Mandy Moore, choreographer of Eras Tour, helps revamp Vegas show

The Eras Tour brought two creative forces together: choreographer Mandy Moore and producer Baz Halpin.
“We kind of just orbited around each other but just never worked together until this tour,” says Moore over Zoom. “One day at lunch, we were literally sitting on these road cases eating a peanut butter sandwich and he’s like, ‘Hey, you know, I have a show in Vegas and we’re going to do a little revamp. And I don’t know if you’d be interested in coming in.'”
The “Awakening” show at the Wynn Las Vegas took a brief hiatus in early 2023. As writers reworked the script and production revamped the effects, one element was missing: Moore’s magic touch.
Moore grew up at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Breckenridge, Colorado. She and her sister would come up with dance routines and fashion shows before collecting their parents in the living room to show off their one-of-a-kind performances. If only TikTok was around in the ’80’s, Moore would have ruled the social dance sphere.
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“Bless my mom and dad, they had to sit through many a show,” she says. “This is before I was even in class. My mom was eventually like, ‘I have to get this kid in dance class, she obviously loves music.”
From spinning around her bedroom to circumvolving the dance studio in her hometown, Moore studied different genres of dance.
“I started doing ballet and break dancing,” she says. “I just fell in love with movements and the structure of dance.”
Her big break came in 2005 on the hit show “So You Think You Can Dance?” In Season 1, she served as an assistant to a choreographer. In Season 3, she moved to dance number choreographer. By Season 14, Moore served as a creative producer. Spinning in her highest heels, Moore ball-changed, brushed and pirouetted her way across Hollywood. Her work was seen on “Glee,” “American Idol” and “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.”
In 2016, she choreographed the Academy Award-winning “La La Land” starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. Stone introduced Moore to Taylor Swift, who asked her to sign on to the billion-dollar Eras Tour enterprise.
As the show evolved during its two-year run, Moore kept getting the call to sprinkle her golden dust on the three-plus-hour concert. Even the newest song added to the set list on the tour’s final night in London — “Florida!!!” — benefitted from Moore’s brilliance.
Then, there’s her impact on one show in Vegas.
Moore took a leap of faith joining “Awakening.” The Wynn Las Vegas show already had a story, production and dance numbers. She brought her fresh eyes and lived by one of her mottos, “Let’s just try.”
“I just became more involved with the show, and it was an awesome job that came out of nowhere,” Moore says. “What is so incredible about the show is the marriage of the technology, the visual, the artistry with the poetic kind of storytelling, the music.”
Lucky for her, a lot of the elements seen in the Eras Tour were included in the Vegas production: levitating platforms that break apart, LED mesh screens that make up the stage floor, lights that fill every space, a magical plot that appeals to all ages and a new soundtrack with a beat you can dance to from your red velvet chair. At one point the stage breaks into multiple platforms at various heights and the dancers jump and flip effortlessly, as if they’re not 10-20 feet above the stage floor.
Hear from the Eras Tour movie producer:Baz Halpin explains the production behind Vegas show ‘Awakening’
“So much of my process with ‘Awakening’ was just understanding what we wanted to get from each moment,” she says. “I did a lot of research. I watched the show like 6,000 times. I do a lot of charting, a lot of breaking down each song by the second, and I ask a lot of questions. I want to understand what (Halpin) and the team ultimately want.”
As Anthony Hopkins narrates the plot of “Awakening,” the story takes the audience through an immersive world. The main character, IO, embarks on a journey to restore peace in a world divided by darkness and light. In addition to exploring visceral, garish and dreamlike worlds, IO finds herself along the quest. Behind the jaw-dropping acrobatics, dancing and singing, you’ll notice Moore’s calling cards: dynamic storytelling, clever movements and filling the stage symmetrically.
Moore’s career has taken her through Hollywood, Las Vegas and — with the Eras Tour — across the globe. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise there is another stop Moore would like to make.
“Olympics! I want to do the opening or closing ceremony!” she says. “I’m just going to put that out there.”
The Summer Games do happen to be in Los Angeles in 2028.
You can catch “Awakening” at the Wynn Las Vegas. Show nights are Fridays through Tuesdays.
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