Columnist Joe Delaney: Electra show latest in list of odd decisions

Joe Delaney

Thursday, July 26, 2001 | 8:14 a.m.

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

Let me understand this: The facility that will be a combined showroom and a nightclub called Tatou at the Aladdin should be completed by April of next year ... The cost of this elaborate project will be borne by the entrepreneurs, the investors, not the hotel ... Carmen Electra will be the star of a production there ... A multi- million-dollar investment starring Carmen Electra ... Carmen Electra?

Electra is a very attractive person, but her only entertainment credentials to date are as "Baywatch" enhancement, a couple of so-so films and being married to basketball bad boy Dennis Rodman for an extremely short period ... To make the odds against success even longer, she recently stated she wanted "Storm" creative director Jamie King to do her show.

"Storm" is a conceit, a vanity, a costly indulgence, by a group of people, some of whom are involved with Ricky Martin; a series of outdated musical nonsequiturs that may have been rejects from earlier Martin big-venue tours, minus marquee names here, obviously kept on at Mandalay Bay by commitments plus the lack of an immediate replacement.

"Starlight Express" was a conceit by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, a very expensive long-term conceit at the LV Hilton ... Those losses have never been disclosed publicly; it would be interesting to know the final figures, the bottom line when the hotel was finally able to dump that turkey.

Now that it has been decided that the LV Hilton will continue to be part of the Park Place Entertainment group, look for star headliners to perform at both the Hilton and Paris Las Vegas on an exclusive basis ... Why can't most of these engagements be for more than just the weekend?

"De la Guarda" has been kept going this long at the Rio for some of the same reasons as "Storm" and, much earlier, "Starlight Express" ... Encouraged by the success of Blue Man Group at the Luxor, there was some justification for trying with "De la Guarda," but not for keeping it this long ...The Scintas seem to be holding their own at the Rio and the Samba Theatre does well with Penn & Teller plus star acts when the comedy-magicians are away.

An earlier example

Maynard Sloate's long successful run with tab versions of Broadway plays and musicals at the Union Plaza in the 1970s was interrupted for four weeks when one of the top hotel executives decided to bring in a show, "Merry-Go-Round," from Canada with four vocalists, two males and two females, singing original songs by an unknown composer ... They did virtually no business for four weeks.

The executive, to prove some inexplicable point, insisted on picking up their option for another four weeks ... Many nights the entire audience consisted of employees, sent in to fill a few seats ... After eight weeks the show ended ... To everyone's surprise, the Landmark (now a LV Convention Center parking lot) signed the quartet for four weeks, with the same result.

When the foursome were notified that their option may be picked up for another four weeks, they gave notice, went back to Canada, and to my knowledge, were never heard from again around here.

Entertainment is and has alsways been a vital part of the success of Las Vegas and of the casino-hotel-resort areas that have followed ... It works best when entertainment is part of the entire hotel operation and not some space to be leased and then sublet to third parties ... Those hotels should reclaim their showrooms and use them as originally intended.

Star policy rundown

It's Bill Acosta (Flamingo Las Vegas); David Brenner, 8 p.m., Amazing Johnathan, 10 p.m. (Golden Nugget); Mac King, afternoons; Clint Holmes, evenings (Harrah's); Sheena Easton (LV Hilton); Blue Man Group (Luxor); Paul Anka, plus "EFX Alive" starring Rick Springfield (MGM Grand); Siegfried & Roy and Danny Gans in separate theaters (Mirage) and Lance Burton (Monte Carlo).

Rita Rudner (New York-New York); Everly Brothers (Orleans); Whoopi Goldberg (Paris Las Vegas); Kenny Kerr Show (Regent Las Vegas); Penn & Teller, the Scintas and Earl Turner in separate theaters (Rio); Michael Holly, afternoons, and Steve Wyrick, evenings (Sahara); Wayne Newton (Stardust); Melinda, First Lady of Magic (Venetian).

Leo Lewis: An Appreciation

Benny Binion and the Binion family, Steve Wynn, Ed Torres, Barron Hilton, the Sahara, Tropicana and Aladdin when each of those hotels was in trouble, and, most recently, Michael Gaughan at the Barbary Coast and the Coast Hotels that followed, all benefitted by their relationship through the years with Leo Lewis ... He co-founded UNLV's School of Hotel Administration.

If every person at every level that Lewis has helped through the years was able to be present at his funeral services last Saturday, they could have filled Sam Boyd Stadium and more ... Rest well, dear friend.

Do you have good friends that you haven't talked with for a while? ... Pick up the phone and call them today ... See you Friday.