‘Absinthe’ producer Ross Mollison says ‘scaled-back’ production will work

Whenever theater entertainment is again permitted in Las Vegas, “Absinthe” will be there. It will be a scaled-back “Absinthe,” of course, small but mighty and ready to test the COVID market.

But will 33 percent of “Absinthe” be as satisfying as the full show?

“We believe we can make ‘Absinthe’ work at a third capacity,” show producer and Spiegelworld founder Ross Mollison said during the June 15 episode of “PodKats!” “We could socially distance the audience and the company from the audience by six feet or greater, and it would become a cabaret venue instead of a traditional theater.”

Mollison says his team has stripped the “Absinthe” Spiegeltent of all chairs, effectively gutting the place before resetting its seating plot.

“We will have some four tops (tables), and we’ll cater for groups. We’ll look at the size of your group and we’ll work out how we’d cater for that group,” Mollison said. “Ultimately we think we can get 222 people in there, and that would be a third of our current capacity and it’s just a question of making the show work.”

Can the “Absinthe” make money by selling 222 tickets per show?

“We believe we may be able to not lose too much,” Mollison said, laughing.

As for logistics, the audience’s entrance and exit would be managed in stages, a few rows at a time, similar to the process at the “Wow” show that opened in Israel this week. Tables will be set up in the “Absinthe” courtyard, under the vaunted Absinthe Electric Oak, to seat audience members rather than having them line up in a cluster.

Inevitably, pandemic protocols mean that some popular numbers, and even full acts, are not planned to return whenever “Absinthe” reopens.

“I think we’re looking at cutting things like swinging over the audience, we wouldn’t do that,” Mollison said. “We won’t initially be using the sway-pole act because those artists perform right over the audience. Anything where there’s a strong audience participation.”

Some of these up-close moments have become hallmarks as “Absinthe’s” nine years on the Strip: The Green Fairy offers her gloved hand to a fan, asking to bite the fingertip and pull it off. The male character in the Chekov-Jones “Cesarean Ballet” act tumbles backward into the lap of an audience member. Twin tap tandem Sean and John Scott take to tabletops in the VIP section. “Bathtub Boy” David O’Mer splashes water over the first three rows.

Mollison says those acts would either be modified, or pulled until the show can return to full form.

“We’ll re-choreograph the finale so that not everybody is on center stage,” the producer continued. “We’ll use both stages — we have two stages. We have an enormous spreadsheet which has every person who works for us in the venue, no matter what their function is and everybody they come into contact with and so what they’re track is, and how we minimize their contact and how we maximize their safety.”

“Absinthe” marked its ninth anniversary on April 1, while in COVID lock down. The production is an unqualified hit, and if there is a show that can effectively come back during the pandemic, it’s this one. Mollison wants to return with to a 10-show schedule over five days, and build momentum from there.

The theater itself is ready, now.

“We want everybody to know that we are safe, and we don’t want to reopen unless it’s safe,” Mollison said. “We’ve had all the Caesars Entertainment people come though the tent, and we’ll invite the governor and the Gaming Control Board to come in and see what we’ve done. We are team players here in Las Vegas, and we’ve got a great road map.”

Checking in for ‘Cocktail’

“The Cocktail Cabaret” cast is reassembling for the Southwest Medical Associates “Healthy at Home” Facebook Live virtual concert series. The 30-minute show starts at 3 p.m. Saturday; find it on the Southwest Medical Facebook page.

The show played 2018 at Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace, to great fan response, and had been kicking arond for a new room when COVID hit. The “Cocktail” quartet remains Niki Scalera (“Hairspray,” “Tarzan,” “Footloose”), Eric Jordan Young (“Rock of Ages,” “Vegas! The Show,” “Ragtime,” “CHICAGO,” “Seussical the Musical,” “Look of Love,” “Dreamgirls”), Maren Wade (“America’s Got Talent,” “Confessions of a Showgirl,” “Pin Up,” “50 Shades! The Parody”) and Ron Remke (“Baz,” “Jubilee”).

Phil Fortenberry (“Behind the Candelabra” HBO biopic), drummer Don Meoli (“Jersey Boys”), bassist Josh Jones (“Million Dollar Quartet”) and saxophonist Eric Tewalt (Celine Dion and Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns) make up the band. Donations are encouraged to support to The Composers Showcase of Las Vegas Entertainment Community Relief Fund.

During this 30-minute virtual concert, the cast will present all original songs, including three songs from the original show. “The Cocktail Cabaret” is designed to lift spirits and put an audience in a festive mood. The show was honored in 2018 by the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s “Best of Las Vegas” awards.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.