Review Rundown: Goin’ Big Instead of Goin’ Home

When we look back at 2023 in Immersiveville, we’ll remember it as THE YEAR OF THE CHURN. Yes, the news this morning is that after great Off Broadway and London runs HERE LIES LOVE is closing on Broadway, judged to be an expensive flop.

Meanwhile, in Vegas, just what rock concert can be is being redefined by U2 at The Sphere, and we’ve got our review of that in this edition. Sleep No More is still going strong Off-Broadway with a new Salon Series option that Edward checks out. LA has two shows drawing upon its history and historic buildings, and London is experimenting up a storm.

Welcome to the edge of the immersive cosmos, where we are inventing emotional hyperspace tech one day at a time.

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Castle in the Sky- Under the Rose Productions
$150; Los Angeles; through Nov. 30th

Los Angeles is full of history, and if you know where to look, there are spaces where that history is perfectly preserved. The Oviatt Penthouse is one of those places and Castle in the Sky is the perfect opportunity to explore this space and witness the story of wealthy eccentric James Oviatt in an intriguing and unique way.

You’re experience begins at an elevator just outside the also historical Cicada Club, where you are greeted by check-in staff. When your elevator car arrives, you meet the first member of the Oviatt family, Louis. Manager of the Oviatt Haberdashery, is warm and welcoming and eager to introduce you to his uncle’s home, the Castle in the Sky. Throughout the experience, you meet James’ wife Mary, their son James, their butler Joselito, and stars Harold and Vivienne Davis. If you’re quiet and curious, you may also catch a glimpse of the Oviatt matriarch herself.

If you arrive when the doors open, you have an hour to get a drink and explore this Art-Deco time capsule. It’s a great opportunity to acquaint yourself with the halls before you meet the ghosts who haunt them and the secrets that they hold.

Once the show begins, you are a fly on the wall of an open-world experience that explores the seven deadly sins through the course of a party, hosted by James Oviatt.

The stories all merge at the end in the grand finale that takes place on the dancefloor. Once the show is over, a live band performs as you enjoy cocktails and company as you take in one of Los Angeles’s most beautiful views.

The interactions with the characters is minimal, and while the show can be heavy at times, it’s not intense in any way. I would recommend this show for couples, fans of architecture, fans of the 20s, and anyone who marvels at Art Deco. The cocktails are delicious and the beer/wine selection is divine. Be sure to wear your 1920s finery to fully immerse yourself in this experience.

— Briana Roecks, Los Angeles Correspondent

The Descent — CoLab Theatre
From £28, CoLab Bankside, London, UK; Until November 18th

“It’s a sad tale, it’s a tragedy.
It’s a sad song
But we sing it anyway”- Hadestown.

We gather at the HQ of ‘Look Back Industries’, by the banks of the River Thames. A company run by married couple, Orpheus and Eurydice. Their goal? To provide eternal life and bring back the dead.

Yet, in a surprise to no one who knows their myths, we are informed that a snake has bitten the female CEO, but if we can help bring her back to the land of the living then we will all receive shares in the company. So that is why we are going way down under the ground in the lift to Hades. Or a secret lab in the basement. There, in the darkness of the abandoned laboratory, we learn that the act of re-animation does work but it brings you back feral.

Over the next hour we are presented with an extended escape room in the dark. There are corridors to dash down and locked doors to find keys for. Solve puzzles and obtain the components needed in order to summon the dead. All the while a corpse dashes through the dark halls, shrieking. Ways to avoid the corpse were never clearly explained. My recollections of previous CoLab shows include monsters drawn to sound, where we were armed with small bells to throw as distractions. One of the scariest immersive moments I ever had was in one of these shows where the actor and I stood locking eyes while I held my breath. The ghost could see me but couldn’t attack me until I made a noise. Like a T-Rex in Jurassic Park, where “its vision is based on movement.” In this show I attempt some stealth, with lights off, holding my breath when hearing a shriek, while other audience members summon light from their mobile phones, scream and run into walls.

Orpheus did an excellent job trying to corral us. He provided additional challenges for those wishing to comply and was a comfort, suddenly appearing from the darkness next to you with a torch.

The puzzles are not particularly challenging or varied but do require sneaking from space to space and hoping that a shrieking audience member won’t come charging at you in the dark. I fear the mad shriek of a slightly drunk audience member more than the sprinting corpse.

The plot is unclear at times, are we in a failed experiment or actually in the land of the dead? There is a lot of world building material, including files for the failed experiments, which can be distracting but fun. We all jumped when someone managed to turn on a walkie talkie taken off a decades old corpse but still working. Sadly the climax is underwhelming. If you know your myths then you know the destiny of Orpheus and how his tale ends. But it was an entertaining work in progress containing some great moments and some decent scares.

