STLGph From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 8977 posts, RR: 28 Posted (7 years 3 months 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 1638 times:
Avenue Q will close May 28 in Las Vegas. Ask Steve Wynn and he'll undoubtedly say it is to make room for the Las Vegas production of Spamalot. Ask anybody with a real clue and they'll say it is a testament to the fact that the Wynn Las Vegas has fallen far short of the runaway commercial success it was intended to be. Le Reve will still play, but of course, a great deal of its nightly audience (a good 50% or more) will be there because of house comps instead of advance ticket sales. Avenue Q's closure in Las Vegas means the 2004 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical can finally be seen in other parts of the country besides New York or Las Vegas. Its contract with the Wynn had prohibited performances outside of these two cities.
Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life folds up shop February 19.
Woman in White, plagued by cast illnesses and theater drama closes up shop February 19. And in one of the fastest turnarounds in recent theater history, the Marquis won't be sitting empty for very long as The Drowsy Chaperone, a hit in Los Angeles and Toronto begins April 3.
Chicago the musical sees Smokey Robinson joining the cast April 24 as Billy Flynn.
The Wedding Singer opened this week in Seattle, pre Broadway. if anybody sees it, do let me know.
Eternal darkness we all should dread. It's hard to party when you're dead.
QANTASFOREVER From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (7 years 3 months 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 1630 times:
Such a shame about the Woman in White. It is a quality show - no matter what people say.
A shame also about Avenue Q. Still - LV will have permanant productions of Hairspray and The Phantom of the Opera soon - so things aren't looking too bad for the theatre scene over there.
STLGph From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 8977 posts, RR: 28 Reply 4, posted (7 years 3 months 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 1593 times:
you thought the Fuzzy Cabs were bad, wait until you see what they have planned for Spamalot.
i have a feeling they will be dumping a lot of money into the production to get some names, if not some of the original Broadway cast, into the show for its first few months in Las Vegas (a la Harvey Fierstein and Hairspray) to get it up and off the ground. because of the Spamalot contract, the national tour of the show will not play a great deal of the western half of the U.S. instead getting people to have to travel to Vegas to see the show.
Eternal darkness we all should dread. It's hard to party when you're dead.
Srbmod From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 16888 posts, RR: 51 Reply 6, posted (7 years 3 months 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 1578 times:
Quoting FlyingTexan (Reply 5): About Steve W and big name resident headliners, STL, rumor is Bette Midler will open sometime in 2007 and it wont be at Wynn's new palace. . .
Don't forget about the Rod the Mod rumored to be setting up shop @ the MGM Grand, and there's pretty strong rumors that La Reve will be closing April 28th.
Quoting STLGph (Reply 4): because of the Spamalot contract, the national tour of the show will not play a great deal of the western half of the U.S. instead getting people to have to travel to Vegas to see the show.
It's coming to Atlanta 2/20-3/4 2007. (I am so there)
We also get "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and I'm tempted to go see "Sweet Charity", only because Molly Ringwald is in it......
STLGph From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 8977 posts, RR: 28 Reply 7, posted (7 years 3 months 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 1574 times:
Quoting Srbmod (Reply 6): It's coming to Atlanta 2/20-3/4 2007. Silly (I am so there)
We also get "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and I'm tempted to go see "Sweet Charity", only because Molly Ringwald is in it......
do yourself a favor and see all three shows.
Quoting Srbmod (Reply 6): and there's pretty strong rumors that La Reve will be closing April 28th.
i've heard that, too. if Le Reve goes, there's gonna be an immense fluster around the Las Vegas casino hotels that they might have reached their limit, which could eventually put some of the redevelopment of the Imperial Palace/Harrah's properties on hold, and apparently the Boyd Group is rethinking this "Eschelon Place."
Wynn had wanted to recreate his own theater district at the Wynn without about six or seven shows running simultaneously at his property. Spamalot and Avenue Q were intended to be running in two different theaters, with Le Reve taking the third spot, a potential one man show for the fourth, an off Broadway style cabaret act for the fifth, and a show yet to be determined or named for the sixth.
Quoting FlyingTexan (Reply 5): About Steve W and big name resident headliners, STL, rumor is Bette Midler will open sometime in 2007 and it wont be at Wynn's new palace. . .
ive heard that she won't be going to Wynn, too, and the place where she might end up setting up shop might be surprising quite a few people, myself included since i am not even all that certain nor are a bunch of people who *should* be somewhat in the know.
Eternal darkness we all should dread. It's hard to party when you're dead.
Srbmod From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 16888 posts, RR: 51 Reply 8, posted (7 years 3 months 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 1570 times:
Quoting STLGph (Reply 7): ive heard that she won't be going to Wynn, too, and the place where she might end up setting up shop might be surprising quite a few people, myself included since i am not even all that certain nor are a bunch of people who *should* be somewhat in the know.
The Tropicana? Maybe they'll implode it with her inside!
Srbmod From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 16888 posts, RR: 51 Reply 10, posted (7 years 3 months 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 1552 times:
Quoting STLGph (Reply 9): haha. i like the Tropicana, and as far as i know, that property isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Some stuff regarding the redevelopment have been filed with Clark County, but as long as they keep moving the reservations cutoff date like they've been doing, who the hell knows when it's closing.
