Criss Angel shuts down Planet Hollywood’s Las Vegas magic show for good
“Amystika” is Franco Dragone’s latest directorial effort. But the show was not meant to last long at Planet Hollywood. The last performance was on Saturday evening.
Criss Angel, who collaborated with Dragone in the production of autobiographical magic varieties, announced on his social media pages on Friday that the show had been canceled, effective immediately. The veteran magician cited “due to recent unforeseen events” as the reason. He reportedly did not perform on closing night and there was no mention on stage that the show had been cancelled.
About 150 people showed up. A good crowd for, say, the Piazza Lounge in Tuscany. But in a room with more than 1,400 seats, ouch. And a show where a fake storm blew debris across the theater now has to pick up the pieces. “Amystika” opened in April and ran for 26 weeks.
Dragone’s sudden and shocking death was certainly one of those events. The legendary entertainment visionary died of cardiac arrest on September 30 while on a business trip to Cairo and taking leave. His memorial service in Belgium took place on Tuesday.
“Criss Angel Mindfreak” continues to run, and the show has approximately 1,200 attendees per performance, five shows a week, in its 1,460-seat theater. So it’s not going away anytime soon.
Three days later, Angel finished “Amystika”. He said the production would pull out for a rewrite and be rescheduled for an international tour. Angel himself no longer appeared in the production, except as a spokesperson, after playing gothic magician Xristos in the early shows.
Dragone CEO Francois Girard said in a text on the outgoing production on Saturday: “We are optimistic for ‘Amystika’. This is Franco Dragone’s latest directorial effort, and it will travel the world for more people to see. Dragone’s creative team has set up an office in the Arts District and is working on several concepts, including the upcoming “Amystika.”
Girard said the team was negotiating an initial location for May, and the idea was to release the show outside of the United States. It’s the most optimistic concept for a show that needs to be revamped, possibly recast (with a mix of new and current cast members), and marketed to an international audience. And that’s after failing to find an audience on the Strip.
Summary of news:
- Criss Angel shuts down Planet Hollywood’s Las Vegas magic show for good
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