ENTERTAINMENT: ‘Hats’ hangs them up

  “Hats,” the niche-marketed musical for the Red Hat Society, closes with a 6 p.m. Thursday show at Harrah’s Las Vegas.
  Producer Dick Foster is blaming high gasoline prices, saying fuel costs are keeping regional chapters of the Red Hat Society from making the trek from California. And they aren’t encouraging what he calls “g.p.” (general population) customers to make up the difference either, now that the convention season has mostly dried up for the summer.
 “‘Staycation’ is a word I’d like to have go away as far as this town is concerned,” Foster says.
  The original musical tried an unusual gambit when it opened in January. “Hats” fashioned its content for a specific audience, the society of older women with an organized mission of fun-seeking.
  Foster says that after a slow winter opening, the show built to “a nice blend” of Red Hatters and g.p. patrons. Six weeks ago, he says he probably would have decided to extend the contract with Harrah’s for another six months.
  But in the past six weeks — a direct correlation to the gas prices — “each week has deteriorated, with an incredible change (among) our Red Hatters,” Foster says. “And if you start losing your target audience …”
  Foster’s new plan is to take the show on the road next fall, to both casino markets and regional theaters, such as the ones in Chicago and Denver where the musical was introduced. “We’ll travel to where the people are instead of staying in one place that’s costly to get to.”