Las Vegas: Entertainment
There was a time when performing in Las Vegas represented the absolute pinnacle of any show-business career. In the early 1960s, when Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack were shooting the original Ocean's 11 during the day then singing the night away at the Sands , the city could claim to be the capital of the international entertainment industry. It was even hip.The money is still there in Las Vegas, as was shown by the MGM Grand paying Barbra Streisand a reported $20 million to perform on Millennium Eve, but the world has moved on. As the great names of the past fade from view, few of the individual performers popular with traditional Vegas visitors are now considered capable of carrying an extended-run show. Today's stars, on the other hand - Celine Dion excepted - don't want to spend their lives playing Vegas. Top-selling musicians make quite enough money from recordings and occasional tours not to need to spend months at a time in the desert.
Nonetheless, live entertainment remains a crucial component of the Las Vegas package, and the days of the big-budget "spectacular" are far from over. The tendency nowadays is to rely on lavish stunts and special effects rather than global megastars, with the illusionist-magicians Siegfried and Roy now into their second decade at the Mirage . A fair number of old-style Vegas revues are still soldiering on, but there are more stimulating contemporary productions than you might imagine. In particular, the arty Canadian-based circus/theater troupe, Cirque du Soleil , has revolutionized attitudes toward what Las Vegas audiences might be able to handle. Its two stunning shows, Mystère at Treasure Island and the magnificent O at Bellagio , remain the biggest tickets of all, though the Luxor 's Blue Man Group has stolen a little of their avante-garde thunder. To make sure of seeing one of these big-name shows, especially on a weekend, it's essential to make reservations as far in advance as possible; if you're happy just to see whatever's available, however, most of the lesser shows are still selling tickets right up until showtime.
It also looks as though Las Vegas might finally be getting more into tune with the musical tastes of the baby-boom generation. You can still see Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, and Wayne Newton if you're in town at the right time, and lots of unfashionable names from the Seventies and Eighties linger on, but the Hard Rock, Mandalay Bay , and Aladdin are all now showcasing the biggest names in contemporary rock, reggae, blues, and soul.
We've reviewed a representative cross-section of Las Vegas shows. All take place on the Strip ; several of the downtown and off-Strip casinos have showrooms, but with the Rio repeatedly misfiring, none currently features anything of interest. Note that the entertainment scene was especially hard hit by the post-September 11 economic downturn. Several shows closed, while others reduced their frequency and/or ticket prices. All the listings here are therefore even more subject to change than usual.
As for what the future may hold, the Cirque du Soleil will certainly remain at the forefront. They're said to be developing a show for Steve Wynn's Le Reve , set in a Himalayan village where all the children aged under eleven can fly, and another for New York-New York , with a fire theme to match O's water motif. The biggest single project of all, however, is the Colosseum at Caesars Palace , intended to draw four thousand people per night to watch Celine Dion.
More about Entertainment:
Shows and spectaculars
Always on my mind: Impersonator Mania
Live music
Comedy clubs
Movie theaters
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