Re-Imagined 'AWAKENING' Rises Like a Phoenix and Soars
Re-Imagined 'AWAKENING' Rises Like a Phoenix and Soars
Rebooted mega-production transforms from a catastrophic dud into a crowd-pleasing epic...
"The sleeper has awakened. Long live the fighters!"
- Paul Atreides, Frank Herbert's DUNE
It takes some serious cojones to construct a roughly $150 million production in a vacuum, hoping that audiences will embrace it. Yet that's the story behind AWAKENING, the ambitious spectacular launched at Wynn Las Vegas last November. Unfortunately, AWAKENING's failure became a shocking example of the importance of on-site teamwork, human interaction, and real-time feedback.
Producer/creator Baz Halpin took a huge gamble when he created the majority of AWAKENING during COVID. The shutdown yielded an unusual scenario of long-distance video conferences in place of on-site brainstorming. Did this roulette-wheel collaboration process yield success? For most industry observers, the answer was a resounding "no".
Halpin elaborated in a recently-published interview with award-winning entertainment reporter Melinda Sheckells:
"The normal process for a Broadway show...is first you take it to smaller markets, play it for audiences, get feedback, retool it, then take it out again. And then when you feel like you're in a good place, you take it to Broadway. Well, you can't do that with a show that is as technologically advanced as this — the lighting, the scenery, the audio, all of that plays a huge part in the fabric of what the show is."
"We really looked at our opening last fall as our previews and we took a lot of the audience feedback and improved everything in this, now the new, Awakening. It was great that we have the ability to do that."
By the three-month mark, AWAKENING was playing to mostly-empty seats...
While Baz now looks back on the experience with a sense of appreciation, the original run of AWAKENING was near-catastrophic. This writer pulled no punches in a pair of articles that covered showgoers' adverse reactions and my own scathing review. But the story was far from finished.
It was evident by the second month that AWAKENING was in trouble. Attendance fell to anemic levels, with a horrible buzz surrounding numerous elements of the show. From the confusing storyline to overpowering technology and a lack of appealing characters, very little seemed to work.
By January, Halpin realized that something major needed to be done, and he set the wheels in motion to transform AWAKENING into the joyful epic he had always envisioned.
AWAKENING producers Michael Curry, Baz Halpin, and Bernie Yuman (photo courtesy of Wynn Resorts)
After a two-week tweak in February, all performances after April 17th were canceled. Halpin, along with legendary producer Bernie Yuman (Siegfried and Roy) and puppet master Michael Curry (Wynn's LAKE OF DREAMS shows) gathered to determine what worked, what didn't, and what was lacking. They then set to work on a landmark, extremely expensive revamp.
In the weeks leading up to AWAKENING's re-introduction, it became clear that an additional lesson had been learned from creating in darkness and secrecy. Wynn's marketing and communications teams blasted away at virtual walls, opening doors that had previously been sealed tight. Members of the media were invited to visit the set and interview Baz, Yuman, and members of the cast.
Members of the press meet creators and performers from AWAKENING
An entirely new marketing campaign was rolled out, jettisoning a vague, poorly-conceived riff on The Fifth Element. Ticket buyers would hopefully now grasp what AWAKENING was about and get a glimpse into how it looked. A decision was made to allow photos and video recording during performances, and the soundtrack by Brian Tyler was made available for free on digital platforms and Wynn's website.
AWAKENING 2.0 opened on June 30th with intense anticipation. What audiences would see that evening could literally make or break the show. This writer purchased a ticket to the near-capacity 9:30 pm performance. The transformation I witnessed borders on the miraculous. AWAKENING has not just been "reimagined", but is now a mesmerizing music-filled adventure that deserves to be experienced over and over.
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Has AWAKENING become a great show? That still may depend on your taste, but it's immensely satisfying and undeniably superior to what came before. Some matters still need to be smoothed out, but nearly every problem that hobbled the original incarnation has been resolved.
After an extremely rocky start, AWAKENING is no longer "the show that replaced LE REVE", but "a must-see spectacular that soars". In other words, what it was always meant to be.
AWAKENING performs Friday through Tuesday at Wynn Las Vegas. Show times vary by date. Tickets start at $99 (plus taxes/fees) and can be purchased here.
In Part Two, I'll give an in-depth review of the all-new AWAKENING at Wynn Las Vegas.
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