Final curtain not always the end

Four shows closed last week. But the producer of one told me "closed" is a harsh word. That's because, in their mind, all four will return.

That may explain why Tuesday's final curtain of "Ignite" seemed more routine than the old movie musicals, where the crusty-but-benign producer herds everyone to a bar for a toast and some tears.

Some of the 17 cast and crew members, still in costume, chatted with friends and family who came to cheer their final show at the Greek Isles. Others lingered in street clothes as the castle walls of the heavy-metal fire show were wheeled away.

I wasn't at the Riviera on Monday to test the mood of magician Scarlett and her cast. Bobby Slayton and Rich Natole, both at the Tropicana, were one-man operations. But the "Ignite" cast was united by a supreme confidence in their leader, Antonio Restivo.

He's the scary looking, pumped up star of the "fire fantasy," which he created and financed through his more secure job as the scary looking, pumped up villain of "Tournament of Kings."

In a sense, "Ignite" beat the odds. It lasted six months in an off-the-path hotel that was foreclosed in August. Time also brought the luxury of punching up the costumes and choreography.

"I think he's going to take a lot away from this," says Restivo's friend and "Tournament" drummer Mark Dalzell. "He always keeps his concentration. Not easy to do when you're juggling with fire or promoting this thing yourself."

Restivo says he paid the cast out of his own pocket for the first three months, but eventually sold enough tickets -- 60 to 120 each night -- to cover his payroll.

"I've seen the way he sells the show. That's the reason I'm not crying. If anyone can do it, he can," says Emily Lauren, a cast member who does her own performance-art burlesque thing.

But for now, Lauren will spend October working in a haunted house. It's minimum wage but "it's still performing," she says. Besides, when she applied, "There were 150 people that were just really happy to have a job."

Faegann Harlow also plans to capitalize on October's timing for her circus skills in acrobatics, contortions and other Halloween-y things. And she will join an even smaller show, "Freaks."

"This is the life of a performer," Harlow says, though she also has a safety-net job in massage therapy.

The cast may not be stranded long; Scarlett's closing created a possibility at the Riviera. But they may not work together until February. Or, perhaps, never again.

Stacey Frongillo doesn't think of the latter option. She prefers to call it "death and rebirth."

"The Greek Isles isn't worthy of 'Ignite,' " she says. Maybe the closing was "the little push we needed. ... I look at it as new beginnings."

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.