Blue Man Group going to the Monte Carlo

The Venetian won't budge, the Blue Men are headed down the Strip, and the Jabbawockeez go walking.

Or so seems the result of a surprising musical-chairs move that has the Blue Man Group leaving the theater it built at The Venetian, choosing instead to remodel the Monte Carlo's theater for occupancy in the fall of 2012.

The current Monte Carlo occupant, the hip-hop dancing Jabbawockeez, is contracted at the Monte Carlo through March. They may extend as much as six months, depending on when the theater long associated with magician Lance Burton needs to be redone, hotel officials said.

Blue Man Group has "obviously had success at The Venetian, but I think they've always looked at a way to get back into our company," Monte Carlo president Anton Nikodemus said Thursday.

In a similar long-range announcement, Blue Man Group made public in October 2004 its plan to move from the Luxor to The Venetian in late 2005. But in February 2005, the Luxor's then-parent company agreed to merge with the company that is now MGM Resorts International.

For MGM Resorts, the appeal was "the availability of that showroom and just seeing an incredible opportunity from a partnership perspective," Nikodemus said. "The branding of the two entities (was) truly a marriage we couldn't pass up."

As for the Jabbawockeez, the entertainment good-news of 2010 for its success in drawing a younger, nightclub demographic? That show is "doing very well for us," Nikodemus said. "We're in discussions with them and we'll see where that takes us in the short term."

Bill Blumenreich, a Boston promoter who works with Jabbawockeez, said Thursday he was hopeful the troupe will spend a full year on the Strip. But he and the troupe's head, Fred Nguyen, also have talked about leaving Las Vegas to tour.

The Blue Man move is surprising in that the New York-based company gutted a Venetian nightclub space and rebuilt it to a custom design. In 2004, Blue Man co-founder Matt Goldman called Venetian executive Sheldon Adelson "a mad genius," and said, "It's clear this is going to be a great, great home for us."

Blue Man officials were not commenting Thursday, beyond a statement from chief marketing officer Carol Chiavetta: "We have enjoyed a strong relationship with the Venetian since day one and we look forward to continuing that for the next 18 months."

But sources familiar with the situation said the two were at impasse on negotiations to extend beyond the current contract ending in September 2012. Venetian officials were said to be inflexible in their insistence on a rent increase.

Nikodemus said MGM Resort executives had been negotiating with Blue Man Group for much of 2010.

A source who spoke on background -- not to specifics of the Blue Man Group's actual contract -- characterized The Venetian as holding more of a landlord-tenant relationship than a partnership with show producers; nothing in terms of advertisement, whether it's exterior signage or indoor advertising on top of gaming machines, is free the way it often is with other casinos.

Nikodemus said he hoped to have the Blue Man show going before Cirque du Soleil opens its Michael Jackson-themed title at a still-unnamed MGM Resorts property, most likely Mandalay Bay.

Blue Man is "looking at a bigger and much more exciting show here at Monte Carlo," Nikodemus said. "They are in essence creating a new show that will have new material that will appeal to the repeat customers ... but also have a lot of the signature pieces for the new customers we hope to attract."

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