I have vividly remembered this illusion - Rose Shadow Illusion -- for nearly 30 years. When my parents lived in Virginia during my college years, they took my brother and me to see several amazing shows that toured there. Lily Tomlin's Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, John Lithgow starring in M Butterfly. And Penn and Teller. I haven't followed their career or watched their television show, but I have never forgotten the impression that show made, especially the rose illusion and the fact that they walked out to the sidewalk after the show was over and stood there patiently signing every audience member's program. So... when we had the chance to book one extra show here in Vegas, I pitched it to the kids. They knew Penn and Teller from a house they designed for a recent Halloween Horror Nights, and were game to check out their full show based on what they'd seen and my recommendation.
I guess it's not surprising that with 25+ more years of experience they were even more astounding this time out. Funny, political, artistic, humane, they somehow don't belong in the Vegas of Criss Angel (who they humorously make fun of early in the show), yet they have been here, in this spectacular theater in the Rio hotel and casino, since 1993! In an interview I found this morning - interesting interview :) - , Penn explains how they were drawn to the idea of the old Vegas, the Vegas of the Rat Pack era, when people came to see Frank Sinatra sing, not what Vegas became when tacky reigned. For two hours last night, we were able to transport back to that era, with Mike Jones, a great jazz pianist, setting the mood as the "opening act," playing while the sold out crowd arrived, was invited on stage to check out a couple of props that would be used throughout the show and then settled into their seats. When Jones introduced Penn and Teller, they took the stage (Teller emerging from the box that had been sitting on the stage the entire time) and took command of our attention. Our seats were in the mezzanine, so Dana had trouble seeing some of the more detailed illusions, but so much of Penn and Teller's show is their storytelling. My favorite part of the night was seeing how Maddie and Daniel responded to the show. Daniel, in particular, who had been wowed by Criss Angle just a few nights ago, had that spellbound look on his face that you only get a few times in your life - when something truly BLOWS... YOUR... MIND. He asked for the metal "security card" (a political bit a tad too long to describe here) as his souvenir, and I suspect we may have a budding irreverent Libertarian on our hands after last night's show. I can live with that :)
They closed the show by running out into the lobby, while the curtains opened to reveal every bit of the stage behind them, where the stagehands worked to put things back into place. Before exiting, in a move that especially impressed Maddie, techie extraordinaire, Penn thanked every crew member - lights, sound, director, stage manager - by name. Their desire to strip back the illusion, to make the audience member think about what and why and how, is what makes their show so extraordinary. We intended to meet and thank both Penn and Teller after the show, but, alas, Teller had finished with his group by the time we were finished with Penn, so he remains the silent, brilliant clown for us.
Our final day leading up to this special, special show was low key. We decided to check out the historic Du-Pars for breakfast. Now located in the Golden Gate Casino, itself a living history of Vegas, they claim to have the best pancakes in the world!!! :) Not sure about that, but they were mighty tasty. I loved the sign in their bathroom that reads "What Happens in Vegas... Started HERE." We then found a nice cool air conditioned theater to see Lucy, a fascinating, flawed, thrilling film with an award worthy performance by Scarlett Johansson, returned to our hotel for a late afternoon swim, and got ready for our final dinner and a show (dinner was wonderful Indian food at a restaurant in the Rio hotel).
1 comment:
Since I read that you were seeing Penn and Teller, I have been thinking about the Rose trick. To this day I too have a vivid memory of that and the "wow" experience I felt. I'm so happy they didn't disappoint but rather remain the great artists and magicians they were when we saw them all those years ago! xoxo
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