Columnist Joe Delaney: Local entertainment scene a numbers game

Joe Delaney

Thursday, July 19, 2001 | 8:16 a.m.

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

David Brenner and his "Real Life Comedy" is proof that the right artist in the right room at 8 p.m. is the answer at the Golden Nugget ... This is supported by the fact that the Amazing Johnathan, where cutting-edge comedy, magic and bad taste collide, is doing nightly 10 o'clock shows there as well, with ads that proclaim both shows are "extended through Oct. 31."

Rita Rudner has made a similar point most emphatically, first in the MGM Grand Cabaret Theatre and now in the New York-New York Cabaret Theatre ... Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Buck Ram's Platters and Cornell Gunter's Coasters are performing there at 10 p.m., plus a 4 p.m. Saturday matinee ... Both shows are doing good business.

Riviera, with an updated, hot-again "Splash," plus "An Evening at La Cage," "Crazy Girls," the Comedy Club and special shows at the Top of the Riv and Royale Pavilion, has proven through the years that a hotel can have a number of shows operating successfully at the same time.

It is not working out that well at the Flamingo Las Vegas where "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" and "Bill Acosta: Lasting Impressions" are both fighting for survival, with the latter having the better prognosis ... "Bottoms Up" continues strong, but "The Second City" in the much smaller Bugsy's Celebrity Theatre could be doing better.

Reports indicate that none of the feminine flesh shows, including "La Femme" at the MGM Grand, are doing capacity at this point ... Sheena Easton is having a much harder time in the LV Hilton showroom than in its nightclub ... Ticket prices and showroom size are major factors in evaluating a show's success.

For instance, "O" (Bellagio); Siegfried & Roy and Danny Gans, in separate theaters (Mirage); and "Mystere" (Treasure Island) sell out 1,790, 1,503, 1,285 and 1,615 seats respectively, every show, sometimes weeks in advance ... "O" and "Mystere" do 10 shows a week; Siegfried & Roy, eight; and Gans, five performances ... Blue Man Group (Luxor) is doing 89 percent of capacity, seven nights a week in a 1,250-seat showroom.

"Lord of the Dance" (New York-New York), in its third year and averaging a very respectable 84 percent in a 990-seat venue ... Rick Springfield in "EFX Alive" (MGM Grand) is healthy at 62 percent, doing a 1,081 average but in a room that seats 1,750 ... Everyone else is depending upon ticket brokers, two-for-ones and special promotions to stay alive in what has become a highly competitive LV entertainment area.

Ticket brokers seem to be a necessary evil, collecting fees on and under the table, to promote certain shows over others, with the amount paid having some bearing upon the amount of effort expended per show. There is a newer evil, the middleman, with the prime example being the situation at the Venetian where an entity leases the showroom from the hotel and sublets the room to others.

The others, in this case being Robert Goulet, appearing at 8:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday with special guest Paige O'Hara, and Vincent Falcone and his Orchestra and, at present, Melinda, First Lady of Magic, appearing at 6:30 p.m. nightly except Wednesday, plus an extra 8:30 p.m. show on Sunday ... Melinda averages 55 percent attendance and better in the 745-seat showroom..

Goulet is reportedly committed through Sept. 2 ... Tickets are $78 and $88, which puts his price just under the top big winners listed above ... Realistically, Goulet, even with the present package, should have priced the tickets just under the $50 plateau ... Estimated rental: $15,000 per show or $90,000 per week ... Now add in a fee to the ticket brokers, plus the cost of the performers and musicians, lights, sound and advertising.

The Venetian showroom seats 745, times six shows a week results in a 4,470 total or a potential gross of $371,010, figuring it at an average of $83 per seat ... Subtract $90,000 rental, $44,700, to the brokers at $10 per ticket, a low figure, approximately $50,000 per week for advertising and you are well under a $200,000 gross figure and still have to pay for lights, sound, incidentals and the principals in the show, plus leave something for Goulet himself.

At those prices, he doesn't have a prayer of doing capacity ... Goulet may have to average 500 paid per show to realize a modest profit ... Meanwhile the middleman will collect the weekly $90,000 fee no matter how many people pay to see the show ... This is manifestly unfair ... The above figures are based on reports through July 6 ... This is how LV's entertainment picture looks, overall, as we start the second half of the year ... See you Friday.