Freestyle Love Supreme closing early in Vegas

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, after just opening on November 10th and scheduled to run through April 2023, the show will cut its run short at the Venetian to only January 29.

Lin Manuel Miranda still set to appear in the show next week.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/freestyle-love-supreme-latest-strip-show-to-shut-down-2706687/

Aside from PHANTOM, has any show lasted longer than a year or two in Vegas? On paper FLS seems like the right fit for Vegas, but evidently not.

Jersey Boys lasted awhile, I think?


I think it’s just impossible to compete with the spectacle of the other shows.

I think the issue with Broadway shows in Vegas is that you're not going to get repeat guests. I'm surprised Hamilton never did a sit down in Vegas, but Vegas requires shows get cut down to ~100 minutes.

Mamma Mia ran at Mandalay Bay for six years, and, if I'm not mistaken, was the full two act show during that entire run. The Lion King lasted for just over two and a half years, also at Mandalay Bay, though I don't remember if that was shortened or was also the full two act show. The first Vegas production of Rock of Ages ran for three years at the Venetian, and it has since been brought back several times, though never lasting as long as the first time.

I don't think it has anything to do with attention spans. A Broadway musical is just not what Vegas audiences are interested in for the most part. Cirque has cracked the formula and their most popular shows have had incredibly successful runs. For instance, O consistently sells out and has done so since it opened in 1998, with very few, if any, discounts ever being available. Mystere has been running for even longer, and Ka and Love are both approaching the 20 year mark (Ka in 2024 and Love in 2026).

Again, attention spans. Cirque shows have pretty much no dialogue or any true plot to follow. (I’ve seen all but the Michael Jackson show at least once.) Audience members arrive and leave at random times, look at their phones a LOT and even nap (especially the later evening shows.) They’re lovely-to-view shows in air conditioned theatres with comfortable seats and no plot to follow.

Updated On: 1/6/23 at 01:06 PM

Jarethan said: "FLS never seemed to me the type of show that would work on Vegas. To really enjoy it, people first of all had to want to see that type of show and, secondly, concentrate. Just doesn’t sound like a Vegas audience to me. Maybe if they’d inserted 20 minutes of magic in the middle."

Really? I feel like musical improv is at about the same level of entertainment as a bad comedian and bad comedians do great in Vegas. Maybe it's the genre of music.

Its not even really Freestyle Love Supreme anymore....it doesn't feature any founding members, if Lin and UTK and Chris were doing this every night in Vegas it would be PACKED