Best Las Vegas Shows

Aside from gambling, Las Vegas is also known for its shows. Though most hotels on and off the Las Vegas Strip have their own stage attractions, the closer one is to the Strip, the higher the price of admission.

The Cirque du Soliel has several shows among the Vegas megaresorts, including O Cirque du Soliel at the Bellagio and Love Cirque du Soliel at The Mirage. O Cirque du Soliel is a display of gymnastics performed on a stage of water.http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/N20766.html Love Cirque du Soliel consists of an acrobatic presentation set to the music of The Beatles.http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117930994.html?categoryid=33&cs=1&query=Beatles+LOVE The Beatles Treasure Island at the Mirage also headlines Mystere Cirque du Soleil, an exhibition of bungee birds along with other acts.

Other options consist of the Blue Man Group at The Venetian, which has been described as an "alternately highbrow and juvenile" mix of music and visuals.http://www.fodors.com/world/north-america/usa/nevada/las-vegas/review-139901.html Elton John's "Red Piano" show at Caesars Palace is another audiovisual show that is "simultaneously bigger than life and intimate."http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117923111.html?categoryid=34&cs=1&query=red+piano Bette Midler and Cher also perform shows at Caesars. Comics Rita Rudner and Danny Gans bring on the laughs at Harrah's Las Vegas and The Mirage respectively. Also, musicals like Mamma Mia! and The Producers play on the Strip, but they have been shortened to meet Vegas-imposed time limits.http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2007/Mar-31-Sat-2007/news/13502948.html

• LOVE (The Mirage),

Las Vegas Review-Journal Staff Pick 2007: "The show itself pulls some new twists from Cirque's familiar bag of tricks..."http://www.reviewjournal.com/bestoflv/2007/LongReturns.jsp?bestID=9584&shortList=true

Variety: "'Love' limns Beatles music as no production, be it for stage or film, has ever done before."http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117930994.html?categoryid=33&cs=1&query=Beatles+LOVE

LiveDaily: "In a city where false hope shines like a beacon, The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil have united to let 'Love' light the way. Hope has never sprung more eternal."http://www.livedaily.com/news/11108.html LiveDaily

• KA (MGM Grand)

Las Vegas Review-Journal Staff Pick 2005: "A new era of Cirque gets mixed reviews for its first attempt at storytelling, but redefines "production show" in its use of cutting-edge technology that gets rid of the notion of a fixed stage."**[http://www.reviewjournal.com/bestoflv/2005/LongReturns.jsp?bestID=7284

Frommer's Exceptional Rating: "Gleefully borrowing imagery from magical realist martial arts movies such as 'Hero' and 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,' the production makes use of a technically extraordinary set that shifts the stage not just horizontally but vertically, as the action moves from under the sea to the side of a steep cliff and beyond."http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/N29607.html

Fodor's Choice: "Even if the show lacks an emotional knockout punch, it's still an amazing achievement."http://www.fodors.com/world/north%20america/usa/nevada/las%20vegas/entity_156807.html

Mystere (Treasure Island at The Mirage)

Las Vegas Review-Journal Staff Pick 2002: "With simpler staging, 'Mystere puts the emphasis on the human element, with gravity-defying acrobats and 'bungee birds' who swoop and soar with the greatest of ease."http://www.fodors.com/world/north%20america/usa/nevada/las%20vegas/entity_156807.html

Frommer's Exceptional Rating: "The show features one simply unbelievable act after another (seemingly boneless contortionists and acrobats, breathtakingly beautiful aerial maneuvers), interspersed with Dadaist/commedia dell'arte clowns, and everyone clad in costumes like nothing you've ever seen before."http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/N20765.html

O (Bellagio),

Las Vegas Review-Journal Online Pick 2007: "This aquatic show places the audience into a surreal dream world and is well known for the stage that continually shifts between water and ground to seamlessly support the beauty and stunning performances in the show."

Frommer's Exceptional Rating: "How to describe the seemingly indescribable wonder and artistry of Cirque du Soleil's still utterly dazzling display? An Esther Williams-Busby Berkeley spectacular on peyote? A Salvador Dali painting come to life? A stage show by Fellini?"http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/N20766.html

Fodor's Choice: "Even if the deeper themes elude you, so much is going on that you may be exhausted from trying to see everything."http://www.fodors.com/world/north%20america/usa/nevada/las%20vegas/entity_139954.html

Elton John: The Red Piano (Caesars Palace)

Las Vegas Review-Journal Staff Pick 2005:"Time has given Elton John a stinging, unpredictable wit, and a resonance in his singing that makes the classics come alive as more than just a jukebox of nostalgia."http://www.reviewjournal.com/bestoflv/2005/LongReturns.jsp?bestID=7272

