no one who can do this show. No one because there’s only one Criss Angel. I’m really happy to be in my skin, and I’ve had a lifetime and a dedication to my craft like no other. I live, eat and sleep this in a way that people who know me who are magicians, they think that I’m possessed. With all of the trials and tribulations from “Believe,” and all of the different things over 18 years it took me to become an overnight success, all of that led to this moment. This is my time. I believe it’s my time because I believe that this is going to be the culmination of my entire career put forth on this stage in a way that would never be possible unless somebody went through my life experience and had the facility, the means, the team, Cirque du Soleil, the theater, the brain, the creativity, to be able to do this. I don’t say this because, and I know it’s going to come off very conceited, but I say this because I work, work and continue to work my ass off. What you put in is what you get out. The harder something is to accomplish, the sweeter the reward. This is a long time in the making for me.

Q. This is your whole life — your existence?

Yeah, this is it, this is it, this is it. I’m willing to put it all out there on the line. I could have just sat there and done “Believe” and collected the incredible money that I was making. I could have just kept my feet in the pool by day, had a margarita, hung out with friends and come here at 6:30 p.m. and get ready for the show, do the show, go home. But that’s not me. Cirque knew that wasn’t me. Cirque knew that I was capable of more. Cirque saw what I did, and I think they see the future in the Criss Angel brand not only here at the Luxor, but also abroad. We’re already talking about getting involved with many other shows, not just “Mindfreak Live!” at the Luxor.

{ SOURCE: Robin Leach, Las Vegas News Sun |
https://goo.gl/INQhrf & https://goo.gl/LVdooX }