Archives
June 2006
6/30/06
Beatlemania Is Back: The Beatles 'Love' by Cirque du Soleil Opens With Galaxy of Stars -- NEW PHOTOS
6/29/06
6/28/06
6/27/06
6/26/06
6/23/06
6/22/06
6/21/06
6/20/06
The $100 Million All-New 'Phantom' Is 'Phantastic.' -- PHOTOS
6/19/06
6/16/06
6/15/06
6/14/06
6/13/06
6/12/06
6/12/06
6/9/06
6/9/06
6/8/06
6/7/06
6/6/06
6/5/06
6/5/06
6/2/06
6/1/06
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
It’s SPECTACULAR in every sense of the word. The 20-year-old ‘Phantom of the Opera’ mega-musical is alive and well in a brand new total re-incarnation that is truly incredible and magnificent: an absolute first rate theatrical masterpiece. I couldn’t rate it any higher even if I tried. The emotional experience is extraordinary with enthusiastic applause starting less than five minutes into the show. Ladies were crying at the show’s standing ovation finale and the guys were saying they couldn’t even believe they were still in Vegas. It has that weird and wonderful effect on audiences. The singers have amazing voices. It’s a powerful tour de force as they say ‘en francais.’
First and foremost, the $40 million theatre at The Venetian is breathtaking with its flickering candles and stunning draperies that magically reveal the old French opera house complete with mannequins dressed in long-ago period costumes watching from the boxes. The scenery is spectacular and the most advanced anywhere in the world. Your mouth will remain open at the sight of the exploding four-part chandelier which weighs just over a ton and falls at 32 feet per second over an audience that to me, look terrorized despite the fact it’s a very safe, special effect. Later the Phantom himself hangs down from the chandelier dropping from the roof into the theater and along with pyrotechnics and fireworks, that’s just two of the jaw-dropping feats. Those hanging bodies are no longer stuffed dummies, but real-life Hollywood stuntmen going over the edge on ropes! The Phantom’s candlelit lair in the below-ground waterways beneath the opera house is dark, yet staggeringly beautiful – all lit by the most elaborate display of floating and chandeliered candles that I’ve ever seen anywhere. And the boat that sails in from the back of the monstrous stage, will make you want to keep it sailing on the resort hotel’s Grand Canal waterways!
The entrance of Hannibal the elephant and the masked Masquerade ball are visual stunners -- with colorful costumes and an extraordinary sound system. Without doubt, the scenery is also spectacular and contains the most extraordinary elements of theatrical design ever created in Vegas and the world! The 95-minute slightly trimmed mega-production retains every song from the original ‘Phantom’ but because the theatre was specifically built for the show, features never before seen special effects. It’s the most technologically advanced ‘Phantom’ playing anywhere in the world, and miles ahead of its London and Broadway parents. Having originally debuted in 1986 in the British capital, and in 1987 on the Great White Way -- where both incidentally are still playing to capacity crowds -- it is the world’s best known musical and now at home in the world’s best theater. (Running tally: 65,000 performances in 110 worldwide cities with a box office take of more than $3 billion!)
Already here ticket sales are out 90 days and it’s better than all expectations. In fact, the show will open with a large advance ticket sale due to the fact that they began selling tickets to convention groups a year ago.
The ten weekly performances here require two actors to play the Phantom, Brent Barrett and Anthony Crivello, and two actresses to play his love, Christine, Sierra Boggess and Elizabeth Loyacano. It’s all a precaution so that their amazing voices aren’t crippled by our desert dryness and necessary air-conditioning known as the dreaded Vegas Throat!
Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber ‘s musical is being directed by the legendary 78-year-old Hal Prince, winner of a recent Lifetime Achievement Award at the TONY’s for his staggering Broadway career. Ironically this is not his first Vegas theatrical challenge, having previously brought ‘Pajama Game’ and ‘Damn Yankees’ here in the ‘50s and ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ to Caesars n 1967. Before I saw one of the preview performances prior to its gala premiere opening this coming Saturday (June 24), I talked with Hal.
RL: So Hal, first of all, what are your first impressions of working in Vegas?
HP: This is Vegas show number five for me. ‘Phantom’ though is a different experience because we really have changed the ‘Phantom’ show significantly. Showbiz is nerve racking. Then you look back after decades and you forget that you were nerve-racked each time. I love this ‘Phantom.’ It is very glamorous; I love the changes we have made. We’ve cut some things; I don’t miss what we’ve cut. It is all more compact and we have added surprises. This ‘Phantom’ is the ‘Phantom’ you have never seen it before with a lot of surprises that is still integral to the story. I haven’t thrown away what has made the show run 20 years and played for 100 million people. What I did want were people to come back and see the changes that make it even better.
RL: Lord Andrew told me it’s a box of tricks. How would you describe it?
