The acrobat’s upended toes brush against the candelabra-adorned chandelier above her, the jangle of its jostled crystals muffled by all the throbbing bass.
She wears a blue-green bodysuit like another layer of skin, the fabric hugging her form so tightly, you can see her traps bulge as she inverts herself on a three-pronged handstand cane — and then does the splits.
Upon entering a shadowy warehouse with a “Great Gatsby”-set-in-an-opium-den aura of opulence, temptation and bathtubs that pour gin, this impressive feat of human flexibility is among the first things you see on a recent Saturday night at a bit past 10 p.m.
From somewhere in the dark, our host for the evening explains what comes next as electronic dance music burbles in the background.
“Wander our streets,” he says into a microphone out of eye shot. “And live your lives to the fullest.”
We’re ready to follow those marching orders, but where to start here at Oddyssey Noir, a novel, time-warping weekly rave series at Area15 set in an elaborately staged, multi-room labyrinth of modern sound and anachronistic decor?
Here, DJs perform on two separate dance floors amid a cavernous, carnivalesque setting meant to be explored, from the hidden alcove decorated with framed images of eyeballs to the lavish boudoir with lingerie lampshades.
Oddyssey Noir is one but part of the evening, though: The dance party’s prefaced by Oddyssey Manor, a separate, theatrical cocktail experience populated by nattily attired actors — the caddish, smoking jacket-clad Henry, the cryptic matriarch Penelope among them — who have seemingly roared to life from the roaring ’20s.
They roam the space freely, interacting with guests as they navigate a series of ornately designed bars set in bedrooms and butcher shops, each with its own speciality cocktail that figures into a larger, mysterious storyline.
Individually, each provides an inventive twist on Vegas nightlife.
Taken together, they merge into a porous night of music, vaudeville, fancy drinks and hours of dancing, with little-to-no separation between audience and performer, spectator and participant, an EDM-informed present and a jazzy past.
“People are looking for experiences that feel immersive, real, and so Oddyssey was our response to that,” notes Andrew Lanzino, Area15’s chief growth officer. “There’s a real gap in Las Vegas nightlife, because the city does spectacle and mass incredibly well, but not every audience wants that kind of scale or traditional club format. There’s this growing demand for smaller, more culturally forward, culturally rooted experiences that are intimate and authentic and human.
“It’s not for you to come and consume this culture,” he continues, “It’s for you to come and be a part of this culture.”
‘Surreal cocktail theater’
“This place has no rhyme or reason,” explains the lady flanked by a pair of faux dead hogs on meathooks, which presumably serve as the source of the plastic sausage links dangling nearby.
We’ve just entered The Gilded Swine butcher shop, positioned at the start of Oddyssey Manor, and our actor/server’s preparing the first cocktail of the evening while staying in character as the proprietress of this quaint little meat market.
“It might be syrup,” she says as she pours ingredients into a drink. “It might be blood. It might be poison.”
Well, if the drinks don’t kill us, the suspense just might, as it’s time to get to the bottom of tonight’s mystery — or maybe just another glass of the gin-based Siren’s Song, poured straight from the spout of an antique bathtub in another room down the hall.
Each cocktail, six in all, doubles as a piece of a narrative puzzle that we never quite solve, but, hey, it’s easy to get distracted by the aerialist spinning upside down from the rafters like a human ceiling fan, the trio of dancers in sheer red gowns and wolf masks and the mural of the dog-headed hydra just outside the restrooms.
Oddyssey Manor and Noir occupy the former home of the Lost Spirits Distillery on the south side of the ever-growing Area15 grounds, and plenty of the infrastructure and design elements from that similarly theatrical, liquor-meets-live-entertainment production remain here.
The Manor was created in conjunction with Egan Productions, the company behind Area15’s John Wick Experience and other popular horror-themed attractions like Escape It and Saw Escape.
The idea is to create an interactive performance space that evolves night by night.
“We wanted to create this flow,” Lanzino says. “You start in this old, mystical warehouse kind of place that’s off the beaten path, and you don’t really know what you’re getting yourself into, but it’s interesting, and you get to explore at your own pace.
“This is not a show that you’re going to sit and watch, it’s surreal cocktail theater,” he continues. “It’s story-driven. It’s constantly evolving. Guests are moving through this narrative. The cocktails are key moments that unlock these kind of characters and spaces, and every time you go, you find something different going on there.”
Guests who visit Oddyssey Manor on Saturdays can stay for Oddyssey Noir afterwards. (Tickets are available solely for the rave, as well.)
“What we’re seeing is that people who are interested in the cocktail theater, immersive experience piece of Manor end up staying and getting introduced to Oddyssey Noir,” Lanzino says. “It becomes just another evolution of that experience, kind of like, ‘What’s happening? What’s going on? What is this?’ We’re seeing more and more that people will come to Manor and just stay.”
Count us among them.
As the Manor winds down shortly after 10 p.m., our host prepares us for what’s to come next.
“The night is not over,” we’re informed. “Let’s descend together.”
Becoming a rave hotbed
The party’s on and the shirts are off. Well, at least for the sinewy fellow in a bright red bondage harness spinning a trio of illuminated hula hoops around his largely bare torso.
The actors are gone, but the performances continue, from dancers working it hard in front of the DJ booths to the aforementioned twirler.
Both dance floors have become packed as Saturday has turned into Sunday.
There’s an interesting duality at play here: the space as a whole is sizable, and all of it remains open to explore during Odyseey Noir.
But the dance areas are deliberately compact and designed to get crowded, engendering a communal, up-close, personal vibe.
“This idea of a small format is intentional,” Lanzino says. “The intimacy creates this trust that enables people to feel safe experimenting with something that maybe they typically wouldn’t just do on their own. And that experience is where culture forms.
“The underground doesn’t scale,” he continues. “You have to keep these experiences human-sized and protect their authenticity without diluting it. And you can’t pretend to own it, either. Our role is to create the container where that culture can live.”
Underscoring Lanzino’s point, the crowd here is a blend of scene diehards — dig the foursome in full-on rave gear, looking like Electric Daisy Carnival incarnate — and newbies in T-shirts and jeans, taking in this smorgasbord of spectacle.
Beyond Oddyssey Noir, Area15 as a whole has increasingly become a rave hotbed, with a bevy of semi-regular events from all-ages family raves to themed dance parties centered on everything from Labubu dolls to the “Blade” vampire franchise to bigger-ticket shows like the upcoming New Year’s Eve Masquerade ball.
“It’s really about what the community is looking for,” Lanzino says. “These audiences have historically been underserved, especially in our area, and so what we’re doing is trying to give people a consistent home that feels authentic and real to them, where they can participate — no matter what genre it is or what artist is there — and really create something that is meaningful.
“There’s room in Vegas for the massive,” he adds. “And there’s room for Vegas for the meaningful, and that small, intentional, culture-forward nightlife is essential.”
Know what else is essential?
Sleep.
And after six-and-a-half hours of revelry, we head home to get some at around 3:30 a.m.
As we hit the exit, we glance at a beige index-card-sized map of the venue handed out upon entry.
It’s basically a quick primer on how to experience this place best.
“Oddyssey Manor is alive,” it reads. “Your choices shape the night.”
And the following morning, it turns out.
Contact Jason Bracelin at [email protected] or 702-383-0476. Follow @jasonbracelin76 on Instagram.