It's not necessarily "good" in the way that word is usually used, but it's not the unmitigated disaster that many of the early reviews would have had you believe.

"It" is "Believe," the latest Cirque du Soleil production to take up residence on The Strip, a sometimes uncomfortable partnership with illusionist Criss Angel now playing at Luxor.

For those unfamiliar with either of the major players, Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian performance company that specializes in aerialist style circus acts, dance, and dramatic avant garde theater. Criss Angel is a magician with a rock and roll attitude and his own show on A&E called "Mindfreak."

Putting the two of these powerful forces together seems, on paper, to be a really interesting idea. What would you get if you put Cirque's mind-bending theatrics together with Angel's mind-bending illusions?

Well, apparently you get "Believe," a production that isn't terribly successful as either a Cirque production or a magic show.

The evening starts out as a typical Criss Angel show - loud music, flashing lights, lots of jewelry and leather. But the real show starts with Angel is "accidentally" electrocuted by one of his own stunts and spends the rest of the show hovering between life and death in an alternate reality populated with magician's rabbits, a love interest, some nefarious henchmen and women, and clowns.

Sounds weird? Yeah, well, most Cirque shows do when you try to put them into words. Let's just say that as a concept, it's an intriguing one, but as executed it's only occasionally interesting.

The production rambles through a series of Angel's illusions separated by avant garde dance numbers (choreographed by Wade Robson for all you "So You Think You Can Dance" fans) and Cirque-style theatrics although none of the acrobatic wonders we're used to. Instead you get a lot of big puppets and some very dramatic visuals.

As an illusionist, Angel is engaging in his own milieu but here, shoehorned into a "story," he comes across as a bit uncomfortable. There are only six or seven real illusions in the production so you'd think that would have encouraged him to do the really cool stuff. Instead, it's mostly of the "you thought I was over there but hey look, I'm over here" variety and some obvious wirework that he seems to think is much more worthy of applause than pretty much anyone in the audience did.

Angel is at his best when he gets to be his cool-dude self, an easy-going guy that you want to be buddies with. But when that happens it puts the brakes on the whole struggle between life and death storyline that is going on and feels out of place. So it's a quandary. But he takes his shirt off a couple of times so ladies, you've got that to look forward to.

The dance part as choreographed by Robson is evocative. If you're at all familiar with his Emmy-Winning "Zombie" routine from "SYTYCD" you'll recognize the style, all herky-jerky and envelope pushing. It's a taste that I have acquired and I thought it was brilliant throughout the show, but it is definitely an acquired taste.

The Cirque stuff is also winning even though I'm not enjoying the move away from their traditional circus style acts. The puppetry, both small and ginormous, is eye-popping and a few of the set pieces are simply beautiful. One scene transforms the stage from a snowy field into a brilliant red poppy-filled springtime scene in what seems like the blink of an eye. It's a great moment and exactly the kind of thing you expect from Cirque.

So pieces of the show work; moments are memorable. And I think if they allow the show to evolve, finding a way to keep the general concept while emphasizing Angel's natural abilities, that "Believe" could become a good show. It's happened before. Witness the evolution of Le Reve at Wynn Las Vegas, which started as an overblown, dark, angry downer and has become a very entertaining evening at the theater. But as it stands, this is not the kind of show that I can "Believe" in.