UNFIT FOR A KING

‘Elvis Evolution’ is the latest immersive experience to go viral for the wrong reasons, with walkouts and bitterness. Annabel Nugent asks whether it’s time to rethink the fad?

- Annabel Nugent

Elvis has left the building... and set up shop in east London.

Rock’n’roll’s gold-lamé King may have died, tragically, in 1977, but this week his hip-swivelling, leg-shaking likeness returned to the spotlight at Elvis Evolution, a newly opened “immersive experience”. The show would see Elvis Presley reincarnated in millions of pixels, restoring the Memphis musician to his former glory. At the cost of between £75 and £300, people would, organisers promised, “experience Elvis like never before”.

Things haven’t quite panned out like that. Elvis Evolution opened last week after an eight-month delay, and the reception has been radioactive. Reports of walkouts, heckling and “noticeable booing” have surfaced, with demands for refunds and cancellations flooding in. Memes are circulating online mocking the production - the bellwether of any public fiasco - calling to mind Glasgow’s infamous “Willy Wonka Experience”, the shoddy, unlicensed chocolatier catastrophe that mortified families last February. Elvis Evolution has been branded a “shambles”, an “utter scam”, “absolutely disgusting” and “a shit sandwich”. One attendee said they left in tears.

At the performance I attended, people weren’t as furious as the internet might suggest, but there was definite upset and discontent in the crowd. There wasn’t heckling per se, but audible groans and grumblings throughout. At one point, the screens displayed a message reading: “Every member of the Elvis Evolution team puts their heart and soul into entertaining you. Any form of abuse toward them will not be tolerated.” That such a warning is even needed speaks volumes.

The first act takes you on a journey through Presley's childhood in Tupelo, Mississippi. Audience members sit on rickety train benches (it's a journey, get it?), guided by an actor playing his childhood pal, Sam Bell. After intermission at a