Where did Starlight Express and Chicago play in Vegas?

[winston89]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 1:09pm

I know that both Chicago and Starlight Express did at one point play in Vegas. I was wondering at which hotels they both played in. I know that Starlight was replaced by a Star Trek themed area. But, I don't know what hotel it was in.

And, what hotel did Chicago play in. And, did both shows play the full length or were they cut down in run time a la Phantom?

[singingbackup]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 1:20pm

It's been ages, but I do recall seeing Starlight Express at the Las Vegas Hilton. Don't remember if it was intermission-less or not.

[MrBundles]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 1:46pm

chicago was full length and it was at the Mandalay Bay

[winston89]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 2:27pm

Thanks.

Any idea as to when thoes two productions were?

I was listing to a podcast that was posted on youtube with Boggess and one of the guys who played the Phantom in the Vegas production. They were talking about how with a lot of Broadway shows doing Vegas productions, that people were consdiering Vegas the Broadway of the west. And well we all know how well that idea turned out to be.

[Riff2]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 2:39pm

Starlight was at the Hilton (as was the Star Trek experience). I saw it; scaled down with the races shown on video.

[winston89]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 2:43pm

You would think that with Starlight playing in Vegas that it would have the best racing scenes out of any Starlight production. Instead it sounded more like the scaled down tour just setting up shop in Vegas.

[DBillyP]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 3:06pm

I saw "Starlight" in 1995 in Vegas. I was disappointed by the projected races, but I will never forget that the wig worn by Reva Rice on stage as "Pearl" was a different color than the one in the race sequences on video. (One was pink; the other was blond.)

[JRybka]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 5:57pm

I saw it when they toured later with the video projections. I remember being so sad.

I did recall a while later they did a Starlight Express on Ice... now that I would have paid to see.

[singingbackup]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 7:22pm

Chicago at the Bay opened on March 11, 1999 with Chita Rivera, Ute Lemper, Ben Vereen and Marcia Lewis. Saw it, loved her.

[choitoy]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 8:37pm

Mandalay Bay was my second time seeing "Chicago" (out of four times).

It was the full show (not a 90 minute pared down version), but I can't remember if the "Poker sequence" was cut yet or not. I know by the third time I saw it (when it toured back to Seattle), it was gone (as I got to the end of the show and said out loud "Hey! Where's the poker scene???"). I think it may still have been in the show at this point.

I saw it with Marilu Henner (who was a lot better, and more gracious stage dooring afterward than I expected), Mamie Duncan Gibbs as Velma (I think Brenda Braxton just left the week before, but I didn't really mind as Mamie was EXCELLENT!!! She is such a sweetheart! I love her!!!), and Ben Vereen (who was Ben Vereen...).

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 10:39pm

The "Poker Sequence" was never included in the 1996 revival of CHICAGO. It wasn't included in the 1996 City Center Encores! production nor when the show made it to Broadway a few months later. No matter which production you saw of this revival, you never saw this sequence.

Yes, the Broadway revival of CHICAGO is slightly abridged from the original 1975 Broadway production of CHICAGO.