‘Mystere’ makeover going from A to ‘Zed’

Call it the Zed effect.

It doesn't mean I know who Zed is, but Cirque du Soleil titles no longer worry me. And "Zed" is the show Cirque will close New Year's Eve in Tokyo, citing the Japan earthquake's continued devastation on tourism.

Two "Zed" acts then will be incorporated into "Mystere," giving Cirque's oldest Las Vegas show its biggest changes since it opened at Treasure Island on Christmas Day of 1993.

Cirque already has announced a third "Zed" act will be folded into "Viva Elvis" for its final year. This parceling of performers out to other Cirques casts new wrinkles upon rumors that "Zed" in its entirety will replace "Elvis" at Aria.

"They're not taking it back. We're keeping ours," jokes "Mystere" artistic director David Gomez.

The big change to "Mystere" will be replacing the closing high-bar trapeze act.

The new Mexican troupe has nine fliers and three catchers who are positioned upside down. One of the flying men can do a quadruple somersault, and one of the women can do a triple.

A solo aerialist who wraps herself in a vertical tissue of silk also will be folded into "Mystere" without replacing an existing act.

The notion of refreshing "Mystere" has been talked about since at least 2007. But it stayed on the back burner until Treasure Island became an independently owned hotel, with a separate agenda from the big-picture one of MGM Resorts, landlord of the other six Las Vegas Cirques.

"The hotel has been discussing with Cirque the idea of making some changes. We did it not too long ago with 'La Nouba' (at Walt Disney World)," Gomez says.

"When the opportunity came along with 'Zed,' I think it just opened up a window for us and we took advantage of it."

"Mystere" goes dark from Jan. 12 until its Feb. 11 reopening with the new content and different music to score it. ...

The closing of Brad Garrett's Comedy Club at the Tropicana on Sunday is balanced by the arrival, in a different space, of a lounge and casino floor attraction called iCandy Burlesque.

Garrett headlines his club's final night as he prepares to move across the street to the MGM Grand, ending yet another element of the Tropicana's entertainment relaunch just a year and a half ago. (Only Recycled Percussion remains from that wave of activity.)

"I only have positive things to say about my experience there," Garrett says of the Tropicana.

However, the MGM offers 5,000 hotel rooms to the Tropicana's 1,658, as well as networked advertising and cross-ticketing with other MGM Resorts properties.

"When a place like this comes calling, it's a no-brainer," Garrett says.

The new club will anchor a makeover of the underground retail area between the MGM lobby and the parking garage. Garrett says March 30 is "a hard date in stone" for the opening.

The new club is "totally my investment. ... I'm building it from the ground up," he says.

But Garrett has a long relationship with MGM Resorts executives. "(Entertainment and sports president) Richard Sturm gave me my first job at Bally's in 1987."

"I was limited at the Trop," adds Garrett, who is more of a profane insult comic onstage than "Everybody Loves Raymond" fans might expect.

"I did the best I could with the room I had, but they kind of had their own idea of what they wanted it to be," Garrett said.

No replacement has been announced for the Tropicana space that for years housed The Comedy Stop.

Today however, the resort introduces iCandy Burlesque to its Ambhar Lounge, with environmental performers spilling into gaming areas. It's all helmed by veteran choreographer Nannette Barbara.

The actual stage performances are free and happen three times a night, Thursdays through Saturdays. The lounge area won't be enclosed, so no toplessness or tassels are involved. ...

It's with some risk to mention almost-90 comedian Marty Allen rescheduling at the Palace Station on Saturday.

There's that nagging superstition that we jinxed him by doing a Neon cover feature on him last month.

Allen broke his hip in still-mysterious circumstances.

"If he knows what he did, he's not telling me," jokes his wife and stage partner, Karon Kate Blackwell.

But he's already up walking on a cane after Nov. 17 surgery and plans to make up last month's cancellation at 4 p.m. Saturday.

On Sunday, Lena Prima presents Allen with the Showbiz Society's Louis Prima Award in noon festivities at the Italian American Club.

Allen remembers rushing over to the Sahara to see Louis Prima "every night for a month," once Allen & Rossi had finished their act in the showroom at the Sands in the late 1950s.

"We would stay until 5 a.m. and go home when the sun was coming out. How wonderful."

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