Criss Angel fires at Cirque’s ‘R.U.N’ as show closes

Of all the options being considered to replace “R.U.N” at Luxor, it’s safe to say a reunion of Cirque du Soleil and Criss Angel is out.

Angel, who was in partnership with Cirque in “Believe” and “Mindfreak Live” for more than a decade at the resort, says he forecast “R.U.N’s” struggles in his former theater. “R.U.N’ officials announced Thursday the show would close March 8, after a 4 1/2-month residency, the shortest ever for a Cirque show in Vegas.

Friday morning, Angel posted the Kats! column breaking the show’s imminent closing, along with his own message, on his social media accounts: “As I predicted… You can’t buy creativity and you definitely can’t steal it. All the money in the world doesn’t make a bad idea good. I’m sorry @runtheshow cast and crew whose amazing talent was squandered. I wish you nothing but the very best. @cirquedusoleil get back to basics and have @dragoneofficial your original visionary create. My next prediction a C level magic variety show that will suffer the same fate…”

The final sentence is a clear reference to “The Illusionists,” which is being showcased at the March 27 “One Night For One Drop” water-conservation charity show at Luxor. Cirque President and CEO Daniel Lamarre says the company does have plans to bring the production, which it owns through its acquisition of The Works Entertainment, to the Strip.

The @dragoneofficial is the Twitter handle for Franco Dragone’s international production company. Dragone created “O” at Bellagio while he was with Cirque, and “Le Reve” at Wynn Las Vegas after splitting with the company.

Cirque and MGM Resorts officials declined to comment on Angel’s online activity.

Angel also posted his past Twitter exchange with the “R.U.N” social-media accounts from last April. The back-and-forth was ignited when Angel posted, “Sorry, @Cirque it’s already been done” with a kissy-face emoji and the #CrissAngel #Mindfreak @PHVegas #immersive tags. The post also displayed three photos of Angel’s show at Planet Hollywood, “Criss Angel Mindfreak,” two of which showed scenes of fire and another of Angel himself set aflame.

Angel opened “Believe” in October 2008, taking creative control of the show within a couple of years. He then re-launched the production as “Mindfreak Live” in June 2016, carrying that version through its closing in October 2018.

“R.U.N”, constructed as a live adaptation of a graphic-novel adventure film, opened almost a year to the day that Angel closed and ended his partnership with Cirque.

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John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.