Showrooms still in state of change

Friday, Dec. 1, 2000 | 12:02 p.m.

Giant marquees once lined the Strip like stone monuments, etched with the names of the greatest entertainers in the world who were playing at the most famous showrooms in the world.

Those signs are gone now, replaced by electronic reader boards that many believe symbolize the diminished importance of performers in the eyes of executives who run the city's hotels and casinos.

Celebrities have been reduced to the status of restaurants and shopping malls.

"Today you see a big name on the screen, then a buffet and then a room special," George Pecoraro said with dismay. "Can you imagine Dean Martin's name on a screen and four seconds later a prime rib special?"

Pecoraro is an agent who represents clients whose names once graced now-defunct hotel marquees -- celebrities such as Jack Jones, Frankie Avalon, Don Ho and Red Buttons.

"I'm partial to what made Las Vegas famous. I like to see stars in the main showrooms," Pecoraro said.

Technology isn't the only change to the showroom scene. The way business is conducted also is different. Once upon a time hotels hired entertainers for a flat fee. Now, according to several sources, the majority of hotels rent showrooms to the stars and let them worry about profit.

"Hotels today are reluctant to put out money for a production," Dan Trinter, former president of the Musicians Union of Las Vegas, No. 369, said. "They look at their showrooms as just another room to rent."

The practice is called "four-walling."

Harry Seybold, a longtime Las Vegas producer and promoter, said he recently tried to strike a deal with the Monte Carlo to put on a locally written musical called "Back to the '50s."

"They wanted me to pay them $12,000 a night for one performance," Seybold said. "And I would have to hire the stagehands, cocktail waitresses and bartenders and pay for my own advertising."

When Jack Eglash arrived in Las Vegas as a young musician in the early 1950s, the biggest stars were paid, at the most, $25,000 and worked at least three shows a night. That changed when the Frontier broke ranks and paid Mario Lanza $50,000, which started a bidding war and changed the dynamics of the industry.

Eglash, the band conductor for Jerry Lewis, is semi-retired and lives in Washington. He spent 47 years in Las Vegas, several of them as entertainment director at the Desert Inn. "Back then the hotel bought the act and paid for everything," he said. "They were happy if they broke even, or even took a loss of $4 or $5 a ticket. The basic concept was to get the people lined up in the casinos. That began to change about 10 years ago."

Eglash isn't bothered by today's hotels making deals in which entertainers share the risk, such as those made with the MGM and comics Rita Rudner and George Carlin, and with the Golden Nugget and David Brenner.

"Asking the stars to participate is not a bad idea," Eglash said. "If they do business, they're going to make a lot of money."

Changes in technology and the way showroom business is conducted are only part of the big picture of Las Vegas' entertainment industry, which is in a constant state of flux.

Caesars Palace closed Circus Maximus in September. The Desert Inn closed its showroom with the hotel earlier this year. At least one showroom has reopened -- the 400-seat Ballroom Theatre at the Golden Nugget, where Brenner performs through Jan. 27. It was initially shut down 15 months ago.

There are several new showrooms, such as Sam's Town Live! (a 1,050-seat venue) and the Suncoast's 600-seat theater. The Aladdin has the Theatre for the Performing Arts and the Blue Note Las Vegas.

Station Casinos is expanding its entertainment venues, including adding the Dallas Events Center at Texas Station for concerts, boxing matches, conventions and other events.

Stations recently renovated its Railhead showroom at Boulder Station, and was scheduled to announce today an agreement with former Van Halen lead singer Sammy Hagar to build a 20,000-square-foot Cabo Wabo nightclub and concert facility at Sunset Station.

Cabo Wabo is also the name of Hagar's club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Judy Alberti, vice president of entertainment for Station Casinos, said the club should open in December 2001.

Even more new showrooms are on the horizon.

At least three new casinos are expected to open during the next couple of years: one is now being built by the Maloof family (which sold the Fiesta this year to Station Casinos); one might be built on the Strip by MGM and would be geared toward the Generation-X crowd; and Station Casinos is building a facility in Henderson.

Coast Casinos (which recently opened the Suncoast) is considering building a facility in North Las Vegas. All are scheduled to include showrooms.

Performance anxiety

Many existing showrooms are going through changes, creating anxiety among some performers.

