Productions searching for the sweet spot

Let's call this one the Tulsa test.

I'm naming it after my hometown, where my folks saw "The Producers" in May 2004, long before residents of the Entertainment Capital of the World.

Could that have anything to do with the Paris Las Vegas edition drawing only about 100 people to a recent matinee?

It's a good question. A better one: Do national tours help advertise a Las Vegas-based musical? Or do they bump the Vegas edition to lower priority on a three-day stay on the Strip? The Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil shows don't tour. Broadway musicals do.

The answer is up in the air, but it's key to the future of Broadway on the Strip. It's more fun to talk content at the expense of logistics.

Case in point, Tuesday's announcement of "Jersey Boys" for the new Palazzo next year. Right now, the musical is as big a hit in San Francisco as on Broadway. It has been extended to Sept. 30, giving it a full 10 months in the Bay Area.

That means a different company will open in Los Angeles, spending most of the summer at the Ahmanson Theatre, May 25 to Aug. 7. "Jersey Boys" also is booked in San Diego, Costa Mesa, Calif., and Tempe, Ariz., this fall.

You'd think local producers would be yelling, "Stop! No more touring!"

Scott Zeiger, producer of the Palazzo edition, doesn't sound frantic. "I would call the performances in California that are happening today one fantastic advertisement for our production," he says. "I think the demand is so strong, we're very confident we're doing the right thing."

Where is the balance that Zeiger calls the "sweet spot"? The learning curve suggests it lies somewhere between "Avenue Q" and "The Producers." Wynn Las Vegas cut a "Q" deal to pre-empt a national tour, denying itself the "free" advertising (or that paid by a tour promoter) in feeder markets.

On the other hand, the Tulsa test helps explain disappointment for "The Producers" and "Hairspray" on the Strip. But "Mamma Mia!" and "The Phantom of the Opera" played Tulsa, too, and they're faring better here. Does that negate the test? Or do those titles belong in a category of their own?

Wynn's "Monty Python's Spamalot" seemed to hit the sweet spot. So far. Once a Las Vegas show opens, local presenters can negotiate to black out tour stops in California and Arizona. Looking at the national tour map for "Spamalot," it appears California is now off-limits.

But it will play Tulsa in July.

In fact, the map of tour stops -- Denver, Dallas, St. Paul, Minn. -- matches up closely with the cities serviced by popular Las Vegas charter carrier MLT vacations. The Wynn folks should be hoping for quick sellouts in all those places.

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