Backstreet Boys director promises Las Vegas a ‘modern, masculine’ show

The name? Yeah, they’re kind of stuck with that Boy thing. But the creative director of the Backstreet Boys’ Las Vegas showcase says to expect “a really modern, masculine visual spectacle.”

“We really wanted to play them up as these guys who have a very large female following,” Raj Kapoor says. “Really kind of capitalize on them embracing who they are as powerful, successful men who have had a huge recording career and are having a tremendous resurgence.”

Kapoor also helmed Shania Twain’s comeback show at Caesars Palace and, on a smaller scale, worked on John Fogerty’s Las Vegas show. This week, he was busy readying live performances and screen content for Sunday’s Academy Awards.

But for “Larger Than Life,” which opens Wednesday at Planet Hollywood, “We’re not going so theatrical,” he says. “There’s nothing that looks like Cirque du Soleil. There’s nothing that looks Broadway-esque at all.

“It feels very masculine, it looks very modern. More like an actual concert. There’s nothing that moves us into that super-theatrical world.”

The Boys — A.J. McLean, Howie D (Dorough), Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell — range in age from 37 to 45.

People don’t seem shocked that 37-year-old Adam Levine or 49-year-old Keith Urban can get through a concert without an oxygen tank. But Kapoor agrees people still seemed surprised, however illogical that may be, at the quintet’s energy in recent appearances, such as the iHeartRadio festival last October.

“These guys’ actual performance and stagecraft can blow some of these younger people away,” Kapoor says. He brought in 10 choreographers to give the Planet Hollywood show “a lot of variety and a lot of energy.”

“There’s nothing where they say, ‘Oh, that’s too hard. We’ve really challenged them with some of the people we brought in. They’re not phoning any of this in. It’s like they’re in their prime. I think they know exactly where they came from, but if anything, they’ve gotten better with age.”

Contact him at Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Mikeweatherford on Twitter.