Criss Angel and Franco Dragone Announce Something

By Scott Roeben, on February 16 2021
2 min read 8 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Shows

You can tell Las Vegas is healing because performers like Criss Angel are starting to send out baffling news releases again.

Today, the longtime Strip magician (sorry, “magic’s most celebrated visionary”) Criss Angel announced he’ll be collaborating with Franco Dragone on something.

Sorry, “Franco Dragone, the creative mastermind behind world-renowned entertainment productions including ‘O,’ ‘Mystere’ by Cirque du Solei (sic), ‘Le Reve’ and Celine Dion’s ‘A New Day.'”

This is the first collaboration between Angel and Dragone and everyone involved is very excited about whatever the project might be.

Honestly, we have no idea because the announcement was light on details.

Criss Angel
We get the feeling Criss Angel frequently asks to speak to a manager.

The project, dubbed “Mr. Smiles & Molly,” is scheduled to open later in 2021.

We trust this is a show of some sort, and that it involves Ecstasy, but other than that, all we get is buzzwords.

Las Vegas performers never let a lack of information get in the way of an announcement.

According to the announcement, “Mr. Smiles & Molly” will be an “Interactive Immersive Euphoria.” Remember, everything’s more exciting in title case.

Our heart goes out to the P.R. firm forced to include that wording in the news release, although it’s an undeniable gift from the comedy heavens for snarky blogs and Twitter accounts. Allegedly.

Also a gift is this chat between Angel and Dragone we estimate you’ll watch three minutes of, tops.


As for the big announcement, to presumably clarify, Dragone says the “new surreal pre-night club experience” will be a “bold fusion between the world of electronic music and theatre.”

Aha, electronic music. Told you Ecstasy would be involved! Confirmed!

Also, what is a “pre-night club experience”? If it’s a “pre-night club experience,” is it even technically a show? Is it something you do before night? Did Dragone mean “pre-nightclub experience”?

So many questions, so little interest in the answers. Still, we like new things, so we’ll have to keep an eye on this one, whatever it might actually be.

Nobody can say Criss Angel doesn’t constantly look for new ways to keep his “brand” relevant. While Angel’s time in Las Vegas hasn’t been without challenges (his show at Luxor closed in 2018, presumably due to lagging ticket sales), he’s managed to survive in a competitive entertainment market.

Criss Angel
Criss Angel had a drama-filled public feud with Cirque, Dragone’s former stomping grounds.

Hitching his wagon to Franco Dragone, a creative force of nature with a solid track record, certainly won’t hurt Angel’s chances of a successful venture, no matter where it might land.

Dragone has kept busy during the pandemic redefining entertainment or whatever.

Our prediction: The collaboration between Criss Angel and Dragone is going to result in a metric buttload of glorious WTF.

While we love to poke fun at Criss Angel, partly because he’s got all the charisma of pudding skin (not to mention his lackeys blocked us on Twitter), the magician has a lot of die-hard fans who will no doubt be excited to hear Angel could have yet another trick up his celebrated visionary sleeve.