Las Vegas’ Appearing Act

Credis quod habes et habes, “What you believe is real is real.”

That’s the motto at Caesars Magical Empire, a $35-million magic venue and scripted dining experience that officially opened last week here at Caesars Palace.

Never mind that after the motto has been repeated a few times, it starts to sound a little like Que sera sera, “What will be will be.” If seeing is believing, the 66,000-square-foot Magical Empire figures to be churning out believers at the rate of 2,400 per day.

Even the Empire’s 150-seat Sultan’s Palace, intended for grand-scale illusions, seems up close and personal. And the Secret Pagoda, a 75-seat theater-in-the-round, is designed specifically for close-up magicians such as Johnny Ace Palmer and Christopher Loren Michaels, both of whom live in Orange County (Story, F1).

“It’s like having Frank Sinatra in your living room,” said magic director Ray Pierce (also responsible for the magic in Disneyland’s new stage show, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame Festival of Fools.”)

“When you see magic on television, you can’t help but say, ‘If I was there, it’d be different,’ and in most cases you’d be right. And when you see it in a big theater, you love the immediacy. . . .

“But magic is a personal moment. The Secret Pagoda is four rows deep; I’ve never seen a room [for magic] like this anywhere in the world. When you see somebody right here under your nose do something, you go. . . !”

Pierce’s wow of amazement went unsaid, but others may say it long before they get to the Secret Pagoda.

The Magical Empire experience begins adjacent to the hotel’s Sports Book area, in the Celestial Court, which is bedecked with globe-bearing statuary, winged griffins and other mystical figures and symbols, and marble flooring inspired by a pattern in Nero’s Palace in Rome. The imposing voice of Ceronomus (Caesar’s chief vizier) welcomes visitors to the Chamber of Destiny, where an environmental illusion lands them in subterranean catacombs.

They are guided by a centurion to one of 10 dining chambers of the gods, each accommodating 24 people, where they are entertained with music, comedy (“What’s a Roman urn? About $2.50 an hour”) and magic by master sorcerer Octavius, and served a three-course meal by his wait-staff, Maximus and Minimus.

The Forbidden Crypt of Ramses is another environmental illusion that has you doubting the ground beneath your feet. It leads to the central Sanctum Secorum, a seven-story-high pavilion that is the site of a sound-and-light pyrotechnic show called Lumineria, not to mention an infinity chamber and a collapsing bridge.

A poltergeist-like Maximus Maven performs interactive magic with those who order after-dinner drinks in the Spirit Bar; Invisibella the player-less piano takes requests in the Grotto Bar.

Then it’s on to shows in the Secret Pagoda and Sultan’s Palace.

“It’s a completely interactive attraction,” said Tishman engineer Virgil Maravillas during a recent dinner seating. “All of your surroundings are part of the show; you are part of the show.”

“Tishman [Construction Corp. of Nevada] built the facility, we designed it,” explained Gary Goddard of North Hollywood-based Landmark Entertainment Group. “They did everything you don’t see, we did everything you do see.” Landmark also created Universal Studios’ Jurassic Park ride; its Star Trek attraction is due to open next summer at the Las Vegas Hilton.

To bring off the Magical Empire’s mystical Egyptian-cum-Roman-cum-Asian theme--which does come off, no small feat itself--builders and designers were nothing if not resourceful.

According to Maravillas, the Egyptian sculptures and Asian dragons came from Italy, Chinese paintings were painted by an American, and other paintings were done by Chinese Americans.

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Two Thai foo-dog statues are authentic, said Caesars public relations director Debbie Munch, as are other artifacts from Egypt and Iran, between 150 and 950 years old, in the hallway outside the Sultan’s Palace.

Acts inside the Sultan’s Palace recently included Jonathan Neal, who capped his act with a classic multiplying bottle trick that’s 100 years new. Christopher Hart, who played Thing in “The Addams Family Movie,” presented a romantic interlude with a second hand--which he said he’d picked up in a secondhand store.

Joseph Gabriel apparently turned a female assistant into a cockatiel, which flew around the room before he turned it back into a woman. Goldfinger and Dove performed unusual card tricks, often with unusual cards (e.g., oversize or with their middle thirds missing); in one trick, cards seemed to endlessly stream out of Goldfinger’s mouth.

“Watch this as closely as you can,” Palmer challenged his Secret Pagoda audience as a thimble jumped from finger to finger. When baby chicks suddenly appeared under several cups, in a variation of the classic ball-and-cup trick, an awe-struck woman involuntarily asked, “Are they real?” She quickly added the disclaimer, “I didn’t say that!” He produced one dove from nowhere, then seemed to turned the one into two.

Depending on day and time of reservation, the cost for the 2 1/2- to three-hour experience is $45 to $50 for lunch, $65 to $75 for dinner. Expensive?

“It’s worth every penny. I enjoyed it so much,” gushed Virginia Smith of Miami. “It’s the highlight of my trip. Yes it is, oh yes it is!”

* Caesars Magical Empire, Caesars Palace, 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas. Daily, 11:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. (Dinner seatings begin at 4:30 p.m.) $45-$75. Ages 12 and up. (702) 731-7333 or (800) 445-4544.