‘Rock of Ages’ stars upbeat despite losing gigs

It doesn’t seem to matter if his future holds a ’90s cover band or a custom sliding barn door. For a guy who will be out of work in a couple of weeks, Paul Johnson is remarkably upbeat.

“I’m kind of just letting myself enjoy it, although I should probably be getting a little more active about finding out what my next job is going to be,” says the Las Vegas actor who plays busboy and aspiring rock star Drew in “Rock of Ages” at the Rio.

“At the same time I have plenty of friends in town,” Johnson says. “The good thing about Vegas is it’s always changing and moving and there’s always something to do.”

But the changes on New Year’s weekend won’t be good. Close to 90 actors and musicians will be out of work after “Rock of Ages” closes Jan. 1 and “ShowStoppers” bows out Dec. 31 at Wynn Las Vegas.

It’s the exclamation point after a year of seismic change on the Strip, with the closure of long-running shows from “Jubilee” to “Jersey Boys.” You can’t imagine showrooms continuing to sit empty. Everyone’s hoping “Beautiful — The Carole King Musical” is a done deal for The Venetian.

Still, a lot of this tectonic shift is because of a new entertainment model: concert stars in recurring residencies, which may hire dancers, but not a lot of musical-theater performers.

In August, I did a feature about Johnson and castmate Brett Stoelker getting promoted to lead roles in “Rock of Ages,” after paying their dues as swings (fill-ins who could play multiple roles to cover castmates’ days off). But October brought the closing announcement for the 24 actors and musicians. So I checked in with both guys again to ask, What now?

With Stoelker it was predictable. He had moved back to New York about this time last year to audition for Broadway shows, before “Rock of Ages” summoned him back to play Spandex rock god Stacee Jaxx in the tongue-in-cheek salute to ’80s rock.

Now, Stoelker says, he will reclaim his sublet apartment to “get back on the audition train” and back behind a bar in Astoria, Queens, which kindly allows a staff of drink-slinging actors to rotate in and out as needed.

And who knows, he could get summoned here again. One of Stoelker’s projects was “Tenors of Rock,” now coming to Harrah’s Las Vegas on Jan. 11. He is not part of the opening cast but could return to sub for vacations.

Las Vegas is always home for Johnson, who in addition to singing and acting is a carpenter. So for him, there will be projects like that custom barn door as he moves toward assembling that ’90s cover band — “the logical next era that people are going to be reminiscing about.”

“I’m kind of looking forward to doing something new and different instead of going back to the old stuff I used to do,” Johnson adds. “As a performer, you always are kind of reinventing yourself.”

Stoelker agrees that change “builds your character. You can’t get better if you keep doing the same thing over and over. You eventually hit a spot where you just plateau. The more you are around new people, the more you can pick up.”

Neither of these guys has family concerns such as children in the middle of a school year. So it’s a easier for them to point out that no one who is obsessed with stability and security gets up on a stage.

“There’s definitely the responsible half of me that thinks about how to pay my bills,” Johnson says. “But at the same time, this is just what you sign up for as an entertainer. You know there’s always going to be a change, you know there’s always going to be a show closing.”

The glass-half-full view is echoed in the office of the Las Vegas Musicians Union, Local 369. President Jack Gaughan says “ShowStoppers” hired 31 musicians, along with its six leads and 28 dancers, for two years. “We’re disappointed, of course, but they had a long run out of that show.”

The union made it clear that it was willing to work with Wynn if the players’ contract was a stumbling block, Gaughan adds. “But I don’t think it was ever all about the musicians at all,” he says. “It was a very expensive show to put on and maintain.”

“ShowStoppers” gambled that older customers, Broadway buffs and others who missed classic-Vegas production shows had become an overlooked, underserved demographic and would show up in sufficient numbers to replace younger people lost to nightclubs or edgier shows.

The Encore Theater would be wiser to jump on the star train with Lady Gaga or other relationships that may have sprung from last year’s “Sinatra 100” TV special. Just as Celine Dion uses a large union orchestra at Caesars Palace, concert stars could still utilize musical director Dave Loeb and the union musicians.

Still, you wonder how the entertainment community will withstand the loss of these performing jobs when it comes to side projects such as “Mondays Dark,” a recurring charity show pulling together performers from all walks, celebrating its third anniversary at 8 p.m. Monday at the Hard Rock Hotel.

“Vegas’ Night to Give Back” was the brainchild of Mark Shunock, another actor who came to town for “Rock of Ages” in late 2012. “There are a ton of creative people in this city. I’m not concerned about the closures at all,” Shunock says.

Shunock thinks this realignment is “a chance for the city to reinvent itself creatively. I’ve bartended in more hole-in-the-wall places than I care to admit.” Las Vegas is like any other city in that respect, he says. “If you want, you can write your own ticket and create a life for yourself.”

Read more from Mike Weatherford at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com and follow @Mikeweatherford on Twitter.