MGM Resorts has asked Cirque du Soleil to replace its show “Viva Elvis” at the Aria by the end of 2012, citing poor ticket sales.
The move is the first time that the Canadian company, which has come to dominate the big-production showrooms on the Strip, has been asked to shut a show since arriving here in 1993 with its first permanent show, “Mystere” at Treasure Island.
An internal Cirque du Soleil memo was sent to the cast of “Viva Elvis” on Wednesday afternoon announcing MGM’s intentions. “Viva Elvis” has played 900 performances at the Aria resort at CityCenter, to nearly 1 million people.
MGM Resorts spokesman Alan Feldman said the show simply had not met business expectations. “I think it’s a terrific show, but it’s not selling the tickets we want it to sell. There’s a point in time where we’re in a position to ask them to put in a different show.
“Viva Elvis” is the newest of the seven Cirque du Soleil shows along the Strip — its 1,840-seat, acoustically refined showroom costing an estimated $100 million.
The show was previously scheduled to go dark for a 90-day retooling in January and reopen in early spring. The extended dark period for a full revamp of the show will now not take place. They will also be integrating the Banquine act from their "Zed" show.
“Zed” is a Cirque production that opened in Tokyo on Oct. 1, 2008, and will close this New Year’s Eve as a result of the economic effects of the Japanese tsunami and earthquake this year. The Banquine number “highlights the extraordinary agility of the human body as the troupe mystifies the audience by performing acrobatics and human pyramids in a series of dramatic movements and perfectly synchronized crossings that depend on the artists’ absolute trust.”
Wednesday’s news comes just 10 days before the French Canadian entertainment giant Cirque opens the highly anticipated “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour” for a four-week run at Mandalay Bay. A permanent Michael Jackson resident show is scheduled to open in 2013 at Mandalay Bay.
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