Creative show closes, topless show opens — but don’t jump to conclusions

The circumstantial evidence doesn't speak well of the creative enterprise of Las Vegas entertainment.

The past week brought a couple of show announcements. The funny, different "50 Shades! The Parody!" will close Nov. 17 at Bally's. But "X Country" will open at Harrah's Las Vegas on Nov. 22.

You can jump to quick conclusions and be rightfully cynical about why there is always room for another topless show — but this time they dance to country music! — and never room, it would seem, for more ambitious titles that try to shuffle up the genres and offer something different.

And it's a particularly good question to ask right now, a time of musical chairs with the future of several shows in play, thanks in large part to an apparent housecleaning at The Venetian.

The Frank Sinatra tribute "Frank — The Man. The Music" is leaving Nov. 28. "Rock of Ages" is said to be moving to the Rio; a kiss of death unless, as rumored, Caesars Entertainment will become a hands-on producer rather than mere landlord. And the producer of Human Nature is in negotiations about whether to stay at The Venetian with a new format and title, "Jukebox," or move it to another property.

One of the possible replacements for these Venetian shows is "Baz," a musical mash-up based on the films of director Baz Luhrmann, which died a quick death at the Cirque du Soleil-affiliated Light club at Mandalay Bay this summer.

"Baz" and "50 Shades" are both theatrical hybrids, but neither of them close to a traditional Broadway musical. The "50 Shades" spoof is more sketch comedy in the Second City and "Saturday Night Live" vein, while "Baz" scrambles "The Great Gatsby" and "Romeo and Juliet" with songs from Fergie and Nirvana.

You should be rooting for them, unless you think six topless female revues and three G-string dude revues are not enough. (And if you don't? I have good news. A casting call went out last week by the producers of Chippendales for a new nightclub-based revue that will attempt to combine both male and female burlesque.)

But why don't the more ambitious shows work? The answers are more complicated, and way more boring, than you think.

For "50 Shades," I'd love to spend the next few paragraphs talking about the "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie, and how it made a lot of money the first weekend but was so bad it didn't pull in the crossover audience that could have helped the Bally's spoof.

And for "Baz" I'd love to ask why the same Los Angeles troupe didn't introduce itself to the market with it's easy-nostalgia tribute to the '80s movie comedies of John Hughes, instead of trusting the public to understand Luhrmann is the common denominator to movie adaptations of "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Great Gatsby," and that furthermore, both classic stories will be blended into one show.

But you know what? I chatted on the phone with a "50 Shades" cast member and it was a long time before we even got around to the show's source material or its content.

We talked about Bally's being more a "dormitory" for nearby properties than a place where you hang out. We talked about the second-floor Windows Showroom being a leased space, not directly operated by the hotel. About whether it would have fared any better in the Flamingo's ground-level space (where, in fact, the Second City once performed).

About whether Las Vegas shows are a same-day business, whether advertising has any impact, or whether it's all about who has the cheapest ticket at the discount booths. And the "airline pricing" approach to show tickets, where it's very likely strangers sitting in the same row together probably didn't pay the same price for their tickets.

How a ticket broker can explain "X Country" by saying, "It's a topless dance show with country music."

But how the cast member eavesdropped on box office conversations that completely misrepresented the "50 Shades" spoof by describing it either as an actual musical or a serious adaptation of the book.

And finally we did talk about the movie. While the "Twilight" films improved clumsy novels, the "Fifty Shades" movie "validated what (non-fans) thought about the novel," the cast member believes, "and sank peoples' joy of this brand."

Ken Walker, who operates the Windows Showroom, added something else, which Cirque du Soleil well knows. The very fact that a show speaks English limits its audience, too. International visitors will go to "a visual show rather than trying to understand (an English) one," he says.

The same language barrier applied to the partly Shakespeare-scripted "Baz." But here, too, content alone doesn't explain performance. Before the show had time to build momentum, Cirque decided to get out of the nightclub business and Light got its closing notice, a rare case of a venue getting the ax before the show inside it.

So ... "X Country." But here, too, we can go beyond the content — a timeless appeal, obvious to the American male — and see why the easier road is more often-traveled.

"With all of our 'X' shows ('X Burlesque,' and 'X Rocks'), people expect a certain level of production and originality. And the girls. They always come back," co-producer Angela Stabile says. "Just like with Cirque, it's the same thing. When they go to more than one Cirque show they know what to expect, more or less, from the quality."

"I believe ours are the highest-quality production show in its genre. People love seeing beautiful women."

With so many variables out there, you can't knock consistency.

— Read more from Mike Weatherford at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com. Follow him @Mikeweatherford