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The most unforgettable Las Vegas magic shows happen at the casino tables.

It can be argued, and then again, there are those other kinds of Las Vegas magic shows happening onstage for little kids and adult kids to see. Where objects made to disappear aren’t so much betting money at slots or poker card rooms but rather wild birds, huge cats, and dream-like showgirls. Comedy, illusion, magic tricks make for some of the best Las Vegas show deals, and in Sin City’s myriad worlds of magic, playing cards are involved, either way.

Las Vegas Magic Shows

Aladdin, Steve Wyrick Real Magic, Steve Wyrick Entertainment Complex. For its newest headliner magician, Aladdin had custom-built a 22,000 sqft mega-facility comprising the 500-seat Steve Wyrick theater where the new Las Vegas show is held; plus TRIQ ultra lounge, and MAGIQ shop offering some of Wyrick’s easy-does-it magic tricks. For a $30 million, multi-year deal, the extravaganza features four astronomic illusions never before performed by Wyrick along with familiar favorites, all of which are kid-friendly.

Aladdin, Nathan Burton Comedy Magic, V Theatre at Desert Passage. Nathan Burton remains known for ‘7 Days and 7 Showgirls’ in a transparent crate hanging in mid-air, and is a part of Buck Wild and V – The Ultimate Variety Show. He takes the stage solo well before dark to treat Las Vegas of all ages with magic and comedy involving, among others, a toilet paper launcher and the hugest hair dryer you’ll ever see. A show highlight is ‘dream date’ wherein one lucky dude from the audience meets the dancer of his dreams.

Greek Isles, World’s Greatest Magic Show, Star Theatre. The Mediterranean-styled casino hotel hosts a variety show replete with magic and entertainment productions, hosted by Paul Kozak. It regales with…

The circus by itself is meant to be spectacular and fascinating. But this is Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas idea of a circus is Cirque du Soleil, which you can tell by the sound is plenty notches higher than bearded chicks and mermen. When it last premiered a Las Vegas show, they came: Billy Crystal, Lauren Hutton, Debbie Harry, Steven Van Zandt, and The Beatles’ biggest family reunion since way back – Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison, and Cynthia, Julian, and Sean Lennon.

Quebec-based Cirque du Soleil, arguably the most popular Las Vegas entertainment group, is deemed among the world’s best circuses. It has been featured everywhere from The Muppets and The Simpsons to South Park and Arrested Development; even the computer game Myth. Catch it or miss it? Find out…

OddJack Las Vegas Guide to Cirque du Soleil

Mystère. Treasure Island Hotel and Casino.
O. Bellagio Hotel and Casino.
Kà. MGM Grand Casino and Hotel.

Zumanity. New York-New York Hotel and Casino. Aka the adult one. The cabaret-style show, dubbed as Another Side of Cirque du Soleil, is themed with a human zoo; the title is a play on the words ‘zoo’ and ‘humanity’. Characters are sensual – French maids, schoolgirl fantasists, goddess-loving humans, gigolos, male lovers, a phantom, and a she-male that is the zoo guide.

A strip dance, flamenco and African dances, aerial and statue dances, and body contortions lead to the concluding acts Midnight Bath and Orgy. Thierry Mugler designed the incendiary costumes…

Not every Las Vegas show of half-naked contorting bodies need make you feel cheap.

This one is worded in a lot of French and the invented language Cirquish (no relation to the Klingon spoken at Las Vegas Hilton). It employs many of the best-paid performers on the job, and expensive, hard-to-find circus apparati. From high-concept ideas to show ticket prices, Cirque du Soleil doesn’t come cheap. You get what you pay for in Las Vegas entertainment.

As sure as Madame Tussauds at The Venetian Las Vegas isn’t the only form of art appreciation, there’s an easy way to find out which Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas show is for you. (If Cirque du Soleil is for you, to begin with.) To boot, we’re helping you speak it like you get it, so read and learn.

OddJack Las Vegas Guide to Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil (French for ‘Circus of the Sun’) is based in French-speaking Quebec, Canada, where it was founded in 1984 by street performers Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier. A Canada Walk of Famer, it has made Las Vegas its second home, where it runs five out of six resident productions in the US; one, La Nouba, is in Walt Disney Florida.

Mystère. Treasure Island Hotel and Casino. Aka the original one. It is the first Cirque du Soleil show to take up permanent residence in Las Vegas, and the first that did not tour but had its own theater. The mythology-themed story tells of the origins of life, showcasing the mighty physiques of a Castor-and-Pollux brother tandem doing hand-and-body balancing acts on a rotating dome.

Expect aerial acrobatics, bungee jumping, and Korean plank; a clown, ventriloquist, infant-costumed performer; and a memorable closing…

Las Vegas, the Sin City as call it endearly, is no place for saints and angels.

It’s the place for decadent yet stylish fun and entertainment. And what more apt way to illustrate this that with the glitzy adult revues taking place at the equally fabulous casino hotels in Las Vegas.

Wikipedia defines a revue as a “type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in nineteenth-century American popular entertainment and melodrama, but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from ca. 1916-1932. Though most famous for their visual spectacle, revues frequently satirized contemporary figures, news, or literature.”

These revues that I’m talking about usually features scantily clad men and women, performing exotic and erotic dance moves (with the presence of poles or without) that titillates one’s imagination.

The longest running musical revue that is still being staged today in Vegas is the Folies Bergere playing at the Tropicana. Since 1959, this classy homage to women’s fashion throughout history has never waned in populairty among theatergoers. The show is named after the music hall made famous in Edouart Manet’s A Bar at Folies Bergere…