Just had a whirlwind trip to Kentucky for Zappos, where I got three hours sleep the first night and five the second. Combined with lots of driving and flying and full-day meetings, I arrived back in Las Vegas this evening pretty damn tired. But I had three tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show at MGM, Ka. I originally bought them to go with my cousin Debbie and her friend, who were going to be in Las Vegas for a trade show this week. But their trip got cancelled so I invited Brian and Cassie instead.
Brian and I had dinner at Firefly, where we briefly bumped into Romi, and later Andrea from work. It’s like I know people in this town. Firefly was great as always, but I drank a little too much, and by the time we headed to MGM I was really ready to sleep. I actualy took a 15 minute nap in the car. When we got to the theatre, we both admitted we were dead and would probably be better off going home to sleep. I briefly tried to sell the tickets to someone else, but some security guy came by and gave me crap about it. Then another security guy came by and said that we could switch them for another night if we wanted, which was cool. We waited for Cassie, to see how she felt. She was tired too, having just come from a dinner meeting with one of her shoe reps, but nonetheless we decided to go in and watch the show, hoping we could stay awake. If not all of us for the whole show, then at least in shifts so we could fill each other in later.
The show was pretty impressive technically. But for some reason it didn’t quite grab me as much as I was hoping. I don’t know if it was because I was so tired (though I did stay awake the whole time) or because I already saw O first, or because it was really less engaging. I certainly wouldn’t put it down… it has some pretty amazing stunts and clever set design. And overall I’m glad I saw it and enjoyed it. But Ka was more technical marvel whereas O was pure beauty. I feel like I could watch O many more times… it’s just so dreamlike. I think there’s a real challenge when doing such a grand production to make it connect on an emotional level, and to seem more than just a financial marvel. Big budget hollywood has trouble with this too.
Cassie said she liked it, and Brian gave it the nod. I think we were all pretty drained anyways, so perhaps not a fair showing. I’ll keep checking shows out though. I want to see more shows as long as I live here. I think Wayne Newton is retiring soon, so I should definitely get in on that before it’s gone.