The future of the Broadway-in-Vegas trend may not rely on the fate of "The Producers" and "Monty Python's Spamalot." "Jersey Boys" is likely to open later this year in the Palazzo Tower addition to The Venetian, no matter how the two current titles fare.
The Broadway hit is slated for a sit-down run in a new theater, part of the tower scheduled to come on line just north of The Venetian sometime in the fall.
Advertisement
The biography of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons won four Tony awards, including best musical. It opened in November 2005 and grosses more than $1.1 million per week.
A national tour company of "Jersey Boys" is in San Francisco until March 25. The tour moves to the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles May 25 through Aug. 5, presumably clearing the way for The Venetian residency by the end of the year.
That's a lot of tour performances on the West Coast, but the Las Vegas edition might still manage that delicate balance between exclusivity and oversaturation. "Avenue Q" pre-empted a national tour, perhaps at the expense of promoting the title. "The Producers," on the other hand, has toured enough that the stunt casting of David Hasselhoff was needed to create new interest. ...
The team-up of Carmen Electra and Dutch magician Hans Klok, an unusual idea dating back more than six years, is finally coming to pass. The two will co-star in "Faster Than Magic" at the Aladdin starting in April.
Klok is a big draw overseas; he is currently on a tour of six arena-sized venues in Germany and the Netherlands. But without Electra's star power -- or white tigers, or Roy -- Klok would be just another magician with a funny accent on the Strip, and would have a tough time selling tickets. Electra will do the show for at least three months. Previews begin April 18 with all tickets at $35; prices will range from $35-$105 after regular performances begin May 12.
Electra and Klok were announced for a show called "Lumiere" in 2001, but the show was tabled when the Aladdin filed for bankruptcy. The new venture apparently won't include any content from "Lumiere," which had a story line about an angel who journeys through a netherworld.
Nor will the new show be in the same place. The location "Lumiere" producers wanted to build out as a theater-nightclub complex became the $28 million theater that will house "Stomp Out Loud." The magic show will go in the Aladdin's 7,000-seat concert hall, which probably will be curtained down or partitioned to a smaller seating capacity for the production.
The show will be produced by Stage Entertainment, the Dutch company that stages Klok's show overseas. It will be directed by Anthony van Laast, who worked on "EFX" and "Siegfried & Roy at The Mirage."
Steve Wyrick, the magician who is fine-tuning his own show just down the hall in the Desert Passage mall, says he won't make an issue with management about having another illusionist so close. "Number One, he's a friend of mine," Wyrick says of Klok. He's also embracing the "rising tide carries all boats" theory: "I think he's going to help me, and I'm going to help him."
"Stomp Out Loud," an expanded version of the off-Broadway hit "Stomp," begins previews March 24 for a grand opening in April. Tickets range from $50 to $110. The cast doubles to 16 for a show that expands in production design, much as the Blue Man Group did for Las Vegas. But the concept is the same: A dialogue-free revue that makes percussive music out of trash can lids, brooms and the like. The show has been looking for a resident run on the Strip since at least 2001. ...
As reported here last week, the Hard Rock Hotel has indeed turned to AEG Live to stay competitive with its concert bookings. What wasn't known last week was that AEG will operate The Joint exclusively, as it does the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
The concert arm of the Anschutz Co., operated by Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz, is building a big presence on the Strip. The company also has a deal to operate two venues in the Echelon Place complex that will replace the Stardust. The Hard Rock's new owner, Morgans Hotel Group, cut the deal with AEG after the Hard Rock's longtime promoter, Andrew Hewitt, jumped ship for the Palms.
AEG put comedian Katt Williams into The Joint during NBA All-Star weekend, and has shows by 30 Seconds To Mars on Saturday; Seven Mary Three, March 2; Joan Jett, March 3; Mike Epps, March 10; and AFI, March 11. ...
Don't be surprised to see Rita Rudner's old venue at New York-New York used by one more comedian before it's remodeled into a nightclub. Though not a confirmed deal earlier this week, Roseanne Barr was interested in a limited engagement from mid-March through April.
Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com.