Frommer's Recommended: "It's a gorgeously mounted production, featuring Elton and his lacquered piano, plus artistic video installations and other touches that have earned the show critical raves."http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/0013010030.html

Variety: "Elton John has achieved a rare pop-music feat in his Vegas-only show: With David LaChappelle, he has created a career overview piece that's visually stimulating and as artistically sound as it is commercial."**[http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117923111.html?categoryid=34&cs=1&query=red+piano

Barry Manilow: Music & Passion (Hilton Las Vegas)

Frommer's Recommended: "Less technical pizzazz [than 'The Red Piano'], but no less showmanship (not to mention more frequent dates and lower ticket prices) comes from [Barry Manilow], who, bless him, knows just who he is and how to use it."http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/0013010030.html

Variety: "[A]s greatest hits revues go, Manilow is among the best in the business, and 'Music and Passion' retains the qualities that made him an amphitheater perennial."http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117926362.html?categoryid=34&cs=1&query=Manilow+Passion

Blue Man Group (The Venetian)

Las Vegas Review-Journal Staff Pick 2006: "A custom-built theater at The Venetian makes our favorite Blue Man antics look and sound better, while giving the postmodern pranksters room to grow into some new tricks."http://www.reviewjournal.com/bestoflv/2006/LongReturns.jsp?bestID=9005&shortList=true

Frommer's Exceptional Rating: "It's funny in the weirdest and most unexpected ways, and the crowd is usually roaring by the end."http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/N27287.html

Fodor's Choice: "The first half still defines the troupe's quirky comic aesthetic... deliberately [leaving] much of the new stage in the dark, until it comes time to reveal gorgeous high-resolution video effects and the towering set..."http://www.fodors.com/world/north%20america/usa/nevada/las%20vegas/entity_139901.html

Mamma Mia!' (Mandalay Bay)

Frommer's Very Highly Recommended: "It seems even b"etter-suited for Vegas audiences, since it's all-ages, innocuous, and promotes much clapping and dancing."http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/N28488.html

Las Vegas Review-Journal: "[T]he show's biggest strength is its ability -- so far unmatched by any other 'jukebox musical' -- to repurpose the ABBA songs into show tunes that, as often not, move the story along instead of interrupting it."http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2007/Feb-23-Fri-2007/weekly/12695308.html

Monty Python's Spamalot (Wynn)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: "Couch potatoes can cue those up at home after they get off their duffs for this one. They won't find anything else on the Strip with both a midnight-movie spirit and a Vegas sense of overkill."http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2007/Mar-31-Sat-2007/news/13502948.html

Las Vegas Sun: "If this extravagant exercise in humor can be pigeonholed, it's farce. But it is so cleverly written and well executed that it is very high farce - that sometimes sinks to low levels (as in the Flatulent Knight)."http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2007/apr/09/566639480.html?spamalot

The Producers (Paris Las Vegas)

Frommer's Recommended: "[T]he Vegas version of the Broadway smash receives the same treatment other Great White Way refuges get when they come to Sin City: big cuts to make it run at around 90 minutes with no intermission. The good news is that Mel Brooks and stage (and screen) director Susan Stroman are the ones making the cuts."http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/N30979.html

Lance Burton: Master Magician (Monte Carlo)

Frommer's Exceptional Rating: "[Burton] does eventually move to bigger illusions, but his manner follows him -- he knows the stuff is good, but he also knows the whole thing is a bit silly, so why not have fun with it?"http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/N20777.html

Las Vegas Review-Journal Readers' Pick 2007: "[T]he Best Magician... for a seventh consecutive year."http://www.reviewjournal.com/bestoflv/2007/LongReturns.jsp?bestID=9528&shortList=true

Penn & Teller (Rio)

Frommer's Exceptional Rating: "The most intelligent show in Vegas, as these two -- magicians? illusionists? truth-tellers? BS artists? geniuses? -- put on 90 minutes of, yes, magic and juggling, but also acerbic comedy, mean stunts, and great quiet beauty."http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/N28489.html

The Mac King Comedy Magic Show (Harrah's Las Vegas)

Frommer's Exceptional Rating: "Perfect for the kids, perfect for the budget, perfect timing if you need something in the afternoon before an evening of gambling, dining, and cavorting."http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lasvegas/N28487.html

Las Vegas Review-Journal Staff Pick 2007: "The steady stream of laughs and the bargain ticket price tend to make you forget that King can do the crazy magic stuff as well."http://www.reviewjournal.com/bestoflv/2007/LongReturns.jsp?bestID=9574&shortList=true

Fodor's Choice: "King stands apart from the other magic shows on the Strip by offering a one-man hour of low-key, self-deprecating humor and the kind of close-up magic that often requires more skill than the cabinet tricks of the larger shows."http://www.fodors.com/world/north%20america/usa/nevada/las%20vegas/entity_121424.html