Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

M-Battled: Mariachi production fights for attention at Aladdin

Struggling is nothing new to Rodri Rodriguez.

The producer of "M ... Mariachi Passion & Tradition" at the Aladdin was 7 when she became one of more than 14,000 children who were secretly evacuated from Cuba between December 1960 and October 1962.

Operation Peter Pan was a response by the CIA and Cuban dissidents to the overthrow of the Cuban government in 1959, the movement that put Fidel Castro in power.

"I arrived in America and spent several months in a refugee camp," recalled Rodriguez during a telephone interview from her office in Los Angeles. "I was placed in a foster home for seven years, until my parents were allowed to leave Cuba."

Those were formative years for the accomplished producer and dynamic motivational speaker.

"My philosophy, which was developed through personal experience at this young age, became, and continues to be, survival against all odds," Rodriguez, who grew up in Albuquerque, said.

Her most recent survival experience is now taking place at the Aladdin. Rodriguez is struggling to keep her 90-minute show alive at the V Theater.

It has nothing to do with the quality of the production. Rodriguez knows her business, which she has been in for 28 years.

In 1976 she founded Rodri Entertainment, an international entertainment production company that has produced (among other things) Mariachi concerts and festivals all over the world P the most successful being the Mariachi USA Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, which has sold out annually since it debuted 15 years ago.

The obstacles at the Las Vegas venue include time slots, stage size, a lack of publicity P and wondering who the theater owner is from day to day.

For the record, David Saxe owns the theater. He bought it in a whirlwind business deal more than two months ago when his "V, The Ultimate Variety Show" lost its home at The Venetian when the hotel closed its showroom for extensive remodeling.

Saxe had been in partnership with John Stuart (former head of "Legends in Concert"), leasing the Aladdin property for their variety show, "Ovation," from Martin-Harris Construction. The partnership ended when Stuart bought out Saxe's interest in the venture.

Martin-Harris had foreclosed on the property and began managing it more than a year ago when the former owners could not make a go of the site.

Saxe, in a move that surprised almost everyone, bought the property, sent "Ovation" packing and replaced it with "V."

The longtime Vegas producer, now a landlord, also leases space for other productions, including "Ba Da Bing" (a dinner theater show) and "M ... Mariachi Passion & Tradition."

"It was interesting," Rodriguez said."The first time we do anything in Vegas and we get caught in the midst of the theater being sold."

She said the sudden change in ownership created some anxiety.

"You can imagine how I felt as a producer," Rodriguez said. "It was a bit unsettling. I came to Las Vegas, flew back to Los Angeles and then back to Vegas -- and the next day the property had been sold. There was no theater there anymore -- it had become a cabaret lounge with tables and chairs."

There was not a lot of noise made when the mariachi production made its debut about six weeks ago.

"We had a soft opening, to get the show up and running, before we had a grand opening," Rodriguez said.

But now that the show is going, she says it's ready for some publicity, which it isn't getting. "M," which includes a cast of 14 mariachi musicians and vocalists, seems to be as big a secret as Operation Peter Pan.

"I feel like we are swimming against the current," Rodriguez said. "People don't know we're there."

The problem is one that faces many shows in this era of four-walling. A lot of hotels and casinos don't publicize their entertainment -- they leave it up to the entertainers.

Rodriguez says employees at the Aladdin don't even seem to be aware that "M" exists.

"It is frustrating bringing something of this caliber to the Strip and feeling (the venue) is not embracing it," she said. "At the Aladdin, they have even told people that the show is not there."

Yet, Rodriguez says, when people do find the show, they love it.

"They leave the theater raving," she said.

The production is a tribute to mariachi music and the legends who made it grow into an international phenomenon. It includes world-class musicians who play guitars, trumpets and violins; spectacular costumes; a video montage of great mariachi performers of the past; audience participation and 9-year-old prodigy Maureen (who uses no last name), singing a sultry version of "Cucurrucucu Paloma."

There are 22 songs in the show, just two of them in English.

"It's nonstop, beginning to end," Rodriguez said.

The show has just about everything -- except dancers.

"Space does not permit it," she said. "The production would have a bigger cast, more scenery and everything if the stage were larger."

Rodriguez says the show is family-oriented, but the time slots during the week are not necessarily conducive to children -- shows are at 10:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The weekends are a little better -- 5 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and a 2 p.m. matinee on Sundays.

Regardless of time slots, stage size and scanty publicity, Rodriguez is determined to succeed. It's in her blood.

She is passionate about the music and wants to share it with the world.

"Not everything stays in Vegas," she said. "You take home some things in your heart."

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