— Thomas Jancis, London Correspondent

La Séance — The Hotel Who?
$165–225; Los Angeles through November 18

With this, their fourth show since the launch of the original experience in October 2022 The Hotel Who? has become one of LA’s currently most prolific immersive creative teams. The latest edition has some twists on their formula — some good, some not so good — but generally if you’ve been to one of these shows you know what you’re getting. If you haven’t, well, that’s where I come in.

The venue this time out is the historic Castle Ivar, up in the Hollywood Hills. The location scout for the team is maybe the best there is in town, and the Castle adds a lot of production value while also being their most intimate venue yet.

For the first hour of the show, the VIP dinner portion, this worked pretty well in the show’s favor. Guests and the performers mingled in a single space, and while things were cramped there was plenty of face time, improv, and general chitchat to get the vibe going. What didn’t work so well was the ties that bound the characters we were given, murder mystery style, with the characters proper of the show itself. Having characters did give us an alibi to ham things up, which many a person — myself included — did. That’s a plus. Yet the specificity of our characters didn’t really seem to add up to anything and more than one person I talked to appeared to have followed instructions but not gotten a result from the actors.

The dinner spread was beautiful, and while I only picked at the food (a combo of feeling guilty for eating when I’m on a review comp and that I’d had a solid lunch) what I had was scrumptious. Unfortunately a friend who I ran into was paying and missed out on the proteins because the buffet setup meant that others had stacked their plates high so the last in line, who were playing the game longer, missed out on food.

I’m just gonna say it: dinner is a trap and a mistake. At the scale of guests who were present — just over 30 at this point — it’s more headache than it is probably worth. Even if you have a great chef in your back pocket.

Things fell apart in the second hour, as the second wave of guests were added once the upstairs bar was open. Scenes became hard to see as the number of people in the audience were effectively doubled. In a bigger space this wouldn’t have been a problem, here it meant a lot of folks had no real sightlines for the two remaining set pieces. It felt like the limited space also stymied the dance choreography from the company, which is usually one of the highlights of these shows.

The actors once again were game, with The Hotel Who? having found itself a fun company of performers. Although why on Earth they bothered to comment in-world on the fact I was wearing a mask is beyond me. Just roll with it, kiddos. (This is the kind of thing that would piss some people I know off, I just took it as a chance to improv.)

The mystery part remains threadbare, with the heart of it all being envelopes handed out by staff and pieces of paper that we’re sent off to fetch. It’s fairly clunky as an interface, but plenty of people threw themselves into it this weekend.

Overall my note remains pretty much the same for this company: they could stand to do less. Tighten up the runtime and crack the nut of how they want the audience to be playing with each other so that pays off for everyone. They’ve made some moves in that direction, and this was easily the best version yet for socializing, but for how long the show is it’s too easy to find yourself mentally checking out of a pricey stay at The Hotel Who? before the killer is revealed.

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— Noah Nelson, Founder & Publisher

Monster — The McKittrick
From $100; NYC; Run Concluded

The annual Halloween Celebration at the McKittrick Hotel is always a delightfully wicked party, filled with wonderful interactive treats for the immersive aficionado. This year the theme of “Monster” pervades the hotel, with unique performances by current and former cast members taking the place of the hotel’s usual entertainment.

Dance and Voguing is on strong display on the fifth floor tonight, and mysterious cameras have appeared all around the space. Bathtubs, usually left bare in the traditional Sleep No More performance, are now host to attendees taking advantage of a prime selfie spot. The Ambra String Quartet performs string arrangements of contemporary top 40 hits on the fourth floor, while possessed dancers move around the space with the regular alluring charm that one expects from the McKittrick’s performers. The femme characters to be found here are all presented as pregnant, with near full-term bellies, and being introduced to “mother” was a short but delectable immersive treat, a one-on-one experience to be found amongst the throngs of costumed revelers.

A troupe of male performers brings an American Psycho-inspired presentation to the third floor, complete with perfectly primed premium suits, they primp themselves looking out to an imaginary mirror, only to protect their outfits with clear plastic raincoats when things take a darker turn. Meanwhile, a crew of film directors is found on the second floor, performing alongside the MK Groove Orchestra, who are looking for the next star or starlet to join their projects. Reminiscent of the “follies” which used to be a part of Manderley, I enjoyed the improvisation and comedic nature of the event greatly.

