Saturday, November 19, 2011

The Music Of The Night

Tonight we're going to see The Phantom of the Opera - The Las Vegas Spectacular. Ed just bought us seats in the prized golden circle. He got a smokin' deal using his American Express points. This will be the view from our seats:

The show is at The Venetian, a beautiful Italian themed luxury hotel and casino, complete with canals and gondola rides! The interesting thing (to me), is that this hotel was built on the very same spot where the Sands originally stood. The Sands was one of the first hotels in Las Vegas we visited when, at fifteen years old, my step-father Frank took our family here for the first time. He'd been going to Vegas for years, on "Junkets".

We were actually staying at the Dunes, but Frank had a friend who was the manager of the showroom at the Sands and we got to go see a show as his guests; I think it was Robert Goulet and Leslie Uggams. It was pretty fantastic. We also saw the comedian Gallagher on that trip and Frank's friend seated us in an area that we thought wasn't that great considering he said we were his "special guests". We had a good view, but it wasn't right up front where we really wanted to sit. We later found out why he didn't seat us up front in the "good seats" - one of Gallagher's skits was his presentation of the Sledge-O-Matic and Frank's friend did us a HUGE favor by seating us just outside the flying food area.

But tonight, we will pass on the flying food and settle in for a Vegas "Spectacular". According to Vegas.com, "the Venetion Resort spent $40 million to design a custom-built theater for this show, which closely resembles the Opera Garnier in Paris. There are plush red seats and curtains, gold statues and carvings, a hand-painted ceiling topped with an 80-foot-wide done and opera boxes lining the sides. The opera boxes are inhabited by seventy colorful mannequins, which were custom built in Belgium. No two are alike and each one is completely outfitted in an authentic period costume.

The centerpiece of the theater (and major plot point of the show) is the chandelier, which weighs 2,100 pounds and cost $4.5 milliont to create. The shimmering chandelier is comprised of 29,444 individual crystals that were hand strung.

In this version of "Phantom," the chandelier hangs in four pieces, which assemble in dramatic fashion during the beginning of the show. The spokes of the ceiling's dome support 32 cables that guide the chandelier into place and it takes 40 individual computers, complete with navigational software, to run the chandelier. During the show's climactic scene, the chandelier falls 45 feet in three seconds and stops only 10 feet above those seated beneath it - an effect that always causes a stir in the audience."

Now if that doesn't sound like an amazing way to spend an evening, I don't know what is! I'm super excited and looking forward to our "dinner and a show" date night. I even have a semi-dressy outfit in the truck for Ed and I so we don't look like two schleps, we'll actually blend right in.

Well, I've gotta run - time to get ready for The Music of the Night.




~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO:
There’s No Better Place On Earth
2 YEARS AGO:
Getting Tanked In Al-Nahar
3 YEARS AGO:
Bracing For A World Of Mouse Ears
4 YEARS AGO:
At Least He’s Up Front About It
5 YEARS AGO:
Aten HUT!!
6 YEARS AGO:
Be The Player

1 comment:

Marlaina said...

Hey culture curious creatures, you sound like you're on veg- cation. Let us know what you think of the production. Which casinos have truck parking closer to the strip. I only know wildwild west, which I don't think is that close. M