Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

THE MAJOR PRODUCTION SHOWS 255
Siegfried & Roy Overrated A Vegas institution for more than 2 decades, illusionists
Siegfried and Roy started as an opening act, became headliners at the
Frontier, and finally were given their own $30 million show and $25 million
theater in The Mirage. They (and their extensive exotic animal menagerie) have
amply repaid this enormous investment by selling out every show since. No
wonder The Mirage has them booked “until the end of time.”
But while the spectacle is undeniable (and the money is all right up there on the
stage), the result is overproduced. From the get-go, there’s too much light, sound,
smoke, and fire; too many dancing girls, fire-breathing dragons, robots, and other
often completely superfluous effects, not to mention an original (and forgettable)
Michael Jackson song. It almost overwhelms the point of the whole thing.
Or maybe it’s become the point of the whole thing. The magic, which was the Austrian
duo’s original act, after all, seems to have gotten lost. Sometimes literally.
The tricks are at a minimum, allowing the flashpots, lasers, and whatnot to fill
out the nearly 2-hour show. More often than not, when a trick was actually being
performed, our attention was elsewhere, gawking at an effect, a showgirl, or
Penn & Teller’s Top 10 Things One Should NEVER
Do in a Vegas Magic Show
Penn & Teller have been exercising their acerbic wit and magical talents
in numerous forums together for more than 25 years, and their
show at the Rio is one of Vegas’s best and most intelligent. We must
confess that we couldn’t get the quieter half of the duo, Teller, to
cough up a few words, but the more verbose Penn Jillette was happy
to share.
1. Costume yourself in gray business suits totally lacking in rhinestones,
animal patterns, Mylar, capes, bell-bottoms, shoulder pads,
and top hats.
2. Wear your hair in any style that could NOT be described as “feathered,”
or “spiked.”
3. Use really good live jazz music instead of canned sound-alike
cheesy rip-off fake pop “music.”
4. Cruelly (but truthfully) make fun of your siblings in the magic
brotherhood.
5. Do the dangerous tricks on each other instead of anonymous show
women with aftermarket breasts, and/or endangered species.
6. Toss a cute little magic bunny into a cute little chipper shredder.
7. Open your show by explaining and demonstrating how other
magicians on The Strip do their most amazing tricks, then do that
venerable classic of magic, “The Cups and Balls,” with transparent
plastic cups.
8. Treat the audience as if they had a brain in their collective head.
9. Allow audience members to sign real bullets, load them into real
guns, and fire those bullets into your face.
10. Bleed
(You will find all 10 of these “don’ts” in the Penn & Teller show at the
Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.)