The once and future ‘Kings’

By Jerry Fink

Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008 | 2 a.m.

One of the longest running productions in Las Vegas doesn’t involve sequins, topless dancing or a Frank Sinatra impersonator.

And in a city where adult entertainment is the norm, this is a family show.

“Tournament of Kings” at the Excalibur is a fantasy about damsels, jesters, kings and knights. There are jousting matches, sword fights and magic in an arena where a thousand spectators are transported back a thousand years to the Middle Ages.

“Just before the Excalibur opened, they weren’t sure what they were going to do with this space,” said Ivan Caulier, the show’s manager and stunt coordinator. The native of France was a stunt man in his homeland before joining the Vegas production in 1991. “There wasn’t actually an arena here — they were thinking of having a nightclub.”

A medieval show seemed to fit the castle motif. The production debuted in 1990 as “King Arthur’s Tournament.” After the costumes and the action were jazzed up, it became “Tournament of Kings” in 1999. The poor economy has delayed plans to tweak the show again.

The original producer was Peter Jackson, who died in December 1998. His son, Patrick, has produced the show ever since.

Caulier says the show is popular because it is geared toward the whole family.

“Parents bring their kids, but they end up having as much fun as the kids do,” he says. “I don’t know if another show in Vegas has so many people coming back. Many come back every six months, and there is always something new for those people to see.”

The show includes a cast of as many as 38 people and 11 horses. The production has a total of 30 horses, which are kept in a barn at the back of the Excalibur. The barn looks like a small castle. Each stall has an air-conditioning unit. From time to time the horses are taken into the country for fresh air and exercise.

The oldest horse in the cast is Predator, a 20-year-old white Arabian. “He’s getting close to retirement,” Caulier says. The company bought the horse when he was 4 years old from entertainer Wayne Newton, who’s a well-known horse breeder.

Human members of the cast also tend to stay a long time.

“We hire guys when they’re 19 and they may stay 10 years or longer,” Caulier says.

Because the shows are at night, cast members can go to school or have other jobs. One became a doctor while a member of the cast. Another, Casey O’Neill, went on to become the stunt double for Tom Cruise and for Antonio Banderas.

“I’m the old man of the group,” says Bill Werk, assistant company manager. Now 37, he joined the cast when he was 19.

He’s been a horseman his entire life. He was on the North Las Vegas High School rodeo team. His family lived and kept horses on Lone Mountain Road in the northern part of the valley. When started college, he worked part time at a small ranch on the south side of the valley.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Werk says. “I didn’t plan to end up in show business.”

His father was hired by the producers to find horses for the show. “One day dad told me to show up and do some work for him,” Werk says.

The producers asked him to ride for them and to fall off the horse. They liked what they saw and when one of the cast members was injured before opening night, Werk filled in for him, and has been with the production ever since. He no longer performs every day, but he knows every role in the show.

“Roles change from day to day, just to keep everything interesting for everybody,” Werk says. “Everybody knows a couple of parts. Sometimes they may ride horses, sometimes they may be a ground fighter — that way they’re not jumping or falling off a horse twice a night, six nights a week and getting pounded into the ground.”

The most difficult thing is working with the horses.

“All of them have their own personality,” he says. “It’s much like dealing with people. You have to adapt yourself to the different horses to get along with them. But most of time we do ride the same horses. We try to keep it to where each rider has his own horse. That way we can build a bond.”

Sometimes there are sideshows.

“One night there was this bachelor party and all the guys were dressed up as superheroes,” Werk says. “This one guy was dressed as Wonder Woman and he decided to jump up and run through the arena.

“That’s not a smart thing to do when you have a lot of horses running around. A person is just a speed bump to a horse.”

But most audiences make the show the better.

“This is a participation show,” Werk says. “The more people yell and scream for their kings, the more it energizes everyone. The actors and the horses feel the energy and the show can feed off that energy from the audience.”

Werk traces the show’s appeal back to childhood.

“What little boy did not pick up a stick and play sword fighting with his friend? At this job, we get to go play.”