ML - Vegas Magazine

2013 - Issue 3 - May/June

Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.

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who Donny and Marie are. Then they see Clint Holmes on a billboard and say, "Who is that?" Or "I'm going to see him because I've got a twofor-one." You build from that. But it's harder today to build that following, to start a residency here without being a big name in the world first. You ask yourself, Where do entertainers learn? What happens to the 25-year-olds who want to be Vegas headliners? What if they are not like Taylor Hicks and get that big break on American Idol? It's hard. Years ago I was working Lake Tahoe, 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and they would open the curtain and there would be two people sitting in the back corner, a bartender and a waitress. And you had to do 50 minutes. In looking at Cirque's influence, I want to see a show where I can relate to somebody or something. When I go see Frankie, Donny and Marie, I feel like I've spent an evening with people. That's the legacy of Sinatra, Sammy, those guys, the tradition they left behind. If you like that tradition, I think Cirque is a negative for the city. For quality entertainment, for the most part it's a positive. Spectaclewise, I admire and respect what Cirque does. Personally, I really long for the evenings of one-on-one individual entertainment, where the entertainer lets you into his heart and gut a little bit. The sense of community among entertainers has changed because there aren't that many—Celine and Elton John are probably not going to hang out until 1 AM at Ruth's Chris with the other entertainers. Before, the peers all felt like we were doing the best we could. We have good nights and bad nights, and we talk about them. Now the peers are too big to hang. One of my favorite stories is when Bob Anderson was playing the Desert Inn and I was at Harrah's. We were doing our usual Fridaynight after-the-show hang. We happened to show up at Ruth's Chris at the same time and were walking up the stairs together. I had a really slow Friday night and said to Bob, "How was your night?" and he said, "It was great, man. It was fantastic. How was yours?" I said, "It was kinda slow." And he said, "Yeah, me too." That was the hang, you know? We were all fighting—together, like gladiators, trying to survive in Las Vegas. PRECEDING PAGE: PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIK KABIK; THIS PAGE: PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF BOTARI/ GETTY IMAGES (MCGRAW AND HILL); ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES FOR AEG LIVE/CONCERTS WEST (DION); KEVIN MAZUR/WIREIMAGE (SEINFELD); DON MACCARTHY/CORBIS (COPPERFIELD) What happens to the 25-yearolds who want to be headliners? setting the stage From country to The Colosseum, highlights of the Vegas entertainment scene over the past decade. •CELINE DION changed Strip Celine Dion was showered with 100,000 rose petals during her final bow in A New Day.... ABOVE LEFT: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill brought country to the Venetian stage. entertainment forever on March 25, 2003, when her groundbreaking A New Day… premiered at The Colosseum, which was built just for her. The diva took a four-year break from Vegas before debuting Celine on March 15, 2011, and has signed another extension, through 2019. •JERRY SEINFELD, who has been a resident headliner at The Colosseum almost since it opened, and Last Comic Standing, which held its premiere season finals at Paris Las Vegas in 2003, further secured Vegas's stand-up comedy cred. •ZUMANITY, THE SENSUAL SIDE OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL debuted at New York-New York 10 years ago as the third Cirque residency on the Strip, after Mystère and "O." The Strip now boasts a whopping eight Cirque shows. •"BROADWAY WEST" has brought the Great White Way to the Strip, to various degrees of success. Hairspray, Spamalot, Avenue Q, and The Phantom of the Opera have all come and gone. The current hits? Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages, and Million Dollar Quartet. •LEGENDARY VOCAL IMPRESSIONIST Danny Gans, the first headliner to command $100 a ticket, was an inspiration to many, including current headliner Terry Fator. Sadly, in 2009, the Strip was stunned when Gans passed away before his time, at age 52. •EIGHTEEN YEARS in the making, the Smith Center for the Performing Arts opened with a splashy black-tie gala on March 10, 2012, and has brought live music, dance, plays, and Broadway musicals—including Wicked and the upcoming The Book of Mormon—right into locals' backyards. •GARTH, SHANIA, THE ACMs: Country music in Vegas has boomed. Venetian scored the coveted Tim McGraw and Faith Hill residency, which debuted in December of last year. •DAVID COPPERFIELD passed a recordbreaking $3 billion in worldwide ticket Jerry Seinfeld has been sales in his first 10 years as MGM Grand's headlining The resident illusionist—and isn't done yet. Colosseum since 2003. David Copperfield has sold more than 40 million tickets to his MGM shows. VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 128-137_V_Feat_Anniversary_MAY/JUNE_13.indd 133 133 4/23/13 2:59 PM

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