HP: I think from the get go, we felt that. We felt in the original go around that there should be a surprise in every single scene, and there was. Then when we came here, and I cut the script, I thought there has to be yet another surprise in every single scene, one that wasn’t there before, and there is. David Rockwell has designed our theater and it is very cozy considering there are 1800 seats. The acoustics are wonderful and let me say that these are the most comfortable seats anywhere in the world. This used to be the Guggenheim Motorcycle museum and when I first came here 18 months ago, it was gutted, just a metal shell and look what it has become. It is Murphy’s Law that you have to work everything right down till the last minute. I have always resented that this show wouldn’t be running if it were a show about the chandelier, but it is a crowning moment. Take a look at the ceiling. The roof is just beautiful. There are four pieces. One starts on stage level, one hangs there, one hangs there, and there. They circle each other and the go up to make one chandelier. You could never do this on Broadway or on tour because of its humongous cost -- nobody would want to take that risk. But here I think they got their money’s worth and I’m confident it will play here a long time. We did 20 years in London and New York so the same can be true here!”
Vegas is all abuzz with 'Phantom.' Theatrical blogs worldwide are chattering about the spectacular and now everybody’s eager with anticipation for Saturday’s premiere. So that you’re right in the front row on every phantasic ‘Phantom’ update we’ll be back here Friday with our final and third interview with producer Scott Zeiger, who’s riding the nearly $100 million bet on its success exactly 24-hours before “curtain up.” When Luxe Life reports on the opening I’ll, find out just how much one of David Copperfield’s consulting magicians added to the special effects and make it possible for the Phantom’s split-second marathon sized runs through the theater and up to the rooftop. This has to go on your “must do” Vegas lists and if necessary, just make a special trip in to see it – before everybody else does!
COMING TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU
Chef Live is an interactive internet-first as a series of Vegas toque-name chefs pair up with a series of Vegas celebrities to demonstrate the art of cooking. I’m up tonight on Celebrity Chefs of Las Vegas with good friend Luciano Pellegrino from Valentino’s at The Venetian. (Click here for our AOL Videos of Luciano in his kitchen at Valentino’s) Between wondrous wines and staying sober, we’ll prod pasta, violate veal and taste truffles in front of a live audience of foodies who like you can then watch it anytime on the worldwide web- but only after you’ve checked AOL’s tasty offerings!!
JERRY WATCH
Happy to report that beloved comedy king Jerry Lewis, recovering from his June 11 heart attack, has been released from hospital and is already making phone calls for his annual Labor Day telethon at the Southcoast here. He is recuperating on his boat in the San Diego harbor after heart surgery in which a stent was inserted into his artery. The 80-year-old entertainer is also taking medication for pneumonia, which often strikes people with pulmonary fibrosis, a lung ailment Lewis has been fighting since 2000. His postponed shows planned for July 13-16 at The Orleans have been delayed at least thru the end of this year and hopefully will be rescheduled early 2007. Click here for Luxe Life's full interview with Jerry just four days before his latest heart attack.
STRIP SCRIBBLES
Even before ‘Phantom’ officially opens on Saturday night, the stars are making it their favorite show in town. Donny Osmond was the first to check it out and next night, award-winning actors Dennis Hopper and Laurence Fishburne also gave it rave reviews! Mirage headliner Danny Gans and his family were there when I attended. I made Danny , who was ecstatic about the show, promise not to “impersonate” the masked Phantom when he got back to his theater! Because as phantasic as Danny is, I don’t think even he could do this Phantom!! The 6th anniversary of Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay begins tonight thru Sept. 3 with $6 tickets after 6PM each evening. Despite the reduced prices, the sharks are still fed their normal meal quantities!
TONIGHTS TIP
'Sopranos' star Michael Imperioli wraps the sixth season of the hit HBO show with a special 10PM party featuring the gorgeous girls of Luxor’s Fantasy show at the Pure nightclub in Caesars Palace. Mesmerizing magician David Copperfield kicks off a run through July 5 at the MGM Grand with incredible illusions, thrilling tricks and the world’s most creative conjuring. Dweezil Zappa plays Frank Zappa at the House of Blues in the first official tour of “dad’s music” since that 1993 final tour.
TOMORROWS TEASE
A Luxe Life exclusive as we go inside Reba McEntire’s new recording session as Kenny Chesney joins her in a ‘Country Is Cool’ salute to Barbara Mandrell -- plus the new Elvis Presley statue is unveiled at its surprise return to the Hilton.
CONTACT US
You can unveil your thoughts and cool views in an email to robinsvegas@aol.com To ensure you don’t miss one Xciting Xclusive new edition, click here or at the 'Alert Me' up top if you’d like to know the instant the brand new Luxe Life becomes the 'Talk of the Town.'
