Criss Angel's Vegas Magic
07:28 AM PT, Mar 20 2007
I have been intrigued by Criss Angel ever since I first began to hear
stories about him circulating Vegas a few years ago. It wasn't so much that Las
Vegas had another magician trying to make his name here (no, news there!). In
fact, I even personally knew a crew of characters who were similarly tattooed
and pierced, aspiring nu-metal illusionist, mentalist types. Believe it or not,
lots of these folks were wandering Vegas in the early 2000's inspired by
slamming together Rob Zombie and David Blaine... into something. But as Angel
was taking off with his cable tapings first at the Aladdin and then at the
Luxor, the people I knew were burning out on going nowhere, and taking jobs like
entertaining kids at Circus Circus or reading fortunes at the Palms. Most of
the ones I knew, gave up magic and left Vegas long ago.
But Angel, who despite a few successes was mostly unknown to the public
when he arrived in Vegas, has continued to become more famous. That television
show on A&E filmed here has become a huge hit. Then he had a recent guest
spot on CSI that any Strip headliner would kill for (no pun intended).
And, how's this for an illusion? Angel managed all of this Vegas marketing and
branding without even having a showroom or being a headliner anywhere in Vegas.
In fact, Angel may be the first person to become a star in Vegas before he had a
ticketed show here.
That seems about to change. After the quick failure of Hairspray at Luxor,
owner MGM/Mirage has turned to Cirque to put a show in the resort by 2008. And,
rumor (open secret, may be more accurate) is that Cirque has partnered with
Angel to be the star. A press conference for Cirque I am going to Thursday at
Luxor promises to reveal all of the details of the new show including a special
presentation by the "featured artist." I hope to get an interview with Angel at
the press conference.
Meanwhile, for those of you who are curious (and not upset easily) check
out this video of Angel's most freakish trick, ripping a woman in half, in
daylight, in the middle of Sunset Park (a few miles from my old apartment). Be
warned: not only is the trick unbelievably disturbing to watch, the website
hosting the video, Learn-Street-Magic, offers a spoiler explanation of one
possible approach to Angel's secret.
(Photo by Sarah Gerke)
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