In one magic stroke, Trop lures ‘Rock Vault’ and Jan Rouven

By John Katsilometes

Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014 | 6:45 p.m.

The abrupt change in the Las Vegas entertainment climate this week reads like a novella of need.

“Raiding the Rock Vault” needed a big room; magician Jan Rouven needed a bigger room. The Tropicana needed a show, so, hey, let’s take two.

Westgate Las Vegas is now in need of an act or performer or production. And Murray Sawchuck needs an explanation or likely might simply appreciate one.

In a sweep affecting three hotel-casinos — so far — “Raiding the Rock Vault” is vacating the theater at Westgate and moving to Tropicana Theater. As of Nov. 1, it’ll be Raiding the Trop Vault, opening at the theater vacated this year by a show that was inspiring onstage but less so at the box office: “Mamma Mia!”

The deal to move “Rock Vault” effectively ends that show’s run at the old Hilton/LVH and current Westgate; as of this afternoon, the show was breaking down, packing up and heading out.

Jan Rouven, the heretofore headliner at Starlite Theater at the Riv, is moving to a venue twice the size of his current home. His arrival means that Laugh Factory headliner Sawchuck is leaving the property after his contract times out Oct. 30. Sawchuck wished Rouven well at the property, but he did not learn this deal was official until reading about it via text this afternoon. He’s now looking for a new venue for his afternoon magic shindig.

As for what happens when, the schedule for “Rock Vault” is Fridays through Wednesdays at 9 p.m. (an hour later than the show’s start at LVH and Westgate). Tickets are $59 to $99, absent charges. An animated illusionist and big-prop practitioner, Rouven debuts “The New Illusions” on Nov. 28. His days of operation are 7 p.m. Saturdays through Thursdays.

Aside from sharing the same 1,100-seat venue (and the costs of operating and marketing that venue) and that they share billing at the same hotel, “Rock Vault” and Rouven have little in common artistically.

The indefatigable production of “Rock Vault” opened at LVH in March 2013 and has survived a sluggish ticket-selling economy and ownership change at its own property. LVH had been pouring money into the show, which also lost its co-creator, John Payne, in May and is at the center of a still-unresolved breach-of-contract lawsuit Payne has filed against producer “Sir” Harry Cowell. The tribute to some of the great rock tunes of the 1960s, '70s and '80s just continues to rock on, having changed its lineup of actors but not its high-volume spirit.

When Westgate Resorts showed up on property and began taking a look at its entertainment lineup, it reasoned that “Rock Vault” — while a reliably entertaining and energetic production every night out — was simply not a financially viable proposition. In a phone conversation this morning, Westgate founder David Siegel said, “The show was underperforming in terms of ticket sales and was no benefit to us. It’s a big show, and if they go to another location, they might sell more tickets.”

Siegel’s sentiment was backed by a formal statement from the hotel, which also trumpeted the arrivals of Prince tribute act “Purple Reign” and Neil Diamond tribute artist Rob Garrett. Both of those acts are being booked in Shimmer Cabaret.

Siegel’s prepared statement referred to those shows and, obliquely, to the future: “In addition to these changes, we are pursuing other entertainment options that are consistent with the significant upgrades we are making to this iconic Las Vegas landmark." Westgate’s investment in the hotel is likely to easily exceed $100 million, and now it has a 1,600-seat theater to book.

The split between the hotel and the production is not clean, either, and don’t be too surprised to see lawyers involved in the manner and timing in which “Rock Vault’s” producers gave notice that the show was leaving.

Cowell said that Tropicana CEO Alex Yemenidjian turned up at a “Rock Vault” performance “out of the blue” a couple of months ago, indicating his hotel’s interest in the production. Cowell describes the business relationship as a “partnership” between the property and production, and the magic number to make a profit is 425 tickets sold per show. “Rock Vault” has had some very good nights at Westgate in terms of bodies occupying seats thanks to an aggressive comp-ticket effort but is not close to averaging 425 tickets sold per show.

Why would “Rock Vault” choose to move into a theater where a popular production — “Mamma Mia!” — closed after just three months? The investment from the hotel was no longer sustaining the show at Westgate, for starters, and the show had to make a bold move to remain in production.

“We are on the Strip, we have far more walk-up traffic than we would ever have at Westgate, and we will be able to develop more partnerships with ticket brokers from this position,” Cowell said in a phone conversation this morning. “The convention crowd is not our audience. We need to bring people into the theater because once they see the show, they get it. The Trop gets it, and let’s face it, we needed a big room, and they have a great one.”

As for what is presented onstage, Cowell says “Rock Vault” will continue to summon the great rock hits of eras gone by, though the original idea of recruiting such guest vocalists as Mickey Thomas of Starship and Jon Anderson of Yes has been tabled for now. It’s very expensive to entice a top rock vocalist to sit with a production for a half-dozen shows, and as Cowell says, “'Rock Vault' needs to stand on its own merits, and it has been standing on its own merits. Everyone who sees the show loves it.”

But the great stage piece that is the Rock Vault itself will be moved from the center of the stage, likely to the side.

“It’ll be our theme, but we’ll make a different use of it,” Cowell said. He didn’t say what is obvious: For this crew, hauling the Rock Vault off the stage is never an option.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.