| Review: |
 Take
a very large indoor arena (at 140,000 sq ft, apparently the world's
largest air-conditioned equestrian arena), add sixty horses of just
about every breed, and toss in 30 humans, and you've got the makings
of a show. Running since 1988 and racking up more than 6,000 shows,
Arabian Nights seems big enough to be called an event. The arena seats
1,200 visitors for dinner (including Skybox seating) in a layout that
will seem familiar to anyone who has seen Medieval Times. The show has
won numerous awards over the years, and press materials list the running
time at 1:45 (though the show I caught only lasted 1:15). The same press
materials make the claim that this show uses "more lights, costumes,
and characters than any show in Broadway's history." The show features
special effects, fog, fake bubble snow, and even a bit of magic.
Arabian Nights costs $46 for adults and $20 for children for the standard
experience, and $57/$31 for the VIP experience, which includes a button,
a free drink before the meal, a chance to meet four of the horses and
several performers before the show (and get autographs), and most importantly,
seating at the lowest levels in the arena. These prices assume you book
your reservation online; it's more expensive by up to $9 per ticket if
you purchase it at the door.
As you step inside, they take a photo of your party in front of a green
screen; they will later offer these pictures for sale. You step into the
next room, which a long auditorium and stage. We got there about 70 minutes
before show time, and the folding seats were all full here, watching the
belly dancer on stage. But we had VIP buttons on, so we were ushered to
the front half of the auditorium-apparently you get much better seating
for the belly dancing if you buy the VIP addition. Here, too, the seating
was full, so come even earlier if you want to experience this part.
We made our way to the nearby bar to redeem our drink coupons. Sodas were
free, or we could have gotten a small glass of beer (Busch) or wine (a
California blush). If you didn't have a VIP button, you'd have to pay
for any drinks, though drinks would be included with the dinner part of
the evening for everyone. We opted for a Shirley Temple, which was not
free, but the $3 earned us an oversized keepsake plastic cocktail glass.
Here too was a separate line for the VIPs, which was considerably shorter.
VIPs had a small lounge off to the side with a few scattered chairs along
the edges. It was little more than a place to wait the last few minutes
until 5:00, as the VIP experience starts an hour before show time at 6:00.
We were called forth right at 5:00, and made our way to the arena.
The first thing I noticed was not the stage but the viewing tables, elongated
benches that rose like grandstands. It matched my (admittedly hazy) memory
of the setup at Medieval Times. Out in the arena itself were four horses
stationed at each of the corners, together with a handler or two. Us visitors
made the rounds, petted the horses, gathered signatures if desired. Three
of the four horses looked unnaturally docile-perhaps doped up for the
encounter with people? I didn't seem to notice them later in the show.
At 5:40, the horses went away and the guests without VIP passes were let
in. This led to a period of about 20 minutes where nothing was effectively
happening for those in the VIP section, though servers were quite good
about refilling beer and wine, in addition to sodas.
At 6:00 sharp, the
show began. Those wishing to avoid reading the plot synopsis may wish
to skip ahead. But I have to caution that the plot can be hard to follow.
Blink (or speak briefly with your server), and you'll miss the occasional
key sentence of dialogue that serves as transition between scenes. Here
are the major scenes:
- Scheherazade,
a Bedouin, discovers she's a princess and her friend Abracadabra (Abby)
is a genie.
- After an odd transition, Scheherazade wants to visit NYC, and so horses
show up to do tricks. What Scheherazade really wants, we learn, is to
find the "prince of her dreams."
- An evil prince shows up (I couldn't quite catch his name. Venir? Bemir?),
who wants to marry Scheherazade. She doesn't want him, obviously.
- Enter a rodeo clown by the name of Hocus Pocus. Hocus is "Scheherazade's"
genie in the way that Abracadabra turns out to have been her father's
genie.
- Hocus is comic relief; she conjures a goat when trying to summon a
unicorn. Abby summons one successfully, and the unicorn manages to look
impressively realistic.