The Ballroom is filled the most throughout the event, and Vegas-style performances can be found here. Inspired by the regular story to be found in the hotel, there are some incredible moments of revelry to be found here. Costumes from fellow attendees are always a treat to behold, and some of the monstrous costumes were truly inspired. Meeting with a familiar face or two, it is clear that the McKittrick still holds a dear place in the hearts of so many, all of whom enjoy returning to the hotel under any excuse.

As far as large-scale events, the McKittrick truly stands alone within the New York Immersive scene, and in fact, when it comes to Halloween events, it stands as high as any other exclusive nightlife venue in the city. With five floors to explore, there is something for every sort of party attendee — but for those of us who know what usually goes on in this space, there are some extra special tricks to be found amongst the treats on display.

— Edward Mylechreest, NYC Senior Correspondent

Sleep No More: Salon Series — The McKittrick
$160; Manhattan; Next Event 11/12 @ 2PM

It is hard to underestimate the indelible mark that Sleep No More has had on our community of immersive experiences. Over a decade of performances, many talented individuals have graced the McKittrick Hotel with their unique take on Shakespearean characters, and many have gone on to create their own work and companies. The show continues to inspire and challenge audiences, and now the hotel is allowing the public a rare glimpse behind the scenes of what makes Sleep No More so special.

Sold as part of a Salon Series, the ticket includes priority access to the performance of Sleep No More that evening, followed by a talkback with cast and crew, with a glass or two of bubbles to enjoy. It is always a treat to return to Manderley, and I greatly enjoyed my time within the show as always. There is always more to discover, and new character realizations to witness, and I was not disappointed. Some new additions to the show were most welcome, including an in-world newspaper that is available for guests to take home after the show, which includes an up-to-date cast list, including pictures of performers, and some tasty articles that long-term fans of the show can devour. Following the show, those of us marked for the salon, around thirty individuals, eagerly gathered to see where we would be ushered to next for this intriguing new event.

This inaugural event featured three iconic performers from years gone by: Tori Sparks (an Original Lady Macbeth, and creator of several other iconic characters), Isadora Wolfe (current Resident Director and former performer, who reprised a role in a one-night-only performance that very evening!), and host for this special event, Ilana Gilvoich-Wave (performer and current Chief Storyteller for Emursive). These three women have brought so much to the mythos of Sleep No More, and their knowledge of the piece is second to none. During the thirty-minute panel discussion, we touched on questions of creation, curation, and adaptation, as the panel looked back on the beginnings and the progression of this show. Hearing the panel discuss the show, from a performance and academic vantage point, was fascinating, and only served to ignite greater respect for this giant of the immersive entertainment world.

Following the panel, time was allotted for some audience Q&A, all of which were handled deftly and carefully — some secrets must remain of course, but the team was wonderfully forthcoming with their responses, and I learned about more than one unique Easter Egg which I had never heard before.

I had assumed that the vast majority of attendees to this inaugural event would be Sleep No More super fans, those who have spent many years returning to this special experience, but while I did recognize one or two in the crowd, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were far more who had come to the McKittrick for the very first time this evening. The Salon Series is a wonderful addition to the Sleep No More offering, and this premium experience seems to have intrigued several attendees enough that they would come tonight. Future Salon Series performances are planned, with other illustrious guests joining each time, and truly this is a great excuse to attend this iconic work, for those who are old friends and newcomers alike.

Insightful, educational, and delightful, I look forward to returning to a Salon Series performance of Sleep No More very soon!

— Edward Mylechreest, NYC Senior Correspondent

Synchronicity — United Visual Artists
£20; London UK; through 30 December 2023

I am in a subterranean space beneath the Strand, staring up at swinging lamps. I have been standing here for fifteen minutes, hypnotized, as a gentle haze rises up the slanted concrete floor and fills the room with a murky mist that fuzzes the outlines of my fellow watchers and fills me with a sense of liminality: passing through these pendulous moving lights, down the ramp, through the doorway means passing through phases of being.

Synchronicity is a curated presentation of works by United Visual Artists (UVA), a collective focused on creating “choreographed environments.” The previously-described installation Our Time is one of eight installations transforming the undercroft of 180 Studios, all using site-sympathetic combinations of light, sound, and computer code to paint the architecture with experiential design.

So experiential, in fact, that my personal favorite (Edge of Chaos) feels inherently threatening: a kinetic sculpture which spins a clicking lamp bulb in frenetic circuits around the room, throwing itself along its axes like a stalking animal pacing its cage. I creep around the edges of the space — freezing when its unblinking eye randomly focuses on me before it draws away and recommences its unceasing sweep. The piece would make an excellent video game villain.

Not all the pieces are standouts, and audiences with light sensitivity or traces of epilepsy should be prepared to skip some exhibits. The entire-wall-based artworks are imposing and impressive, but I’m not able to linger with these as I struggle with screens after dark.

