As someone who is a Chris Angle fan, I was dissappointed when I saw Believe this past November. Chris is so much better than that show. I can appreciate what he was trying to do with the story, but there was no logical flow from one point to another. Perhaps some narration would have been helpful. His personality when he interacts with the crowd (one of his strongest points) was completely lost. He sounded like he was reading off a script the whole time. The illusions were disjointed. There was so much industrial equiptment and props around him that his usual clean lines and imaculate presentation was lost. Worst of all, I never had my mind freaked. I know this was not another episode of Mindfreak, but his reputation precedes him. I was never blown away by any of his illusions. The best effect he did was at the very begining. He did a prediction with crowd interaction. No impossible levatations. No MindFreak.

Did anyone notice a price increase in the tickets after the break?

GIRLS NEXT DOOR 5 has been plugging Criss Angel Mindfreak all season.
Anyone who is a fan of GND can clearly see it week to week.
What are those two celebrities cooking up?

Its one thing for Holly Madison to be a great fan of the Mindfreak show but GND 5 screams out MINDFREAK during the majority of the season.

Not sure what is unfolding but I do believe he has been seeing Holly Madison most of this year.

Yes there is surely some join venture that is in the planning. We'll have to wait and see what unfolds.

BTW.... you can now purchase tickets for Believe at the Luxor site for the rest of January and for several months later. Up until a short while ago you couldn't.

Again... it'll be a wait and see thing for both the shows survival and whatever Criss has up his PR sleeve next.

Best,

Tim

Well she has been a fan of Mindfreak appearently for a while.

Holly Madison has been plugging her new boyfriend Criss Angel all throughout the entire season of GND 5.

Several episodes this season Holly is sporting the famous Criss Angel signature black hoodie sweatshirt. In the most recent episode of GND aired 12/7/08, Criss Angel's signature black handkerchief that he uses in several MF shows was also showcased laying on the hood of the red 1957 corvertte that was used during one of the photo shoots used for the possible 55 year addition of Playboy.

Coincidence? I don't think so. Either Holly and Criss Angel have been an item months before announcing it to the world or both parties are in cahoots with the other trying to further promote themselves globally by way of press. Since Holly is plugging her upcoming LAX birthday party appearance I tend to believe their relationship is nothing more than for promotional purposes.

Maybe there will be some answers or insight on December 22nd. Criss and Holly are going to be on Larry King live :)

Jessica.... Your observation about the show being dark during January 7th to 22nd is a good one. I understand that all shows have a dark period. The question I'd like to know for all those claiming that the show is not closing ( for revamp or for good) is WHY can't you buy tickets for anytime next year? If you go to http://www.luxor.com and try to buy tickets for Jan 1,2,3,4,5,6, or after the 22nd you are told there is no show that date. The dark period should not affect those dates. You cannot buy tickets for February or March either. This seems quite strange so I'm sure you'll understand why it makes many skeptical if the show will return. I'd be curious to know why they are no longer selling tickets for the show after New Years Eve.

Best,

Tim

Umm...John...most divorces ARE bitter.

Mikel.....Criss started in live theatre. It has been awhile, but he has definitely been there done that. The word Criss hates the most is "no". I admire his work ethic and dedication to his principles. He will make Believe work. Criss is just not sitting on his butt watching the world go by......I know he is working like a dog to evolve this project....playmate or not.

All in all, I don't think revamping the show will help in any way. I think he was doing well with Mindfreak and I think he should stick just to that. He can save himself if he wants to. Stay away from live theatre Criss , T.V. is your thing.

Thanks for the clarification pesci and jessica.It's to bad these haters have to sieze every oppurtunity to blow things out of proportion.

No, wait.....duct tape. Around the fingers. That would be better. They could always borrow someone's keyboard........ :)

Thank you Pesci for your comments pertaining to the two week vacation

If this is a regualarly scheduled break, why didn't they just say that in the news release?

Why say that they are "revamping" the show during this time as if they are shuting down special to work on BeLIEve?

Are they trying to persuade the audience that they are going to fix all the problems during these two weeks to get ticket sales back up?

And if the artistic staff is gone during this time, who is going to fix everything? Because in my opinion it is the storyline that is the real problem of this show.

