Updated 02/08/2018

Inferno

By Chuck Rounds

"Inferno," now playing in the showroom at the Paris Las Vegas, is a new fire and magic show with illusionist Joe Labero alongside London's hottest fire group, The Fuel Girls. I understand what is trying to be achieved with this production, and the fire elements are great, but the magic is an embarrassment. The Fuel Girls are a multi-skilled, all female group of visually captivating pyromaniacs. Labero does the same 10 tricks that every magician performed throughout the 80's and 90's. It's a shame. The production is obviously well funded...nice sets, great costumes, wonderful props...so why hasn't this illusionist purchased or learned a trick from this century.

By the late 90's, magic was suffering a creative crisis...every magician was performing the same illusions, and the art of magic needed to evolve or die. Every magician worth their salt found a way to change, grow, and reinvent their performances; and with Las Vegas being the Magic capital of the world, we saw this evolution...Labero didn't get this memo. Not only is he performing the same illusions, but he is doing them in the exact same way they were done forty years ago. Are you kidding me? Come on...we deserve better.

Added to this is some really sloppy execution...Labero "passes" through the body of an assistant, and I'm seated in the center section of the showroom, and I'm watching how the assistant is making this illusion happen. Check your sightlines, Joe!! I'm sure the trick was fully revealed to the audience members seated in the sections on the sides. Then there is the camera work for the close-up magic...either he has never worked with a camera, or the camera person has never worked with a magician, but either way, it was so sloppy that it was giving me a headache.

Now, the other part of the show was great. The Fuel Girls absolutely delivered. The fire elements were spectacular. Their execution and performance, not only with the fire, but with the aerial elements as well were just wonderful. Quite frankly, I would have loved to see a thirty minute fire show rather than this ninety minute fiasco.

And please get rid of Animal...this pyromaniac assistant is embarrassing to watch and adds nothing to the overall production. Additionally, his antics make the family-friendly production questionable. He was obviously hired because of his adeptness at spinning fire poi...and then they tried to figure out where else they could use him...they failed.

We all want new and interesting shows in this town...and this show has a good concept and it is also well funded. It just needs to be completely redone. Close down for three months, change out all of the illusions, and it could be a great show.