Magicians pull family fun from up their sleeves

News that magician Rick Thomas closed his show at The Orleans on Saturday might reinforce the common notion, "Things have sure changed since Las Vegas tried to be a family town."

Except that today, fellow magician Nathan Burton plans to double his schedule to two shows a day, 14 per week for the rest of the summer. "This is the big money time," he says of the out-of-school months.

Another magician, Tim Gabrielson, joins the afternoon mix on July 14 with a show at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. The Russian clown revue "Aga-Boom" was set to debut Saturday as still another afternoon choice, this one in the Steve Wyrick theater at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood.

The past few months also brought the family-friendly "Stomp Out Loud" to Planet Hollywood, "Matsuri" to the Sahara and "Ice: Direct from Russia" to the Riviera. Another new show is a borderline call for "family" entertainment, but don't be surprised if Pop volunteers to escort Junior to the legs and double-entendres of "The Beauty of Magic," Planet Hollywood's magic show with Pamela Anderson.

When you add it all up, there's strong evidence that the nightclub explosion may be hurting late performances of the traditional shows, but having the opposite effect on family titles.

"What happened is that the person who was going to a regular show without a kid is now going to a nightclub," says Bill Voelkner, producer of both Mac King's magic show at Harrah's and the new one with Gabrielson.

Burton says he explored a vacancy for a late show on the Strip, but the casino wanted it to be topless or raunchy to battle the club trend. "It's just not the right move (given) the good-guy nature of 'America's Got Talent,' " he says of the NBC talent show that has given him his biggest boost.

Producers of "Ice" also kicked around the idea of a topless late show, but opted against the nudity and still have no late show. In spite of a sophisticated marketing campaign that doesn't scream "kids," younger children are showing up anyway.

Paris Hilton's club-hopping and the "What happens" campaign obscured but did not change the fact that Las Vegas is still the closest major airport to the Grand Canyon, and offers the most hotel rooms between California and the national parks in Southern Utah.

So what about Thomas, who surfed the family wave for a decade? It's likely that when the Stardust's closure pushed him into locals terrain at The Orleans, locals alone couldn't keep him afloat. Closing the Stardust and selling the Barbary Coast also meant Boyd Gaming had no bus dock on the Strip for shuttling tourists to The Orleans.

And you can only push that Chevy Chase "Vacation" station wagon so hard.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 383-0288 or e-mail him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.