'Fashionistas' closes
Tonight after a nearly four-year run "The Fashionistas" will give its final performance in Vegas. The show will be remembered by me and many others as perhaps the best erotic show to have ever run on the Strip.Not that I will be there to see one of my favorite shows one final time. Vegas is a city where the now always trumps honoring the past. I will be watching Bette Midler's new show at Caesars tonight.
Last night, I had dinner with "Fashionistas" creator John Stagliano. I first met Stagliano months before his show opened in 2004. In fact, I spent those months behind the scene skeptically documenting Stagliano's efforts to launch "Fashionistas" for a cover story in Las Vegas Weekly. I was skeptical, because Stagliano is a multimillionaire pornographer (owner of the company Evil Angel) who had no background in Vegas production shows. Oh actually, he told me that back in the '70s he failed an audition to be a dancer at a show at the Stardust. He went on to become a Chippendale dancer. And from there he entered pornography, being credited with being the founder of a genre called gonzo. Stagliano's Vegas show was built around the plot and title of his most famous pornographic movie. The original adult film version of "The Fashionistas" is over four hours long, and Stagliano's Vegas production is an erotic modernist dance interpretation of the film, with no dialogue and a soundtrack that ranges from Tool to Madonna to original music. The show turned out to garner wonderful reviews, but it could never support itself without Stagliano using money he earned from the day job.
So, I asked Stagliano about what lessons he learned and what he was taking away from his time as a Vegas show producer:
"I've learned that you have to careful with your money here because you can lose it pretty quickly. Actually, I think you were the first one to warn me about that and at the time I didn't believe you. Now I understand that was absolutely true. What you don't see from outside Vegas is that the money inside the casino system is much different than the money outside the casino system. It is much more competitive and difficult outside a casino."
I easily resisted telling Staglino, "I told you so." But what he meant is that is that I had warned him that being inside a casino and supported by the casino with advertising and promotion was key to most shows' success on the Strip.
But getting helped by the profits from gambling for some shows also makes things very difficult for independent shows like "Fashionistas." The worst challenge Stagliano's show faced was not that he was a pornographer, but that "Fashionistas" was not even located inside a casino. The show is performed at Krave, a nightclub attached to a mall connected to Planet Hollywood. Yet Krave is built so as not to be connected to the mall or Planet Hollywood. Krave is only accessible by entering from the street on Harmon. The reason that is the case is that the space was built to suit people with no understanding of Vegas. The space was created to be the short-lived Blue Note jazz club, which wanted that level of independence from the casino and mall property. But tourists who come to Vegas like being in casinos and mostly do not choose to walk out on side streets. That was a huge error by the club and, as a result, the Blue Note become the first of many projects to fail in that space. Stagliano's longevity was a tribute to both the quality of the show and the amount of money he was willing to commit from his own fortune.
But getting helped by the profits from gambling for some shows also makes things very difficult for independent shows like "Fashionistas." The worst challenge Stagliano's show faced was not that he was a pornographer, but that "Fashionistas" was not even located inside a casino. The show is performed at Krave, a nightclub attached to a mall connected to Planet Hollywood. Yet Krave is built so as not to be connected to the mall or Planet Hollywood. Krave is only accessible by entering from the street on Harmon. The reason that is the case is that the space was built to suit people with no understanding of Vegas. The space was created to be the short-lived Blue Note jazz club, which wanted that level of independence from the casino and mall property. But tourists who come to Vegas like being in casinos and mostly do not choose to walk out on side streets. That was a huge error by the club and, as a result, the Blue Note become the first of many projects to fail in that space. Stagliano's longevity was a tribute to both the quality of the show and the amount of money he was willing to commit from his own fortune.
Before leaving Vegas, Stagliano got one final gift Wednesday night: Steve Wynn came to see "Fashionistas." "It was so exciting that he came to my show," Stagliano said. The reason Wynn came to the show is revealing. Stagliano's casting was as fantastic as everything else about "The Fashionistas," and Wynn has hired one of the show's stars to assume a key role in his resort's "Le Reve" production show.
As for Stagliano, he is not entirely finished with Vegas despite closing "Fashionistas." "I know so much more now than I did when we opened. I now have an idea that mixes technology and music and dancers into a nightclub attraction. I hope to take a couple months off and then come back to Vegas and see if I can get clubs interested."
(Photo by Sarah Gerke)
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Vegas Producer Back at Day Job: Porn
Friday night I was set to have dinner with adult filmmaker and Vegas show producer John Stagliano at the Harley Davidson Cafe on the Strip. At first I thought of canceling even though I have not seen Stagliano in months. You see, the Rolling Stone magazine package on Vegas came out that same day (the cover story is on Jack Nicholson). In addition to consulting for the package, I wrote a small item on Stagliano and "The Fashionistas," his production show at the Aladdin based on his most popular porn film.