Go to AOL Vegas for much more on hotels, casinos, restaurants, nightlife, and everything Las Vegas! Check our travel section for great deals on hotels, airfare and much more!; And when visiting Vegas, be sure to see Las Vegas Magazine in your hotel suite featuring a print edition of AOL Vegas Luxe Life, and an incredible directory of attractions, shows and restaurants.
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The $100 Million All-New 'Phantom' Is 'Phantastic.' -- PHOTOS
It’s SPECTACULAR in every sense of the word. The 20-year-old ‘Phantom of the Opera’ mega-musical is alive and well in a brand new total re-incarnation that is truly incredible and magnificent: an absolute first rate theatrical masterpiece. I couldn’t rate it any higher even if I tried. The emotional experience is extraordinary with enthusiastic applause starting less than five minutes into the show. Ladies were crying at the show’s standing ovation finale and the guys were saying they couldn’t even believe they were still in Vegas. It has that weird and wonderful effect on audiences. The singers have amazing voices. It’s a powerful tour de force as they say ‘en francais.’ First and foremost, the $40 million theatre at The Venetian is breathtaking with its flickering candles and stunning draperies that magically reveal the old French opera house complete with mannequins dressed in long-ago period costumes watching from the boxes. The scenery is spectacular and the most advanced anywhere in the world. Your mouth will remain open at the sight of the exploding four-part chandelier which weighs just over a ton and falls at 32 feet per second over an audience that to me, look terrorized despite the fact it’s a very safe, special effect. Later the Phantom himself hangs down from the chandelier dropping from the roof into the theater and along with pyrotechnics and fireworks, that’s just two of the jaw-dropping feats. Those hanging bodies are no longer stuffed dummies, but real-life Hollywood stuntmen going over the edge on ropes! The Phantom’s candlelit lair in the below-ground waterways beneath the opera house is dark, yet staggeringly beautiful – all lit by the most elaborate display of floating and chandeliered candles that I’ve ever seen anywhere. And the boat that sails in from the back of the monstrous stage, will make you want to keep it sailing on the resort hotel’s Grand Canal waterways!
The entrance of Hannibal the elephant and the masked Masquerade ball are visual stunners -- with colorful costumes and an extraordinary sound system. Without doubt, the scenery is also spectacular and contains the most extraordinary elements of theatrical design ever created in Vegas and the world! The 95-minute slightly trimmed mega-production retains every song from the original ‘Phantom’ but because the theatre was specifically built for the show, features never before seen special effects. It’s the most technologically advanced ‘Phantom’ playing anywhere in the world, and miles ahead of its London and Broadway parents. Having originally debuted in 1986 in the British capital, and in 1987 on the Great White Way -- where both incidentally are still playing to capacity crowds -- it is the world’s best known musical and now at home in the world’s best theater. (Running tally: 65,000 performances in 110 worldwide cities with a box office take of more than $3 billion!)
Already here ticket sales are out 90 days and it’s better than all expectations. In fact, the show will open with a large advance ticket sale due to the fact that they began selling tickets to convention groups a year ago.
The ten weekly performances here require two actors to play the Phantom, Brent Barrett and Anthony Crivello, and two actresses to play his love, Christine, Sierra Boggess and Elizabeth Loyacano. It’s all a precaution so that their amazing voices aren’t crippled by our desert dryness and necessary air-conditioning known as the dreaded Vegas Throat!
Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber ‘s musical is being directed by the legendary 78-year-old Hal Prince, winner of a recent Lifetime Achievement Award at the TONY’s for his staggering Broadway career. Ironically this is not his first Vegas theatrical challenge, having previously brought ‘Pajama Game’ and ‘Damn Yankees’ here in the ‘50s and ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ to Caesars n 1967. Before I saw one of the preview performances prior to its gala premiere opening this coming Saturday (June 24), I talked with Hal. RL: So Hal, first of all, what are your first impressions of working in Vegas?
HP: This is Vegas show number five for me. ‘Phantom’ though is a different experience because we really have changed the ‘Phantom’ show significantly. Showbiz is nerve racking. Then you look back after decades and you forget that you were nerve-racked each time. I love this ‘Phantom.’ It is very glamorous; I love the changes we have made. We’ve cut some things; I don’t miss what we’ve cut. It is all more compact and we have added surprises. This ‘Phantom’ is the ‘Phantom’ you have never seen it before with a lot of surprises that is still integral to the story. I haven’t thrown away what has made the show run 20 years and played for 100 million people. What I did want were people to come back and see the changes that make it even better.
RL: Lord Andrew told me it’s a box of tricks. How would you describe it?
