As I had wrote in a previous blog post - the show and showroom itself are being removed to make way for an expansion of the Aria Convention Center. In that blog post I said that I had always wanted to see Zarkana, and its closing might give me extra incentive to actually see it.
I did in fact see Zarkana during my recent stay at Aria. I really enjoyed the show and thought it was just as good - if not better than - the other Cirque shows I've seen (Mystère, Kà, and Zumanity).
Zarkana didn't really have a strong plot or theme. Similar to Mystère it was more or less a collection of acrobatic acts and live music that Cirque shows are known for.
While I don't think that hurt the production value of the show - it probably hurt marketing efforts. It seems like every other Cirque show in Vegas has some kind of hook to bring people in.
Perhaps the biggest reason for the show's demise was the fact that Aria doesn't really seem to be centered around entertainment. The showroom was located well off the casino floor up an escalator. Zarkana and the property's first show Viva Elvis kind of felt like afterthoughts rather than a priority.
While getting rid of a showroom to add more convention space won't benefit the average Las Vegas tourist - it probably does make sense for Aria.
