The cast and crew of The Beatles LOVE prepare for their final performance

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — After nearly two decades on the Las Vegas Strip, the cast and crew of The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil are preparing for their final performance.

The last public performance of the show will be on July 6th and a final private performance is planned for July 7th, Ringo Starr’s 84th birthday. Tickets are still available and can be found here.

The show will close as the Mirage undergoes construction and renovations over the next three years as the property is converted into the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and the Guitar Hotel Las Vegas.

WATCH: Mirage to close in July 2024

Mirage will close in July 2024 and become Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

How did we get here?

The idea for the show actually came from former Beatle George Harrison, who became friends with Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Lalibertè. The two met because of their love of Formula 1 racing.

Serious discussions about a Cirque show with Beatles music began around the year 2000.

“I was really involved from the beginning because I promoted and developed this project with George,” Lalibertè said in All Together Now, a 2008 Cirque du Soleil documentary about the creation of the show. “For him, this project was not just a show. It was an opportunity to bring the living members of the Beatles together to work on a creative project again.”

Harrison sadly passed away in 2001, but everyone involved wanted to go ahead with the project in his honor. Cirque du Soleil, MGM Mirage and Apple Corps Ltd., which represents the Beatles, came to an agreement and preparations began.

“The Beatles gave me a lot of freedom in writing and directing this show and I really appreciated that,” said director and writer Dominic Champagne in 2006. “I knew the balance between them was very fragile.”

However, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono all contributed to the show and shared their thoughts throughout the process.

MJ KIM/MJ KIM/MPL Communication

Cirque du Soleil

After a five-month production in Montreal, Canada, the LOVE team prepared for production in Las Vegas and the curtain officially rose on June 30, 2006.

According to Bobby Baldwin, former president and CEO of Mirage Resorts, the show’s success was not guaranteed.

“You might think you can’t go wrong with Cirque du Soleil and the Beatles, but the risk in the entertainment business is about as great as the risk in poker,” Baldwin said in 2008. “There are no sure bets.”

At the time, Baldwin estimated the total investment in “The Beatles LOVE” at about $180 million.

That risk paid off, and here we are 18 years later. Cast and crew, like prop technician Erica Anderson, remember the show’s early days and have seen the show evolve and change over the years.

“My favorite part of the show is Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! because it’s changed. We’ve tried many variations of that act and every time there’s so much going on and you think this is a really cool element and then you’ve twisted it and you think this is cooler than before,” Anderson said. “We have superfans who come back 30 to 40 times and every time they see something new and they’re like, ‘Oh. I never noticed that before.’ It’s really fun when you’re there for the first time, or the second time, or the 50th time and you might see something different.”

In addition to over 11 million guests, over 500 celebrities have seen the show. According to Cirque du Soleil, some of these famous faces include:

• Eddie Murphy
• prince
• MichaelJackson
• Tom Cruise
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Tom Hanks
• Shania Twain
• Shaquille O’Neal
• Celine Dion

Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil

Dion was one of the youngest guests and dancer Valerie Zarkowski said it was incredible to meet her.

“Knowing that she had a show on the Strip herself and that she’s a singer and an artist and a performer and that she came to talk to us was very moving,” Zarkowski said. “She knew what we were going through, the happy moments where we were just trying to take it all in, every moment, and just let it go because that’s what we need to do. She’s incredible.”

You might even meet a former Beatle. Starr was at the show last month and McCartney made an unexpected visit last October.

“He showed up at the theater unannounced. He was standing right outside our stage door and that’s where we all go in. He couldn’t get in because he hadn’t told anyone he was coming, so I let him in. I said I’m escorting you to your meeting, and he said I don’t have a meeting. I’m just here to say hi,” said acrobat Sasha Harrington. “I asked who? He said no one in particular. Just whoever is here. I said well, it’s super early so no one’s really here yet. He said I’ll just walk around and say hi. We walked around and walked to the stage. He said to tell everyone I said hi. I said no one is going to believe me, and he said well, let’s take a picture… I emailed our company manager like Paul McCartney was here. I hope that’s cool.”

Harrington grew up in Southern California and was a gymnast before attending circus school in San Francisco.

In LOVE she plays Julia, the character who represents John Lennon’s mother.

