Broadway To Vegas
SHOW REVIEWS CELEBRITY INTERVIEWS GOSSIP NEWS
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Copyright: April 26, 1999
By: Laura Deni
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IF YOU BUILD A THEATRE, WILL
THEY COME?
JERRY
SEINFELD, PHOENIX WANTS TO CATER TO HIS MARKET
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It's not even June, but promoters are busting out all over with plans for new venues.
Behaving as though they've thought about it and have their act together is the Jerry Colangelo
headed group of investors who want to build a $30 million, 5,000-seat performing-arts venue in
downtown Phoenix.
A story in a London newspaper, The Telegraph, that i>The Merry Wives of Windsor,
directed
by British actor Roger Rees (Nicholas Nickeby) - it runs Sept. 4-Oct. 9. Also upcoming is
Thunder Knocking On The Door,a bluesy musical fable, July 10-Aug. 14;
Cymbeline, July 31-Sept. 4; Missing Footage, a comedy by Gen Le Roy, July
24-Sept. 4; and The Hostage, an Irish comedy by Brendan Behan is going to
build a theatre complex in Las Vegas, may be more of a run it up the flag pole and see who
salutes foray.
The Phoenix venue has been a long time coming, well thought out project that fills a void between
currently existing arena sizes. The American West Arena holds 16,000-19,000, while the
Gammage Auditorium hold 3,000 and the Phoenix Symphony Hall has a 2,600 capacity.
Billboard magazine ran an Arizona Special in 1983. I flew to Phoenix to write that special.
The concerns about venue growth that were expressed in l983 were the building blocks
for the Phoenix entertainment scene of today.
"People think Phoenix is old people, it's not," said David Lon, the theatrical producer who gave
John Savage and Robert Ulrich their first jobs. He put Caesar and Coca together on stage for the
first time since Show of Shows. He was part of the theatrical group NOW Entertainment,
Inc. that purchased the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix. "You have two affluent areas Scottsdale
and Paradise Valley. Those residents are over 50, play tennis and go to dinner. The other older
audience is Sun City. That's retired Midwest tool and dye makers. The Sundome does shows for
them. Why should I bus them in for Liberace?" Lon told me in my 1983 interview.
"The median age for the rest of Phoenix is 31," he continued. "Think where that audience was 10
years ago when concerts were at their peak? There's a rock audience here all the time."
"Phoenix is like L.A. You have every hustler in the country. I get 10 calls a day from promoters.
The minute I ask for a cashier's check, I don't hear from them any more."
Today, Phoenix is still a diverse crowd that wants entertainment and has the money to buy the
tickets. The Colangelo project would hope to attract touring Broadway musicals as well as music
concerts and performers, such as a Jerry Seinfeld.
The Arizona Republic reported that the new theater venture "would be a godsend for
popular music concerts and for individual acts such as Jerry Seinfeld, who refuse to play the larger
venues.
In Las Vegas we have a proliferation of new mega hotels all promoting showrooms, theaters, and
conventions centers capable of being transformed into entertainment venues. Within a 12 month
period of time new entertainment hotspots will include those at the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay,
Venetian, Paris, a new Riviera Hotel convention center, and the House of Blues inside Mandalay
Bay. Recently Caesars Palace conducted a survey to see if building their own entertainment venue
would be viable. Caesars Palace currently brings some of its concerts to the Thomas and Mack
Center.
Steve Wynn teamed with entertainment manager Sandy Gallin who inked a seven year deal as
chief executive officer of Mirage Entertainment and Sports, Inc. The two announced they would
like to bring more legitimate theater to Las Vegas. Tossed out as a possibility was an 18,000 seat
arena, to be constructed behind the Mirage Hotel. Wynn and Gallin know the Vegas territory,
whereas Webber does not.
KNOW OF A BETTER BARGAIN?
Recently I sat in a movie theater and enjoyed You've Got Mail, and Patch Adams
paying fifty cents each for my movie tickets.
MEG RYAN FOR HALF A BUCK
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The Paradise Dollar Theater in Las Vegas charges one buck for all movies, except on Tuesdays
when the price drops to fifty cents per ticket. The cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture
Show is every Saturday at midnight with limited seating. At the time of my movie marathon
Saving Private Ryan, Stepmom, Message In a Bottle, and four other flicks
were showing.
