‘EFX!’ and Its World of Wonder, Vegas Style : Theater: Producers combine glitz, the star power of Michael Crawford and special effects to create what they hope will be a long-running show.

Michael Crawford stood on the vast stage at the MGM Grand, weaving his spell as Merlin the Magician, one of the alter egos of the EFX Master, the conjurer of spectacular illusions and special effects.

Clothed in a striking white outfit, Crawford was in the middle of the first part of the show about how the “wonders of magic and believing can make everything possible” when a metallic voice that sounded like the female counterpart to Hal, the computer in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” boomed from out of nowhere.

“All stop. All stop,” the voice said gently. “We will be stopping the show momentarily. We will resume as soon as possible.”

The packed audience murmured as a large black curtain flowed down, many of them wondering if this was all part of “EFX!,” the high-tech multimedia extravaganza that recently opened at the MGM Grand. A break of a few minutes proved that the stoppage was not part of the show.

Soon, the curtain came up and Crawford stood at the middle of the stage, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry about that,” he said in a hushed voice. “In the world of ‘EFX,’ nearly everything is possible.”

It was early June. “EFX” was still trying to iron its bugs out, as well as chop the production down to a sleek, efficient 90-minute running time so that patrons would not be kept long from their gambling activities.

The audience clapped heartily, forgiving the technical snafu, which turned out to be a computerized backdrop and projection screen that had failed to come down in time to cover a gaping hole in the stage, endangering the onstage cast. Sometimes a quick ad-lib can warm an audience more than the most awe-inspiring special effect.

Still, the “efx”--or rather, the effects--are the thing in the production of “EFX!,” as the creators compete for attention in a town filled with flashy diversions ranging from nickel slots to the disappearing white tigers of Siegfried and Roy and the aerobatics of Mystere, Cirque du Soleil’s production at Treasure Island. A spokeswoman for the production said this week that “EFX” has consistently sold out the 1,700-seat theater since opening early this summer.

To that end, the producers have combined the star power and dramatic stage roots of veteran actor Crawford, the original star of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera,” and the staples of Las Vegas--color, dancing girls and vibrant production numbers--with special effects. Illusions, lasers, pyrotechnics, smoke and projections work together, at times simultaneously, to create worlds of wonder.

Among the most difficult effects designed by the creators of the $42-million show are a fire-breathing dragon that does battle with another dragon-like creature, a 100-foot-long spaceship weighing 75,000 pounds that takes up the entire stage, and the depiction of an underground civilization inhabited by the grungy Morlocks that involves the revolution of giant towers as well as the incorporation of moving sets and film to simulate a descent below ground.

Behind the glitz, and after hours, the production resembles a three-story mini-factory with numerous computer monitors, gigantic hydraulic lifts and equipment and giant props scattered above and below. A screen that will project a 3-D film showing a journey through time is hidden in the rafters. Welders work onstage while a giant egg-shaped cast in the shape of a face hangs above them. During the evening performances, the cast is used to turn a large projection of Crawford’s face into a glowing Wizard of Oz-type figure amid swirling clouds of fog. A massive hand with immaculately manicured nails sits idly nearby.

“This is Broadway meets Las Vegas,” said Scott Faris, the youthful director of “EFX.” “We want to create a sense of wonder, and give them a feeling of joy. We also want to give them a soft human feeling while we are bombarding them with all this visual excitement. With some of these illusions, there are lasers, fire, smoke and projections all working at the same time.”

The rigors of putting all the elements together of the production, which started taking shape in late 1993, has taken its toll on Faris and others in the production. The technical director was slightly injured when trying to manually move one of the show’s heavy backdrops. A dancer was injured in late May when she fell during one of the show’s large production numbers.

The show plays 10 times a week, and plans are under way to take increase it to 12 weekly in the fall.

“This is the most demanding thing I’ve ever done, energy-wise and emotionally,” Faris said.

Roy E. Sears, the show’s technical director and vice president of production at Harris Production Services, is a veteran of several large productions, but insisted that he has never worked on anything on the scale of “EFX.”

“I’ve worked on ‘Shogun,’ ‘Me and My Girl,’ ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ but I would compare this to four or five of those shows combined,” Sears said.

Just the Morlock scene alone, Sears said, requires moving tons of scenery at the same time that rear projection is being shown to illustrate the descent down into the Morlock world.

“That illusion alone is a multi-, multimillion-dollar transformation,” said associate producer James Trudeau. “We didn’t want to spare any expense because we want this to run for at least 10 years.”

The show is also full of stunts that require Crawford, the show’s big draw, to sing while standing on a floating disk, and to dangle from a rope while sliding on a cable from the balcony to the stage.

Although some industry insiders have looked upon Broadway veteran Crawford’s starring in a Las Vegas extravaganza with some cynicism, he said he is full of pride about the project.

“This is like bringing all my favorite toys into the playroom,” said Crawford, who plays several characters such as Harry Houdini and P.T. Barnum. “You can’t look upon this with cynicism. It takes cleverness to go from opera to drama to a play like this.”

Despite the special effects and largeness of “EFX,” Crawford, who is signed to the show for two years, said the production still qualifies as straight theater.

“It helps if you walk in a little wide-eyed with the child in you alive,” he said. “I think it will be around for a long, long time.”

* Tickets for “EFX” at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas are available by calling (800) 929-1111.