I generally avoid people just after I publish something about them — until and unless they contact me. Sometimes my opinions and my understanding of things can, well, piss subjects off. After all, my loyalty is to the reader and that is not just a cliché if you are the subject of one of my stories. This can occasionally result in a chasm. Vegas impresario Jeff Beacher (who is profiled by Erik Hedegaard in the new Rolling Stone) once threatened to never talk to me again unless I took an item down from the Buffet about Paris Hilton. The item did not come down, and I was back in Beacher's good graces the moment he had something else to promote.
Though Stagliano has never cut me off from access to him or his cast for interviews, he has retained an abiding irritation with me for once describing in a story the concept of doing a modern dance interpretation of an adult film presented on a Vegas stage as "staggeringly ridiculous."
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John Stagliano's Crazy Idea for a Crazy Time
Penn Jillette attended "The Fashionistas" last night. The talking half of Penn & Teller normally would have been working at the Rio (Penn & Teller take fewer vacations than most any other headliners in Vegas). But from what I hear Penn & Teller had this period off because Penn's wife was due.So with this rare free moment, the father of two decided to take in an S&M-tinged dance show based on an epic erotic movie. Actually, "Fashionistas" isn't even topless and, as I have written until my fingers hurt, it is among the entertainment highlights on the Strip right now. In fact, the show's creator, John Stagliano (a wealthy pornographer), has shown such a totally original creative aesthetic that his show is unlike anything Las Vegas has ever seen before or is likely to ever see again.
The hideous location, the expense of marketing in Las Vegas and Stagliano's own decision to put a huge cast in a small room all suggest that this is a project done more out of love than business savvy. Stagliano has received awards galore, superlative reviews and great buzz. None of which matters as Vegas is a brutal market for outsiders; usually they lose all their money and go home. When that day comes Stagliano will be fine — he still makes plenty at his day job running an adult film empire.
But Stagliano, unlike many outsiders who come here to lose money, has brought more than cash with him; "Fashionistas" excited critics and audiences because of all the fresh ideas that he managed to put on the stage. Though he has incorporated aerialists, Stagliano has created the only dance show in town that can rival Cirque without being influenced by the Canadian company. In fact, in their one head-to-head competition, it is clear that as an erotic show, "Fashionistas" works better than "Zumanity."
Whatever happens with "Fashionistas," Stagliano has demonstrated to the entire town that his imagination and creativity do translate onto the Las Vegas stage. It is the sort of buzz that brings a guy like Penn in the door on a rare night off. In my fantasy life, the one way Steve Wynn can salvage "Le Reve" is to have Stagliano to revamp that show. Of course, Wynn originated the Las Vegas as a family destination philosophy and it is hard to imagine him working with a smut king. Many things though happen in Las Vegas that would seem impossible from the start. Wynn has a serious problem: he has a beautiful theater and a talented cast stuck to a show that is Cirque-lite. So, when it comes to new ideas for a theater production show, Stagliano is about the only person in town right now with a vision that feels original and doesn't look spun off of Cirque.
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Liberty, Pornography and Dance
I have blogged before about the odd connections between libertarians and Las Vegas. In fact, Las Vegas has its own libertarian magazine with the fanciful title: Liberty Watch. I learned about the existence of Liberty Watch when it debuted, 9 issues ago, because every editor and writer at Las Vegas Weekly began receiving it. But unlike everyone else I was invoiced for it. So, I e-mailed to point out that I had never ordered a subscription to Liberty Watch. Someone wrote back all snotty to say that either I or my assistant (I wish!!!!) certainly had ordered the subscription, but that I would be removed. Nonetheless, unwanted and unasked for, Liberty Watch still keeps coming in my mail every month like it is a request for an alumni donation. Well, finally I am glad because the December issue just came and John Stagliano is on the cover. I did a cover story on Stagliano over a year ago for Weekly when he prepared to open The Fashionistas, an erotic dance show, at the Aladdin. I went into the story thinking I was going to cover a train wreck(Stagliano had little stage experience and no Vegas history--sure recipe to mess up on every level in this market), but wound up being the first of many critics to worship at the altar of The Fashionistas. Anyway, since I know all about the Fashionistas and John's libertarian views (which I have written about on the Buffet) I wasn't expecting much from the Liberty Watch article. But it turns out the profile traces Stagliano's porno career (oh, did I mention that?), and that is an area I have never gone into specific detail with him and so the read was well worth it.
His "Eureka!" moment, which led him to pioneer a new style of porn films is described thusly:
His "Eureka!" moment, which led him to pioneer a new style of porn films is described thusly:
To talk about my career and how it started, back in the '70s, I saw one person looking into the camera while she was having sex," Stagliano shared. "If you look at all the other pictures in this magazine, it was the one thing that stood out. It had so much more power by this woman looking at the camera and communicating to the viewer. I remembered this for the longest time and I kept it in the back of my head while I was trying to compete in making porn movies during the '80s.
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