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Choosing Between Las Vegas's Four Cirque du Soleil Shows
Four resident Cirque productions, the Spiegeltent rival and the magic rooms that undercut them all, sorted by price and by what each one asks of you.
Door Marieke DoornbosThe city past the casino floor
At Bellagio, the stage floor of “O” vanishes into water mid-scene and divers fall from the rigging into 1.5 million gallons of pool. At MGM Grand, KÀ's steel deck tilts to vertical over an open pit and the audience looks down into darkness. Mystère has been playing Treasure Island since 1993.
Picking between “O” and KÀ
“O” by Cirque du Soleil (Bellagio) is the benchmark, the only resident show built on a reconfiguring pool. The theatre is gilded Beaux-Arts, an opera house wrapped around the water. Synchronised swimmers surface in red silk, and the floor they walked on a minute earlier is gone.
It is also the priciest ticket in town. Seats usually open at $180 and premium rows pass $300. Book months out; day-of bargains do not appear for this one. If the pool is the reason you came, nothing else in the city does it.
Cirque runs a dedicated group desk that takes 10 tickets or more on one payment at the group rate, and it also sells theatre buyouts and VIP add-ons. There is one $15 group fee per order.
KÀ by Cirque du Soleil (KÀ Theatre, MGM Grand) has no conventional stage at all. A giant steel deck tilts to vertical over an open pit, and performers fight and fall across a wall of sand and fire while you look down into the dark. It is the Cirque show with an actual story and the most ambitious machinery of the four.
Entry tickets run $69 to $80, the best value per spectacle in the resident lineup. Group sales start at 10 tickets, with discounted rates and backstage options. KÀ is the biggest house of the four, so late group blocks are easiest to place here.
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Michael Jackson ONE and Mystère
Michael Jackson ONE by Cirque du Soleil (Mandalay Bay) plays a purpose-built theatre with speakers in every seat headrest. Dancers in fedoras and loafers move through neon-lit street scenes, a wire-flying Smooth Criminal lean holds the middle of the show, and it closes on a glittering projection of Jackson himself.
This is a dance and sound show with acrobatics bolted on, the most crowd-pleasing of the four and the least Cirque-like. Book it if your group would rather hear the hits than watch contortion. The music carries guests who do not speak English, and conventions and corporate parties pick it for that reason. The group desk takes 10 or more on one payment. Price band $$$.
Mystère by Cirque du Soleil (Treasure Island) opened in 1993 and remains the purest circus of the set. A huge red spiral snail fills the stage, Taiko drummers play from rising platforms and bungee acrobats drop over a bowl-shaped stage. An oversized baby puppet heckles the front rows.
Tickets run $49 to $79 in an intimate custom theatre. Mystère has the cheapest group rates of the four and is the most child-friendly. Start here if you are testing whether you like the form at all.
Absinthe on the Roman Plaza
Absinthe (Roman Plaza, outside Caesars Palace) comes closest to matching Cirque at its own trade. The acrobatics are the same calibre and they happen at arm's length, inside a vintage wooden Spiegeltent of mirrored panels and stained glass. Six hundred seats ring a stage barely four metres across, and the front row sits close enough to be sweated on.
Tickets start at $135. Fifteen years in, it still sells out. The material is filthy-mouthed and will offend some visitors.
The door is strictly 18+. The host will target loud groups by name, which is worth knowing before you arrive 12-strong in matching shirts. Spiegelworld sales handles group bookings for stag, hen and corporate parties.
The two shows with no dialogue
Blue Man Group (Blue Man Theater, Luxor) is the only Blue Man production left in the United States. Three silent, bald, cobalt-painted performers drum on PVC pipe organs until the paint leaps off the drumheads, and the room ends buried in unspooled white paper streamers.
The show runs 90 minutes without a word of dialogue, which makes it the safest pick in the city for a mixed-language group. Group rates come through the box office, and the front poncho rows are sold as a block. Take the block if your party wants to be in the paint. Price band $$.
Jabbawockeez FREQNCY (Jabbawockeez Theater, MGM Grand) sets a crew in blank white masks, white gloves and white sneakers against saturated LED colour washes and strobe-cut blackouts. FREQNCY replaced the five-year run of Timeless, so anyone who saw the old show gets a new one.
Tickets start at $49 and the show runs an hour. Put it in the pre-dinner slot. MGM Resorts handles group tickets. There is no dress code, and younger groups and birthday parties are the standard booking.
The Wizard of Oz at Sphere
The Wizard of Oz at Sphere runs inside a 16K wraparound LED dome that curves over and behind every seat. Kansas and Oz fill your entire field of vision, the seats are haptic, and wind and scent effects run with the film.
It is the city's new spectacle benchmark and the main thing drawing budget away from Cirque, but what you are buying is cinema. Treat a Sphere booking as the complement to a Cirque night rather than a substitute for one. Multiple daily showtimes through Sphere group sales make it the easiest large-party booking in Las Vegas. Price band $$$.
Magic shows along the Strip
Penn & Teller (Penn & Teller Theater, Rio) are extended through 2029, the longest-running headline act in Las Vegas history. A tall talking man in a dark suit works beside a small silent one, a double bass sounds in the lobby before curtain, and the pair expose their own tricks mid-performance in clear perspex boxes.
The dry, explain-the-trick register is the opposite of Cirque's wordless awe, and it lands better with adults than with kids. Caesars Entertainment takes group bookings. The pair meet the audience in the lobby afterwards, useful for a party staying together. Price band $$$.
Mat Franco: Magic Reinvented Nightly (Mat Franco Theater, The LINQ) is past 3,000 performances and signed through 2030. The theatre is small and warm-lit. He works in a t-shirt among the seats, doing close-up card work from the aisle while screens relay it.
A mid-priced seat here beats a cheap seat in a Cirque theatre if you want to see faces. Caesars sells group rates. The room is small enough that a big group should book well ahead to sit together. Price band $$.
Piff the Magic Dragon (Flamingo Showroom) has 10 years at the Flamingo behind him and is still running in 2026. A deadpan Englishman in a full green dragon onesie shares the stage with a chihuahua in a matching costume, retro pink house styling behind them.
The act trades spectacle for British sarcasm, and international visitors often rate it above the big-budget shows. The humour relies on understanding English. Caesars handles group tickets, and the act plays off the front tables. Bachelor, bachelorette and birthday parties book it for that. Price band $$.
Criss Angel MINDFREAK (Criss Angel Theater, Planet Hollywood) plays Wednesday to Sunday, with dates on sale through late 2026. Industrial rigs, pyrotechnics and motorbikes crowd the stage under hard rock lighting while a black-clad illusionist runs large-scale levitations and escapes.
This is the big-illusion answer to Cirque's acrobatics. It is a one-star vehicle, and your enjoyment tracks how much you like Criss Angel. The show is loud and late, and Caesars Entertainment pitches its group sales at adult parties. Price band $$.
Rooms built for a big party
Magic Mike Live (Sahara Las Vegas) passed its 2,000th performance in March 2026. The purpose-built theatre is in the round with a bar inside the room, banquette seating around a low central stage, and dancers working aerial and pole overhead.
The choreography and aerial work are strong, but the evening is a nightclub first. Do not book it expecting a theatre evening. The door is strictly 18+, and the table packages and bottle service are built for hen parties and girls' trips.
Tournament of Kings (King Arthur's Arena, beneath Excalibur) is the best large-group room on the Strip. Benches sell by kingdom section, so a party of 20 or more sits and cheers together. Armoured riders joust on live horses in a sunken dirt arena ringed by long banquet benches, under medieval banners.
Dinner is included from $72, two courses, with a whole roast chicken eaten in your hands. It is kitsch by design. Bring expectations down and the kids along.
Booking and door rules
Absinthe and Magic Mike Live admit 18+ only, and Criss Angel MINDFREAK plays Wednesday to Sunday. Book “O” months ahead, book Mat Franco early if your group wants adjacent seats, and route any party of 10 or more through the show's own group desk.
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Voor vertrek
Which Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas is cheapest?
Mystère at Treasure Island sells tickets at $49 to $79 and has the cheapest group rates of the four. KÀ at MGM Grand comes next, with entry tickets at $69 to $80. "O" at Bellagio is the priciest, opening around $180, with premium rows past $300.
Which show works best with children?
Mystère is the most child-friendly of the Cirque productions and the closest thing in the set to a traditional circus, with bungee acrobats and an oversized baby puppet that heckles the front rows. For a big family group, Tournament of Kings beneath Excalibur includes dinner from $72 and seats parties together by kingdom section.
Which show suits a group that does not all speak English?
Blue Man Group at Luxor runs 90 minutes with no dialogue at all, so it is the safest booking for a mixed-language party. Michael Jackson ONE at Mandalay Bay works too, because the music carries it. Avoid Piff the Magic Dragon, whose humour relies on understanding English.
Are any of these shows 18+?
Absinthe on the Roman Plaza outside Caesars Palace is strictly 18+, and its host picks loud groups out by name. Magic Mike Live at Sahara Las Vegas is also strictly 18+, and it runs more like a nightclub, with table packages and bottle service.
How do I book for a group of 10 or more?
All four Cirque shows book through one Cirque group desk from 10 tickets on a single payment, and "O" adds a $15 group fee per order. KÀ is the biggest house, so late group blocks are easiest to place there. Absinthe goes through Spiegelworld sales, Sphere through its own group sales, and Penn & Teller, Mat Franco, Piff and Criss Angel through Caesars.
