The open secret of the marriage of illusionist Criss Angel and Cirque for a show at the Luxor is no longer any secret after yesterday's press conference. These sort of affairs tend to be very boring with a bunch of executives getting on stage talking about how great, how phenomenal and creative and brilliant everyone involved in the project is followed by singling out all of the other executives for individual shout outs and praise, followed by the next executive doing the same thing. Since this project involved both MGM and Cirque, cross-pollinated back scratching of one another's executives by the two companies was also de rigueur. One extra familiar moment was the speech of Felix Rappaport, president and COO of the Luxor. His talk about how crucial this moment and show was to the future of the Luxor was quite similar to a another speech at a similar press conference he gave on the same stage not so long ago talking about what turned out to be the short lived Hairspray.

Another interesting moment in the press conference came from the question not asked: none of the reporters present offered the standard question of if the Strip can sustain another Cirque show? This one makes 6. Maybe the answer has become obvious; yes, Cirque can always do another show, as long as there is a fresh gimmick like the Beatles or a star magician like Angel. In fact, Crique has never had one of its shows built around a single star before. They are adjusting. Did I want to interview any Cirque creative folks, one publicist for the troupe sort of forlornly asked me as I waited with others in the press for my turn to have a one-on-one interview with Angel. No, I wanted to talk to the star like everyone else.

Actually, Angel seems a little rough around the edges for his new role, too. Angel gave an Academy Award sort of meandering speech (that had no swelling music followed by the microphone cutting out to stop him from continuing). I didn't mind his talk so much. But most others felt differently. I was sitting next to Norm of the Review-Journal who writes this morning: "In a too-long speech Angel elevated the discomfort level by dropping an F-bomb during an I-told-you-so rant against critics and doubters." Yeah, but that was my favorite moment getting to see the executives all looking so uncomfortable while simultaneously forcing themselves to offer fake giggles.

All of this points to how interesting it will be to see how the corporate culture of MGM/Mirage, the egalitarian creativity of  Cirque, and self-described control freak Criss Angel will mesh. And, so that is a topic I asked him about a few times when I got my time to interview him. By the way, I will have that interview with Angel posted for you on the Buffet a little latter. I also ask him about his most annoying illusion: how did he make the "h" disappear?

(Photo by Sarah Gerke:  L-R Felix Rappaport, Criss Angel, Daniel Lamarre, Gilles Ste-Croix)