On Monday, the Blue Man Group plans to throw a party to mark its official opening at The Venetian. It also joins a fraternity of Las Vegas shows that's getting less exclusive: The Hundred Dollar Club.

By this I mean the top tier of shows with an average ticket price breaking the $100 mark. Show producers are happy to belong to the club, even if they don't play it up in press releases for obvious reasons. These are the shows so popular that people will pay hard dollars for the full advertised price.

(That sounds obvious, but it's not. Shows at the middle and bottom of the food chain, not so blessed with audience demand, inflate the ticket price to pay higher broker commissions, to discount them through coupon ads or to sell them at same-day, half-price outlets for something closer to what they ought to be in the first place.)

The Blue Men move from their Luxor average of about $84 to a new average of $108.16. They're now swimming in a pond that includes Danny Gans (all seats $100), "Ka" (averaging $124.66), "Le Reve" (all seats $121), "O" (averaging $116.80) and "We Will Rock You" (averaging $100.66).

When Celine Dion and Elton John are onstage at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, they join the club as overachieving, chief-ranking officers. Dion tickets average $153.75 and John beats all with an average of $183.75.

And these are simple averages (don't expect serious math from an entertainment columnist). If you want some real fun, poke around the online seating charts to see where the cheapest seats are located. "O," for instance, has an average ticket price of $124.66 if you subtract the "obstructed view" seats that sell for $93.50.

Depending on the night, we now have six to eight shows fighting it out at this elite level of pricing. With three upcoming titles likely to join the club -- "Monty Python's Spamalot," "The Phantom of the Opera" and the Beatles-themed Cirque du Soleil show -- what does it all suggest?

I can think of a couple of things. For one, the titles rumored to not be turning people away -- that means you, "Le Reve" and "Rock You" -- might ask themselves if they still want to belong to this club.

Other titles perched on the brink of membership might want to look at where they will go as well. "Mamma Mia!" made a subtle but significant adjustment last week, along about the time the Blue Men reopened at The Venetian. The musical didn't change ticket prices, which average $80.66. But it did substantially increase the number of seats selling for $49.50. What used to be two dinky rows at the corner of each side of the stage has expanded to two full 14-row sections.

"Rock You," curiously, went the other direction and dropped a Sunday matinee selling all seats for $64.

Well, membership has its privileges.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 383-0288 or e-mail him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.