Franco Dragone does not pretend to ignore reviews.
Although some critics (including this one; see Vegas Roundup below) are dusting off superlatives for his "Le Reve: A Small Collection of Imperfect Dreams," the former Cirque du Soleil creative director makes no secret of his disappointment with the largely negative national press. (The Las Vegas Review Journal's Mike Weatherford wrote, "No big budget show in recent history has opened to such negative word of mouth.") Some are complaining that the multimillion dollar aquatic production that premiered the $2.7 billion Wynn Casino April 27 is "a rip-off" of Dragone's celebrated "O." Lewis Segal's widely quoted May 8 Los Angeles Times review claimed, "The show isn't the breakthrough that Dragone wants it to be ... It hasn't got the guts to tell a real story or no story at all but instead relies on a slightly tweaked version of the standard, stale Cirque [production formulas]."
The 53-year-old Dragone, who went solo after leaving Cirque two years ago and putting together Celine Dion's "A New Day," is known for working on his shows long past their opening. He spent the month of May making changes. But he admits he's not quite sure what to make of the reviews this time out.
"When a director makes a movie, the style is always the same," he says. "But he's telling different stories. Of course, we are all subject to repeat ourselves, but what I tried to do was go deeper ... I am not the same man I was in 1998 [when he directed "O"], and I try to show the changes in my life."
"Le Reve" (French for "The Dream," named after a 1932 Pablo Picasso painting) has parallels to "O," the most obvious being that the show is set in and around a million-gallon body of water. It hosts 75 cast members performing a series of surrealistic circus-like acrobatic sketches that encourage emotion but do not tell a linear story.
This time the feats are played out in a 2,087 theatre-in-the-round environment, so that the audience is more likely to feel a part of the action. And although the "script" -- a series of dream images -- is pocked with humor, the visuals (most of which suggest mythological figures and tales) feel darker, more layered.
"For me, it's a whole different show," Dragone says. "There's more choreography, it's more fluid. I don't want to stay in one place. I try to create images that can touch the audience, like a painting. I really believe it's not possible to have a plot with this type of performance art. When you put up a trapeze, it can be only one thing: a trapeze. I think within the confines of the convention of this type of show, you cannot go further than the trapeze. And I don't want to lead the audience by the nose. I want them to make their own story. I want them t o go home, wishing to dream."
Some theatre buffs have theorized that the backlash against Dragone was inevitable. Cirque du Soleil-type productions have been hugely successful in Vegas, but with "O" (at the Bellagio)," "Mystere" (at Treasure Island), "Zumanity" (at New York-New York), "Ka" (at the MGM Grand), "A New Day" (at Caesars Palace), and now "Le Reve," on the boards, some feel "enough already." Also, Dragone took some of the heat for casino owner Steve Wynn's decision to severely limit press access to the show (and the casino) until the official opening.
"It was not my decision. I know some of the journalists were not happy. Some of the critiques were fair. Some -- " His voice trails off as he shrugs. He seems genuinely baffled.
But Dragone has no plans to give up on Vegas. The French-speaking former acting and mime teacher (at Canada's National Circus School), who was born in Italy and raised in Belgium, wants to help shape a stronger local theatre community.
"I think Vegas is becoming a great city. One day the Strip will not be apart from the rest of the community. I dream of doing a theatre festival in Las Vegas, to receive here a high level of performance from all over the world. We have a lot of performing artists in Vegas, and they have a life after the show. They want to experiment, artistically. I think one day we will have here a great theatre community."
Meanwhile, Dragone is in talks with Placido Domingo about a touring production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute." And he's still tweaking "Le Reve."
"You have to believe in your vision," he says, "but you also have to listen to criticism. I believe there is a common language in the whole world, like Francis Bacon's paintings. There are images that talk to an audience. I feel a certain level of interaction, of communication. Audiences are very intelligent. They don't want everything explained to them. I can feel it; I can feel that the audience is walking with me."