Thursday, April 22, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

MIKE WEATHERFORD: Shows closing at The Venetian a clue that change is coming

For the past few months, it has been a race as to which long-standing rumor about the future of entertainment at The Venetian would come true first.

Now, it appears the winner is the one about the hotel taking back the leased-out Showroom at The Venetian. Both shows there have announced they will close on April 30: "Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance" and "V -- The Ultimate Variety Show."

"V" producer David Saxe said Tuesday he still had "no official notice" from either the hotel or H&H of Nevada, which leased the showroom space. But, he added, his contract doesn't require a 30-day eviction notice if the venue closes.

"I can't just hope. I've got to get something else," Saxe said of his plans to move "V" to another location that he isn't ready to name until the contract is signed.

Flatley had talked to the Las Vegas Hilton last year about doing a new show there.

But the second-place rumor is still alive and kicking: Talks continue for a customized version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" in the former Guggenheim gallery space. Word on the negotiations is positive, but no contract has been signed. ...

Attorneys were haggling this week in an attempt to get "X" back on the stripper pole at the Sahara. The girlie show was derailed from opening at the hotel earlier this month while producers Bobby Boling and Angela Sampras tried to settle past issues with Ed Fishman and Steven Meistrich.

The producers say Fishman was the go-between who introduced them to Aladdin management for a 2002 run there. The issue of contention now, they say, is whether Fishman's claim to a percentage of the show ended with the Aladdin run or extends to future productions.

From the Sahara's end, "the hotel had no problem with (the producers)," says entertainment and marketing director Ron Garrett. "They were fine with us," though now "I can't be sure if that's the show that will open here come this summer."

However, Boling says "progress was made" in the initial meeting between attorneys. ...

While it's technically Mac King's day in the limelight on May 1, when the Harrah's headliner is named Magician of the Year by a fraternity of his peers, a certain Las Vegas superstar act always has a way of grabbing attention.

The 36th annual Academy of Magical Arts Show & Banquet in Hollywood will be called "For Roy, With Love," dedicated, of course, to recovering star Roy Horn. The publicity release for the gala in the Henry Fonda Music Box Theater notes, "The show will include a very special scheduled appearance by Siegfried Fischbacher." ...

"Celebrity Images" is the name of the Motown and R&B tribute show headed for the Lady Luck on May 15. It's co-produced by John Stuart and Tom Biscardi. ...

On a Strip where any performance space is coveted, it's rare to find one that no one really cares about -- with the possible exception of the performers trying to work there.

Such is the case with the second-floor, 150-seat venue at O'Shea's, the small casino north of the Flamingo. The tenants, hypnotist Justin Tranz and close-up magician Steve Dacri, have been told that Caesars Entertainment will be taking back the room at the end of May to explore new uses.

Dacri was in, then out, and now is back in again, sort of. He reopens Tuesday for a weekly 7 p.m. performance he characterizes as a showcase to get noticed by some other venue.

"The challenge of getting people off the street and upstairs is a monumental one," says the close-up magician.

"We thought we were going into a better situation," Dacri says of his short-lived attempt to do an afternoon show there with the help of producer John Stuart.

But Dacri found that in addition to failed promises of a kiosk and marquee on the Strip, the casino continues to labor under an effort to sell it. So now he says he's there every Tuesday "until they shut the place down."

Though others have dabbled with the room, Tranz has been its main tenant since late 1999 and also plans to keep doing his 9 p.m. show Mondays through Saturdays until he's told to leave.

The theater originally was built as part of a magic and ventriloquism museum.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays.