I don't know which show you all were attending, but the show I saw on Sunday night was full of great Illusions in every scene. Maybe I found something quite different because I didn't attend with a pre-conception of what to expect. I had only watched an episode or two of Mind-freak, and knew the kind of Illusion Mr. Angel performed, but not knowing what he had planned and not being a "mega-fan" I watched with an entirely different eye than what some of you seemed to be using.

I went to see a stage production, not a "Magic Show." I am a huge fan of Cirque and therefore expected to see lots of their type of production, and I wasn't disappointed. But almost every scene had Mr. Angel in it, doing something, and his Tribute to Houdini was stunning. Who except him would have thought of using smoke and flame in Metamorphosis instead of a large silk curtain.

If you don't get the irony of the rabbits and the magician, then maybe this show is a little too intellectual for you.

All I can say is, you missed the whole point of the show. It was a beautiful presentation of light, illusion, dance and music. A stage play with a story, not your typical magic show that you can find on a street corner in most major cities.

This show is ahead of it's time. We love to put people into a box that makes us comfortable. Criss Angel stepped out of that box, and into a realm beyond his street magic, and Mind-Freak personna. I am very glad I saw this show, and would love to see it again next time I'm in Vegas.

Then again, I saw something totally different than everyone else.

The show sucked ! We went oct24th. I nodded off twice at 7 rows back.
His magic was horrendous(what of it there was). He made our money disappear !
At the beginning there are 4 nitwits trying to be funny. Then Criss comes out acting all thankful. He should be. Then it starts with some type of bogus electricution. The dream begins... it should have never started. Terrible ! We had more fun at Dicks bar in the Excalibur for dinner ! You gotta go there. Criss better hold on to his(my)cash. Because his career is finished. He's a poser...a con. What a disappointment.
Amazing jonathan is a better magician than him. At least he's "believeable".
Criss could make things up to me by making my money reappear. No more mindfreak for me. He just plain sucks. He pays off all the people on his tv show..that's why he does the small crowd thing. Fake,fake ,fake. enough said.

This should is absolutely awful (there is truly no other way to describe it). Cirque should be embarrased. Even the Luxor should know better than this.

Criss Angel’s Believe is quite simply the single worst thing ever committed to the stage under the banner of a “professional” theatrical production. In fact, I have seen dozens of amateur productions that are exponentially better than the atrocity unfolding on stage nightly at the Luxor. I have been in the entertainment business for more than 20 years, and in that time I have been employed to sit through hundreds of preview performances, so that I could later give notes to the director, which he or she would then consider in getting the show ready for a hard opening. I have also worked on the production of several very large and complex magic shows. After watching Believe, I sadly concluded that there was no simple way to salvage this awful show. All I could think is that they should keep the set, the costumes and the choreography and start from scratch. If Cirque and the Luxor aren’t deluding themselves (and I know that they’re not – Cirque is very worried about how this show will affect their reputation) they will close down the show, give it a complete overhaul, and reschedule the opening for some time in the first quarter of next year.
The show has many flaws, but the two most unforgiving flaws are its star and the magic (what little there is) that he performs. Criss Angel is a mega-reality TV star; reality TV is his domain, and he dominates it well. Criss has never had experience performing in a professional, first-class theatrical setting (and don’t point to his show in the WWF theater in NY – I saw it several times, and while it was decent, it was small, and by no means could it be considered a “professional” theatrical endeavor), as a result, the “star” of this show sticks out like a sore thumb when it comes to stage presence, movement, and just the basic ability to look like a professional performer. Unfortunately, all of the reality TV fame in the world won’t automatically result in the ability to grace a stage in the manner needed to come off as a professional stage entertainer. Criss needs to spend months in daily, intensive training with theater professionals, who can teach him how to stand, move and talk like a professional entertainer. The Cirque elements of the show are of the highest professional caliber, which only contributes to just how amateurish Criss comes across as a performer.
We could forgive Criss’s lack of professionalism, if the magic were stunning. But it’s not. In fact, it is some of the most poorly conceived and uninspired magic I have ever seen. This is Criss’s fault. First, he painted himself into a corner with his TV show. Anyone with even a modest understanding of magic realizes that Criss can’t do in public what he does on TV. Criss uses the camera in a masterful way to assist him in the illusions he performs, but without the audiences point of view being limited by the camera, Criss simply can’t do live on stage the things he does on TV (he can do things similar to what he does on TV, but they will look less miraculous than what he does on TV). That being said, there is a world of incredible magic and illusions out there and dozens of professional magic consultants that could breathe life into this pitiful show, but Criss has not availed himself of them. Why has he not? For one, he has begun to believe his own press. Second, he refuses to pay for it (Criss is notoriously frugal when it comes to this stuff – the classic case of penny wise, pound foolish). Third, the few professionals he did contact to help him with the magic in the show were asked to sign ridiculous secrecy agreements that would prevent them from ever again using principles of magic that are hundreds of years old, if they worked with Criss on Believe. (And no, I have no personal axe to grind, I never was, and never wanted to be, involved with this show – but the magic community is a very small world, and I saw this silly agreement myself).
From a financial point of view, Believe is not likely to just close and go away. With the amount of money invested in the show to this point, it makes more sense to invest some more, fix it, and run it long enough to recoup the investment. The only trick will be getting this done in a manner that doesn’t kill Cirque’s, Criss’s and the Luxor’s reputation.
If you have tickets to the show, get a refund. If you’ve been a victim of this show, demand your money back. Letting the show open – even in previews – was, in my view, a negligent act by Cirque and the Luxor, and they should not be allowed to profit from their own negligence (I understand that the Luxor has given refunds to angry patrons). If you want to go see a good Cirque or Cirque-like show, go see Love, Le Reve or Zumanity. If you want to go see a good magic show, go see Lance Burton, Nathan Burton or Jeff McBride at Palace Station. Don’t spend your hard earned money on Believe, until Criss, Cirque and the Luxor show their fans and patrons the respect they deserve and reconstruct this theatrical atrocity from the top down.

