End of the road

Casino entertainment is a strange subculture of show business. On the one hand, it’s a haven for some of the most profitable staged entertainment in the world, like the various franchises of Cirque du Soleil, (http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/cirquedusoleil/default.htm) solid-gold standards like the recently shuttered Siegfried and Roy, (http://www.siegfriedandroy.com/) and perennial talents like Wayne Newton (http://www.stardustlv.com/wn.cfm) or Gladys Knight. (http://www.caesars.com/Flamingo/LasVegas/Entertainment/GladysKnight/GladysKnight.htm) These shows regularly take in millions of dollars for the performers and their host casinos. On the other hand, the business is also a buzzing hive of thousands of performers hopping from show to show and showroom to showroom, competing fiercely for stage time and a precious percentage of the ticket receipts.  

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So it’s no surprise that for every name you see in lights, there are a hundred more that couldn’t last or never made it in the first place. But there are a lot of casinos out there, with a lot of showrooms to fill on a lot of nights. This means there is an insatiable need for new acts, and as a result, casino theaters draw from every corner of the entertainment spectrum — music, Broadway and off-Broadway, movies, television, comedy and everything in between. There’s also an endless appetite for novelty, and any moderate success is duplicated all over town; this effect once resulted in what my boss called an “explosion of bolo-swinging gauchos.”      

This never-ending churn means that entertainers and even entire productions are constantly going under. Since we started keeping track a few years ago in The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas, more than 50 shows have vanished from that city alone. And these were the more substantial productions that actually died out; many others just decamped to Reno, or were just temporary seat-fillers to begin with. Some shows cling to life by touring rather than wearing out their welcome in one place. For example, nostalgia act Sha Na Na (http://www.shanana.com/) doesn’t exactly pack 'em in anymore, but they still managed to schedule a few dates in both Vegas (at the Suncoast Hotel http://www.suncoastcasino.com/) and Atlantic City (at the Showboat http://www.harrahs.com/our_casinos/sac/). Then again, they’re also playing a few less glamorous stages in places like Dubuque, Iowa.

Final act
What kills a show? The most obvious mortal cause is empty seats. But for most shows, a steady decline is inevitable. Very few shows will last more than five years, and most will be gone much quicker. Staff and performer turnover, waning public interest and unforgiving theater managers all conspire to degrade even the tightest productions. There are exceptions, like Wayne Newton (performing off and on in Vegas for over 40 years now); or Siegfried & Roy, which had been Las Vegas fixtures since 1974; or Cirque du Soleil’s Mystere, (http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/shows/resident/mystere) which has run for over a decade despite not emphasizing “big name” marquee performers.

There are other ways for a show to closed. Freak accidents happen, like the tiger mauling of Roy Horn that indefinitely halted the hugely successful Siegfried & Roy. Storm, an amazingly incoherent special-effects show at Mandalay Bay, (http://www.mandalaybay.com) was delayed, re-engineered and finally snuffed in 2002 after flopping its way through an embarrassing year of hemorrhaging cash and confusing audiences and critics alike. Melinda, “the First Lady of Magic” and a longtime Vegas performer, left the stage to focus on her family and other pursuits.

Death-defying acts
Despite all these forces conspiring against them, many entertainers soldier on. The explosion of mid-level and economy shows means there are plenty more slots for struggling or C-list performers. For example, in a little over a year, comic-magician Jeff Hobson went from MCing V at the Venetian (http://www.venetian.com/), to a quickly euthanized solo show (Money and Madness at Excalibur http://www.excalibur.com/index2.php), to hosting World’s Greatest Magic at the Greek Isles (http://www.greekislesvegas.com/). There are also swarms of entertainers who pass through casino showrooms on extended (but limited) engagements year after year, always struggling but never quite succumbing. Examples of this crowd include musical impressionist Tony Pace (now at the Resorts Atlantic City http://www.resortsac.com/home.html) or cynical comic David Brenner (currently seething at the Westin Casuarina http://www.starwood.com/westin/search/hotel_detail.html?propertyID=1448).

Lastly, there are those shows that simply defy belief with their survival. In a kind and just universe, Bottoms Up at the Flamingo (http://www.caesars.com/Flamingo/LasVegas/Entertainment/BottomsUp/BottomsUp.htm) would have been mothballed long ago, but this unfunny, corny, majestically offensive desecration of vaudeville simply will not lie down and die. Bottoms Up still claims to be Vegas’s only topless afternoon show, and it can be had for the price of a drink or two, so ultimately its longevity is really no mystery. But even that modest stage could be put to much better use … there’s room for a lot of gauchos up there.

Chris Mohney is a contributor to "The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas."