[[quoteright:332:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MYSTERE-large-image-main-las-vegas.jpg]]
''Mystère'' is Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's seventh show, and first "resident" (non-touring) production. On Christmas Day, 1993, it opened at the then-new Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The viewpoint characters are two babies (played by adults) -- one male, one female -- each of whom has a "[[Main/SecurityBlanket lovey]]". For him, it is a red ball almost as big as he; for her, it is a toy snail on wheels and a string. Not long after the show begins, each loses their lovey, and off they go into the wide, strange world to find them again. The acrobatic acts that follow represent its wonders: noble angels, silly viruses, whimsical birds, etc. The pompous emcee Moha-Samedi more or less keeps order amongst the creatures, but he may meet his match with [[Main/NonIronicClown Brian Le Petit]], who isn't one of them and has an appetite for mischief all his own...

While Treasure Island's then-owner Steve Wynn was shocked and unsure of the show's prospects when it was first previewed to him, so different was it from traditional Las Vegas entertainment of the time, it found a large, appreciative audience. ''Time'' magazine's theater critic [[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982064,00.html declared it one of the best shows of 1994]]. Its popularity and acclaim set the stage for the company's even more spectacular ''"O"'' at Wynn's Bellagio in 1998, and another seven shows after that for Vegas. Cirque's longest-running show to date (25+ years, though it took about 16 months off during the UsefulNotes/CoronavirusPandemic of 2020-21, which shut down most live theater), ''Mystere'' is the "purest" of their Vegas efforts, the closest analogue to their tours.

In ''Film/KnockedUp'', this is the show the guys check out on their trip to Vegas. It [[http://www.nightsintodreams.com/?p=1343 has also been credited]] as an inspiration for the video game ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams'' [[note]]The article makes the mistake of using a photograph from ''"O"'' as an illustration, alas[[/note]].

As yet, this show hasn't been filmed, due to its host casino wanting to protect its investment. However, acts, characters, and performers appear in the 2000 [=IMAX=] short ''Journey of Man'', the 2003 VarietyShow ''Solstrom'', and the 2012 3D feature ''Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away''. The 2007 documentary ''The Mystery of Mystere'' includes a goodly deal of show footage, albeit with spoilers for the comedy acts.

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!!This show contains examples of:
* AliceAllusion: The unofficial name of the toy snail is Alice. Officially it is called Escargot.
* AllThereInTheManual: The show's a large metaphor for the history of the universe and life in it -- the creators even took inspiration from chaos theory -- but it's easy to miss that theme without a look at the program or documentary. The [[{{Backstory}} backstories/motivations]] of characters may only be discussed in interviews with performers or at Cirque fan events. (Brian Le Petit wanders into the theatre from [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy a wedding where he's had too much to drink]], the Double Faces are a sort of HiveMind, Mephisto is drawn to the beauty unfolding on stage yet is not ruled by it, etc.)
* AnimalMotifs: It's a Franco Dragone-directed show, so there is a lot of bird imagery, starting with the Red Bird and the Birds of Prey. The bright-yellow clad handbalancer/dancer has been referred to by a variety of different names, but one of them is "The Yellow Bird" (sometimes more specifically The Yellow ''Chicken''), and the bungee performers are another variety of bird in-story. Moha-Samedi's ventriloquist dummy is a bizarre bird, and the singers have feathers in their headdresses. As well, prior to the 1995-96 {{Retool}}, there were The Pets, good counterparts to the Birds of Prey who performed the Sedov flying trapeze act.
* ArchangelGabriel: A loose take. The group commonly referred to as Les Laquais ("the servants"; they're dressed like footmen) was originally known as the Archangels. Naturally, the older programs note that "the finest of the Archangels" is named Gabriel; he was the character who performed the aerial cube act (both act and character were dropped in the 2017 {{Retool}}).
* AudienceParticipation: '''Big time''' from the preshow onwards.
** AudienceParticipationFailure: Always risked, especially once the story gets going -- and how the cast handles this only makes things funnier. Part of its repeat value stems from the suspense over how reluctant (or not) [[spoiler: the "papa"/"mama" turns out to be]] at ''this'' performance, and how it will be overcome (or not).
* BadSamaritan: Part of the preshow is based on a gentler, mischievous version of this, as Brian offers to lead just-arriving audience members to their seats.
* {{Balloonacy}}: Originally the female baby was lifted to the skies by a bouquet of red balloons during the transition to the climactic acrobatic setpiece, but this bit of stage business was dropped in the 2012 retool (presumably it was too difficult to pull off with the new stage equipment required for the trapeze act). She still descended to the stage via balloons in the finale until the ''2017'' retool, which had her simply lose the balloons during the transition, and reappear already riding Escargot in the finale.
* BigFun: Bebe Francois is always played as this. He may be "just" a baby, but he's generally cheerful and certainly fun-loving. As soon as he's aware of the audience, he shows off his red ball to them and then tosses it out to them so they can toss it back. He can even play pranks on others.
* BigOlEyebrows: Brian Le Petit. The eyebrows are the ''only'' aspects of his makeup that come off as "clownish", but they count for a lot, especially combined with his EinsteinHair and ill-fitting suit.
* BilingualBonus: Intentionally evoked -- Brian Dewhurst took on the clown act from its originator Wayne Hronek and chose "Le Petit" as his stage surname as a callback to Hronek's "Benny Le Grand". That is to say, "Benny the Great" was succeeded by "Brian the Small". Now counts as HilariousInHindsight, as he held the role far longer than his predecessor.
* BookEnds: The taiko drums, which are so important to the show that they are regarded as an act in and of themselves.
* BrickJoke: As at most theatrical productions, the audience is instructed not to smoke or take flash photography during the show. It turns out that Brian doesn't think well of these rules...
* ButThouMust: The audience participation during the show comes down to this -- agree to do something, and you've agreed to do everything else that follows.
* ChainsawGood: Played with: [[spoiler: Brian tries to get the man out of the crate with one; when Moha-Samedi stops him, the clown quickly realizes he can shoo the emcee away via the threat of a Groin Attack!]]
* CoolOldGuy: Brian Le Petit, both within the show and in RealLife -- his original performer Brian Dewhurst was born in '''1932''' and performed the role into his late eighties. ([[http://www.lvrj.com/news/-mystere-performer-keeps-them-laughing-at-80-153470555.html Here's what happened when he turned 80.]])
** Though only 40 at the time, Marek Haczkiewicz (one of the performers who has played Moha-Samedi) counts, given he's wearing a Music/FooFighters shirt in [[http://www4.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Marek%2BHaczkiewicz%2BOlympic%2BGymnastics%2BTeam%2BopXi55psDFQl.jpg this picture!]]
** Francois Dupuis, creator of the Bebe Francois character, played that role from the show's 1993 launch until his death in 2012 at the age of 59.
* CrackFic: [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6384463/1/Haunted_Mystere_Du_Le_Kooza Mystere Du Le Kooza]]. Written as a haunted house type fanfic, while simultaneously being someone's ship fantasy too. [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Try not to think too hard about the title of the fic, either]].
* CrazyPrepared / HiddenSupplies: Again, Brian, who seems to have a prank/gag for every occasion on his person.
* CuriousAsAMonkey: Cirque promotional materials describe Brian Le Petit as this, comparing him to "a child who dismantles a toy to see how it works" in how he interacts with the MagicalLand he's stumbled into. However, he overlaps with ThePrankster in his love of pranks (see below).
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Since ''mystere'' is the French word for ''mystery'', the title of the documentary translates as ''The Mystery of Mystery''!
* DisappearingBox: Brian picks a man out from the audience for this trick.
* DistaffCounterpart: If Bebe Francois's performer is absent, his act/plot thread with the ball is played out by the female baby, Bebebe. In this case, Moha-Samedi gives her the toy snail to compensate for the loss of the ball, but she loses that too...
* DistressedDude: Turns out to be [[spoiler: the audience member whom Brian locks in the box]]!
* DramaticThunder: Used for two acts -- it bookends the aerial cube (later duo straps) segment and introduces and punctuates the feats in the hand-to-hand act.
* DrumrollPlease: Once Brian has locked the man in the box, this kicks in as he works his "magic" and reveals what he's taken ''out'' of the box.
* EinsteinHair: Brian Le Petit. This might or might not be a ContinuityNod to original performer Brian Dewhurst's previous Cirque show ''Theatre/NouvelleExperience'' -- his character there, the Great Chamberlain, had the same 'do (his actual hair teased out in both cases).
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: The costumes for the "birds" in the bungee act are almost literally dripping with sequins.
* TheFerryMan: ''The Spark'', a motivational book about Cirque's various creative processes, points out that Brian serves as this in the preshow: In playing at leading people to their seats, he's also leading the audience away from RealLife and towards the MagicLand.
* FlippingTheBird: Via the hands of [[spoiler: Brian Le Petit]].
* {{Foil}}
** La Belle/The Black Widow (Light and dark aspects of femininity and beauty)
** Moha-Samedi/Brian Le Petit (OrderVersusChaos)
** Les Laquais/The Spermatoes and Spermatites (Ditto, but more benignly so; the Korean plank/trampoline/fast track act depicts this)
** The Birds of Prey/The Green Lizards (Predator and prey)
** The Red and Yellow Birds/The Birds of Prey (Peaceful versus aggressive)
* FrothyMugsOfWater: RealLife example -- the "champagne" is actually sparkling cider.
* GetOut: Moha-Samedi to Brian, near the end. [[spoiler: And to the audience when it objects!]]
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple / PurpleIsTheNewBlack: The Black Widow's costume has a lot of purple in it, fitting both the "graceful and mature" version of the former trope and the villainous connotation of the latter.
* GroinAttack: Threatened, [[spoiler: ''via chainsaw'', by Brian to Moha-Samedi]].
* HamToHamCombat: Moha-Samedi versus Brian Le Petit, especially as the latter makes his final stand. He even calls on reinforcements, namely [[spoiler: ''the audience''.]]
* HappyEnding: For ''just about'' everybody...
* TheHeckler: Brian Le Petit crosses this trope over with ThePrankster and {{Troll}}.
* {{Herald}}: La Vache a Lait, whose blowing of a horn heralds the opening and closing of the show. His true herald role comes in how he figures into the babies losing their loveys and starting their journey -- he encourages Bebe Francois to throw the ball his way and it falls into a deep gap between them...
* InsultBackfire: After it was first presented to him, Steve Wynn was upset with writer-director Franco Dragone for giving him "a German opera". Dragone took that as a compliment, since he was shooting for a grand, ambitious show (as opposed to the then-typical "Vegas show"). This may also count as HilariousInHindsight, given how grand and sweeping ''"O"'' would turn out to be.
* InterpretativeCharacter: Brian Le Petit. Dating back to his origins as Benny Le Grand, the character has always been a {{Troll}} and [[ThePrankster prankster]] who finds ways to mess with the audience and other characters in a series of carefully conceived setpieces. But his attitude in all this and how that affects his interactions with everyone else is left up to the performer -- between the core performers and their understudies, he has been interpreted as surly, impish, brazen, and even as a lovable loser over the years. Even the 2018 program argues that Brian is CuriousAsAMonkey rather than malicious in his pranks.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: RealLife example, as Steve Wynn infamously thought this way -- when it did, he apologized.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Moha-Samedi -- pompous, yes. But a lot of it's just pride for all the wonders he gets to emcee. He's friendly with the other characters too, with the understandable exception of Brian (who won't stop picking on him).
* LivingToys: Escargot, at the end.
* LongList: During the NoTalkingOrPhonesWarning, Moha-Samedi's puppet rattles off one with regards to items that must be turned off during the show. Keeping pace with technology, the list is periodically updated (currently containing references to Facebook and ''sexting'').
* MagicalLand: An unusual example in that the character who has newly arrived in it (Brian) isn't the protagonist.
* MeaningfulName
** Moha-Samedi means "first day of the new millennium", reflecting the fact that the show opened less than a decade before a new one started.
** The stage and scenery, which has sections/setpieces that can rise, fall, spin, and/or tilt, is known as [[DeusExMachina Deusexmachina]]. Older programs suggest that it is a living organism that rules over the characters.
* MindScrew: The lack of the fourth wall is throroughly played with, strange creatures (including a Satan analogue) come and go through the transitions with no major part to play...
* TheNarrator: According to the website's old description, "Moha-Samedi is the narrator no one listens to." He periodically addresses the audience with quite the know-it-all attitude, but since it's all in Simlish...
* NoFourthWall: This concept is key to how the show unfolds.
