Terry Fator to the Mirage
"America's Got Talent" winner Terry Fator has been getting a lot of attention for his show at the Hilton. Now that the Mirage is packing impressionist Danny Gans off to the Wynn, resort executives are left with an empty theater. The usual corporate solution is not available since the Mirage already has a Cirque show with "Love." So faced with the challenge of a fresh decision in entertainment the brain trust, it seems, has decided to replace an impressionist with a ventriloquist/impressionist.
So, as Danny Gans leaves, then enters the era of Terry Fator. I am trying to confirm details with MGM Mirage now. In the meantime, here is a YouTube video I looked up of Fator before fame found him doing an impression of future fellow Strip headliner Cher with the aid of an audience volunteer. Have I mentioned what a lame period this is for Vegas entertainment?
Bookmark it:  
|
Not so hot spot: Mirage's volcano won't spurt lava until fall
Despite the success of Jet nightclub and Cirque's Beatles show "Love," the
Mirage as a Las Vegas landmark is really best known for its outdoor volcano.So, imagine my surprise when I noticed that the Mirage's volcano is pretty much gone and the faux lake around the volcano drained.
I contacted Mirage and was told:
"The Mirage is in the process of a complete renovation of the volcano. We’re finalizing design details as we speak and will hopefully be announcing
details very soon. It is scheduled to be down until the fall of this year. We’ll forward you press materials as soon as they are final and approved."
If you are curious what the Mirage looks like without its signature volcano, as well as how the Strip's in-progress construction boom progresses, ratevegas.com
has some nice recent shots from all of the accessible building sites. (Photo by Mike Ch, courtesy RateVegas.com)
| Bookmark it:
|
Let 'Love' rule
Sunday the soundtrack to "Love" won two Grammy awards. During the telecast, some of the cast of the Cirque show at the Mirage performed a modified version of their routine to the Beatles' "A Day in the Life." In the context of the spectacular sound and setting of the theater of "Love," that routine is one of the most emotionally moving in the entire show. It features one of the best aerialists I have ever seen. The television Grammy experience, though perfectly adequate television, was not a good substitute for seeing "Love" at the Mirage.
The breaking of the car behind the aerialists into acrobats with the automobile's component parts has surprising visual impact at the center of a stage but was caught mostly in the background by Grammy cameras. And the "Love" cast looked cramped on the Grammy stage. Still, the value of a Grammy appearance (not to mention winning the awards) was worth lots of attention and publicity for the show. But not so much press that "Love" wanted to miss any performances of their usually sold-out show. The amazing thing is that "Love" is so hot a ticket right now that they were able to structure things so that not a single performance was lost in order for some cast members to be at the Grammy awards for the act last night.
"Love's" publicist informed me: "Zero shows canceled. We just moved dark nights around." That is what things are like when you are the hottest ticket in Vegas.
(Photo by Sarah Gerke)
| Bookmark it:
|
Revolution is jazz
Revolution Lounge at Mirage is trying something interesting tonight: live
jazz. One great thing about Vegas is that fabulous musicians can get great jobs if they are willing to play lousy music.
For example, it is probably a fair assumption that musicians skilled enough
to develop the chops to be hired for Celine Dion's show probably have better
taste than to enjoy playing Celine Dion music.
Anyway, tonight a group made up of musicians from Dion's show, Cirque shows
and Blue Man Group will be performing jazz as Collectif. Doors open at 10 and
the show is free. This passes for an interesting and innovative idea in a Vegas
lounge. Not that Revolution Lounge is abandoning the more traditional fare.
After two sets by Collectif, the connoisseurs and cognoscenti can clear out
before MoJo Risin' offers a Doors tribute show.
(photo by Sarah Gerke)
(photo by Sarah Gerke)
| Bookmark it:
|
Of lost credit cards and LOVE
I would not advise ever letting your credit card out of your sight in Las Vegas for every obvious reason. But last night I lost mine at the Mirage.
I was at the Mirage to check out some fine tuning done to Cirque's LOVE followed by a meal at the Mirage's Carnegie Deli. After much panicked searching of my home and car, I faced facts and called the Mirage looking for my plastic needle in a haystack.
But my credit card was with security. It turns out I left the credit card at the Carnegie after using it to pay for the meal. The staff of the deli alerted security who picked up the card at once. It almost makes me not mind the Carnegie's ridiculous $3 sharing charge.
By the way, the most important change in LOVE is the removal of the
unpopular "Blackbird" segment. The new segment has the Beatles
performing "Blackbird" instead of an actor simply reciting the words. It is a
definite improvement.
