Posted: 4/21/16 at 11:15am
I remember in the mid-2000's many shows like Hairspray, Avenue Q, Spamalot, Mamma Mia, and The Phantom of the Opera opened ninety minute intermission less shows in Las Vegas. Most of them failed miserably and closed up quickly. I was wondering why producers felt the need to open in Las Vegas and if any of you actually liked the shows you saw.
Posted: 4/21/16 at 11:25am
I LOVED Phantom in Vegas. I already enjoyed the full-length show, but the Vegas one took out all the boring bits, added fire and knives, and made the whole thing so much FUN. I wish all of the productions were like that. Or at least had that element of fun, if not shaving off the extraneous bits.
Posted: 4/21/16 at 7:26pm
I'm so sad I missed the Las Vegas phantom! It sound so great, and I would have loved to have seen it. I wish the Broadway version kind of revamped their "spectacle" a bit.
Posted: 4/21/16 at 7:35pm
I saw Avenue Q in Vegas. I then saw it again when the tour came to Toronto, and it was the exact same show (with the exception of the city-specific bits e.g. when they pulled tickets to local events out of the donation hat). I distinctly remember an intermission, as well, because I remember an older couple not returning for the second act (and I just dug up the Playbill to confirm that it had an intermission). So Vegas Avenue Q was another show that didn't last in Vegas, but it was the full production.
Posted: 4/21/16 at 7:41pm
Did you see it early on in Vegas, though? Steve Wynn messed with all the shows at his properties over the courses of their runs.
Posted: 4/21/16 at 10:04pm
Phantom in Vegas was beyond awesome. Dropping the boring bits and the intermission and upping the flash made for a great production.
Way back in the late 90s, there was a sit-down production of the current revival of Chicago (in what is now the home of Michael Jackson ONE) and that was great too. We got Stephanie Pope as Velma, and then we got Chita Rivera as Roxie and Ben Vereen as Billy! Heavenly.
Posted: 4/21/16 at 10:10pm
As someone who lived in Vegas for over 10 years I saw a lot of these productions, some worked, some didn't. I think the ones that worked are Rock of Ages, which is still playing, Mamma Mia, which ran for like 5 years, and Jersey Boys, which I believe is also still playing. These are essentially jukebox musicals and everyone knows the songs and they are just fun shows to drink with. Also these productions are the full shows.
The worst I saw was The Producers with David Hasselhoff. They took a close to 3 hours production and cut it to 90 minutes, it definitely felt like there was quite a bit missing. Hairspray was done reasonably well, had you not seen the original production you would have no idea that anything was missing.
Posted: 4/21/16 at 10:22pm
What's the point for cutting the shows down to 90 minutes? Are the people of Las Vegas not able to sit in a chair for any longer?
Posted: 4/21/16 at 10:39pm
Yes, Jersey Boys is still playing. No, it's not the full show -- but it might be the least cut-down Vegas sit-down show. The intermission is "a short break" and is only 7 or 8 minutes long. When I lived in California, I saw the Vegas production a lot, and honestly miss its pace when I see it elsewhere.
Jorge, the 90 minutes is to get them back onto the gambling floor faster.
Updated On: 4/21/16 at 10:39 PM
Posted: 4/21/16 at 11:12pm
As someone who has seen Broadway's Phantom 60 times, I too loved the Vegas production. I loved how the chandelier came together over the heads of the audience at the top of the show. I loved how the Phantom (stuntman) appeared in the chandelier and how the chandelier dropped very quickly and right before it hit the audience there was a blackout which was terrifying. Another favorite part was the murder of Buquet which involved the actor wearing a harness and the Phantom actually hanging him as opposed to an obvious fake body being dropped from the flies.
I was so bummed when it closed that I flew out to Vegas to watch the show twice in one day. I got yelled at my an usher for taking a picture of the set before the show. I love aggressive ushers so that is a treasured memory
Updated On: 4/21/16 at 11:12 PM
Posted: 4/21/16 at 11:49pm
Lizzie, after I posted, I suspected that maybe I saw an earlier Vegas incarnation of Avenue Q. I saw it in December 2005. Wikipedia tells me that it was shortened to 90 minutes in mid-January 2006. So it seems as though I saw it before it got its Vegas treatment :)
Posted: 4/22/16 at 4:02am
Had a blast at the Vegas Phantom. Our seats were directly under the chandelier and we were not ready for how quickly it dropped. It landed what felt like inches from our heads. There were loud squeals and scream of real fear and terror followed by embarrassed laughter. Never thought Phantom could be such FUN. But then, it's Vegas!