* NonIronicClown: Bebe Francois combines this trope with the traditional Cirque protagonist (the original performer created the character before joining Cirque's 1992 tour ''Theatre/{{Fascination}}''); Brian Le Petit is a straightforward example. Brian and Moha-Samedi's adversarial relationship has roots in the traditional clown archetypes of the wise guy "auguste" and the straight man "whiteface".
* NoTalkingOrPhonesWarning: Which becomes the basis for ''two'' brick jokes. As of 2015, ''non''-flash photography is allowed to help promote the show on social media, but this doesn't affect the jokes.
* OffscreenCrash: Twice. And it's all harmless {{Slapstick}}!
** A heard-but-unseen "stagehand" trying to pursue Brian up a ladder (it comes up from beneath the audience's line of sight) winds up going down with the ladder when Brian kicks it over.
** When the careening golf cart (yeah, ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext) practically chases Moha-Samedi offstage, we hear screeching brakes and a thud. The cart reemerges broken down, and depending on the whims of the performers, Moha-Samedi may or may not be splayed, unconscious, atop it.
* OhCrap: Brian has this reaction when [[spoiler: his chainsaw runs down]].
* OnceUponATime: Used in the program for the section setting up the story of the babies.
* OpeningBallet: Known as "Ouverture-Ramsani" on the soundtrack.
* OrderVersusChaos: Moha-Samedi versus Brian Le Petit is a comic version of this. [[spoiler: Order wins.]]
* OriginalCastPrecedent: Broken in the case of the Red Bird. For years the role was only played by male performers, but the artistic directors decided to break the precedent with Natasha Hallett in 1999 because they thought she fit the character's personality better. This required a new costume design since the male Red Bird is a WalkingShirtlessScene, but it worked out well. The part can now be filled by performers of either gender.
* PicnicEpisode: The romantic variety, for [[spoiler: Brian and a woman in the audience. While her date is trapped in a crate]].
* PinballProtagonist: The babies mostly serve as audience surrogates; they both are seeking their loveys but have little effect on the other characters and events (aside from participating in the Korean plank/trampoline/fast track sequence), and ultimately it's their items that come back to them. Of course, it might be asking a bit much to demand that a pair of ''babies'' be more proactive -- even if one of them can drive a golf cart.
* PinkMeansFeminine: Played straight with two characters but averted with another.
** Bebebe wears white pajamas with pink swirls and pom-poms on them, pink bows in her hair, and pink piggy slippers on her feet.
** The aerial silk performer who was part of the show from 2012-17 wore pink and performed on/with a long pink length of cloth. Even her otherwise golden hair had pink highlights.
** Averted with Moha-Samedi, a male character who wears a pink suit and bowler ("The Man in Pink" has become his Fan Nickname) but is not portrayed as stereotypically feminine.
* ThePrankster: Brian Le Petit is an unstoppable prankster, and heaven forbid you provoke him. When he's being chased up a ladder by an unseen stagehand in the blackout skit, he stops him by kicking it over, and later he ends an offstage fight with the Red Bird [[spoiler: by ''shooting it''. It isn't fatal]]. In the end, as the business with the crate goes increasingly wrong, his attempts to save his own skin become increasingly outrageous/ridiculous. That said, Cirque promotional materials argue he's just CuriousAsAMonkey and testing what he can get away with in this MagicalLand, and is not being malicious in his actions.
* RefugeInAudacity: The DisappearingBox bit. [[spoiler: It's a trick that allows Brian to ''woo the man's date''.]]
* {{Retool}}: Three major ones.
** Over 1995-96 three acts were dropped (manipulation, acrobatics on a net, and Sedov flying trapeze) and replaced with aerial cube and high bar segments. Much of the score was replaced and revamped by a different composer. A third baby (a male whose lovey was a doll) was among ''characters'' dropped. The overall tone of the show became LighterAndSofter.
** In 2012, the first half of the bungee trapeze act was dropped and replaced with a solo aerial silk act set to the same song ("Kalimando"), and the high bar act was replaced with a traditional trapeze act set to the new song "Fiesta"; both segments and their performers were originally from the Tokyo-based Cirque show ''ZED'', which closed at the end of 2011.
** 2017 swapped out aerial cube for a duo straps act (eliminating the character of Gabriel in the process), completely restaged the teeterboard/fast track act and eliminated the trampoline portions, and the "Gambade" song and dance were replaced with a new transitional number. Sometime after all this, aerial silk was dropped entirely in favor of restoring the bungee act to its original length. (The original first half had served as an understudy act in the interim, as only one performer could do aerial silk.)
