Night Clubs Reviews

Feb 1, 2000 - Great Acts Make "Imagine 2000" a Harrah's Lake Tahoe Winner

By Jack Neal

Just imagine a show with four superlative acts, exotic sets and costumes and a large cast of knock-out dancers and you might, if you have a vivid enough imagination, have imagined Dick Foster's "Imagine 2000."

Producers Dick and Lynne Foster and director David W. Gravatt have put together a winning winter show at Harrah's Lake Tahoe that's worthy of the club's legendary South Shore Room's reputation for class entertainment.

Divided into three brief uninterrupted acts - "The Lost World," "Neptune's Playground" and "Cyber World" - the show's other-worldly nature opens the door for some luscious looking costumes (by Lucio Boliver) draped on some equally luscious bodies. Craig Hempsted's choreography is loaded with the requisite geometric patterns of a show that embraces things cyber and the with-it "in" movements of today's "in" crowd. The dancing's dynamite execution matches impact for impact all aspects of the show's excellent production values; hypnotic lighting by Garrett Caine and sumptuous scenic and illusion designs by Tom Cluff.

The snide comment, "I went home humming the sets," critics used to toss out after a bad night in the theater isn't the case here as good as the sets are. For all its glitz and glamour "Imagine 2000" gets its solid entertainment values the old fashioned way with terrific acts that captivate.

Pert, engaging and physically witty, Bing and Jun Long are a top acrobatic-contortionist team that has to be seen to be believed and then what's seen is unbelieveable. These guys squeeze into some awfully small places. For the claustrophobically challenged, the Long Twins offer better therapy than a shrink (they always get out) with infinitely more bang for the buck.

The slow-motion, control acrobatics of Slawomir Kielbasinski and Misha Kalinin never fail to amaze. The gravity-defying strength it takes to be moving Michelangelo statues boggles the mind as much as it pleases the senses. Their act (Human Design) is thrilling. Arabeske, a four member contortionist team, is equally dazzling. Performing a number called "Futurerama," the act's slow-motion movements come to life in a succession of tightly choreographed movements that make the impossible possible.

In a sequence reminiscent of an Esther Williams' extravaganza sans water, Aerial Expressions features flying gymnast Cees De Kok and flying ballerina Cathy Perquin in the seemingly contradictory illusion of an sky-bound underwater sequence. Their high-flying adagio act, Aqua Fortis, is lyric and poetic. Enrique Lugo's is the enigmatic presence that provides "Imagine 2000" with added penache and mystique. Shelley DeBoer, "Imagine's" Time Jester, adds even more glamour to an already glamorous cast.

Two drawbacks prevent "Imagine 2000" from being an unqualified casino showroom smash hit. The show is much too loud, an exhausting barrage of sound. The show's superb acts are too similarly paced; thematically and harmoniously in tandem, but magnetic in an all too consistent way. Earplugs can fix one. The sheer brilliance of the acts make the other easy to overlook.

"Imagine 2000" can be seen nightly through May 8, 2000, except Tuesdays, at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, Highway 50, Stateline, Nevada. For information call 1-800-Harrahs (427-7247) or 775-588-6611.