When Cirque du Soleil, citing the economic downturn precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, ended production of Zumanity last year after a 17-year run, it felt a bit like a holdover from Las Vegas’ implosion era. We could only watch sadly and helplessly from a distance as it crumbled, leaving nothing but memories and a crowd of people who’d had jobs the day before. They joined the performers and stagecraft personnel who’d been displaced by the closure of Le Rêve a few months before, and the thousands of others anxiously waiting to find out if their shows would be shut down, too.
So, when magenta-mohawked former Zumanity host Axle (Brandon Pereyda) introduced the first night of the two-day Ignite outdoor festival at Sandy Valley Ranch—about an hour southwest of Vegas, just over the California border—a palpable electricity rippled through the socially distanced crowd when he exclaimed, “Yes! Finally! Entertainment!” It felt less like an expression of relief than a rallying cry to performers and audiences, an invitation to return to our city’s theaters and build something new. And over the course of an emotionally resonant evening, a strong foundation was laid.
Conceived by former Zumanity/Mystère/O creative director Sandi Croft and co-directed with Pereyda, the May 7-8 Ignite fest was an open-air party crowned with a Cirque-quality variety show. The former featured stilt walkers, surrey rides, a live DJ set by Paulo Querino de Souza and a small village of food and bar trucks; the latter was packed with many of the acrobats, contortionists, musicians, dancers and clowns who were sent home when the Strip shut down last spring. It was a bill that could be picked up from Sandy Valley Ranch’s horse arena completely intact and dropped onto Zumanity’s former stage, where it could conceivably play for another 17 years.
Loosely built around a “pandemic year” theme, Ignite offered one thrilling sight after another. A terrific banquine team tossed each other through the air to Van Halen’s “Jump”; Philippe Bélanger and Marie-Lee Guilbert performed an eye-popping hand-to-hand act, partially on a unicycle; Grace Good twirled multiple flaming hula hoops like it was nothing. And clown RJ Owens, Mystère's Bebe François, brought the show to an uproarious halt with a simple sing-along of Sesame Street classic “Rubber Duckie.”
Above all, Ignite provided immutable proof that Las Vegas is, at least in part, a circus-based economy. Gambling and hospitality might be our lifeblood, but it’s our entertainers we have to thank for the millions of tourists who fly over perfectly good tribal casinos to come here. When the city shut down last year, these performers were virtually left stranded virtually in midair with no net underneath them; they lost their homes, their work visas and their creative momentum. Ignite might not have restored all those things, but in the midst of that warm, joyful performance, it was easy to imagine raising Vegas’ big tent again.
