Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Backstage with sure-hit 'Hairspray' plus Vegas at Sundance
The Broadway bonanza hitting the boards in Vegas seems unabated. But the most eagerly awaited musical migrant yet is 'Hairspray,' which starts preview performances one week from today at the Luxor's Grand Theatre. Based on director John Waters' 1988 movie, it tells the story of teenage Tracy Turnblad and her 'American Idol'-esque dream to appear on a Baltimore TV dance show. In its Broadway bow, 'Hairspray' won eight Tony awards, including Best Performance by a Leading Actor for Harvey Fierstein, who is returning to revise his drag-playing role as mom Edna Turnblad. Joining Harvey here are relative newcomer Katrina Rose Dideriksen as Tracy (on which more below), Broadway hoofer Dick Latessa (another Tony-winning vet) as husband Wilbur, and gorgeous Susan Anton (also a Broadway -- and Vegas -- vet) who's hardly recognizable as the wicked hair-raising stepmother Velma. (below from left, Latessay, Dideriksen, Fierstein, Anton)
"Broadway is a thrill," Susan told me, as I visited the production on the first day of rehearsals at the Luxor. "But there is no other Vegas in all the universe. The energy is fantastic."
Perhaps even more significantly, original Broadway team Jack O'Brien, director, and Jerry Mitchell, choreographer have returned to trim the show 30 minutes to the brisk Vegas-required 90 minute no-intermission pace.
"We are in competition with a lot of really extraordinary show business jazz out here," says O'Brien."We thought it was best if we let it take off and never come down to earth till the end. We didn't want to lose the innocence; we didn't want to lose the freshness of the story. But we wanted to kick some Vegas butt at the end of it."
"There was a lot of stuff that I thought should go," Harvey tells me. "[And] on paper,I like it better. It is more like a roller coaster ride."
"You really are focused on this beautiful girl's soul," says Anton, "and how she doesn't let anything get between her and the pursuit of that dream. All the little side storieshave been taken off so it just stays on that path directly."
Make no mistake, though, the new production doesn't just take away from the original, it's also adding in some new spectacular elements. "The things that you can do with the show here in this theater, you can't do in a 25-year-old theater in New York City," says Anton.
"It is not about spectacle," says O'Brien, "although we have plenty of spectacle. We have a lot of things going off and exploding ... the back wall opens up and a bandstand rolls down, and canisters go off, they are flinging themselves around on three different levels down there and the entire theater lights up." I'm also told that the normally "hidden" orchestra will join the cast on stage for the finale! "That's unheard of in New York," Jack crows. "That could only be done in Vegas."
But Fierstein (rehearsing with Latessa above) admitted to me that, when originally asked to reprise his role here, his reaction was simple: "NO... Because if you try to do the show exactly as it is in New York, I am not sure it would work. You wouldn't do 'Hairspray' in Paris in English. You have to go someplace with a respect for the place. And once I realized that Jack and Jerry were going to do that, and that [manager] Michael Gill was serious about it, I said yes." That meant that for the cross-dressing role, once again Fierstein had to get rid of his beard, as of last week. And, "I will be shaving my arms, and my legs and my chest this week."
And I'm predicting super stardom for young Katrina Rose Dideriksen (right) who plays daughter Tracy Turnblad. Her voice and her dance moves have to be seen and heard to be believed. She is one tremendous talent.
"Katrina has an amazing voice," says O'Brien. "She just lights up."
"She's got the goods," Harvey agrees. "She isadorable, she's got a great personality, she has a fabulous singing voice. She sings like a dream."
Get your tickets now, though, folks, because both Fierstein and Latessa are only contracted for the first 12 weeks. And if audiences want them to stay, Harvey suggests they start a letter-writing campaign now!
Meantime, next door at the Mandalay Bay, several Broadway stars have replaced their Vegas counterparts in Mamma Mia as of this week. Original cast member Carol Linnea Johnson ('All My Children,' 'Law and Order') now plays Donna Sheridan here; Robin Baxter joins as Rosie and former Rock Chick Supremo Vicki Van Tassel. The three past lovers are also new: Rick Negron, Robert DuSold and Jefferson Slinkard. The hit Abba show, which remains the longest running and most successful full scale Broadway musical ever to play Vegas, will start its 4th year on Thurs Feb 23 with a special gala performance. Eleven productions of the ABBA musical in six languages currently play around the world and have surpassed a gross of $1 billion world seen by over 24 million people...
This year's Sundance Film Festival was far less to do with breakthrough films and shorts than it was to do with parties and celeb studded premieres. And most of those parties had major Vegas overtones -- probably because our rivalling nightclubs were all jockeying for star attention. Curiously it was the W Las Vegas Residences lounge that proved the most popular. A sneak peek at the apartments, which won't go on sale to the public until spring, turned into a land-office bonanza. Look at this list of folks -- just to name a few -- who reserved condos: Dave Navarro and wife Carmen Elektra, Anne Heche, Brian McKnight, Playmate Summer Altice ('Wedding Crashers,' below), Donovan Leitch, Matt Sorum, Good Charlotte's Benji and Joel Madden, Taboo from Black Eyed Peas, Blink 
182's Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus, poker pro Annie Duke ... and our beloved Party Heiress Paris Hilton snagged a $2 million exclusive penthouse residence... Then celebs competed at cards to win a fully-furnished condo. Star and poker princess Shannon Elizabeth went against Gina Gershon, Laura Prepon, Danny and Chris Masterson, (the latter 3 below) but in the end, world poker champion Phil Helmuth (bottom pic) won -- but traded the $700,000 condo into a downpayment towards the other $2 million penthouse!
W Vegas owners Trevor Pearlman, Reagan Silber and Adam Frank (above with Paris)have already hired Hollywood Roosevelt nightclub queen Amanda Scheer-Demme to create its nightclub and lounge. Keep a watch on the trio, because they have big plans to become major movers and shakers in Vegas. Their opening salvo 
giving poker chips to celebs for deposits on the condos is just one of many marketing stunts they have planned. They even flew in the Japanese chefs from Sushi Roku at the Caesars Forum Shops to Park City for Silber's birthday party there...
As promised, tomorrow (Wed. Feb. 1) our photo salute to TAO at The Venetian. Since opening just four months ago as celebrity central its been voted #1 club in Vegas -- no small feat. You can email us with your raves or rages to robinsvegas@aol.com.And remember to click here or on 'Alert Me' up top, so we can alert you each time our new journal is posted!
robinsvegas at 6:06:00 PM PST
Blog about this entry
| 
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
Archives