HP: I think from the get go, we felt that. We felt in the original go around that there should be a surprise in every single scene, and there was. Then when we came here, and I cut the script, I thought there has to be yet another surprise in every single scene, one that wasn’t there before, and there is. David Rockwell has designed our theater and it is very cozy considering there are 1800 seats. The acoustics are wonderful and let me say that these are the most comfortable seats anywhere in the world. This used to be the Guggenheim Motorcycle museum and when I first came here 18 months ago, it was gutted, just a metal shell and look what it has become. It is Murphy’s Law that you have to work everything right down till the last minute. I have always resented that this show wouldn’t be running if it were a show about the chandelier, but it is a crowning moment. Take a look at the ceiling. The roof is just beautiful. There are four pieces. One starts on stage level, one hangs there, one hangs there, and there. They circle each other and the go up to make one chandelier. You could never do this on Broadway or on tour because of its humongous cost -- nobody would want to take that risk. But here I think they got their money’s worth and I’m confident it will play here a long time. We did 20 years in London and New York so the same can be true here!”
Vegas is all abuzz with 'Phantom.' Theatrical blogs worldwide are chattering about the spectacular and now everybody’s eager with anticipation for Saturday’s premiere. So that you’re right in the front row on every phantasic ‘Phantom’ update we’ll be back here Friday with our final and third interview with producer Scott Zeiger, who’s riding the nearly $100 million bet on its success exactly 24-hours before “curtain up.” When Luxe Life reports on the opening I’ll, find out just how much one of David Copperfield’s consulting magicians added to the special effects and make it possible for the Phantom’s split-second marathon sized runs through the theater and up to the rooftop. This has to go on your “must do” Vegas lists and if necessary, just make a special trip in to see it – before everybody else does!
COMING TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU
Chef Live is an interactive internet-first as a series of Vegas toque-name chefs pair up with a series of Vegas celebrities to demonstrate the art of cooking. I’m up tonight on Celebrity Chefs of Las Vegas with good friend Luciano Pellegrino from Valentino’s at The Venetian. (Click here for our AOL Videos of Luciano in his kitchen at Valentino’s) Between wondrous wines and staying sober, we’ll prod pasta, violate veal and taste truffles in front of a live audience of foodies who like you can then watch it anytime on the worldwide web- but only after you’ve checked AOL’s tasty offerings!!
JERRY WATCH
Happy to report that beloved comedy king Jerry Lewis, recovering from his June 11 heart attack, has been released from hospital and is already making phone calls for his annual Labor Day telethon at the Southcoast here. He is recuperating on his boat in the San Diego harbor after heart surgery in which a stent was inserted into his artery. The 80-year-old entertainer is also taking medication for pneumonia, which often strikes people with pulmonary fibrosis, a lung ailment Lewis has been fighting since 2000. His postponed shows planned for July 13-16 at The Orleans have been delayed at least thru the end of this year and hopefully will be rescheduled early 2007. Click here for Luxe Life's full interview with Jerry just four days before his latest heart attack. STRIP SCRIBBLES
Even before ‘Phantom’ officially opens on Saturday night, the stars are making it their favorite show in town. Donny Osmond was the first to check it out and next night, award-winning actors Dennis Hopper and Laurence Fishburne also gave it rave reviews! Mirage headliner Danny Gans and his family were there when I attended. I made Danny , who was ecstatic about the show, promise not to “impersonate” the masked Phantom when he got back to his theater! Because as phantasic as Danny is, I don’t think even he could do this Phantom!! The 6th anniversary of Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay begins tonight thru Sept. 3 with $6 tickets after 6PM each evening. Despite the reduced prices, the sharks are still fed their normal meal quantities!
TONIGHTS TIP
'Sopranos' star Michael Imperioli wraps the sixth season of the hit HBO show with a special 10PM party featuring the gorgeous girls of Luxor’s Fantasy show at the Pure nightclub in Caesars Palace. Mesmerizing magician David Copperfield kicks off a run through July 5 at the MGM Grand with incredible illusions, thrilling tricks and the world’s most creative conjuring. Dweezil Zappa plays Frank Zappa at the House of Blues in the first official tour of “dad’s music” since that 1993 final tour.
TOMORROWS TEASE
A Luxe Life exclusive as we go inside Reba McEntire’s new recording session as Kenny Chesney joins her in a ‘Country Is Cool’ salute to Barbara Mandrell -- plus the new Elvis Presley statue is unveiled at its surprise return to the Hilton.
CONTACT US
You can unveil your thoughts and cool views in an email to robinsvegas@aol.com To ensure you don’t miss one Xciting Xclusive new edition, click here or at the 'Alert Me' up top if you’d like to know the instant the brand new Luxe Life becomes the 'Talk of the Town.'Go to AOL Vegas for much more on hotels, casinos, restaurants, nightlife, and everything Las Vegas! Check our travel section for great deals on hotels, airfare and much more!; And when visiting Vegas, be sure to see Las Vegas Magazine in your hotel suite featuring a print edition of AOL Vegas Luxe Life, and an incredible directory of attractions, shows and restaurants.
robinsvegas at 10:47:00 AM PDT Blog about this entry |
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