* RuleOfThree: Brian attempts to take over the show by putting words into the puppet's mouth: "You can smoke now if you want to! Take flash photography! [[spoiler: Take your clothes off!]]"
* RummageSaleReject: Brian Le Petit's suit and tie would look quite natty ''if'' 1) it weren't a size or two too big for him and 2) he wasn't wearing sneakers with it. Granted, the sneakers ''do'' go with the rest of the black and white ensemble. (The AllThereInTheManual {{Backstory}} explanation: he picked up the wrong rental suit for a wedding.)
* {{Satan}}: A minor part -- the stiltwalker that appears after the dance to "Gambade" is a demon named Mephisto who serves as an analogue to this (along with his DistaffCounterpart Venus, who appears with him in the closing sequence). In the ''Journey of Man'' short, he fills the Satan role outright when TheEveryman hero decides to make a DealWithTheDevil.
* SecurityBlanket: The babies' toys.
* SetSwitchSong: "Egypte", "Dome", and "Gambade" (''and'' its replacement as of 2017).
* {{Sexophone}}: Spoofed as [[spoiler: Brian Le Petit approaches the man in the box's date]].
* SilenceIsGolden: There's very little dialogue after the opening announcements. It has been said that part of this show's (and Cirque in general's) success in Las Vegas lies in its appeal to international tourists who are not fluent in English.
* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: Most of the [=TV=]/online ads and clips don't include Brian Le Petit; justified in that it avoids spoilers.
* {{Slapstick}}: Besides the OffscreenCrash, the intro to the Korean plank/fast track segment has the Red Bird engaging in this with one of the Spermatoes.
* SoUnfunnyItsFunny: Brian's last-ditch efforts to avoid The Man in Pink's wrath have him breaking out hoary old gags: putting on a red clown nose, miming that he's stuck behind a wall, etc. The ''audience'' invariably laughs at these, but...
* SpeakingSimlish: Most of the cast. Brian speaks only in English, Bebe Francois knows a ''little'' bit of English ([[spoiler: "papa" or "mama"]]) and Moha-Samedi is fluent in both "Cirquish" and English. During the opening announcements, he starts in Simlish until his puppet warns him -- in English -- that the audience doesn't understand him.
* SpectacularSpinning: The climax of the aerial cube act had the performer spin the huge frame around and around him, and then balance a corner of it -- still spinning -- on the palm of his hand.
* SplashOfColor: Inverted with Brian's black-and-white suit and sneakers, the only costume that has no color in it, to better emphasize that he's an intruder in the story. Near the end, he gives ''himself'' a splash of color by donning a red clown nose.
* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Bebebe has a pink bow or two in her hair, which makes the performer appear more childlike.
* TrillingRs: Moha-Samedi does this when SpeakingSimlish, to the point that Brian notices and imitates it during the ladder/camera vignette.
* TrueBlueFemininity: Blue is the primary color in La Belle and the singers' costumes.
* TwoFaced: The creatures who perform the Chinese poles act, the "Double Faces", have faces on the front and back of their heads. The performers wear masks on the back of their heads to achieve this effect; the twist is, it's usually the ''masked'' side presented to the audience, and all the masks look alike. Combined with the choreography (particularly in the "Egypte" intro), it's surreal.
* TheVamp: The Black Widow, who desired to corrupt Gabriel. After the latter character and aerial cube were eliminated in the 2017 retool, this minor plot thread was dropped, but she is still present as La Belle's alluring foil, avoiding being DemotedToExtra.
* {{Ventriloquism}}: Moha-Samedi. He's not great at it, though.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Even more than usual for a Cirque show. Via ActingForTwo, most of the male ensemble qualifies as this at some point, with the male half of the aerial strap duo and the hand-to-hand performers among prominent examples. But the singular Red Bird, when played by a man, is the most obvious example, so much so that when Brian encounters him and proceeds to mock his dancing, he opens his own shirt for a moment to complete the spoof.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Or, what happened to [[spoiler: Brian Le Petit, who isn't in the curtain call]]? The explanation is that [[spoiler: he wasn't "part of the show", so he was kicked out. This restriction is lifted for special, usually milestone, shows]].
* WorldOfHam: When even [[spoiler: the audience]] qualifies as large hams by the end...

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