Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

BMG, Jabbawockeez shuffle involves Beacher’s Madhouse; Recycled Percussion adds ‘V’ to schedule

Joe Jonas, Alan Ritchson at Blue Man Group

Blue Man Productions

Alan Ritchson, a Blue Man and Joe Jonas at Blue Man Group in Monte Carlo for “I Can Do That” on NBC.

2015 EDC: Night 3

Fireworks explode over the Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the final night of the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) early Monday morning, June 22, 2015. Launch slideshow »

The Kats Report Bureau at this writing is the Dream Racing headquarters at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which over the weekend housed the media center for the 2015 Electric Daisy Carnival.

The sonic power of this event can’t be overstated. The bass thundering from outside this hovel, which is actually the Red Garage on LVMS infield, makes the room feel like a giant woofer. (Woofer? I married ’er!) The reverberation in the men’s room was nearly intolerable, and this is a facility built to withstand even the loudest motorsports events.

Regardless, we surf the waves, sound or otherwise:

• Like a couple o’ rodeo contestants bulldogging a steer, we have tied down events at three Strip resorts involving three venues and two shows. By “we,” I speak of Ubiquitous Robin Leach and myself.

We now understand that Blue Man Group is to move out of Monte Carlo and into the theater currently occupied by Jabbawockeez at the Luxor, likely in August. The Jabbawockeez would then move into a 7 p.m. position at Beacher’s Madhouse.

Left open is the renovations at Monte Carlo, which Vegas Inc reported months ago, that includes a full rebranding effort (including a name change for the resort). How will the work affect the use of the theater? I believe that the overhaul will lead to a venue that will somehow be associated with the new Las Vegas Arena and present headlining concert performances.

Beacher’s Madhouse, too, is not finished shuffling. That venue is a constant cauldron of conversation; there is room for another smaller-scale production inside the room, likely in the 9 p.m. slot.

• Producer David Saxe is known to get the most out of the performers in his many shows at Saxe Theater and V Theater at Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. Many performers turn up in multiple productions; it is not uncommon for an act that appears in “Vegas! The Show” at Saxe Theater to hustle over to V Theater for “V — The Ultimate Variety Show.” The tap-dance duo Sean & John were among the acts who pulled double duty for Saxe before they were plucked by Spiegelworld to appear in “Vegas Nocturne” and, today, “Absinthe.”

The latest example is the guys from Recycled Percussion, who this spring moved into Saxe Theater from the Linq Showroom, and who have now been hooked into five-minute segments in the “V” show. Saxe’s philosophy, still, is if you can perform for even five minutes, we’ll use you for five minutes.

• On the topic of performers at Saxe’s Miracle Mile fortress, Lorena Peril ended her run at “Vegas! The Show” on Sunday night. She’s focusing her creative energy on the comedy/music show she’s written with her husband, Ray Jon Narbaitz (requisite reference to Valhalla here), and also is swinging in her former show, “Fantasy” at Luxor.

• Ricky Moreno, the most avuncular of the Moreno brothers, has advanced to the final five of the Travel Channel competition “Travel Channel Star.” The winner is to host a five-part web series on the network.

Moreno is still in contention, surviving among more than 1,000 contestants who sent audition clips to the network. That mass of hopefuls was cut to 15 and now the Top Five. A couple of weeks ago, Moreno was recorded doing something strange and maybe dangerous in his “fish out of water” theme at a location within an hour’s drive of Las Vegas. That clip is to be posted on Travel Channel's website, where fans can vote for their favorite contestant now through Friday (voting closes at 9 p.m.).

The next phase is to cut the field of five to the Top Two, as fans’ votes are combined with the decision of the contest’s three judges (Travel Channel host Rob Pralgo and executives Jodi Bettencourt and Anna Garwood). Last week, the final five met with the judges at Travel Channel offices in Knoxville, Tenn. Of Moreno’s first clip, an adventure in India where he was bitten on the hand by a monkey, Garwood said Moreno presented “one of the most entertaining videos we’ve seen.” But Pralgo quickly said, “He produced a fun video, but we’re not hiring a producer.”

I say this is crazy enough to work. He really could win this thing.

• Expect the music in the new version of “The Rat Pack Is Back” opening July 6 at T Spot at Tuscany Suites to be robust, topnotch and fully satisfying. David Perrico is writing the arrangements, Lon Bronson is hiring the band, and both will play trumpet — or, rather, separate trumpets — in a seven-piece band. That’s 11 cast members and musicians, total, in a room that is a good time all the time. “The Rat Pack Is Back” shows are 7:30 nightly. Prices are $69.95 general admission with dinner; $79.95 for a VIP dinner package.

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

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