Jan. 15, 2006
Broadway on the Strip
The latest crapshoot in Vegas? Legitimate
musicals
[Hear the 1/12 podcast
on "Avenue Q" by clicking here]
[See companion piece, a Q-and-A with Harvey Fierstein, here]
By STEVE FRIESS
When Harvey Fierstein announced he would reprise
his Tony-winning "Hairspray" turn in-of all places-Las Vegas,
it looked as if Sin City's dream of becoming Broadway West might
come true. "Las Vegas could be like the old vaudeville circuit,
a place where lighter entertainment could find a home," says
Fierstein, who's rumored to be getting seven figures for a three-month
run when the musical opens Feb. 6 at the Luxor casino. "To the
people who say that's a bastardization of Broadway: we're in
the entertainment business. That's what we do."
But even bastardized versions of some Broadway musicals may
be too highbrow. Mogul Steve Wynn declared Vegas tastes had
finally "matured" when he built a $40 million theater at his
new resort to house Tony winner "Avenue Q." Yet the musical's
been playing to half-empty houses on some nights since it opened
last August. (The producers say they expected a slow start.)
"I'd think to myself, 'What is wrong with these people?' says
actor John Tartaglia, who finished his "Avenue Q" run last month.
Audiences don't laugh at jokes that have Broadway theatergoers
doubled over. "Then I'd realize, these people may never have
seen a Broadway show before. They don't know how to react."
Some Broadway producers who were angling for casino deals
are now watching and waiting. "Only one Broadway musical has
really become a Vegas staple, and that's "Mamma Mia!," says
a Tony-winning New York producer who's so far resisted the temptation
of Sin City. Indeed, "We Will Rock You," a London hit based
on music by Queen, elicited yawns in Vegas, and "Saturday Night
Fever" was an even bigger flop than it was on Broadway.
The trick is finding shows that appeal to fidgety tourists
used to Cirque du Soleil-style spectacles. Some producers are
shrinking their musicals for Vegas. Several numbers have been
trimmed from "Hairspray" to make it a lean 90 minutes with no
intermission. "The way we cut it and shaped it, it's more like
launching a rocket," says Fierstein. Andrew Lloyd Webber and
Harold Prince have restaged-and nearly halved-their two-and-a-half-hour
"Phantom of the Opera" for its Vegas debut this May, and "Spamalot"
will be similarly bite-size when it opens in early 2007. "There
are very few Broadway shows that wouldn't be better if they
were cut down a bit," says Alan Feldman, a vice president of
MGM Mirage, which owns the Luxor. "Avenue Q" may have learned
its lesson: its producers are thinking of a nip and tuck, too.
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