MIKE WEATHERFORD:
Please bring these shows
to town
So far, 2007 runs a little dry on entertainment to look forward to after the first quarter. "The Producers" in February, "Monty Python's Spamalot" in March, and then what?
Maybe a Cirque-du-Criss Angel show at Luxor, or a pumped-up "Stomp" at the Aladdin.
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I know, I know. Don't pass out from excitement.
So I thought I'd fight the mid-January doldrums with a list of stuff I'd like to see. Feel free to e-mail your own wishes as long as they're possible, not dead people like Sinatra.
"Jersey Boys" -- This one is first because I'm told it could really happen. The musical biography of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons was the best of five Broadway shows I saw last year, and the national tour is now doing big business. Las Vegas shouldn't wait as long as it did for "Hairspray" and "The Producers," but we're going to have to get over this thing about chopping shows down to 90 minutes.
"Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me" -- The SCTV comedian's satire of Broadway tour de forces closed in New York last weekend after 165 shows, hardly the kind of success to start a bidding war. The good news is producer Base Entertainment also runs two Aladdin venues and could dial us into the 35-week national tour for cheap.
"Bill Maher After Dark" -- The topical comedian has floated the idea of periodic late-night visits, but he suspects management "doesn't want to keep people out of the casinos at that (late) hour. That's when they're drunk and losing." Perhaps Prince's late-night venture can change some minds.
"Pink Floyd: The Wall" -- I gave this idea up for free a couple of years ago, hoping someone would bite. Roger Waters is supposedly interested in bringing his classic-rock masterpiece to Broadway. But when I asked lighting-design collaborator Marc Brickman about it last year, he replied something to the effect of, "Ask (Waters). He's the only one who knows."
Las Vegas could do this show right, from the giant puppets to the nightly tumbling of the giant wall. If not, I still maintain "Le Reve" could be rescored to Pink Floyd music.
"Mod Boys" -- The title needs work, but Pete Townshend noted in November, "I could knock together a (Las Vegas) show for Roger (Daltrey) and myself as performers that used our music and our lives." Bring it on, with "The Who's Tommy" collaborator Des McAnuff giving it his "Jersey Boys" touch. If not, I'd settle for a "Tommy" revival.
"Young Frankenstein" -- This would be tough for '07, because Mel Brooks only attended a table reading for this work-in-progress in November. The point is, plug Las Vegas into the pipeline earlier. Make us a pre-Broadway preview city, as Chicago was for "Spamalot," instead of waiting five years to bring us obvious hits.
Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 383-0288 or e-mail him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.