- Somehow we transition to a gypsy circus. There's a mixed bag of human
acrobatics here; the men doing flips while on horseback are pretty impressive,
and you'd be hard-pressed to find fault with jumping through a burning
hoop and landing back on the same horse. A few of the acrobatics are
less breath-taking.
- Next up is an audience participation bit, with an obvious plant in
the form of a blonde girl (it's not just me; some guy I talked to afterward
agreed it was pretty obvious). I'd even rate this farce as a touch painful
to watch, but I admit to being a bit jaded about these plants. Tourists
sometimes find it hilarious, so your mileage may vary.
- Scheherazade meets a black stallion amid some great fog effects. Apparently
this stallion has magic powers, so we are told, but nothing else come
of it at the moment.
- Hocus conjures up the Wild West, and some square dancing with horses
ensues.
- Hocus then brings forth an Indian, who doesn't do any horse tricks,
just moves throughout the fog in the arena to the tune of "Return to
Innocence." There's a cheesiness to this segment, evident in the "black
light" paint on the horse and a disco ball spinning overhead.
- Hocus divides the audience into two teams, silver and gold, for a
chariot race. This part is thrilling enough. Indeed, when was the last
time you saw a chariot race live? In this part of the show, the entire
focus shifts to a competition, and since the audience has been given
"sides," we get more involved. That reminded me heavily of Medieval
Times.
- Scheherazade gives the winner a trophy cup, at which point the evil
prince catches her on ground, rather than up in the balcony where she
usually is during the show. To try to protect Scheherazade, Hocus summons
the "prince of her dreams" successfully, but the evil prince would rather
see her dead than rescued, so he kills her.
- Magic and misdirection rule the next scene. Scheherazade's body is
covered up, and then magically raised into the air, until suddenly the
shroud is swept away to reveal nothing at all. She wasn't under the
shroud! The theme from the movie "Dragon" swells majestically as the
black stallion resurrects Scheherazade-apparently he was magical after
all.
- During the finale, the song "Come What May" from Moulin Rouge plays
as a few show horses prance about, and Scheherazade and her new prince
are ferried about in a carriage. The ending is a bit anticlimactic;
the music crescendos and the audience doesn't know to stand up and leave.
If this were a Disney show, confetti would surely rain down from above.
And yet I, for one, would rather have the slight uncertainty than yet
more confetti.
The show does a pretty good job of escapism and transporting you to other realms. Amazing what a little fog can do to create the illusion that there never was sawdust! You'd swear at times it was an ice rink, so smoothly do the people and horses move about.
The horses clearly have a LOT of training, and during the show do plenty of things that don't come natural to horses, such as marching backwards or sideways (as during the "electric slide" portion of the Wild West segment). They run at each other in a four-way crazy game of chicken, and they show off the equine equivalent of an "e-stop" from a full gallop, a mighty strange sight.
A couple of things you may want to know before setting foot inside: there's a bit of a "hard sell" for the green screen photo taken when you first arrive. The printed up results are brought to your table in the middle of the show, and you're offered a package of two 8x10s, two 4x6s, and five wallet size photos, all for $20. Your server won't pressure you beyond the initial offer, but the fact that it's hawked at you directly (and is an interruption to the show itself) may turn off some folks. Still, it's probably a worthwhile investment for a family visiting from afar. The quality of the green screen shot was extremely high.
The other bit to watch for is the way tipping works. Your server will bring a notice that tipping isn't included in the price of admission, and recommends $5/adult and $3/child. Our server returned a bit later, brandishing a wad of bills and implying through his very presence that tipping ought to be face-to-face. Don't get caught without some cash on hand!
While the food is not extremely plentiful or all-you-can-eat, it's a full meal. And it's surprisingly tasty: the chopped sirloin, the prime rib, or even the chicken tenders for my child were all flavorful. Speaking of the three year-old, he was fully entertained by the entire spectacle.
Is it worth it? That depends on your reaction to horses. If you're bored by animal displays and feats, this is not the show for you-there isn't going to be more than what the name of the show implies. But if you're modestly open to this kind of show, you'll find Arabian Nights a fine use of your time. And worth the money, especially if you're looking for an evening away from Disney.
|
