Musicals that Should Come to Vegas

Rock Of Ages was meant for a Vegas sit down show. If the Hard Rock Hotel was smart they would build that show a theater.

"although since all Strip shows have to be intermission-less,"

Actually that's not true. "Jersey Boys" has an intermission although it's only for 7 minutes. Yes, you read right--7 minutes and you're expected to be back in your seat for the second act. During the intermission there's a countdown screen with photos of how the Vegas strip has changed and when it reaches the current day the 2nd act begins. We didn't get up for the intermission because we figured there would be no way that all the people would be back in their seats, but lo and behold it worked and I didn't see people struggling to get back in as they do at "Wicked". Thus, "Wicked" could come but doubt that it will anytime soon.

What I love about Vegas is those shows start when they're supposed to start. They say 7pm, the curtain goes up at 7pm. And surprisingly, very few latecomers.

Chicago was already tried a decade ago. I got see Chita Rivera as Roxie and Ben Vereen as Billy there, it was pretty neat. But it only lasted a couple of years.

PS Criss Angel is doing horribly after the initial rush.

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People see them as close enough. Spamalot was not allowed to tour to LA because it was at the Wynn.

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everythingtaboo... i never noticed that before... you're right... shows DO start on time in Las Vegas... i've been to several shows and I don't think I've ever seen latecomers or a late curtain!

The whole notion that Broadway shows in Vegas MUST be without an intermission is not true.

We went over this already.

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My mistake. It seems that the most successful shows are 90 minutes long, and intermission-less. The main idea is not to make the show the only thing you do that night, as winston pointed out. That's why all these casinos have built lavish theatres for shows that would never be built in New York. Nobody in Manhattan would ever be able to build Cirque a $40 million opera house that would only work for their show, because New Yorkers are a lot more accustomed to shows coming and going. None of the Cirque du Soleil shows in Vegas have closed, the oldest one having opened 17 years ago, rivaling some of Broadway's longest runners.

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By the way, has anyone seen Phantom in Vegas? It's amazing how much better that show is when they chop off an hour. The Broadway production puts me to sleep, but I plan to see it again when I go back to Vegas in March. It's all killer, no filler!

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Updated On: 1/2/10 at 11:44 AM

LA and San Fran are very far apart. Get a map, emo. And Lizzy, I only pointed out the driving distance to show that the two cities are actually very far from each other. I wouldn't drive it either.

Vegas is starting to relax the whole "Under 90 minutes" thing with shows now that so many Broadway shows are making their way there. But I know shows like Phantom cut quite a bit out... And not to sound like a rube but I actually didn't mind the cuts when I checked out Phantom there. I felt I got all the "Phantom" I needed with that version. :)

I, personally, prefer the full Phantom to the 90-min version.

That's too bad that you all ready made up your mind to not see it, just because you heard a few of the songs, a few times during the days that you were there. I'm sure when you were in LV, you were out and about - not just sitting directly under the speaker in the hotel, casino and outside listening to it 24/7, or anything like that.

The last time I was there, my friend and I stayed at Bally's and saw all the advertising and such for their stage show "Jubilee!" It's on their marquee, on the tv in the rooms, etc. Seeing all the ads, just made it all the more exciting to see the show - and it did. "Jubilee!" is a wonderful stage show - filled with beautiful women coming down staircases all in feathers, and huge production numbers - the last of a dying breed in LV. I've seen it many times throughout the years, and it never disappoints.

I saw "Phantom," and it's wonderful! That theatre is amazing. Was in Paris in August, and toured the Paris Opera House. It's amazing how it's duplicated in Las Vegas.

Updated On: 1/2/10 at 07:07 PM