We at Broadway To Vegas are curious - We think paying fifty cents to see a good movie is a
fantastic bargain. Las Vegas may have the best movie deal in the nation. If you know of an equal
or better movie value in your community, we'd like to know about it.
E-mail us with verifiable information; the movie theater name, location, phone number,
price of tickets, types of movies shown and any other pertinent info that you think makes your
area theater an entertainment bargain. If we find any that equal or top the Las Vegas fifty cent
movie, we'll pass along the information.
BROADCASTERS MEET IN VEGAS
Norman Lear
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The National Association of Broadcasters staging their annual convention in Las Vegas, inducted
All In The Family into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Norman Lear, creator of the
ground breaking series was present as were two of the show's stars, Rob Reiner, who played
conservative-baiting liberal Mike Stivic and Sally Struthers, who played Stivic's wife, Gloria.
Carroll O'Connor who was the racist Archie Bunker and Jean Stapleton, his "dingbat" wife,
Edith, weren't able to attend Monday's ceremonies
Reiner addressed the gathering, terming the series "the single best show ever on television,
without question. It simply married reality, issues of the day and humor in a mix that has never
been seen before and has never been seen since."
In accepting the award Lear, referring to Reiner and Struthers, said; "The fact that these two
people existed and Carroll and Jean existed, and the fact that their talents all meshed the way they
did in some kind of miraculous chemistry - only happens rarely. You have to assume the stars
were aligned and the fates were right. No one individual can take credit for it."
On Thursday, the late Wolfman Jack was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.
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Thank you for your interest. Laura Deni P.O. Box 60538
Las Vegas, NV 89160
MILLION DOLLAR DIVA DINNER
The MGM Grand Hotel has confirmed that they are in negotiations to bring Barbra Streisand into
the facility for a Millennium show. Gossip of such an engagement was first reported ages ago by
The New York Post.
BARBRA STREISAND
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In confirming the long whispered rumors, the hotel stated that the ticket price would be $ 1
million. However, that does include having dinner with Streisand.
Streisand made her Las Vegas debut in 1963 at the Riviera Hotel. She'd recently concluded her
first starring role on Broadway in David Merrick's I Can Get It For You Wholesale. In
1964 she returned to Broadway in Funny Girl. Her rendition of People catapulted
her into superstardom. On July 2, 1969 Streisand returned to Las Vegas as the International
Hotel's (now the Hilton) opening act. Streisand was so famous that she needed only her first
name on the marquee. Next to the major hotel billboard was a smaller marquee proclaiming
"Coming Soon Las Vegas First Legitimate Theatre."
When The International Hotel opened, Kirk Kerkorian was the owner. In 1970 he sold his
interest in that property to devote his money and energy into building the MGM Grand Hotel. It
was Streisand who was the first star in the MGM Grand Garden Arena. President Clinton's
mother attended in a wheelchair. It is Streisand's decades long friendship with Kerkorian that
made the million dollar millennium deal possible.
JAZZ IT UP
RAY
CHARLES
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The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, one of this country's premier cultural events is in full
swing. The 30th annual event drew over 10,000 musicians and artists to the Fair Grounds Race
Track. Bands are performing on 12 stages for seven days. Attendance is expected to top 500,000
before the festival ends on May 2.
Performers selected must reflect some aspect of New Orleans or Louisiana culture. Musicians
performing include; Hootie and the Blowfish performing May 1, Santana, Widespread Panic,
Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers playing classic jazz, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas,
Ellis Marsalis and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Dr. John, Ray Charles and Fats Domino will be together for the first time. Fred Hammond and the
Radicals for Christ will perform in the Gospel Tent.
This non-profit event costs $ 1 million per day to stage.
Down the road apiece the Summer Music Festival in Biloxi, Miss runs May through October.
The Tricentennial Jazz Band Festival is May 17-18. All part of the year long celebration to
celebrate the French landing on the Biloxi shores 300 years ago.The festivities end with the
Tricentennial Commission's New Millennium New Year's Eve Extravaganza.
FIESTA BROADWAY
More than 300,000 Latin music lovers yesterday attended the 10th anniversary AT&T Fiesta
Broadway celebration in Los Angeles. A two hour Telemundo special of the event will air on
Cinco de Mayo - May 5 - in 48 markets, including Puerto Rico. The Radio Unica network aired
the event in 52 U.S. cities.
Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexico's defeat of the French army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
Two-time Grammy winner LaMafia chose the event for its final Los Angeles performance. Chris
Perez, widower of Selena, used Fiesta Broadway to introduce his new rock group, the Chris
Perez Band. Gipsyland, a new band created by Kiko, lead singer of the Gypsy Kings made their
debut.
Other performers included; Nydia Rojas, Paulina Rubio, Fey, Pablo Montero, Ana Barbara and
the bands Mariachi Solde American, and Ilegales.
DAME EDNA IN BROADWAY DEBUT
Dame Edna
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The zany Dame Edna Everage, whose innovative television presentations have been copied but
never equaled, is bringing her wisteria hair and unleashed wit to the Broadway stage. She's been
preparing for this debut way, way, way off-Broadway - in San Francisco, at the Theatre on the
Square.
Dame Edna: The Royal Tour will begin on September 15 at the Booth Theatre, with a
glamorous opening, befitting a Dame, slated for October 17. Scenic design by Kenneth Foy,
with costume design by Stephen Adnitt, lighting design by Jason Kantrowitz, sound design by
Peter Fitzgerald.
Dame Edna is billboarded as a "housewife, megastar, social anthropologist, investigative
journalist, chanteuse, swami, adviser to British royalty, grief counselor, spin doctor, children's
book illustrator and icon. They left out irrepressible hoot.
SWEET CHARITY
HELP NOW
DAVID HASSELHOFF
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the Red Cross line set up
to help Bosnia War Relief will get some blue blooded help on May 3 at the Kit Kat Klub.
Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia will be there.
So will Blane Trump, Pat Kennedy
Lawford,
movie maker Stan Dragoti, HBO bigshot Colin Callender, and his wife Elizabeth Gaine, David
Hasselhoff and Lion King star Jason Raize, among numerous other movers and shakers,
who intend to make waves in helping the war relief effort.
SPIRIT OF ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS May 3, presented by the National Women's Division of Albert Einstein
Medicine's 45 annual event honors Penny Marshall, Lesley Stahl, Meryl Streep, Lilly Tartikoff
and Julie Taymor.
APPLAUSE APPLAUSE
TOM HANKS being honored April
29 at the American Museum of the Moving Image gala at the Waldorf Astoria. Participants
include: Jonathan Demme, Nora Ephron, Sally Field, Ron Howard, Peter Scolari and Steven
Spielberg.
STEPHEN BALDWIN AND LAURENCE FISHBURNE slated to be honored by the Los Angeles Shanti Organization for their
efforts in battling AIDS.
OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY
STEVE WYNN has jumped into
the buyer's ring, hoping to add Starwood Hotels and Resorts, the parent company of Caesars
Palace, to his publicly traded Mirage Resorts, Inc. Empire.
SHELDON ADELSON developer
of the new Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, promising that the 3,036 hotel will be ready for a "soft"
opening May 3. The original grand opening date of April 14 has twice been pushed back.
PETULA CLARK who starred onBroadway in Blood Brothers, currently starring in the national tour of Sunset Blvd
opens May 5 at the Saenger Theatre New Orleans, then takes the production to the Fox Theatre,
Atlanta, GA May 18-23.
RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN
currently in Broadway starring in The Sound of Music is going to head up the national
tour of that production. They open September 14 Theater of the Stars, Atlanta, GA.
REUNION A Civil War Musical
Epic in Miniature in NYC, has footnotes crediting 19 composers and lyricists plus letters and
wartime accounts from 78 politicians, soldiers, reporters and average citizens. Book by Jack
Kyrieleison; story by Kyrieleison and Ron Holgate, who also directs.
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF winner
of 8 Tony Awards opens May 4 at the Paramount Theatre, Austin, Texas for a two week run.
THE OLD GLOBE THEATRE
JOHN GOODMAN
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in San Diego has announced its Festival 99 season, which encompasses three
stages and kicks off
in July, running through October.
One of the highlights is an outdoor production of The Merry Wives of Windsor,
directed
by British actor Roger Rees (Nicholas Nickeby) - it runs Sept 4-Oct 9.
Also upcoming is
Thunder Knocking On The Door,a bluesy musical fable, July 10-Aug 14;
Cymbeline, July 31-Sept 4; Missing Footage, a comedy by Gen Le Roy, July
24-Sept 4; and The Hostage, an Irish comedy by Brendan Behan, Sept 25-Oct 30.