“I was a huge Beatles fan, especially in high school. A Day In The Life was my favorite song and by chance that became the song I play in my performance,” said Harrington. “I think the hardest part of my job is delivering a really connected, present performance for each new audience that comes to see the show, to make sure we’re really telling the story and telling it with as much feeling and authenticity as possible.”

Cirque du Soleil

Attentive fans may notice the cast appearing in different roles or multiple numbers throughout the show.

“There are a lot of acrobatic acts, but even when there are acrobats on stage, there are dancers too,” Zarkowski explained. “I could do up to five numbers a night. But in total, we have about eight to ten numbers that we perform in the show.”

So what makes the show so special and memorable for people?

Cast, crew and creators all have the same answer: the music.

“I knew the Beatles, but I didn’t know the songs, and I couldn’t feel the songs the way I feel them now after performing them for two and a half years,” Zarkowski said. “I’ll never hear a Beatles song again and just not be able to feel it as deeply, because now we hear it every night and we perform it, so it’s physical. When we don’t play it anymore, it will definitely still bring back those feelings of feeling the actual music, almost like it’s running through our veins.”

The music for the show was brought to life by father-son duo George Martin and Giles Martin and was, according to Giles, “terrifying.”

“When I started this, I was full of fear and disgust and horror and thought, ‘God, I’ve been given a Beatles tape and they want me to do something with it and people are going to hate me for it,'” Giles said in 2008.

“There’s a Beatles fan somewhere who says they shouldn’t do this,” George said in 2008. “They should leave the masters as they know them, but we’re going in a new direction here.”

Starr agreed and even said they should have done more.

“(George) knew where the bodies were hidden on those tapes,” Starr said, explaining that George knew where to find certain parts of songs and how to put them together in a new, unexpected way. “They mixed 15 minutes of music first and we went to listen to it. I was blown away and kept saying, make it crazier. You can go broader, in my opinion. Not just for the sake of going broader, but because it was so cool.”

Music from The Beatles LOVE contains elements from 130 individual, commercially released and demo recordings by The Beatles. In 2008, the show’s album won two GRAMMY Awards: Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and Best Surround Sound Album. The album was also George Martin’s last album as a producer. He died in 2016.

Cirque du Soleil

What’s next?

For some artists, like Zarkowski, the closure of LOVE means the end. She said she is leaving the stage after performing in several shows over the past 17 years to focus on motherhood.

“I’ve had a really long career and I can’t believe I was part of Cirque, the Beatles LOVE, and I feel like I want to end it like this. It’s a bittersweet feeling, but I can’t wait to have that last performance with everyone on stage, feel all the feels and see everyone move on and continue to have a great career,” Zarkowski said. “I feel like I’ve just done everything, and I want to end on the biggest stage I can find, and this is just the right place to do it.”

For others, the end of LOVE means a new beginning.

“There will always be opportunities in the future and many of us will move on to the next project, the next show together,” Anderson said. “I don’t look at it as a loss to our family, but as an opportunity to continue our journey together in the future.”

WATCH: Channel 13’s Tricia Kean goes behind the scenes at The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil

Channel 13’s Tricia Kean takes a look behind the scenes of The Beatles LOVE

For Harrington, seeing the reaction to the end of the show was a huge reward because the cast and crew really felt the LOVE.

“It’s very sad and beautiful at the same time. It was an incredible experience to see the show celebrated when the news came that we were closing,” Harrington said. “It felt like a huge celebration of the history, the phases of the show, the parts of the show, all the people it takes to put the show together. It feels like a big celebration that honors all of us and honors the message of the show.”

While the show may not maintain its current format forever, Cirque officials have not necessarily ruled out a future collaboration with the Beatles.

“Recreating something the way it was originally created is not realistic, but being inspired by it is definitely something Cirque thrives on,” said Kati Renaud, Cirque du Soleil’s chief artistic director. “Because of the Beatles’ musical aspect, it’s quite popular and invites discussion (about the show’s future).”

When it comes to the legacy of The Beatles Love and Beatles music in general, George Martin perhaps said it best in 2008.

“Every generation discovers the Beatles as they grow up,” he said. “My children have discovered them, and my grandchildren have discovered them, and it will continue. Really.”

For more information about the show, including how to purchase tickets, click here.