‘Absinthe’ aims to restore decadence, danger with circus, burlesque blend

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The circus never left town for Ross Mollison. When it tried, he followed.

"I personally have always been into clowns and comedy and circus. My neighbors when I was a kid were the greatest stalkers of circus in Australia. They knew everyone, and they’d take me along," he says.

The promoter grew up to work with both Cirque du Soleil and the Moscow Circus, localizing their marketing and publicity campaigns in Australia. But it seemed inevitable he would end up with his own big top someday. He even put "Cats" in one.

"I’ve always loved the notion of when everything comes to town, and then you come back two months later everything’s gone and you have to wait until next year. I think there’s a real magic to that."

Mollison is hoping Las Vegas tourists will find the same irresistible lure when they see an opulent big top, known as a Spiegeltent, in front of Caesars Palace. Those who venture inside will find "Absinthe," a bawdy blend of circus and burlesque.

That might seem redundant on a Strip with seven Cirques, including the cabaret-derived "Zumanity." But "Absinthe" aims lower, trying to restore a bit of the decadence and danger that were lost when Cirque moved up to grand-scale spectacle and automated scenery.

"The difference of all this is the intimacy of it all. This is anti-television," says The Gazillionaire, the ringmaster of the new venture that opens for ticketed previews Monday, building up to its official premiere on April 1.

"I think a lot of theater now tries to join with television. More money, more effects. As an audience member, you can kind of watch (passively) and sit in your seat," he explains. "This is, literally, front row," with audiences seated within 2 feet of the action on a stage only 9 feet wide.

"There’s no special effects or anything. There’s just the bare stage and some acrobats sweating and dripping, and the smell when they don’t shower."

The Gazillionaire masks his own personal hygiene in a pungent cologne, which matches his stylish ’70s-era prom tux and ruffled shirt and gold shoes. You’ll know him when you see him, and he will probably see you when he works the crowd to interact, "physically, verbally, mentally, sexually."

The Gazillionaire stays mostly in character for his interviews, or when he is being thrown out of the Nightclub & Bar Convention for trying to mess with The Situation from "Jersey Shore." But he is sometimes known as Voki Kalfayan, who has performed locally with Cirque and — as part of a side venture by "Le Reve" performers — put up "The Gazillionaire Show" at the downtown Aruba in March 2007.

Later that year, Kalfayan joined Mollison’s circus for the second season of "Absinthe" in a decidedly off-Broadway location: a pier on Manhattan’s South Street Seaport.

It took Mollison several years to find a location for his Spiegeltent, a European institution known for its velvet, stained glass and mirrored decor.

The show tents are a staple of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where Mollison found his inspiration. "For us they form the set, if you like, of the show," he says. "We see ourselves as creating an environment and then specifically designing a show as a jewel in that crown."

A high-wire act, for instance, is "really exciting done in this space. … The acrobats are making eye contact and looking right at you."

The show, for those 18 and older, also includes burlesque performers, though The Gazillionaire promises they will venture beyond retro striptease: "If you’re going to come out and tease me with an ankle, it better be something more than teasing me with an ankle and some feathers."

The big top in an under utilized plaza between Caesars and the Strip will be surrounded by food venders and a beer garden, an integrated setting "where you see a show and you come out and there’s a kooky environment where you actually sit down and talk about it," Mollison says.

He tried it the conventional Vegas way. Mollison spent almost a year in town preparing to move his show into the Fontainebleu, before the financing imploded to leave the north-Strip project unfinished. "This is more exciting," he says of the default plan. "We’re actually doing what we do in other markets."

Other markets don’t have seven Cirque titles plus "Peepshow" and various other demands for a tourist’s attention. But The Gazillionaire is as confident as his cologne.

"The way to make people laugh is not to do something you think they will find funny. You’ll never please anyone that way," he says. "What people actually laugh at is when comedians and people onstage do what they think is funny and what you’re watching is their enjoyment of it.

"Even if you don’t think it’s funny, you’re going to enjoy it because we’re having a really good time here."

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.