 Fate of Broadway on Strip uncertainWhile success of musicals remains to be seen, recent years reveal near misses, failuresBy MIKE WEATHERFORD REVIEW-JOURNAL
The fate of "The Producers" and "Monty Python's Spamalot" -- the former up and running and the latter in previews for a March 31 grand opening -- may decide for the rest of the decade whether Broadway musicals have a future on the Strip. If audience applause drowns out the clopping sound of those coconuts that sub for Arthur's steed in "Spamalot" at Wynn Las Vegas, the door may still be open for at least one more title, the Venetian-bound "Jersey Boys." "Vegas loves a brand and this is a great brand," says "Spamalot" star John O'Hurley, also known for "Seinfeld" and "Family Feud." "They love a spectacle and a brand and you've got to have both if you want to be successful in Las Vegas." Mel Brooks agrees. His "Producers" is right across West 44th Street from "Spamalot" and the two shows began competing on the Strip within a month of each other. Brooks even opined that if he took the same trimmed-down show with David Hasselhoff to Broadway, "I think we'd be there another seven years." But if either "Spamalot" or "The Producers" play to empty seats on the Strip, showgoers probably will say hello to more Cirque du Soleil as the only big investment beyond big-name entertainers. The scoreboard for the game in recent years reveals a lot of near misses and qualified failures. • "Mamma Mia!" A semisuccessful run of "Chicago" in 1999 and a really cheesy production show called "Storm" emboldened the former management of Mandalay Bay to "take a chance on" the ABBA blockbuster in 2003. So far, it's the most successful Broadway venture of the modern era -- and the only one to play at its full length, with intermission -- marking four years on the Strip last month. But the producers also announced their endgame, a closing date in late 2008. Since the theater is now under the domain of MGM Mirage, it's way more likely to house another production from corporate partner Cirque du Soleil than another Broadway show. • "Saturday Night Fever." It wasn't the worst idea, testing a second life for an iconic title that did strong numbers on the road, if not on Broadway. But the low-budget production perhaps wasn't taken seriously at the Sahara, and the disco ball crashed after five months in 2004. • "We Will Rock You." The musical shout-out to the band Queen chose to skip Broadway altogether for a U.S. debut at Paris Las Vegas in August 2004. It was in many ways likable, but the humor didn't translate well from England, where the show is a big hit. Even after paring a half-hour to speed things up, it closed in late 2005 to make way for "The Producers." • "Avenue Q." Casino developer Steve Wynn rattled the theater world when he signed this "Sesame Street" spoof to an exclusive sit-down instead of a national tour. Lack of familiarity and Wynn Las Vegas' initial nightclub failure may have kept younger audiences from discovering the musical. Producers say profits were in the black, but Wynn opted to close the show instead of building another theater for "Spamalot." • "Hairspray." Perhaps most surprising of all was the quick demise of another crowd-pleasing hit after only four months. Facing a new production of "Phantom of the Opera" and Cirque's Beatles-themed "Love" last June, producers decided not to throw good money after the possible bad investment in original star Harvey Fierstein, whose marquee value didn't translate to the Strip. • "Phantom -- The Las Vegas Spectacular." The abridged "Phantom" is said to be holding its own, if not for the supersized expectations of 10 weekly shows in a 1,800-seat theater; two more each week than Broadway and bigger than most New York houses. Wynn kept his game face for his second at-bat, to the point of making jokes about "Spamalot" as the final nail in the coffin: "Maybe the musical theater isn't right for Las Vegas. Why not face the inevitable? Let's end it." Original Monty Python member Eric Idle, the show's creator, had a scrappier defense. "I think there are more audiences for Python than for 'Hairspray,' which is kind of a cult conceit. Which adult males go and see 'Hairspray'?" And "Avenue Q" "tried to be true to themselves" by not giving in to a broader ad campaign that would have depicted the show's puppets, "which is a mistake when you leave Broadway," Idle said. "We're not from Broadway so we don't have that problem." In fact, the veteran Pythonite said he was more worried about the show's reception on Broadway than in other parts of the country. "I think everywhere else, I was sure it would play pretty well," he says. "What I didn't know is that we would find this other audience that likes musicals. That's the thing we discovered (during a trial run) in Chicago, that we got regular theatergoers." |
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