Katy Perry’s New Las Vegas Residency ‘Play’ Is A Trip
If you’re going to be “Waking Up In Vegas” with Katy Perry’s PLAY show, hold on to your hat: it’s got everything a Katy fan would want: a compelling narrative, rainbow glamour, hilarity, and did we mention the giant toilet… and the talking poop that lives in it?
Presented by AEG Presents and Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas this 95-minute, five-act show immediately lures you into Katy’s world via a video of internet sensation Ricky T guiding us through a store of Katy collectibles including Left Shark, King Purry, Roaring Tiger, Lickable Lips, and coming in hot, Katy Doll. And after that: Katy starts the show.
Act 1: Henry The Horror – We meet Henry, a young boy who wins a Katy Doll from the mischievous crane game, and who is very attached to it. Katy opens the night with her space-themed track “E.T.” as a giant bed, chair, and serpent-like electrical cord move around the room. Trying to stay alive amongst the chaos, we watch Katy make herself at home amongst his toys favoriting a rocking horse. Riding the back of the child’s toy like a surfboard, Katy sings her heart out to “Dark Horse.”
Act 2: Flushed – We learn many of Henry’s mannerisms which include farting and messy teeth brushing. Katy starts out with, “Well welcome to the show. I don’t know what day of the week it is… I think it’s a ‘Friyay’ and I think it’s the beginning of the year.” She graces us with her 2010 classic, “California Gurls” where backup dancers dressed in floaties and blue swimsuits pop out of a red oversized toilet but the best part is her introduction to Mr. Poo. Mr. Poo is just what he sounds like – an enormous bowel movement. Are you watching your bristol stool chart in 2022? Katy asks, “You didn’t know it was going to get this real, early in the night, right?”
Act 3: Eat Me – Henry is on his own agenda and hasn’t been taught how much it hurts when you discard someone else’s feelings. His Katy Doll ends up outside running for her life from the family dog. She ends up in a mushroom patch where she bites the forbidden fungi causing her delusions and reality to come together. Katy comes out on stage on a massive snail singing “Bon Appetit.” And it’s true what they say… don’t do drugs kids. Katy Doll, feeling the side effects of the mushroom, falls victim to the family dog dragging her through the mud. Henry retrieves the doll, realizing she’s no longer perfect he discards her into the trash.
Act 4: Trashun – Now that Henry is gone, Katy Doll lies in the trash making friends amongst the discarded, including a huge disposable mask. Katy and the mask banter back and forth on COVID-19 and the mask mandate. “Nobody thought anything of the mask… Right?! I’d only see you on my dentist’s face, or my doctors, or my… botox clinic.” The crowd laughs. “That’s right I’m 37, and I know it,” says Katy. The crowd cheers even louder. The “Wide Awake” singer is wearing a dress made from two giant cans and soda tabs, and she pours herself a drink out of one of them.
Act 5: Perry Playland – Then, Katy Doll is rescued from the trash by Henry’s neighbor who gives her a much-needed cleaning and rebirth. Katy Perry comes out in a dazzling orange and yellow dress through a keyhole silhouette of a colossal pink door. The number starts slow as the pink door “opens” Katy breaks into full production of “Teenage Dream” with fireworks, a giant stairway, and performers wearing headdresses and intricate outfits.
The setlist:
- “E.T.”
- “Chained to the Rhythm”
- “Dark Horse”
- “Not The End of The World”
- “California Gurls”
- “Hot N Cold” / “Last Friday Night”
- “Waking Up in Vegas”
- “Bon Appetit”
- “Daisies”
- “I Kissed A Girl”
- “Lost” / “Part of Me” / “Wide Awake”
- “Swish Swish”
- “When I’m Gone” / “Walking On Air”
- “Never Really Over”
- “Teenage Dream”
- “Smile”
- “Roar”
- “Greatest Love Of All” – Whitney Houston cover
- “Firework”
