Wow, what a night! We went down to one of the restaurants in the hotel, the Monte Carlo, for a light dinner before heading down to see Mystere at the Treasure Island Casino. Aunty Mary ordered a panini and I ordered a burger thinking that’s simple enough and shouldn’t take too long. Twenty-five minutes later and our meals hadn’t appeared and we were starting to watch the clock.. it was now 8:15pm, the ticket office to collect our tickets opens at 8:30pm and the show starts at 9:30pm… and the Treasure Island is about half a dozen blocks away. Now that doesn’t sound far, but the blocks here have about two casinos on them each, and each casino appears to be about the size of Carindale Shopping Centre, so by the time our dinner arrived, any thought of walking down to the Treasure Island was out the window and we were racing for the taxi rank.
The cabbie raced us through some Secret Squirrel back streets and some how magically dumped us out front of the Treasure Island, though fuck knows how we got there or why he went that way when he could have turned left and gone straight there. Was in such a hurry I stiffed the guy on his tip as I couldn’t be bothered with the math and we raced into the Casino asking the first desk we found where to collect our tickets. We got told one direction, which was wrong, raced to the Concierge this time and got told a different direction along with what sounded like a warning ‘I don’t know what time the ticket office closes.’… What? A late arriving burger and stupid vegetarian panini might fuck up a plan and hinder us from getting the tickets I had bought LAST FEBRUARY! Eeek!
We bolted into the direction of the ticket office, it was now about 8:55pm and there was only one little guy working the ticket collection desk. I waved at him a confirmation number and my ID and hey presto! I had the coveted Mystere tickets in my hot (did I mention that even after sunset it was about 38C outside and still no humidity?) little hand. Woo-hop… the burger and panini were so not missing out on the show.
Mystere is everything I expect from a Cirque du Soleil show. Ever since I saw Allegria in 1997 at the Royal Albert Hall, I have been fascinated by the unique blend of athleticism, gymnastics, strength, physical prowess, dance, grace, beauty, costumes and music that go into each of these shows. Mystere I think is probably an older show and has many of the Cirque du Soleil’s trademark elements – trapeze artists, trampoliniest, pole climbers, arcrobats, dancers and of course their uniquely adult clowns.
I absolutely love everything about the performance, though I have to admit at the opening element of the show a young man was suspended high above the stage in a large steel framed cube doing some amazing feats of strength and grace, and all I could think about was the poor performer who fell to her death at Ka a couple of week ago (link?). It occured to me that many others in the audience, and perhaps several on the stage too, were thinking of that tragic occurrence while watching this young man display his incredible talents, high above the stage without a net or a safety wire.
After the show we foolishly decided to walk back to the hotel down The Strip… OMG, nearly midnight and so fucking hot I could feel my eyes drying out, my throat and nasal passages felt parched and I was so dehydrated by the time we got back to the hotel. I have just consumed about 2L of water and still feel thirsty. Such a wonderful night, but now I am so exhausted and ready for bed!
*look Toni, it’s the Winged Victory of Samothrace! Right where you’d expect it. 😀