FlyingTexan From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 11, posted (7 years 2 months 4 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 1537 times:
About the Trop...
They are not accepting room reservations after mid-April. Aztar Corp is ready to build something else there. The 26 acres are reportedly worth several hundred million (300-500).
Srbmod From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 16888 posts, RR: 51 Reply 12, posted (7 years 2 months 4 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 1534 times:
Quoting FlyingTexan (Reply 11): They are not accepting room reservations after mid-April. Aztar Corp is ready to build something else there. The 26 acres are reportedly worth several hundred million (300-500).
They've been doing the same thing for quite a while now. A few months back, they weren't accepting reservations past mid-February. A few months before that, mid-December. They've had a rolling reservations cutoff date it seems for close to a year now. Until they officially announce a date, I see them moving that mid-April date to mid-June in a few weeks, and wouldn't be surprised to see that mid-June date become a mid-September date. Some folks put the closing at sometime late this year.
This summer is going to be full of redevelopment announcements, especially from Harrah's. Look to see an announcement regarding the rumors of Bally's being torn down and replaced by the Horseshoe (Probable closing date late 2007, early 2008), plus the possible announcement of a Harrah's "megaresort" to compete with MGM-Mirage's Project CityCenter. The Harrah's project could potentially shutter the Imperial Palace, the Flamingo, and probably Harrah's. The Harrah's megaresort is very speculative at this time, and some rumors have the project being done in phases to lessen the number of rooms lost to the project. Then there's the redevelopment of the New Frontie, which will probably be announced anytime in the next few weeks to few months. Some info has leaked out (like the rumored name, Mondo), and some folks are projecting a mid-2007 closing there. Then there's the Riviera, a real wild card. The casino was recently taken over by some new investors, so the rumors of redevelopment are increasing.
One thing to look for this summer is more of the proposed condo projects biting the dust. And what will replace these projects? More casinos. The Trump rumors are resurfacing again, especially as his Trump International project nears completion on the back part of the New Frontier site. And the new owners of the Golden Nugget, Landry's, is looking to grow their empire. I also wouldn't be surprised if Station Casinos announce a spot on the Strip.
Throwing this back onto the original topic, some Vegas acts may become history. I'm sure that Jubilee! and Folies Bergere will find new digs in Vegas, which means that some newer shows will close. I see Harrah's keeping Jubilee! in the family, I would venture to guess moving it to either Paris or the Rio (provided they haven't sold it by then). I wouldn't be surprised if Folies Bergere actually ended up at Paris (especially since the show is a French import). Wayne Newton could be done in Vegas as well, time to go back to Branson I guess.......
STLGph From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 8977 posts, RR: 28 Reply 13, posted (7 years 2 months 4 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 1532 times:
Phantom of the Opera opens in May. I have a feeling Hairspray might see a bunch of audience decline after Harvey Fierstein leaves. For some reason, I just don't see Phantom doing a booming business at the Venetian going up against the Venetian's own Blue Man Group, but I could be wrong. Wynn's investment into Spamalot will definitely be a true test as to the Broadwayization of Las Vegas.
Steve Wynn recently said in an interview that Avenue Q *was* making money, but just not enough for his liking. Avenue Q could be profitable at 30% capacity and was running 55-60% capacity. On Broadway, if a show is running $1 above the break even point, producers wouldnt even think of closing it. While it goes against a lot what show creators stand for artistically, they'll still take the pay day to minimalize financial loss even if it means their show sees a much shorter than anticipated run in the Vegas arena.
However, if any of these three shows fail, there will be a tremendous slow down on Broadway imports into Las Vegas. If two or all three fail, then Broadway will pretty much stay on Broadway for good.
The shows that have played Vegas for years, Jubilee, and Follies, I see being the ones with the most staying power. Dragone's Le Reve pretty much duplicated too much Dragone for Vegas's liking and was greatly overshadowed by the Wynn itself. This is why I think in particular this show has, or is failing.
Cirque Du Soleil seems to be a good reliable tradition, but at what point will Cirque Du Soleil saturate itself so much where they start to put their own shows out of business?
I wouldn't be surprised to see one of the new mega casinos that we will see coming down the road go with something different...rather than a certain mainstay show, they'll have an outdoor concert stage providing an outdoor amphitheater like venue having a different concert act every night, or at least attempting to, taking what you can see at Hard Rock Cafe and the House of Blues to a different level. And there is also the move to perhaps more stunt shows like the ones you would see at Universal Studios or Disneyland to compete with the Treasure Island spectacle.
There is also talk of luring Cher out of her long talked about retirement to at least do a sit down show in Las Vegas.
Eternal darkness we all should dread. It's hard to party when you're dead.
STLGph From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 8977 posts, RR: 28 Reply 14, posted (7 years 2 months 4 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 1531 times:
In other theater this week, it was announced that Cherry Jones will play the first six months of a national tour of the hit play "Doubt" that will start touring in the fall. This is one show that any type of good drama lover or repretory theater lover should not miss. Jones is amazing and could sell out Radio City Music Hall even if she was doing a one woman show about how to knit a sock.
This summer she is doing a British import play called Faith Healer with Ralph Fiennes and Ian McDiarmid (yeah, that Star Wars guy). I have a feeling that tickets will be hard to come by for this show.
Eternal darkness we all should dread. It's hard to party when you're dead.
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