New shows rolling the dice

How long since you've been to Vegas, Alan Greenspan? Have I got some irrational exuberance for you!

Five million people might have lost their jobs. And the gross domestic product might be down 6.1 percent. That doesn't mean there's no room for another comic impressionist on the Strip.

When the year began on a bleak note with the closing of "Mamma Mia!" and "Stomp Out Loud," it seemed the dominoes were starting to fall. Five more shows went down in the first quarter, including the iconic "Folies Bergere" and long-running "An Evening at La Cage."

Painful but inevitable, I figured, and perhaps ultimately good in the way small wildfires can thin the brush to prevent the big inferno.

But covering this stuff day to day, it sure seemed there was a lot to keep up with. So I started a list of new shows. The results floored me.

Would you believe 15 new titles will be up or soon to open by Wednesday? That's when the Imperial Palace holds a news conference to announce the vocal group Human Nature.

And that's not counting a Santana residency (or any concerts at the Hard Rock Hotel's new 4,000-seater). It does include a couple of big-budget productions, "The Lion King" and "Peepshow."

But more of them are what you would politely call "entry level." Little start-ups you would expect to see more during a boom than a bust cycle. Shows such as "Freaks" or "Magic's a Drag."

"Vegas is still the dream for so many acts. Even with the economy, they say, 'I can make it,' " says Human Nature producer Adam Steck.

One of them is Rich Natole, a comedic impressionist taking an afternoon berth at the Harmon Theater starting May 15. Natole did mostly corporate shows for about 15 years, but those have "kind of stalled out" as well, he says. "It's Vegas, you throw the dice here," Natole says with a laugh. "Everything's a risk. (But) what better place to gamble, right?"

"As dominoes fall on one side, houses of cards are built on the other," Steck jokes when I tell him of my 15-show tally. "Nobody wants to pass up an opportunity."

The Imperial Palace "wants a show in there, and I've been trying to get Human Nature to town for the past two and a half years. I'm willing to take the risk, because I think the act is that amazing," he says. He also says the recession is "a great time to negotiate great advertising rates."

Harrah's Entertainment already has an empty theater at Paris Las Vegas, so the company might have realized you can no longer sell your house -- or rent your showroom -- at 2005 prices.

"We're not backing down," says Antonio Restivo, who recently opened "Ignite" on "a shoestring budget mostly from just my bank account."

"Our spirits are a little broken at this point," Restivo says of the country. "But people still need to get away."

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