So instead of attending the conference in Denver I went to Vegas! My two brothers (who live in different countries) for my 40th birthday paid for my trip and met me there. A billboard at the airport surprised me big time!…
This was my first time in Vegas and it’s even more over the top than I was expecting! What an extraordinary place. It was a great week reconnecting with my brothers, we took a trip to the Grand Canyon that was awe inspiring, ate great food, (they should have gurneys standing by at the Bellagio buffet) we didn’t lose our shirts (well maybe a few buttons) and saw 4 incredible shows:
Penn & Teller (I’m not that short, he’s really tall!) the most entertaining magic I have seen, Penn plays the upright Bass and Teller plays the Vibes in one part of the show and both really well!
Wayne Brady of Who’s Line is it Anyway fame, in an incredible improv variety show, he’s one of the most talented people alive.
Elton John another artist I grew up listening to. He was in such fine voice and it was an artful multimedia show with these amazing giant inflatables. Like when I recently heard George Michael it brought back so many memories and yes the three of us got up to dance during Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting!
The highlight though was the Cirque du Soleil show Zumanity. It was so artistic , spectacular, romantic, sensual, funny and I could write and write about it but I wouldn’t do it justice. Suffice it to say that it’s true performance art that inhabits your senses. Right down to the décor of the theater, every detail to make the experience totally immersive has been thought of and the performers encourage a collegiality amongst the audience members at times subtly but often to hilarious effect.
It made me think about the Orchestra audience experience and whilst I’m not suggesting we do any flying through the air, (or anything else they do in this show!) it seems to be their mission to think of the total experience and we can learn much from that. We are so focused on our own experience at times. They understand the equality of the experience between audience and performer and they are equals to them as proven by the constant effort to engage us to share their experience. This was as breathtaking to me as the show itself. It’s as if they have turned interaction into an art form, multi layered and faceted, sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle, but always there. To some extent all the shows had it but it was Cirque who raised the bar (not just using it to swing on!).
So in the blur of my early morning departure, sitting at the gate I see a billboard for Montblanc with a giant picture of Lang Lang! Right above the slot machines no less. There was no hint of Classical music all week (I know they have a terrific orchestra) on anything I read or saw and yet Montblanc must have spent a bucket load of money for this prime spot. They must know something, the want to set themselves apart and also, just because we are in Vegas does not mean we are not surrounded by Classical music fans, I mean I was there! I was surprised and thrilled to see it.
Not everything that happens in Vegas should stay there!