Las Vegas Weekly

October 21, 2008 · 10:54 AM

Criss Countdown — Day 10: Believe performance features a true hangout for Angel

By Robin Leach

Criss Angel, unwinding off-stage at Tryst.

Photo: Alec Loc Thieu

Our Criss Angel countdown begins today. There are now just 10 days to go before the October 31 world premiere- and every day as our countdown clock ticks closer to Halloween Eve we’ll have one more fascinating story to report. Here’s our first: Twice-nightly during each performance of Believe, the Mindfreak magician faces a highly dangerous unknown. It’s not a trick. It’s not an illusion. It’s a century-old Houdini escape that requires the skill of a superb stuntman! Criss is trapped into a straightjacket, and then hoisted out over the audience until he’s hanging upside down 60-foot directly above them in the middle of the Luxor Theater.

As he dances with death, a ticking video clock counts down the seconds. If he frees himself from the near-impossible, as the audience holds its collective breath, Criss then takes a “dive of death” right into the crowd as the lights blackout and he “vanishes.” It’s just one of the many spine-tingling, hair-raising moments in the magic-packed show.

It can go dreadfully wrong -- and it has. Criss has admitted that there are several dangerous moments in the Believe show that he’s willing to risk nightly for his fans and magic lovers. Last week, the hoisting harness that carries him out over the audience got tangled around his upside-down legs -– and if he’d done the “dive of death” after freeing the jacket from his upper body, it’s highly likely he would have sustained serious leg and bodily injuries. An alert member of the crew spotted what Criss himself could not see –- and the stunt was stopped to re-set the hoist chain. Once he was hauled out again safely he tackled the “escape” again -– and succeeded!

Check back tomorrow for our nine-days–to-go countdown story.

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