(Photo by Sarah Gerke)
(Photo by Sarah Gerke)
| Bookmark it:
|
Beatles fans find Vegas appeal
Earlier this week was the celebration for the one year anniversary
of LOVE. The event brought to the Mirage: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr as well
as the widows of both John Lennon and George Harrison. Even Larry King
showed up at the Mirage to conduct a joint interview with these all-star owners
of Apple Corps. Now, the media are gone and the hoopla passed. Yet, Mirage is
getting one final side benefit for its dedication to the band that is an icon to
all Boomers. Starting Sunday at the Mirage will be the three day convention "The Fest For
Beatles Fans" expecting up to 6,500 atttendees. This is the first time 
this
convention has come to Vegas in its 33 year history.
this
convention has come to Vegas in its 33 year history. Among the star attractions, for hardcore Beatles fans, will be
an appearance by the only unknown former Beatle: Pete Best. Best, the drummer
for the band from before the Beatles were stars, will be performing with his
band on Sunday night. Also, appearing at the convention will be some of the
members of Wings who did not have the last name McCartney. Certainly, this convention won't bring all the paparazzi and media that were here earlier this
week. But for music fans who want to really reflect and enjoy the music of the
Beatles this is a welcome event. But what is so interesting about this
convention is in one way how typical it is of the sort of events that happen all of
the time in Las Vegas. Conventions and tourism are the bread and butter work of
Las Vegas, of course. Yet, in another way, there is a reason it took more than
three decades to bring a convention of Beatles fans to Las Vegas for the first time. There was a
time, not so long ago, when the idea of a Beatles convention in Vegas would have
seemed ludicrous. Vegas still suffered from the Curse of Fat Elvis: a reputation
as a sleazy land for cheesy entertainers, past their prime, to financially warm
themselves on the last dying embers of their fame. The Beatles, on the other
hand, had fans who saw in the group's music the opposite of Vegas. The
Beatles represented an aspiration to the aesthetic for popular music not to
mention universal love and anti-corporate values or whatever the 60's was
about. Even before the psychedelic era, Vegas was not Beatles territory. When
the Beatles came to Vegas to play a concert in 1964 no casino wanted to book
them. They played off Strip.
Nowadays, of course, the Curse of Fat Elvis has lifted. Paul McCartney
tours through Vegas occasionally for concerts as does Ringo and Friends. The nature of Vegas
hasn't changed at all; but the Boomers who once saw this town as their
parents' idea of fun, now run Vegas, and have remade everything in their image. Just take a quick look around the Strip. At Wynn, Monty
Python, a troupe ringed with Beatles connections and friendships, has a show,
Spamalot. John Lennon's onetime collaborator and friend, Elton John has a show
at Caesars. And, that is just the immediate circle. Now, to top it all off, the
actual Beatles signed off on an exclusive show at Mirage in Las Vegas and not
halfheartedly at all. In fact, it is safe to say, that LOVE (from show to
soundtrack) has united the historically warring Beatles factions as never
before. Even Yoko Ono came here on Tuesday to buddy-up to Paul McCartney
to promote LOVE, again, just as they both did for the opening a year ago.
Everyone involved in LOVE is behaving like good Vegas investors cashing regular checks
on a big winner of a show on the Strip. Even old Beatles seem to grasp
that Vegas uses celebrity appearances like theirs to hawk the tourism
and convention business. That is now an endeavor that is worthy of Paul
McCartney's and Yoko Ono's time. (That alone should give you some idea of how much
money LOVE must be making for them.) I guess the Beatles were always right about
that all you need is LOVE stuff.
But for Vegas, in a deeper sense, the real payoff in this catering to Boomers so directly is in hundreds of conventions like this one of hardcore Beatles fans (who have a Strip full of entertainment now to enjoy). The truth is that many of the tourists who arrive in Vegas these days are like this convention: the very people who a few decades ago would never dream that Vegas could be their idea of a perfect place to go.
But for Vegas, in a deeper sense, the real payoff in this catering to Boomers so directly is in hundreds of conventions like this one of hardcore Beatles fans (who have a Strip full of entertainment now to enjoy). The truth is that many of the tourists who arrive in Vegas these days are like this convention: the very people who a few decades ago would never dream that Vegas could be their idea of a perfect place to go.
(Photo courtesy of Cirque Apple Creation Partnership by Rob
Shanaha)
| Bookmark it:
|
Lukas Rossi joins Beatles' Revolution
I just got the following
press release. "Rockstar Supernova winner Lukas Rossi performed an acoustic set at
The Beatles REVOLUTION Lounge on Saturday, June 9. Prior to that he posed for
photos and spoke to fans." He has fans? Is anyone else disgusted to
see Lukas Rossi's name is in the same sentence as The Beatles like somehow the band supports or is connected to this dude's music? I know as a music fan in the extreme, I am overreacting. Still, this is the shameless side of Vegas promotion.
| Bookmark it:
|
Cruise-ing Into Vegas
There is little dirt to report (seeing "Love" and Jay Leno at the Mirage, and maybe playing some blackjack) but the Review-Journal's Norm Clarke ably tracks what Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were doing in Vegas this weekend.
| Bookmark it:
|
Little Sister Party for Jenny McCarthy
It is a horrible thing that Jenny McCarthy can only have one birthday party a year. How can that be? Her birthday is such a great nightclub draw.Jet at the Mirage solves the problem with a press release inviting us to join Jenny McCarthy to celebrate her younger sister's birthday party on Friday night. Not that anyone cares, but the sister is named Amy. It doesn't say how old Amy will be, and they don't even put her name in the headline of her birthday press release. But the press release mentions a lot that Jenny McCarthy will be at Jet.
(Photo: Paul Hawthorne / Getty Images)
| Bookmark it:
|
Cirque Plays 'Meet the Beatles'
In her L.A. Times review of "Love," the new Cirque show at the Mirage, Ann Powers nails it when she notes: "The theater's extraordinary sound makes the Fab Four's catalog sound genuinely new; each singer's individual character, each pluck of bass and pound of piano, breaks free of 40 years of baggage and becomes vital again."
I finally made it back to see the show again last night and I was looking forward to listening to it. It did not disappoint.
It is not just the theater's sound that deserves credit for the music; much of what is so arresting in hearing the Beatles' music in "Love" is the result of the work George and Giles Martin have done by going back to the original masters for the soundtrack. So, until the Beatles catalog gets a better remastering (or, the "Love" soundtrack comes out) the Mirage simply offers a better audio Beatles experience than even the original vinyl could offer. If you are a Beatles fan and the music is what matters to you, "Love" will fulfill your wildest dreams by making the most familiar music in the world, literally, for a fleeting moment, sound totally fresh again.
| Bookmark it:
|
Red Carpet for 'Love'
My plan for working the red carpet at the "Love" opening at Mirage Friday night seemed sound. By the time I got there the coverage area was packed with photographers and press. When we picked up our credentials the publicist explained that far more media had showed up than anyone expected and the red carpet area was a tighter squeeze than had been anticipated too. So, I ignored the actual red carpet line that was about three deep and placed myself after the pivot where the stars had to walk past me on their way into the theater. I am greedy about my interviews and don't like other journalists taping them and using them, so beyond the position this offered the exclusivity I favored. This all worked out well as people like Billy Squier, Sheila E. and Richard Marx made comments too dull for me to offer here. The first sign of my real mistake happened when various pop stars from Quebec walked past. One thing I have learned from Celine and Cirque is that Quebec has the most insanely aggressive media in the world. And, as people we did not recognize walked past suddenly a dozen photographers yelling in French would swarm over jostling aside photographer Sarah Gerke and myself.| Bookmark it:
|
'Love' Opens Tonight
"Love" has its grand opening tonight. I will be there working the red carpet and hoping to snag interviews with one-named stars from Prince to Ringo.But it isn't just the stars who have come to town. Yesterday, I met my friends Howard Kramer and Jim Henke from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for lunch at the Mirage. They are in town to see "Love" and it reminded me of how very different this show is from the other four permanent Cirque shows on the Strip. The unique element being the Beatles.
The Beatles never toured during their artistic glory years (though it seems almost every Vegas lifer I meet claims to have seen the Fab Four play Vegas in '64). So, while nothing about "Love" explicitly recalls a rock concert, this is still a first chance for most Beatles fans to celebrate the most significant popular music to come out during their lives with the sort of amplification and excitement that only a live performance brings.
As a Cirque show, "Love," I think, is a mixed bag; I will get into more detail on the specifics after I see it again. But as I told my friends at lunch yesterday, one thing I am sure about: "Love" is going to make Beatles fans very, very happy.
| Bookmark it:
|
'Love' Gets Alarm at Media Show
I saw "Love" last night but all media are being asked by Cirque to embargo reviews until Friday morning. I obviously don't like being asked to hold a story about a show I've seen. But I am going to respect the embargo. I am not entirely comfortable with this decision, I admit. There is a part of me that feels like I should always keep this blog in real time. But this time I am going to settle for a Vegas version of real time. Besides I want to see "Love" again before I write about it as there was an interruption in the show I saw: an emergency alarm went off inside the Mirage showroom. "Love" had just started and the performers onstage could not hide how irritated and dispirited the alarm made them. As the music cut out, the dancers stopped, the aerialists were left dangling, and slowly they all headed offstage.