Bill Acosta jumped ship from the Luxor and recently opened his "Lasting Impressions" show at the Flamingo Las Vegas. Carlin ended an 11-year contract with Bally's and and moved to the MGM Grand.

The Rio recently opened the avant-garde Latin production "De La Guarda," and Mandalay Bay is preparing its own Latin-themed show ("Storm") to replace the long-departed "Chicago."

Clint Holmes, left homeless when the Nugget venue closed, is at Harrah's. Sheena Easton, who co-stars with David Cassidy in the "At the Copa" production at the Rio, is expected to leave the show in the near future.

Joel Fischman, former vice president of entertainment at Mandalay Bay, finds the changes exciting.

"There always will be change in Las Vegas. Every few years it reinvents itself," Fischman, who runs his own theatrical agency (First Class Productions), said. "That's fresh, and that's good."

Las Vegas, he noted, is open to innovation, such as the Blue Man Group he brought to the Luxor. "O" at the Bellagio and "Mystere" at Treasure Island are other examples of successful shows that are not typical productions.

With the ever-expanding number of showrooms, it seems there is something for almost everyone's taste: experimental ("De La Guarda"); magicians (such as Steve Wyrick at the Sahara); impressionists (including Danny Gans at the Mirage); concerts (which many of the newer hotels host) and headliners (such as Las Vegas staple Wayne Newton at the Stardust).

Some shows last longer than others, Fischman said. "Nebulae: The LifeForce" barely lasted two months at the Venetian this year.

While there are some failures, Fischman said there is tremendous competition for entertainers who can draw crowds. Casinos are cropping up all over the country, on river banks and on Indian reservations, and most of them have showrooms that rival those in Las Vegas.

The same headliners keep showing up at different venues. "Everybody wants the same top five," Fischman said. "There are only so many entertainers out there, and they are reaping the benefits of all this activity.

"(In Las Vegas) everybody's got their own little theater now."

Among those with theaters in their name are Siegfried & Roy, Lance Burton, Wyrick, Newton and Gans.

Multimillion-dollar theaters and productions have made it virtually impossible to return to the old days when the venues were used as a tool to draw gamblers to the casinos.

"The money is too big now," Fischman said. "Showrooms can no longer be a loss leader. They have to break even or make money for the hotel."

Audiences are benefitting from the larger investments. Most new showrooms hold bigger audiences and have plush, theater-style seating rather than booths and tables. If customers pay $100 to see a performance, they expect to watch it in comfort.

"(Showrooms) have come a long way in the last five years," Fischman said.

Entertaining idea

While change is normal in Las Vegas, Fischman believes there is one constant -- entertainment will always be the best way to set one hotel apart from another.

"It creates the image and energy of a property," he said. "A restaurant is a restaurant, any way you slice it. Slot machines are the same everywhere. Entertainment really defines the nature of the property."

Although some people complain about Las Vegas' entertainment scene, Fischman is not one of them.

"This is the center of the industry," he said, "and it's going to evolve even further in the next few years."

Competition to provide the right entertainment for the masses of people who come here sparks innovations that Fischman said are "exciting and rewarding."

Roy Jernigan, head of BU-LA Productions in Henderson, books entertainers for venues owned by Coast Resorts, among others. He's been in the business 35 years, during which he has seen a lot of changes, but has held fast to a headliner policy.

"We go through changes all the time in Las Vegas," he said. "I remember when one showroom had success with an ice rink and soon all of them had to have ice rinks. If something hot happens, everyone follows."

He said Rudner's arrangement at MGM could be the start of a new trend.

Currently, though, topless revues are out in front. The "Follies Bergere" has been a mainstay at the Tropicana for 40 years. "Bottoms Up" was at the Riviera for 38 years before closing three years ago and then, after realizing that breasts were still big, reopening recently as the "Best of Bottoms Up" at the Flamingo Las Vegas.

"Midnight Fantasy" opened at the Luxor about a year ago. Harrah's has "Skintight"; the Plaza has "Naked Angels"; and the New Frontier has "Femme Magique." The MGM plans a Las Vegas-version of the Parisian revue "Crazy Horse."

Production shows also continue to draw crowds, such as "EFX" at MGM and "Lord of the Dance" at New York-New York.

"There are a lot of hot new production shows, but who knows how long they will last," Jernigan said. "If you're not Danny Gans or Seigfried & Roy or Blue Man Group, you're in a lot of trouble."

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