The original and best the only thing borrowed about this show is its name. The Lido Show Paris is steeped in tradition from the golden era of late night entertainment and risqu?, daring shows. The fireworks started at the Lido Show Paris in 1948 and still continue to crackle, fizz and sparkle on the Champs-Elysee today drawing huge audiences from all over the world on a nightly basis. Famous for the high-quality dances of the shows and the class and incredible talent with which the dancers perform, it is clear why this is a world-wide phenomenon and why it will always be centre stage of the Paris cabaret scene.
Lido di Venezia
The term Lido that gave its name to the Lido Show Paris has its roots in the region of Venice on the outlying archipelago where bathing took place from the late 19th Century. In Italian meaning beach' but the term has taken on mystery and connotations of sumptuous spectacles and black and white tourists in striped beachwear. With a reputation for relaxing the members of high society from May to September a little known film festival began on the island in 1932. The Venice Film Festival continues today and hosts the brightest stars in Hollywood and the international film world. The cultural connections do not stop there as this sand bank between Venice and the Adriatic Sea was also the setting for Thomas Mann's 1912 novel Death in Venice. For centuries Doges would head out to the Lido to make the offering of a ring into the water to offer thanks and show respect to the waters, a tradition that may need to be rekindled today to save Venice from encroaching waters.
Lido Show Las Vegas
The show in Las Vegas is a crucial part of the history of shows in this dry but ever-sizzling city, which had been taken directly from the Lido Show Paris. The Stardust hotel revolutionized performance art by producing an original show instead of an act whose name alone would draw in the fans and won the praise of the public and hotel owners across Las Vegas. The Lido Show Paris was imitated from the streets of Paris to the desert of Nevada and was so popular other resorts did the same and began to stage more outrageous and boisterous shows to rival the ones that had gone before. The show continued for 31 years and was decommissioned in 1991 after showing visitors to Las Vegas how to have a real good time. The introduction of some European class to the star-filled programmes of yesteryear revolutionized the Vegas shows as we know (and love) them today.