To me it smells like something is rotten in Denmark (or shall I say in the Luxor and it's not King Tut!)

I suspect that they will run into some technical difficulties during this break delaying a re-open.

Jessica posts the following

Apparently, all Vegas Cirque shows have a two week break between December and January of each year. Here is the schedule:

Believe: January 7th.- January 22nd
Ka: January 4th- January 19th
Love: December 2nd- December 17th
O: December 8th- December 23rd
Mystere: January 8th.- January 23rd

Mystery solved!

--Jessica



JESSICA - YOU ROCK!
Thank you for posting this.

Um, what does he say about his ex-wife? Remember that press conference for the show where he swore and said "You were f**king wrong"? Why does Criss Angel seem to have so much bitterness?

Criss Angel's BeLIEVE - A Wonderful Show to watch. I encourage all to go check it out.

First, I just wish to share that my husband, son and I all attended the Criss Angel's BeLIEve show on December 1, 2008. Not only did we thoroughly enjoy watching the BeLIEve show, which includes both the performances by Cirque as well as Criss Angel and his incredible illusions. In addition, we found Criss Angel to have well exhibited great charisma and stage presence. It was both refreshing and rewarding to witness. He came off so comfortable and relaxed that it became non-evident that it is a well scripted and rehearsed show. I would strongly & highly recommend anyone to go see this show and do not others to cloud your better judgement. In fact, my family enjoyed the show so much that upon our return to Las Vegas come November 2009, we plan to once again check out this show.

Second, I would like to also say that I find all you Las Vegas press reporters to be incredibly cruel and rude how you treat your local high profile entertainer with such little to no respect and consideration. Especially with the economy the way it is, one would think you'd try to focus on furnishing less negative energy and being more encouraging to bring in the tourists during these hard economic times.

The show is not dark because Criss needs a vacation or for the revamp. I work for Cirque. Every year around Dec or Jan, depending on which CDS show it is, we take a 2 weeks regularly scheduled dark. This is do maintenance, repairs and projects. The artistic staff is off for these 2 weeks, and can do whatever they wish during this time. The crew meanwhile is still in the theatre working. From what it sounds like, Believe has chosen to use this dark time to "revamp" parts of the show. Next Jan. they will do the same thing. In May & September, they will have 1 dark, it's part of the schedule. Every 4 months we take 2, 1 week darks, a 1, 2 week dark. This is normal operating procedure for all Cirque shows. For example, LOVE is dark right now for 2 weeks. And O is dark for the following 2 weeks. Don't read into it too much people.

I think it's very sad that Criss is now known for who he beds as opposed to his magic. Just the thought that he takes her to bed after knowing who and what she is, thanks to Hef, makes my skin crawl.

Apparently, all Vegas Cirque shows have a two week break between December and January of each year. Here is the schedule:

Believe: January 7th.- January 22nd
Ka: January 4th- January 19th
Love: December 2nd- December 17th
O: December 8th- December 23rd
Mystere: January 8th.- January 23rd

Mystery solved!

--Jessica

I am agreeing here, mentioning how "ellusive" Holly is as part of the show and introducing her nightly when she is there at the end of the show is bad class. And mentioning anything about his exwife is just uncouth and bad Karma. The women in his life has nothing to do with Believe, so keep that part aside. It all adds up to the little things that he says during Believe along with the distasteful "shrinkage" lines, "put a little head on it", etc. Or how he continuously makes reference to Holly when the prediction box illusion is done (whether the word be "Sensational" or "Lover" that's chosen, as examples, he always makes reference to Holly and him getting it on in some way with the use of the word chosen). All of those lines are for a dinner theatre comedy, not a Cirque show in my opinion. Not a theatrical performance. It's a turn off to most in the audience. If we want to see that we'll watch Mindfreak!

Hey "Troy from Vegas", I was one of the victims who saw the BELIEVE show back on Oct 27th. Criss not only spoke about his body parts and ex wife but was sure to also include plugging his current Playboy Playmate amongst us crowd. He must have known back then the show wasn't working out. Maybe he should incorporate the real Playboy bunny into his act. At least people enjoy watching her and it will encourage those to come out and check out the show regardless if Criss Angel is a poor performer.

