Strip musicals go for lucky seven

You may be sick of hearing about the number seven after last weekend, but it has become the dominant one for the Las Vegas-based editions of Broadway musicals.

Three of the four titles on the Strip -- "Monty Python's Spamalot," "The Producers" and "Mamma Mia!" -- now run on a schedule of seven shows per week. Only "Phantom -- The Las Vegas Spectacular" has an eight-show schedule, but that's still down from 10 when it opened in June 2006.

Both "Phantom" and "Spamalot" cut back their schedules recently.

Curtailing "Phantom" seems to settle any perceived competition with Cirque du Soleil's "Love" that came from both opening the same week; the Beatles-themed production is still running strong with 10 shows per week.

Otherwise, reduced expectations sound like a winner for audiences and performers alike. "We have a brand new vibrancy to the show," says "Spamalot" star John O'Hurley of playing to better houses. "Now we have the show we wanted to have with the response we needed to have."

"Phantom" co-producer Scott Zeiger notes that on Broadway, titles compete with other titles. In Las Vegas, "the shows have stiff competition beyond just the shows themselves competing with each other. The shows are competing with 50 other things now," from late retail hours to nightclubs.

Showtimes remain an area of experimentation. O'Hurley says it made a big difference for "Spamalot" to move most performances from 7 to 8 p.m., giving people more time to come in from the pool and get ready. "Phantom" still offers more of its shows at 7 p.m.

Presenters are in more agreement that late shows at 10 or 10:30 p.m. are becoming a thing of the past, perhaps soon to be only a Saturday option.

"Do you really want to sit in a dark theater watching a show late at night when there are so many other options?" Zeiger notes. "The business paradigm's evolving. Producers and presenters of live entertainment have got to be nimble and adjust with the market. ... I haven't lost any faith in the market, we've just got to be nimble." ...

Broadway musicals may not go down as well after a few drinks, but raunchy hypnotists are another story. Marshall Sylver is set to make a long-discussed deal official, opening a late show at Harrah's Las Vegas on or around Aug. 10. The showroom hasn't had a late-evening title since "Bareback" departed in October.

Don't look for a lot of changes next door at the Flamingo. Toni Braxton marks one year in the main showroom next month, and has agreed in principle to extend her contract into February.

In the Flamingo's smaller venue, "X Burlesque" has extended for a year starting July 31 as a roommate production with The Second City comedy troupe. Producer Angela Stabile says she is adding more set decoration to make the show look less like it's loitering on the Second City stage. ...

You think they would have done this from the get-go, but the Riviera's skating revue "Ice -- Direct from Russia" has added a half-price ticket for children 12 and younger. ...

The Las Vegas Tenors proved the off-Strip locals market can be its own entity if treated as one. A show with no names, performed only on Mondays, wouldn't have much of a shot on the Strip, but the Tenors did capacity business in the suburbs.

Now, "Shades of Sinatra" hopes to repeat that success by following the same formula. The revue opened Monday at the Suncoast and returns Monday, July 23 and 30. It's co-produced by Ed Mathews, who oversees the Tenors, and entertainer Kelly Clinton.

"All of them met on that crazy Monday night we were doing at the Bootlegger," Clinton says of the karaoke night she hosted that brought members of both acts together.

The Sinatra show is not a theatrical "Legends"-style tribute, though Carmine Mandia has played Frank in "The Rat Pack is Back" at the Greek Isles. This format teams him with Ryan Baker, Larry Liso and Lisa Smith, taking its cue from their common love of Sinatra and command of Sinatra trivia.

As for the Tenors, they test their tourist crossover appeal with Las Vegas Hilton dates on Sept. 7 and 8.

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