At A Glance

Cirque du Soleil’s Mad Apple is a fun, fast-paced performance that feels like an old-school Vegas variety show with a New York flare.

Overall Rating – 3.75 out of 5

Highlights: Acrobats, Singers, Dancers, Music

Room for Improvement: Comedy, Magic

Family-Friendly? No, 18+ only allowed

Would Recommend? Yes, especially if you want to be entertained and enjoy a variety of entertainers and performers.

3.9 Min Read

Mad Apple: A Local’s Take

Website
Location: New York-New York
Times: Thursday – Monday with two shows nightly at 7 PM and 9:30 PM
Duration: 80 minutes
Pricing: $49 to $187 + taxes and fees

Mad Apple, which replaced Zumanity in 2022, is the newest Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas show. Unlike the spectacle and intrigue of O and KA or the family-friendly fun of Mystère, Mad Apple has its share of acrobatics and aerobatics. But more than that, Mad Apple is also full of comedy, magic, dancing, singing, and shadow puppets! Yeah, you heard that last one right – Mad Apple is not pretentious in the least bit.

I saw the 7 PM performance on a Thursday in May 2024. I sat in the seventh row of the first section.

Rating the Performance

Acrobatics and Aerobatics (5/5)

It’s a Cirque show in Vegas, so rest assured that there was a strong display of super athletic moves. I frankly don’t have the expertise to describe any of the maneuvers with a shred of expertise, but they were great.

Since the show offered a lot of things aside from the acrobats, I appreciated the acrobatics even more than other Cirque shows because the acrobats were not the whole show–if that makes sense.

Singing (4/5)

During the show I attended, there were two male singers and one female singer. They all had great voices. The highlight of the singing was the rendition of New York State of Mind.

Band/Music (5/5)

Mad Apple had a variety of musical performers, including a keyboardist (I think that is what it is called), a saxophone player, and a drummer. All were great, especially the brief drum solo.

The show also had a good setlist, including songs from Donna Summer, LL Cool J, Notorious BIG, Run DMC, DMX, and much, much more.

Dancing (5/5)

I don’t know the first thing about dancing, but I found all of the dancing to be quite entertaining. The show had everything from the dancing you may have seen on the streets of New York in the 1980s to the athletic Cirque touches.

In particular, a duo of dancers performed, with one dancer pushing up the other using his feet. Apparently, they have been working together for many years. Quite impressive!

Comedy (1/5)

In my opinion, the comedian’s routine and humor were fairly low-brow, full of predictable self-deprecation and audience insults. They were the type of jokes you would expect to hear in New York if you didn’t start walking the instant the walk light turned green…but you wouldn’t even crack a smile or laugh at them.

I understand that in the middle of a variety show, a comedian can’t go too crazy with the humor, but the biggest problem that I had with the set was there was nothing New York-specific about the jokes.

Magic (2/5)

There was nothing overly impressive about the magician and the hidden-phone trick.

Shadow Puppets (5/5)

I’m guessing this is the only time I will review a shadow puppeteer. Nicky, who performed the shadow puppets, made you feel like you had a great view of a bird’s nest – or the shadow puppet version of it. You have to see it to appreciate it!

PREMIER TIP: The Mad Apple Theater is on the north side of New York-New York, so it is very close to some of the restaurants at Park MGM, including Best Friend, Eataly, and Bavette’s. 

Rating the Venue

Venue (5/5)

Like the other theaters housing Vegas Cirque shows, The Mad Apple Theater is intimate. There isn’t truly a bad seat in the house. The lighting used in the show was also good and not overly distracting.

Service (5/5)

All the employees I interacted with, including the security, ticket scanners, and ushers, were friendly and smiled. Even though I didn’t get a cocktail or concession (I got there at 7:01), a concession stand worker still greeted me as I walked by.

DISCLAIMER: This review was written by a real Las Vegas local. If you are interested in writing reviews for Premier Vegas, please contact us here.

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