‘America’s Got Talent Live’ a pure variety show, producer says

Did you hear someone say "whew"?

It's still a little vague about which was the chicken and which was the egg - or maybe we should say the dog and the bone.

But it just so happens the producers of "America's Got Talent" dig in for another extended stay in Las Vegas during the show's year of the dog.

It's the year the NBC talent show delivered a team of finalists completely free of singers, with America determining the million-dollar winner to be a team of dancing dogs from Houston.

Hence, the live spinoff of "Talent" racing into the Palazzo on Wednesday will be "a pure variety show in the truest sense of the word," says executive producer Matthew Gaven.

In the "Talent" spinoff that stopped for only single weekends at Caesars Palace the past two years, you couldn't help notice the winners seemed like the odd men out. The antics had to shift into conventional concert format to showcase earthy Las Vegan Michael Grimm in 2010 and standards crooner Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. last year.

"Singers are pretty straightforward," Gaven says. "You get what you get with a singer."

This year though? The 22 Olate Dogs came out at the head of a pack that includes a sand painter, an escape artist and glow-in-the-dark dancing.

"Our talent now is so diversified that it lends itself to the type of show where we can do this on an extended run," Gaven says. "And we believe it can compete quite nicely with the other entities on the Strip."

FremantleMedia Enterprises, keeper of the "Talent" brand, last tried a Las Vegas sit-down at Planet Hollywood Resort in 2009. This time, FremantleMedia and AEG Live are betting big: They plan to follow this stretch through Nov. 17 with another run at the Palazzo January through July.

"The acts on the show this year were really the most diverse we've seem from season to season," Gaven says, going so far as to call the Palazzo effort "the creation of a new form of variety."

Just as old-school TV variety came back with a new high-tech veneer on "Talent," Gaven hopes to update the live presentation with more of a flow to blend the acts instead of isolating them segment by segment.

Sand painter Joe Castillo can now be accompanied by the supersized Earth Harp of William Close, now that the two are co-workers instead of competitors.

"The acts on the show this year were really the most diverse we've seen from season to season, presenting us the most creative option by which to put a pure variety show together," Gaven says.

Comedian Tom Cotter, the TV contest's runner-up, will host the show that also includes escape artist Spencer Horsman offering a new encounter with deadly blades, along with the neon-suited dance and puppetry of Lightwire Theater.

Recycled Percussion, which parlayed its 2009 appearance on "Talent" to a show at the Tropicana Las Vegas, will serve as a unique "house band" for the proceedings.

All of them will hit the ground running. Because a two-week break for the Olympics delayed the NBC contest, the live show opens just 13 days after the winner was determined.

"We had to operate in the dark because of the fairness rules. We weren't allowed to really identify or speak with the acts until they got in the semifinal rounds," Gaven says.

So deals were signed quickly and there were no long vacations after the high-pressure competition.

Chances are you won't hear the acts complaining - as long as the humans running the show don't forget to put out the dog dishes at feeding time.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at
mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.