Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

256
CHAPTER 10 . LAS VEGAS AFTER DARK
something. Only the gasps from the audience members who actually happened to
be looking in the right place let us know we missed something really neat.
Tellingly, the best part of the show is when all that stuff is switched off, and
Siegfried & Roy take the stage to perform smaller magic and chat with the audience.
The charm that helped get them so far shines through, and spontaneity is
allowed to sneak in. The white tigers are certainly magnificent, but they don’t do
much other than get cuddled (charmingly) by Roy and badly lip-synch to pretaped
roars. The duo is clearly doing something right, judging from the heartfelt standing
ovations they receive night after night. But more than one couple was heard to
say it was not the best show they had seen, and also to express a feeling that it was
overpriced. And those ticket prices (over $100 per person!) are indeed sky-high. Go
if you can’t live without seeing a true, modern Vegas legend, but you can find
better entertainment values in town. In The Mirage, 3400 Las Vegas Blvd. S. & 800/963-
9634 or 702/792-7777. Tickets $111 (includes souvenir program, 2 drinks, tax, and gratuity). Sun–
Tues 7:30pm; Fri–Sat 7:30 and 11pm.
Splash They took out the mermaids and water tank that gave this show its
name, froze the water, and added ice skaters and some increased production values.
If the show is now the one in town that most closely resembles the guffawinducing
extravaganza in Showgirls, it’s nonetheless a considerable improvement
over its previous incarnations. That may be because we are partial to ice skaters
in any form, even if they are performing to the music from Titanic while topless
dancers preen on a small version of the deck of the boat. The weird lip-synching
numbers, including a long tribute to Madonna that reenacts portions of Evita,
even as clips from the real thing are shown on video screens, still remain, though
improved and more ambitious choreography has been added. Expect up-close
looks at bare breasts as the flashy and not-terribly-competent dancers parade
through the crowd (sometimes in see-through filmy net cat suits that show less
and are thus considerably more sexy—more topless shows should go this teasing
route). Some “comedy gauchos” crack whips and insensitive jokes, and there’s a
truly talented trio of juggling brothers. Pass the time wondering if it’s uncomfortable
skating in a butt thong, and pondering the philosophical implications of
a country’s wretched political problems providing fodder for first the Andrew
Lloyd Webber mill and now a Vegas topless revue. Seating warnings: Seats on
the sides are so bad that fully three-quarters of the stage might be obscured. In The
Riviera Hotel & Casino, 2901 Las Vegas Blvd. S. & 877/892-7469 or 702/734-9301. Tickets $57
(excluding tax). Sat–Thurs 8 and 10:30pm.
Tournament of Kings Kids If you’ve seen the Jim Carrey movie The Cable
Guy, you probably laughed at the scene in which the two protagonists went to a
medieval dinner and tournament. Perhaps you thought it was satire, created just
for the movie. You would be wrong. It’s actually part of a chain, and something
very like it can be found right here in Vegas, though in a new and improved version.
Those of us who shuddered at the former incarnation find this new one to
be at worst highly tolerable, and at times downright entertaining.
For a fixed price, you get a dinner that’s better than you might expect (Cornish
game hen, very fine baked potato, and more), which you eat with your
hands (in keeping with the theme), while Merlin (or someone like him) spends
too much time trying to work the crowd up with a singalong. This gives way to
a competition between the kings of various medieval countries, competing for
titles in knightly contests (jousting, horse races, and such) that are every bit as
unrehearsed and spontaneous as a professional wrestling match. Eventually,
good triumphs over evil and all that.