A guy arriving late said: "Osama must be here."
Interestingly, none of the performers seemed at all surprised or panicked. I shared this with them. Why? I had seen it happen to these performers in this theater already. A little more than a month ago I blogged on the Buffet about a media preview performance of three numbers from the show. During that preview the same alarm went off. I wish I could remember if it was the same song — maybe the fog or some other element in the performance accidentally triggers the alarm.
(Photo: Sarah Gerke / For The Times)
| Bookmark it:
|
Dead Baby Found at Mirage
On the Strip, a horrifying story emerged today of a dead newborn baby found in the Mirage's garbage system. Garbage collection at any casino/resort is complex, and the body circulated at least two days before being found on a conveyor belt.
Resort surveillance almost guarantees that those responsible for this action will be identified. Surely, whoever did this must know that footage exists of every step made inside the Mirage that isn't within a guest's room; yet, this did not stop this horrible thing from happening. This was also true of a recent assault on an MGM groundskeeper — written about here — taped by the resort's surveillance cameras. Suspects were quickly identified and arrested. The alleged suspects, being locals, must have known their actions were being recorded yet were undeterred.
An unrelated story. Yesterday, two people were shot in my apparently increasingly crime-ridden apartment complex. I woke up to see the crime scene tape and police SUVs at the entrance. According to the paper today, the alleged shooter is still at large and the paranoia within me believes he must be hiding in the unoccupied apartment under mine (regular readers of the Buffet will recall it was just weeks ago that someone broke into that unit). It would be a perfect hiding place. I suggested this thought to the head of maintenance in my complex and he laughed at me. He has been working at similar apartment complexes in the Vegas area for 20 years and he insisted that criminals aren't smart enough to think of things like that. I hope that is true.
| Bookmark it:
|
Love vs. Magic
Next week, "Love," the marriage between the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil, opens at the Mirage. Also, opening at the Aladdin is a new comedy magic show. Anyway, here are the two invitations to the media nights for the two shows. No surprise, the magician got a cease and desist letter from Cirque's law firm in Washington asserting the surreal circus troupe's trademark. (Note: By chance, my uncle is a partner in the firm that issued the letter, but he is not connected to the case and I have not discussed this with him at all and won't.)It was the magician's publicist who provided a copy of the lawyer letter, thus going from getting publicity out of the attention the Cirque show is getting to getting publicity out of getting the Cirque show's attention.
(Photo: Sarah Gerke / For The Times)
| Bookmark it:
|
Cirque and Beatles Make Love
“Love,” the new Cirque du Soleil show built upon the Beatles’ music previewed a few select scenes yesterday (no pun intended) for the press. What I saw seemed very preliminary.While talking to Cirque founder Guy Laliberté afterward, it was clear that he considers this show a real break from Cirque’s circus tradition into uncharted waters. In truth, nothing I saw would surprise Cirque fans. This is going to be a Cirque show to a Beatles soundtrack instead of the mix of New Age and world music the troupe favors. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the aesthetics of Cirque and the Beatles are closer than most would imagine. Particularly, the band’s more psychedelic music seems a natural fit for the acrobats landing in Cirque’s surrealistic pillow. Also, Cirque and the Beatles both celebrate creativity and humanity in equal measure.
The show begins public previews at the beginning of June, and officially premieres at the end of the month. The group is famous for making drastic revisions during the preview process, so nothing I saw should be regarded as definitive. And much seems still to be worked out.
Take a simple question like is the song “Yesterday” going to be in “Love”? Beatles producer George Martin told me, “We agonized for ages over whether we should put ‘Yesterday’ in or not. On the one hand, people would get offended if it weren’t in there. On the other hand, it has been heard so much we shouldn’t put it in. There was that argument. I am not going to tell you if it is in or not. But in the end we arrived at a very good consensus of opinion about what it should be.”
| Bookmark it:
|
Cirque and Beatles Create Love
Cirque has revealed the name of its Beatles theme show set to open at the Mirage: LOVE. Or, in the long version: The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil. The show is set to begin previews on June 2 with tickets on sale today. George Martin, the legendary producer of the group, says in the press release that he has been working with the masters at Abbey Road to create the soundtrack. Other details include that it will be a 60 person cast and in-the-round seating in the theatre meant to hold an audience of more than 2,000. Also, departing from Cirque's tradition in Vegas the preview performances will be discounted 25%.
| Bookmark it:
|
Breaking News From Avenue Q
Just got off the phone with "Avenue Q" producer Kevin McCollum who contacted me to offer the following news about imminent changes to the show at Wynn after reading my recent post about "Avenue Q" on the Buffet.
