Sunday, June 06, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

THAT'S SHOWBIZ: Waiting in the Wings

From Electra to Sinatra tribute, some shows proposed for the Strip remain a 'Phantom'

Illustration by Anton. "Miss Spectacular" was originally envisioned for The Mirage and may still be kicking around. This concept album came out in 2002.

Will we ever see Carmen Electra tap dancing on a laser beam?

Probably not. Sigh.

Oh well, there's still the possibility of life-size puppet fairies, or a multimedia Frank Sinatra tribute overseen by Tony-winner Des McAnuff.

Welcome to that Great Dark Way, that unproduced, unfulfilled realm of Las Vegas shows that haven't yet managed to land. Supercolossal spectacles. New stars still to shine. Great ideas and, um, other ideas.

Most of the titles that follow have been featured in these pages at one time or another. And enough of them were linked to major names to take them seriously, at least at the time.

And with only a couple of exceptions, we're not talking about musicals such as "The Lion King" or "Hairspray" that you can see somewhere else, but failed to seal a deal for the Strip.

Most of these are new creations whose producers, for some foolhardy reason, thought it would be easy to give "Splash" the old heave-ho, or to get a casino to build them a brand new theater.

Now, in no particular order, the greatest shows you never saw:

• "Lumiere": This Aladdin spectacle was to feature Electra as an angel who lost her wings, and journeyed through seven layers of a netherworld -- "very `Matrix'-like," notes its producer -- to recover them, with help along the way from a master illusionist.

Electra never got her wings, but did get close enough to swing a hammer at a construction wall in a publicity event before the project derailed.

What happened?

First, says producer David Tumaroff, the Aladdin haggled over the lease for the nightclub-theater operation through most of 2001. Then, just as the producers were ready to start construction, the hotel filed for bankruptcy.

The outline, music and production models exist, but Tumaroff has been busy trying to relaunch "Tease," another show that did play Las Vegas. "I never say never," he says of "Lumiere." "It's really just a matter of when I can find the time to take it out again."

• "Miss Spectacular": This campy musical about a Las Vegas showgirl with songs written by Broadway legend Jerry Herman ("Mame," "Hello, Dolly!") was commissioned by casino developer Steve Wynn and announced for The Mirage back in 1999. Lately it keeps coming back up as a possibility for The Venetian, with Tommy Tune attached as director.

What happened?

The Mirage executive who signed the deal stepped down soon after it was announced. The Mirage eventually built its second theater for Danny Gans.

Tune and New York producer Ben Sprecher supposedly still are keen on the musical. A "concept album" of the songs was released in 2002 to drum up interest.

But the album may have had the opposite effect. The songs don't measure up to Herman's best work, and the whole idea seems out of phase for the ultralounge generation that has seized the Strip.

• "Buzz! Nothing Succeeds Like Excess!": Alan Menken, the composer of Disney's biggest animated musicals, and Larry Gelbart ("A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum") have been attached for this biography of showman Busby Berkeley.

What happened?

Every major property has fielded the pitch, says Michael Gill, a Las Vegas theatrical manager. But none have bitten.

Why is it that Broadway people are so stuck on showgirls and chorus lines?

• "Moulin Rouge": A stage adaptation of Baz Luhrmann's dazzling hit movie musical was first reported as a Las Vegas likelihood in December 2002.

What happened?

At least this chorus line idea seemed a natural, particularly for a certain Paris-themed property that instead ended up with the Queen musical "We Will Rock You." But Luhrmann has a lot on his plate, and apparently was less interested in a rote stage adaptation of the movie than in taking it a different direction.

"That made (the casino) very nervous," says a source close to the project.

• "Aquaria": A water show with extreme sports stuntwork and puppets designed by "Faeries" author/illustrator Brian Froud retells the Persephone legend in a seven-story custom theater replacing the Bally's tennis courts. The project was announced in August 2003, but construction never began.

What happened?

This one could still materialize. Producer Daniel Flannery had problems completing the financing, but now says "the project is definite" and in the design stages. Since last year, the area in question -- which will go from "back of the house" to prime real estate via the new monorail -- also has been proposed for a Major League Baseball stadium.

Flannery's plans responded in kind. It now apparently calls for two theaters and a retail mall, and is not mutually exclusive with the stadium.

• "The Phantom of the Opera": OK, this is not new. But technically, no one has seen this version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical that remains in ongoing talks with The Venetian. Alternately known as the "Supersized Phantom" or "Cirque du Phantom," this one would have a shorter running time but souped-up special effects, such as real water replacing dry ice for the underground lagoon.

What happened?

Who knows? Put Lloyd Webber and Venetian head Sheldon Adelson -- both known to be rather sure of themselves -- in the same room, and you're likely to have a show more entertaining than "The Producers."

• "Sinatra: His Voice, His World, His Way": McAnuff, who developed "Big River" and "The Who's Tommy" through his La Jolla Playhouse, had the sanction of the Sinatra estate to create this multimedia tribute with a cast of 80, which debuted last fall at Radio City Music Hall.

The technology is similar to that used in an Elvis Presley tribute that has played Las Vegas: Isolating film footage of the singer -- in this case from his TV show in the late 1950s -- and syncing it to a live big band.

What happened?

The producers would sure like to know. "They never would have produced it (for Radio City) if they thought they couldn't get it booked here," says Gill.

Anything tied to The Venetian seems to become an open-ended saga. But the hotel did recently buy its original showroom back from an independent operator to begin remodeling.

• "Baywatch Aloha": An outdoor dinner revue helmed by "Baywatch" creator Michael Berk made it all the way to dress rehearsals before Berk pulled the plug in August 2002, realizing he would be putting "all of our resources into marketing a show that we have to close at the end of September."

What happened?

The show faded into the endless summer, along with a larger "Baywatch" retheming of the Flamingo pool area. Hotel officials said Berk never came through with the money to carry on the plan, and a lawsuit later was filed against him over rights to the "Baywatch" theme and logos.

• Franco Dragone show about flying children: In 2001, Steve Wynn told the Bakersfield Business Conference that "O" and "Mystere" director Dragone would helm a spectacle for his new hotel about children in a Himalayan village who can fly until they turn 11, and one child's attempt to retain this skill.

What happened?

While preparing Celine Dion's "A New Day...," Dragone said the flying children would become the second show he did for Wynn, after the new Wynn Las Vegas water spectacle he is staging on a circular arena pool.

Others say that the shows are one and the same, and that the flying children idea has evolved into the production currently in the works.

We should not drop the curtain on these fantastical ideas -- all of them are tapping Las Vegas' knack for spectacular stagecraft -- without mentioning at least two of the many star vehicles that also have been proposed on the Strip. But you don't have to be a casino executive to figure out why these never came to pass:

• "Traci Lords Xtreme": Before Electra, Tumaroff hitched his wagon to the former porn queen to pitch a singing, dancing revue to the Flamingo. The hotel never bit.

• Tonya Harding topless skating show: Perhaps no other show in Las Vegas could generate the publicity that was guaranteed for this opus, first reported in the summer of 2001. The tabloid skater queen denied ever taking the offer seriously. At least one show producer here in town will tell you otherwise.