Agreed on that one,Friend.

A positive change would be for someone to hide the keyboard and mouse of Doug E., Norm and Richard A. of LVRJ so that the "revamped" show is not killed in the press before it even gets a chance to digest w/ the public.

Justin- To answer your question... Admittedly I have not seen the show since the premier opening night on September 26th and stated my opinion of the show to the tune of "Oh you are a hater". I will probably be back in the theater this time next week. Point is I can only speak of what I saw less than 8 weeks ago.
What needs to be changed? Criss's stiffness. It sounded like he is reading a script the whole time. And speaking of the script, lose the part about the exwife. No one needs to hear that.
(And what of all the people who have said on this board that his private personal life has nothing to do with the show? Then why should Criss be talking about it during the show? Huh? Crickets? As I thought.)
Perhaps it is easier to just say what should be kept in- Johnny Thompson's dove routine. but maybe already have the coat on before hiting the stage. Just saying.

Mark honestly I think they like the debates we have.

Is there anyone who has seen the show that would like to comment on
what they would like to see changed?

Thanks for copying my brilliant posts on A&E board to this board. I find it amazing that someone was able to make one post out of 10 separate posts and they are edited too.
Hahaha

DIdn't itricks say they would stop with all the Angel news ;)

Criss Angel's Believe didn't make it into the Top Ten Vegas Shows this week for the second time in a row.............. haha

Criss delayed his show 3 times , he couldn't revamp it during 5 weeks of previews and during the whole period from November and December. What are they going to revamp in two weeks time?

The rumor in town is they are going to close the show and Cirque is going to use the theater for traveling Cirque shows. Maybe the rumors are exaggerated but it still means there is a some truth in it.

Cirque may have invested all the money but this God awful show is made by Criss.


CRISS ANGEL®
Co-Writer, illusions creator and designer, original concept creator and star
"I always felt that magic was a beautiful art form, but magicians killed it because of their hokey presentations. But I believed that if you presented the art of magic outside the box it would be limitless and finally garner the respect that it deserves."

Guess who killed this beautiful art form?

Criss should leave the thinking to real professionals.

Kayala is one of the better performers in the show, as a matter of fact none of the Cirque show performers are bad. Sorry to tell you but Criss is the one who is real bad in the show. Maybe Criss doesn't lose anything financially but his fans are certainly the big losers in this bad dream of his.
If making money was the only goal he had then he succeeded. This is a classical example of how to waste 100 million dollars.

I think he probably needs a break as he has worked hard up until the opening of the show. But can they afford to do this? The show isn't doing well, so claiming to take holidays looks pretty darn bad at this point in the game. If they are revamping then they should just say that! Who cares if the naysayers say "I told you so". At least it might make for some anticipation for better things to come with the show knowing they are changing it up a bit. The rumors are there to say the show is in trouble, so just be honest and say, "We're fixing it!"

Sandi,spoken like a fan.

Actually he's supposed to start filming in January appaerently.

Did you see his schedule of going to the gym and meetings? How about practice and rehersal? I laughed at that robin leech schedule list.

The only thing that could fix believe imnho, is David Blaine or Derren Brown.

I wish Criss the very best during his January break because I think that's what he'll be needing right now. But he'll be back when the time is right for him.

FLOG THAT HORSE!!

He ain't dead enuff.

I think that it's probably the best thing for the show, to send Criss Angel somewhere else - and bring some other minds in for a bit of a rethink.

It's probably the best thing for the show, send Angel away, and let someone else handle the reworking.

No, I don't think Criss needs a vacation after 2 1/2 months of work. But just because Believe has only been open for 2 1/2 months does not mean he has only been working that long. The man also has a tv show (remember Mindfreak?) that just finished the 4th season and the 5th season is supposedly in production as well as Believe. So I am actually amazed he has time to do much else, and think he deserves a vacation if that is really what he is planning to do.

For Criss vacation doesn't excatly mean just that atleast 95% of the tme.

Does Criss need two weeks vacation after two and a half months of work?
All of us get 5 days after one year of employment.
There must be something true in the rumors if the Luxor thinks they are exaggerated...........

I knew it. Somewhere in my gut I just knew it.