viva ELVIS Cirque du Soleil

VIVA ELVIS!!! Thanks so much to Cirque du Soleil for the opportunity to see the viva Elvis show at ARIA in Las Vegas last Friday night.

There are moments in life you will always remember, right? One of my moments is the very first time I heard of Elvis Presley – my big city cousin, Sue, came to visit and we were sitting in my bedroom when she told me about him and how he was so fabulous. I remember being vaguely interested because she was so excited and I started to listen to the radio more often to try to hear him (I was about 10).

Eventually the Elvis fever caught me as I heard his new songs, watched his movies, ogled the hip swivel, the sneering lip and the total sexiness. I watched him marry Priscilla, saw baby Lisa Marie for the first time and dreamed of going to a concert and having him put a blue scarf around my neck.

Sadly, I never saw Elvis IRL and have always said that it would complete my life to see him, the Rolling Stones and Cher in concert.

Friday night, my dream came as true as it can ever get, thanks to Cirque du Soleil’s show viva ELVIS during Blog World Expo 2010. Jessica Berlin, the Cirque’s social media manager posted on the BWE10 blog that tickets were available to attendees and I jumped at the chance.

Murray, Nadia and I had fabulous seats about 8 rows back from the stage – just far enough to be able to catch the whole stage in my peripheral vision while concentrating on the main action. Hearing the King of Rock and Roll sing in the ARIA theatre was totally awesome as the performers acted out the years of his life and music.

At the start, Ed Sullivan’s voice introduced him and made me so nostalgic, then ‘Colonel Tom Parker’ narrated us through Elvis’s life and career. The Cirque is an acrobatic depiction of Elvis’s life, in the most unusual ways imaginable. I loved the Super Hero’s on the trampolines – sounds odd, huh? You HAVE to see a Cirque du Soleil show to even attempt to imagine viva ELVIS.

I was entranced during the entire show (well, other than the gospel section, which I never enjoyed in real life – but it was a huge part of Elvis’s life so I understand it had to be). I was nearly in tears as the show ended with Elvis big as life onscreen and when the red silk scarves started falling from the sky I was ecstatic that I might actually grab one. Much to my dismay I missed the closest one and I sat down in tears.

I was in an aisle seat and one of the ‘Elvis’s came running up the aisle stairs and handed me a beautiful red scarf, printed with the show name. My tears turned to joy, mixed with the incredible sadness of the memories of a brilliant life cut short and the nostalgia of hearing and seeing Elvis big as life at the Cirque du Soleil.

VIVA ELVIS in my heart forever!