Columnist Joe Delaney: Las Vegas has glut of empty showroom seats

Joe Delaney

Thursday, Feb. 8, 2001 | 9:14 a.m.

Joe Delaney's column appears on Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or joe@lasvegassun.com.

Let's put posteriors in all those too-often empty showroom seats ... Needed: full-time entertainment directors and elimination of entertainment by committee, with entertainment decisions made mostly by lawyers, accountants and marketing specialists ... Why should the Rio showroom, recently vacated by David Cassidy and Sheena Easton, be without a tenant two weeks later?

Their departure was a known fact months ago ... The Rio Samba Theatre has scheduled Peter Frampton for Feb. 23 and 24, and Philip Kirkorov, March 3 and 4 thus far ... Between the two Rio showrooms, there are approximately 2,000 seats ... Ten shows a week at capacity would mean 20,000 people passing through the casino twice, going in and coming out of the show ... Do the numbers.

It costs money to maintain an empty hotel room ... It costs a lot more money to maintain an empty showroom ... Then factor in the estimated loss of income from those 20,000 people not passing through the casino twice that week.

Harrah's, owner of the Rio, has built Clint Holmes into a showroom headliner, then added an adult late-night show, "Skintight," plus Harrah's Improv and comedy-magician Mac King doing afternoon shows there ... Harrah's properties everywhere have also seemed to be entertainment oriented, making the present Rio situation even more difficult to comprehend.

The Riviera has a revitalized and red-hot again "Splash," playing seven nights a week in the main showroom, plus "Crazy Girls," "An Evening at La Cage" in slightly smaller showrooms, a successful comedy club, a working lounge with Lon Bronson Orchestra on late Saturdays, a Monday Jazz Night with Don Menza, and a very active lounge -- so it can be done.

The MGM Grand has the Hollywood Theatre; Rick Springfield, looking like a long-term winner in "EFX Alive" in the EFX Theatre, a small Cabaret Theatre for a French-import, "Crazy Horse," the MGM Grand Garden Arena, a lounge, a nightclub and piano music in some restaurants ... Kirk Kerkorian-created hotels have always been entertainment strongholds, further proof of entertainment's validity.

Entertainment continues to be a major reason for visiting Las Vegas ... This is a fact ... If the MGM Grand has 5,000 rooms and we have 250,000 people in town, around 240,000 will be staying somewhere other than the MGM Grand ... Entertainment is your best bet to get your share of time from those visitors staying elsewhere ... Filling empty showroom seats would be a giant step in this direction.

Star-policy rundown

It's Kool & the Gang (Blue Note); Bill Acosta (Flamingo Las Vegas); David Brenner (Golden Nugget); Clint Holmes, evenings; Mac King, afternoons (Harrah's): Scintas (LV Hilton); Blue Man Group (Luxor); Tom Jones-Max Alexander plus Springfield starring in "EFX Alive" (MGM Grand); Siegfried & Roy and Danny Gans in separate theaters (Mirage); Lance Burton (Monte Carlo); Kenny Kerr Show (New Frontier); and Eddie Money (Orleans).

There's more, including Pete Barbutti (Plaza); Steve Wyrick (Sahara); George Jones (Sam's Town); Paula Poundstone, tonight only (Sunset Station); Rick Thomas (Tropicana); and Melinda, First Lady of Magic, and Andre-Philippe Gagnon (Venetian).

Assuming "Forever Plaid" is still looking for a new LV home, what about the Pharoah's Theatre at the Luxor, perhaps moving "Midnight Fantasy" back an hour to 11 p.m.? ... Brendan "Irish Show Band" Boyer is off to Australia at the end of the month for a theater tour accompanied by his star-on-the-way daughter, Aisling (pronounced Ash-ling).

Community theater: LV Little Theatre's "Second Time Around" opens tonight; Rainbow Company's "All Aboard! Rails West To Nevada" starts Friday for two weekends, Reed Whipple Cultural Center; and "Jumping The Gun" concludes this weekend, UNLV's Judy Bayley Theatre.

Ace saxophonist Fred Haller and his Quintet perform at 2 p.m. Sunday, Winchester Community Center; the World's Smallest Jazz Band is back at Swede's Corner, 2-5 p.m. Sundays; Mondays, it's the Don Menza Big Band (Riviera); and if you are out on Fridays, join the jazz fans at Pogo's ... See you Friday.