From "The Producers" (at Paris) to Hans Klok (at Planet Hollywood), to give two recent examples, shows close in Vegas by issuing a press release that announces the end of the show's run and then the press release declares that the show was a fantastic, sold-out, major success. Of course, why such a success isn't staying put at the casino is never addressed in the press release.
In truth, if a show is doing really well on the Strip, the show will not close. The only true sign of success on the Strip is to continue to exist in the increasingly brutal world of headliners and production shows. But on Saturday, I am going to see an exception to this rule: the final performance of Celine Dion's "A New Day."
When "A New Day" closes on Saturday night with Dion's 717th performance, almost 3 million people will have seen the show since it opened in March 2003.
Back then, Dion's show was considered a big risk that included the creation of a $95-million Colosseum for her to perform in, complete with Wolfgang Puck snack venues. A lot was being asked of the audience too in order to fill the 4,000 seats of the Colosseum, with top ticket prices kicking in at over $200. And, if that wasn't enough to make Harrah's executives nervous, they did not create this show, but bought the company that owned Caesars Palace.
The signing of Dion's "A New Day" and the building on this project was already underway when Harrah's stepped into the ownership of Caesars. High-end entertainment has never been a Harrah's speciality in Vegas. But whatever the initial jitters, Dion's show, with its vanity store, proved to be the most successful thing to hit Vegas since Cirque du Soleil opened "Mystere" 14 years ago (a show that is still running).
Unlike Elvis and Sinatra, Celine Dion was not past her hit-making prime when she came to Vegas. Her fame seemed to be undiminished by being here and also by being off the road and out of the studio.
Vegas kept her profile high.
In fact, if anything, people who might not have even been big enough fans to see her perform in their hometowns still wanted to see "A New Day" in Vegas.
"I am not a big fan of Celine Dion's, but I really wanted to see her show when I was here," was a common sentiment. For many visitors, acquiring tickets to her show became a must-do on a Vegas trip. Call it a guilty pleasure or a holy pilgrimage: You had to see Celine Dion while in Vegas.
Dion's success directly paved the way for Elton John's "The Red Piano." John has even continued to tour and record while doing his show in Vegas. Certainly, Barry Manilow also owes his presence in Vegas to the success of Dion.
And Manilow managed to jump-start his career during his Vegas tenure (that might be a first, too) thanks to his first hit albums in decades.
Finally, even Prince, a gold standard of the eccentric artist, chose to set up a home base at the Rio for a while.
Of course, only in Vegas could such a middle-of-the road adult contemporary performer like Celine Dion be said to have paved a path later taken by Prince. But it would be hard to imagine Prince at the Rio (also owned by Harrah's) without Celine Dion having first broken the nostalgia barrier for Vegas entertainers, a.k.a. "the curse of fat Elvis," by being a contemporary hit maker who chose to be a Vegas headliner while still having other options for her career.
It is also important to note that the success of Celine Dion happened just before the nightclub revolution.
Nightclubs have rapidly begun to replace going to a show as the crucial Vegas activity for the new generation of young, hipster Vegas tourists. The nightclub boom has probably, more than anything, been responsible for the difficulties Broadway shows have had finding audiences in Vegas.
Now-closed shows like "Avenue Q" (Wynn) and "Hairspray" (Luxor) seem like they were meant to appeal to the twenty-somethings who instead chose nightclubs. Yet, even when Pure, among the hottest clubs in Vegas, opened at Caesars, nothing impacted the power of Celine Dion to draw an audience every night she performed.
Vegas entertainment is a game of imitation. There is a reason Cirque has five shows running and a few more on the way. There is a reason a half-dozen Broadway shows were signed at around the same time. It is the same reason almost every resort on the Strip is trying to open a hipster nightclub now if they don't have one yet. Vegas resorts love being on a bandwagon.
Yet the very uniqueness of headliners poses a challenge. How do you replace a Celine Dion? For now, of course, Caesars has picked Bette Middler. Middler is a solid if unimaginative choice. Her decades in showbiz as well as her sense of theater will make her a good fit in the traditional headliner way. But Bette Middler's show will not mark a change in Las Vegas entertainment like Celine Dion's "A New Day" did.