Posted: 4/22/16 at 10:39am
Call_me_jorge said: "What's the point for cutting the shows down to 90 minutes? Are the people of Las Vegas not able to sit in a chair for any longer?
Pretty much all Vegas shows are 90 minutes, the cirque shows, the magic shows, and the burlesque shows. It's so they can do 2 shows nightly and get people back in the casino.
Luckly Vegas has the beautiful Smith Center to house the touring shows for locals.
"
Posted: 4/22/16 at 10:45am
after looking at more Las Vegas Broadway shows I learned there was a production of the lion king. Why does did they have one in las vegas? That seems out of place to me for Disney to have a production in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is not a children's destination. No wonder it only lasted a year.
Posted: 4/22/16 at 10:59am
That was at the tail end of when Vegas was trying to market itself as family-friendly.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/28/news/midcaps/las_vegas/
http://lasvegassun.com/news/2011/jan/02/few-bright-spots-strips-future/
Have you ever been to Vegas, though? There are always kids running around, and a family-friendly show on the Strip gives them something to see besides the horses at Excalibur.
Posted: 4/22/16 at 11:12am
The Vegas PHANTOM was spectacular! Vegas seems to go for Jukebox or spectacle. It probably never made much sense for shows like HAIRSPRAY or AVENUE Q to go there. CHICAGO probably would have run longer if the girls were topless.
Didn't AVENUE Q famously opt to open in Vegas instead of doing a national tour and that's why they started with the 'full production'?
Posted: 4/22/16 at 11:13am
Haven't there been other shows that played Vegas that weren't on Broadway? I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, that there was a sit down production of We Will Rock You. And, didn't Starlight Express have some sort of run in Sin City too?
Posted: 4/22/16 at 11:14am
Dallas Theatre Fan said: "I remember in the mid-2000's many shows like Hairspray, Avenue Q, Spamalot, Mamma Mia, and The Phantom of the Opera opened ninety minute intermission less shows in Las Vegas. Most of them failed miserably and closed up quickly. I was wondering why producers felt the need to open in Las Vegas and if any of you actually liked the shows you saw.
"
Posted: 4/22/16 at 11:16am
http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Who-d-a-thunk-it-Steve-Wynn-brings-brainy-2606094.php
So what is a guy who built three other major hotels on the Strip (the Mirage, Treasure Island and the Bellagio) to do to fill those vacant showrooms? Spectacle -- entertainments so grandiose and sensuous that all you had to do was sit back and let the pageantry wash over you.
"Avenue Q," on the other hand, requires that an audience think. Understanding the lyrics that drive the plot, accepting the conceit that live actors plus the puppets they carry equal characterization and settling in for a show about Gen-Xers with Harvard degrees who can't get arrested in the job market is more work than many Vegas audiences have been required to do. Wynn, however, was so charmed by the show when he saw it in New York that he made the producers an offer they couldn't refuse.
Robyn Goodman is one of three "Avenue Q" producers with Broadway and off-Broadway credits on her resume, including "Altar Boyz" and "Metamorphoses." Touring "Avenue Q," she said, was in the works, but problematical. "A lot of tour operators told us that they didn't think the show would work in their town, not the bigger cities, but the smaller places. They even suggested that we rewrite and tone down the sex. So when we were offered the chance to come to Vegas, we looked at the numbers and the opportunity. (Wynn) wanted to build a brand-new theater for us, for our show. Steve Wynn is a visionary -- it's God's little joke, I guess."
Posted: 4/22/16 at 11:16am
Also:
http://www.newsweek.com/steve-wynn-avenue-qs-early-closing-113211
Posted: 4/22/16 at 11:21am
All proves you don't go to Vegas for the culture.
Posted: 4/22/16 at 11:30am
I was considering making a trip to Vegas to see Rock of Ages during Mitchell Jarvis' stint with the company. Does anyone know if it's cut down and if so, what numbers/scenes are cut?
Posted: 4/22/16 at 2:26pm
Adair, when I saw it last April it was the full show, no cuts.