As a whole, though, Synchronicity presents a dazzling array of vastly differing pieces within one gallery; enough to welcome guests for as little as forty minutes or as long as several hours. I could have gladly spent an hour alone in Polyphony: an electric forest installed in a basement, rich with the sounds of the Central African Republic, bathing in the sense of woodsy solitude while only being steps below one of the busiest streets in town.

What UVA accomplishes with just light, sound, code, and haze is a showcase of fundamental building blocks for experiential affect — scenic designers should not miss Synchronicity while it’s illuminating London this season.

— Shelley Snyder, London Curator

U2 The Sphere in Las Vegas — U2/The Sphere
$400+; Las Vegas; Through February

The Sphere represents an attempt to transform the rock concert experience into an immersive touchstone scaled up for the masses. To launch the venue with U2, memorializing their iconic album Achtung Baby and equally revolutionary Zoo TV tour, the expectations amongst rock fans and immersive junkies alike are sky high. As a member of both of those groups of patrons, I can say that those expectations have summarily been met and exceeded, while leaving open many possibilities for future artist residencies.

U2’s 1992 Zoo TV tour represented an evolution for the band as a performing entity. Eschewing a decade of heart-on-the-sleeve sincerity for ironic artifice centered around the necessity to watch the band on video walls around massive stadia, and the challenges that created in the connection between the band and their fans. The result was a veritable bombardment of media that while not immersive in a modern sense, certainly set a standard of media overstimulation for the time.

Updating those media tropes from banks of video walls littered around a post-Cold War mise-en-scène into a clean, enveloping video wall centers the audience in a video environment that initially overwhelms the band’s physical performance. As the concert progresses, the media content gets toned down and the image magnification possibilities of the wall are explored and eventually taken away. For the hit-filled encore set, the video explodes with content culminating on a reflection of the natural world that the man made Las Vegas has been built on top of.

Is this truly an immersive rock concert? I’ll argue not necessarily… Concerts by The XX at Park Avenue Armory, and Feist’s Multitudes tour set a standard for how to blend the immersive theatre world and the music worlds. Even U2’s Innocence + Experience tours had much more immersive play with physical props and set design. But the scale of the Sphere is undeniable, and as an opening draft, this Achtung Baby residency succeeds in ways that makes Darren Aronofsky’s Postcard From Earth (playing at the Sphere in tandem around U2’s show days, and which I saw opening weekend) underwhelming. If we’re just watching the Sphere as a giant screen, it’s just a grandiose Omnimax cinema, but when it’s in service of a larger production, the Sphere can deliver a transcendent experience.

– Martin Gimenez, Correspondent at Large

#uglycry- Off the Wall Productions
$25, NYC; through Nov 18th

Katie Mack’s #uglycry is the story of the murder of her ex-boyfriend Eric Anthamatten and her life after his passing. As the title suggests, coming to terms with that death was not an easy or clean process, and the show embodies the chaos of grief in a profound and powerful way.

#uglycry is interactive — Mack is in an extended conversation with the audience for the entire show, taking pictures with us, singing together, and calling us out by name, revealing the often disturbing and self-destructive ways she struggled with Eric’s death. Using augmented reality and QR codes, Mack demonstrates how she went on deep dives rewatching internet content of Eric and hacking that content so a virtual Eric could talk to her or appear next to her in images. We even compete on stage to be Mack’s legacy contact should she suddenly die.

What makes the piece work so well is the ambiguity of these gestures — there’s clearly something very sad about clinging to this digital record of Eric, but Mack is adamant that she loves the internet and unabashedly embraces these technologies, even as she realizes a need to step away from them to heal. As a processing of death, it’s sloppy and dissonant at times, but that’s entirely the point. The conversational tone and our phone interactions to scan links and view AR makes us accomplices in the attempt to bring back something lost. It’s remarkable how emotionally resonant that process is.

What Mack creates is not so much an arc of coming to terms with loss (although the piece does resolve to a kind of closure), but a reflection of the true brokenness and pain that loss is. Mack doesn’t offer us easy answers. Insofar as there’s a moral, it’s to grieve hard and survive by leaning on others, physical and digital. A central prop in the piece is a treadmill — Mack runs on it for almost half the show. She seems to be running in place, but at the end of the show, she reveals she’s training for an Iron Man competition, a promise to herself for the future. The fact that it can be both is what works about Mack’s story — as a reflection on grief, the show powerfully reminds us that loss is painful and getting through it is possible, but not pretty.

– Nicholas Fortugno, New York Correspondent

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