"I did read Movable Buffet and you actually touched on a couple things that we were already looking at. We want to keep everything about 'Avenue Q' that is so special. But we have been listening to and thinking about the rhythm of Vegas. Therefore beginning on Thursday we will be performing the show without an intermission."
So, will numbers also be cut or will just the intermission go?
"It is not as easy as cutting just the intermission. We had to look at the structure. We lost a couple numbers like the Act II opener is no longer necessary if you remove the intermission. We wanted to make sure all the information could still be solid. And, the reason we are doing this is the rhythm of Vegas. Our audience wants to do many activities in one evening and as you mentioned the 6:30 start time was unusually early. So, we wanted to start at 7."
Asked how long the show now runs McCollum turns a bit coy:
"Oh, I don't know depending on the laughter anywhere from 89-96 minutes."
This, of course, would put Avenue Q right around the 90 minutes of soon to be competitors 'Hairspray' and 'Phantom of the Opera' though McCollum denies that the 90 minute mark was the goal.
"We are in there (around 90 minutes) but we are not using external issues. We wanted to make sure the show still tells the story. We are very excited about honing it to this market. In reading what you wrote you hit on everything we were anticipating so good for you."
And, good luck to you with the more streamlined experience which I really do think will now have a much better chance of fitting "Avenue Q's" quirky brilliance into the equally quirky Vegas market.
| Bookmark it:
|
Jet Opens and Opens and Opens
There is opening and then there is OPENING. Back in 2005 I covered the opening of Jet, the new nightclub at the Mirage. But that was just a soft opening. The Grand Opening happened on New Year's Eve with Kid Rock spinning as DJ. But now the buzz is on for tomorrow night at Jet with what is called the Celebrity Grand Opening Weekend celebration. Among those expected Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and the Hilton Sisters. I will be there, of course, and let you know all that happens. (photo by Chris Greenberg/Getty Images)
| Bookmark it:
|
Hanging out with Dolphins
The Mirage has a new trainer for a day program at the Dolphin Habitat. For $500 per person tourists can spend much of the day with Mirage trainers as they tend to the dolphins. The experience includes a continental breakfast, a cd containing photos of your day of the dolphins, a free T-shirt and a certificate of completion. I have no cynical joke to put here beyond the obvious observation that $500 seems a bit pricey. After all, why should visiting with a Dolphin cost more than seeing Elton John and a Cirque show combined? But then consider that it can't be cheap to keep a dolphin habitat going in the middle of a desert.
(photo by Francine Orr/LAT)
| Bookmark it:
|
The Mirage Finally Gets More Than a Volcano
Last night I went to a sneak preview of Jet the new nightclub at the Mirage. Also, to open this month at the Mirage is a new restaurant Stack. Both are being run by The Light Group who did this before by creating first Light nightclub(which has been a rare long term success in a fickle business) at the Bellagio and, more recently, Fix, a very hot restaurant, also at Bellagio. So, not surprising is that Jet has similar design elements to Light including a rectangular main room, plenty of tables for VIP bottle service and an all around sense of high-end LA nightlife aesthetics: no camp, no cheese, no tackiness. The large club also has smaller more intimate rooms that feature rock and house music as alternatives to the hip-hop and dance music of the main room.
Both Light and Stack are the fruit of a two year struggle to help bring the Mirage back after the Siegfried & Roy show closed in October, 2003 when Roy was infamously attacked by one of his tigers on stage. Obviously, that tragedy captured the world's attention and almost immediately resulted in the 267 employees of the show being out of work. But Siegfried & Roy were not just any performers; it is safe to say that no casino in Vegas has ever been so entirely branded by their headliners as the Mirage was by S&R. After over 5,000 sold out performances spanning more than a decade attracting millions of customers to the casino: from the rooms to the restaurants to the souvenir shops the Mirage was also devastated. But the Mirage is finally coming back in a big way both with Jet and Stack as well as a planned Cirque show built around the Beatles opening next year.
(photo by Sarah Gerke)
| Bookmark it:
|
Hair By Lenny Kravitz Coming to the Strip
The local restaurant industry e-mail newsletter, Eye on Vegas, published by Michael Politz of Las Vegas Food and Beverage Magazine is reporting a rumor that MGM is negotiating a deal to have rock star Lenny Kravitz open a hair salon in the Mirage casino. They write:One reason for Kravitz' venture, his early childhood dream of being a hairdresser.
This is so odd that despite common sense arguing strongly against it, I really want it to be true.
(photo by MIKE BLAKE/Reuters)
| Bookmark it:
|
