2014 shows less memorable for modest hits than epic fails

You’ve gotta know when to fold ’em, and you can call 2014 The Year of the Fold.

Every year brings its share of overoptimistic, underfinanced titles that come and go. Anyone remember “Divorce Party,” “Celebrity Idols” or “Magia”? With the latter, it wasn’t just the vehicle for magician Reynold Alexander that folded, it was the entire Clarion Hotel.

But this year was bigger. The news value of safe, obvious headliner arrivals in Jeff Dunham and Olivia Newton-John was overshadowed by the drama of epic fails.

Ever heard of a little show called “Mamma Mia”? The Abba musical with the worldwide gross of $2 billion? The Tropicana Las Vegas sat on an empty, remodeled theater for almost a year waiting for this sure thing, only to have the producers pull the plug three months into a planned open-ended run last summer.

And the year roared out of the gate with “Vegas Nocturne,” a sister show to the same producer’s “Absinthe,” only staged in an interactive, retro-themed supper club Rose.Rabbit.Lie at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Man, did it seem the perfect thing to bring needed changes to Las Vegas entertainment, coming right after Oxford Dictionaries proclaimed “selfie” the word of the year.

But The Cosmopolitan pulled the plug after six months. As part of the litigation that followed, management claimed it never even wanted a separately ticketed show in the first place, and that “Nocturne” was costing $60,000 per show and losing $1 million a month. (John Unwin, the CEO who assembled Rose.Rabbit.Lie. is leaving The Cosmopolitan as new owners take over.)

And so it went with the sublime Ray Charles tribute, “Georgia On My Mind,” which was invited into The Venetian by its president, but closed two weeks before the end of what was already a limited six-week run.

That was a lifetime compared to “Sydney After Dark,” which closed at Planet Hollywood Resort before its official opening night, or “Viva Veracruz” in the same theater, which ended up being a two-week run financed in part by a Mexican government fund to promote tourism.

If you really want to stretch this theme, count the end of Shania Twain’s “Still the One” live-horse spectacular at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Still not sure who broke up with whom, but the original two-year contract was allowed to run its course this month. You can’t tell me that wasn’t a disappointment to one or both sides, especially with Celine Dion having to cancel shows into next year because of her husband’s cancer battle.

Well then, did anything stick?

“ShowStoppers” at Wynn Las Vegas opened only a week ago, but the revue of big Broadway songs is Steve Wynn’s creation and Steve Wynn will likely be patient with it.

Newton-John and Dunham both offered the predictable crowd-pleasers that look to be a comfortable fit, and Caesars Entertainment Corp. even extended Britney Spears at Planet Hollywood Resort with a reported raise. Hey, what’s another million or two when you’re $18.4 billion in the hole?

But the year’s real success story is David Saxe’s “Zombie Burlesque” in the V Theater he operates at Planet Hollywood Resort’s Miracle Mile Shops. The show has a weekly budget of about $30,000, or half of what “Vegas Nocturne” was said to cost each day.

It’s still big for a “little show,” splurging on a live band even if that leaves thin margins for a 200-seat venue. But Saxe keeps adding shows.

Although both zombies and retro burlesque are hot trends now, the idea of putting them together seemed a little crazy. But the moral of this story is that it was something different for Las Vegas, not another topless cabaret show, or magic show or impersonator tribute.

Saxe says he felt like Morgan Freeman’s Red character in “The Shawshank Redemption,” going up for his final parole hearing.

“I didn’t give a damn anymore,” Saxe recalls, after everyone told him the show wouldn’t work. “I don’t care what anybody says. I don’t care. I’m just doing it.”

Thinking outside the box is admirable, but it helps when the show is also good. (And “Zombie” certainly is, in a “Batman” TV kind of way).

If only reality-TV cameras had been rolling to catch the real show behind the scenes of “Pawn Shop Live!” a weak little spoof of TV’s “Pawn Stars” that ended up, hands down, as the year’s strangest show business saga.

The sketch-comedy spoof struggled from January through August at two hotels, in two different versions. It flattered the real “Pawn Stars” enough to bankroll it. But when it needed a rewrite, the Gold &Silver gang didn’t settle for just a few jokes. No, they commissioned a whole new script that turned the lovable schlubs into a “hard R” David Mamet wannabe.

How can 2015 match up to this crazy year? Well, the “Duck Dynasty” musical is apparently on its way.

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