Las Vegas

By RICHARD CORLISS

MAIN EVENT Notre Dame de Paris, a splashy, messy spectacle for a town that's desperate to outgrow its tacky past

SIDESHOW Josh and his chimp Tarzan, street performers near Harrah's casino

It boasts the world's biggest Coke bottle, toy store and edifice complex. Now Las Vegas, having grown up so fast, wants to outgrow its tacky past. The new Venetian, Bellagio, Paris and Mandalay Bay hotels conjure fantasy excursions to faraway places--a gondola ride through an indoor canal ($12), say, or a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower ($8). The frantic theming and ubiquitous Wolfgang Puck eateries--which make Vegas one of the best restaurant cities in the U.S.--are artful distractions from all that money visitors lose.

Other attractions are just plain distracting. Taking a cue from Cirque du Soleil's O and Mystere (still the most flabbergasting spectacles on the planet), the Paris has put on its own French-accented musical. Notre Dame de Paris gives Victor Hugo's Quasimodo tale a pop-rock attitude, as the performers growl Richard Cocciante's ho-hummable score into their Madonna mikes. A few fine singers (Janien Masse as Esmeralda, Francis Ruivivar as Frollo) can't save the old tragedy from becoming a new disaster. The show's big, all right: a big mess.

If size doesn't matter, catch a street act called Josh (the trainer) and Tarzan (a six-year-old chimp) on the sidewalk near Harrah's. Tarzan does somersaults, a nifty impression of Dolly Parton and the only Vegas striptease whose last article of clothing is a diaper. At the end he cadges tips. Save some quarters from your slots stash.

--By Richard Corliss