I can't believe it is open to the public. An expensive, lousy, poorly thought out, show designed to cater to the huge ego of it's talentless camera trick "starr"

I attended the September 30th and October 3rd Believe performances. Going twice was planned in advance. I knew there would be a lot to take in, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I’m not sorry I went to either show.

So far the only article I have read that gives an accurate depiction of what Believe and Criss Angel are about is the article by Matthew Cope in M Magazine entitled, “Do You Believe?”. I think any reviews made by those who haven’t seen the show and are only reporting on the hearsay of a few people should be ignored completely. I don’t understand the harsh criticisms that I have read in recent days as the shows are previews and not yet finished. In fairness to the performers and other personnel staging the show, they haven’t gotten to rehearse in the actual theater for very long due to recent changes to the fire codes and having to rebuild parts of the theater. I saw with my own eyes in August that construction was still ongoing. When I went to the show on the 30th, I saw a small illusion that didn’t work at all. It didn’t bother me. I didn’t expect the show to be perfect at this point. By the 3rd, that illusion worked perfectly. I also saw at least two other elements that were improved upon as well in the second show. Rest assured that Criss Angel is a perfectionist, and he will make sure everything is perfect for the gala opening on Halloween. Judgements, especially for the technical aspects of the show, should be reserved until that time.

I have also read comments, not first hand ones, about how displeased Felix Rappaport, president of the Luxor, must be about the show. I can tell you first hand that this is not true. I spoke to Mr. Rappaport after Friday’s performance, and I am not exaggerating when I say that he was beaming. He was delighted with the show and said he had gone to every performance so far. He was especially impressed by the music that evening. To me the music is very powerful and often haunting. Nitza has a beautiful voice and is a lovely lady. I met her as well.

When you go to Believe, you should allow yourself to feel it and take in the experience as a whole. You shouldn’t go in with the attitude that you’re going to pick it apart and try to figure out how the illusions are done. You won’t enjoy it if you’re not paying attention to the story. You also won’t enjoy it if you’re expecting it to be another episode of Mindfreak or another Cirque show. It’s something new. It’s an artfully done, theatrical production which uses illusions to help illustrate parts of the storyline. It’s similar to Alice in Wonderland or Criss’ favorite movie, the Wizard of Oz. It’s about a magician who gets hurt while performing on stage and while hanging between life and death has fantastical dreams or hallucinations of finding love, reaching for it and not getting it, getting it, and having it ripped away by death.

Seeing Believe for the first time for me was a treat for the senses. There is so much that is visually stunning; the sweeping red velvet curtain framed in gold with rabbits pulling Criss’ head out of a hat, the flower Kayala hangs from among the red poppies and black sky, her enormous wedding dress that fills the entire stage with the train raised to the ceiling so Criss can walk down it. All of the costumes are very creative and a feast for the eyes. The most stunning visual of the show for me though was Criss weeping over Kayala’s lifeless body in the mist, carrying her through the rain that fell inside a picture frame, releasing her to the heavens, then levitating with her for one last goodbye. I thought of Criss’ father who died in his arms and loved ones I had lost. It was so moving and beautiful that I wept.

When the ushers were performing, I laughed until my face hurt from smiling so much. They are not “clowns” exactly as some people have said, but they do act like clowns at times. Many people don’t seem to understand their part in the show. In my opinion, they are there to entertain the audience until the show starts, make fun of the hokey style magic that is often presented to the public which Criss hates, aid Criss in his illusions, and provide some comic relief so the show isn’t too dark.

I am looking forward to seeing the show again after the additional illusions are added and everything is fine tuned. I hope everyone will remember that what we are getting now is a “behind the scenes” look of sorts at the creative process, not a finished product. There are a lot of people working very hard to make the show a success, and they need our support and constructive feedback in order to achieve their goals and put out a show that everyone will enjoy.