John
Goodman has been cast in the lead role. This will be a return engagement for the former star of
Rosanne. Goodman captured rave reviews and audience approval for his role as Falstaff
in
the 1995 production of Henry IV.
GODSPELL opened last
Friday at the Dundee Dinner Theatre, Omaha, NE. The 1977 Broadway hit is being co-directed by
Brandon Higdem and Omaha Community Playhouse choreographer Roxanne Nielsen. They have
"updated it to the 90s, by getting rid of the hippy costumes from the 70s." Production runs
through May 29.
WHO'S WHERE
NANCY SINATRA stars in
Carnaby Street Cave Stomp at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco, May 1. Sharing the bill with
Frank's daughter are Herb and Bardot A Go-Go.
LINDA EDER who originated
the role of Lucy in Broadway's Jekyll & Hyde,and is married to the show's composer
Frank Wildhorn, performs May 8 at the Wilshire Theatre, Los Angeles. Eder was set to star in
her husband's latest theatrical production The Civil War which opened in New York last
week at the St. James Theatre. A few months ago Eder suddenly pulled out of The Civil
War with Wildhorn telling people he had "a better production for her." That
production, currently under production, is their first baby.
SARAH BRIGHTMAN in
concert, one night only, June 6, Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles.
JULIEN CLERC that sexy,
French singing sensation, debutes in North American May 1 John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, Los
Angeles, then heads to New York for a sold out May 3-4 gig at the Florence Gould Hall.
FROG & PEACH THEATRE COMPANY conclude their fourth season of presenting free Shakespeare at The Theatre
at the West-Park Church, NYC with The Merchant of Venice, directed by Lynnea Benson.
Performances through May 9.
PRIME TIME COUNTRY that
popular TNN program, returns to tape at the Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas May 3-8. It's the fourth
visit for the show, which is hosted by Gary Chapman. Confirmed guests include; Tim McGraw,
the Dixie Chicks, Jo Dee Messina, Sherrie Austin and Mark Wills. "We are shootin' to outdo
Elvis' record of 837 performances at the Las Vegas Hilton," quipped Chapman. "After this trip to
Vegas, we only have about 775 more shows to go."
THIS AND THAT
TERRENCE MCNALLY'S recent
lecture at the Denver Center is still being discussed. It seems the playwright's highly touted
appearance resulted in all 700 seats being reserved. However, only 500 showed up. Officials are
irked at the 200 rude people who didn't call to cancel their seats, since there was a waiting list for
tickets to the free event. The empty seats have so peeved the organizers that future free events are
being "re-evaluated" by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
SANDY DUNCAN took "break a
leg" too literally and broke her foot during rehearsals. That scotched her stepping into the role of
Roxie Hart in the Boston production of Chicago last Thursday. Ann Reinking jumped in.
She already knew the part, having originally starred in and choreographed the revival of
Chicago, which opened in New York November, 1996. Duncan hopes to rejoin the
production when her injury heals.
RHAPSODY ALA LIBERACE
Steinway & Sons has created a $150,000 "Rhapsody" piano - midnight blue glossy finish
embedded with mother-of-pearl stars - to honor the centenary of George Gershwin. Pianist
Marcus Roberts performed Rhapsody in Blue on it with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Puns and pithy comments about the piano followed. The best overheard comment was reported
in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "The finest thumbnail description came from ASO
artistic administrator J. Frank Dans, who said: "The perfect thing to play on it would be Le
Tombeau de Liberace." Yes, that's a real piece, by camp composer Michael Daughtery, who
has written symphonies on such pop culture icons as Marilyn Monroe and Elvis, as well as a mock
homage to J. Edgar Hoover."
LIBERACE'S PARTY MANSION
In Las Vegas, the Clark County Commission voted to continue allowing Liberace's mansion to be
used as a catering hall. Actually, the late showman converted two small tract homes into one
unique, two story, half-acre dwelling, complete with a replica of the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the
bedroom.Known as the Las Vegas Villa, since it became an entertainment facility in 1990,
Liberace's former abode has been host to functions for Time Magazine, General Electric, Sony
Corp, and IBM.
COUNTRY THUNDER USA starring Reba McEntire and Faith Hill April 29-May 2 at Schnepf Farms,
Phoenix. Over 100,000 are expected.
Mention BROADWAY TO VEGAS for Special Consideration
Call (800) 942-9027
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Next Column: May 3, 1999
Copyright: April 26, 1999. All Rights Reserved. Reviews, Interviews, Commentary,
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