CRISS ANGEL Believe Reviews

Nick: DWS

From: Dallas, TX

Stayed: October, 2008

I'll make this short and to the point... "CRISS ANGEL Believe" is awful, awful, awful. We saw the show a little over a week prior to its Halloween night opening. What a waste of $300+ dollars for the two of us to see it. I keep reading people's comments that say something like, "Cirque has ruined Criss Angel." I have to disagree wholeheartedly. The main thing wrong with this show is Angel himself. The music, costumes, choreography, etc. are all outstanding. Angel drags everything down with a thud and comes off like a fourth-rate magician--one you would maybe hire for your elementary-schooler's birthday party. Cheesy is the best description that comes to mind. Live he has little charisma, and we are both fans of his television show. I can't imagine how they could fix this. We stayed a week in Vegas and saw four other shows, all of them Cirque du Soleil productions. I would rate the others as A+, A+, A and B+ (we were a tiny bit disappointed with "Love," mainly because our expectations were so high). To give this one an F is an insult to other failures. Don't waste your money. Save it and see the new show that will surely be opening at Luxor sometime next year after this one has closed.

Nick: Disappointed Fan!!

From: Washington DC

Stayed: October, 2008

We were so excited to get tickets on the day of the show. now we know why they were available. I really think I am going to sound like a huge whiner, but I want you to know exctly what we thought.
We spent several hundred dollars to see the show, because we didnt want the nos bleed seats. the first row on the second level has different height chairs, my husband sat in the shorter chair thinking that he would be able to see, im way too short. He wasnt going to be able to see, so we complained and the were able to change our seats, but we had to go out and wait in the lines again after we got our other tickets.
I know that everything that Criss does is just an illusion but I shouldnt know what is going to happen before he does it. There were lots of trap door stunts, VERY OBVIOUS! The pigeons out of the sleeves thing, sorry thats elementary.
He starts out with a electrocution trick that he puts on this metal suit and says that he is going to run some million volts or something rediculous and bake a potato. so he touches the cage, drops to the floor and pretends to convulse...

After that there was a lot of disney type stuff running with ribbons and poof criss disappears into the floor, WOW that was amazing, but kids under 5 arent aloud into the show, I guess because of the stuffed dead rabbit they throw around for 5 minutes.

Cool, Criss can pile a whole bunch of clothes on and rip them off while he runs in circles in front of and behind the screen while the morons in the audience watch a video of him running after a woman, I think she was pissed off and running away from this show too! LOL

They even had the balls to show some video clips of his stunts that have been shown on TV!!

After about an hour there were people getting up and leaving.

The coolest trick was one of the girls cutting Criss in half while he was on a suspended platform. That was the end of the show.

I would not recommend this show to even his most fanatical fans, you will loose all excitement...watch him for free at home!!!

Nick: Venus

From: Saskatoon , Canada

Stayed: October, 2008

My husband and I went to see the show Oct. 12 2008(my birthday). First, we booked our seats online (first mistake) The seat numbers were in succession, but were not beside each other. There was the walkway into the theater between us, about a 25 ft separation. Before we even got into the theater there was a huge line that took forever. We found out that security was making people check their camera phones...Then you had to go through a metal detector just to get into the theater, making sure you didn't have any cameras. This had more security than the airport!!! After the show it took up to 45 min to get your phone back...This was unacceptable! The show had NO imagination, nothing you would expect from Criss or Cirque. I thought there would be some artistry and imagination... didn't happen. Spend a little more and go see Le Reve. It was amazing!!!My 7 year old daughter could have figured out Criss's "illusions". Sorry Criss, I was not impressed :(

Nick: J&K

From: Phoenix, AZ

Stayed: September, 2008

What a piece of CRAP! Believe it or not, the version of the show we attended (and it's still under construction prior to it's Oct 31 grand opening) actually included 1) doves being produced from napkins 2) magic changing costume colors, and 3) a person being cut in half.... All that was missing was the sequin covered assistant and cheesy magician music... Hardly the edgy magic we expected from Criss Angel... The Cirque du Soleil influence is nice but really doesn't add anything, in fact it detracts from the magic by hiding it in the pageantry. A couple of times I got the feeling the performers (including Angel) were waiting for applause that just didn't come...

The above being said, the kids did like seeing him in person - the only redeeming quality for having spent $100+ per person for a "dress rehearsal".

One note for anyone planning on attending - make sure to arrive early enough. The show management is quite fanatical about cameras being brought into the theatre. They actually confiscate all cameras and camera phones at the entrance and then force everyone to pass through metal detectors to make sure you aren't smuggling one. Roughly half of the line had to be hand wand checked and this greatly slowed down the arrival process. Also, it took almost 30 minutes after the show to get back our cameras from them - just leave yours at home if the review above hasn't convinced you not to bother...