Hans Klok: The Beauty of Magic **1/2
Hans Klok is a big deal overseas, as evidenced by his sell-out European tour and all the YouTube postings about him, and expectations for this new Strip addition have been high. He is appealing (if a bit fussy about his hair); his assistants Debby Verheij, Nathalie Hoop and Zarina Potapova smoothly execute their duties; and, beginning with the opening number, where Giulio Scatole and Mirko Battuello pull off some great stuff, the way-above-average dancers provide some of the better moments in the show. Plus, guest star Pamela Anderson is sweet and charming.
But structurally, the show is a mess.
And that’s a shame because the talent is there. Klok is a decent illusionist (though the illusions are repetitive), and he interacts well with his assistants and Anderson while moving through his act with great speed. Unfortunately, he hampers the show with a confusing combined narrative about his relationship with his father and a disjointed world tour (although the tour does let the dancers show their versatility). Standouts are the witty pseudo-Stomp bit on top of wheels of Gouda cheese—Klok is Dutch—and a good-humored Bollywood send-up.
The narratives might have been good for brief interludes but are too thin to carry through the entire evening. The show also has a soundtrack so loud it even had the younger audience members squirming. And Anderson doesn’t appear until way late in the show—a major flaw.
Bottom line: The show is less than the sum of its parts. –Geri Jeter
Thursday-Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 7 and 10 p.m., $68-$108. Planet Hollywood, 785-5000.