Loving Live Theater: Part II – Vegas Style

While living in Las Vegas, I was able to enjoy many live shows and performances with my daughter, Karen. I sure do miss those days! I enjoyed writing about these shows in my now closed Las Vegas Show Stoppers group page on Facebook. Between Karen’s ‘plus 1’ invitations and my Houseseats membership, we were very busy theater goers! I lived in Las Vegas from Fall 2005 to Summer 2013. That’s a lot of shows!!! Variety shows, concerts, musicals, comedy, outdoor theater – you name it, I probably saw it!

Gotta love technology! I had this post almost done and then poof! It disappeared! So, time to recreate it, maybe a bit differently this time. The theatrical shows and musicals I’ve seen are pretty much represented below in the Playbill listing. I’ve also pulled out the many musical performances that I enjoyed while living in Las Vegas (wonder who I missed on this list?).

Musical Performances (in no particular order):
Human Nature – Sands Showroom
Veronic Voices – Bally’s Las Vegas
Under the Streetlamp – Smith Center
Barry Manilow – Hilton Las Vegas
Boyz II Men – Mirage
Taylor Hicks – Paris Las Vegas
Michael Cavanaugh – Smith Center
Danny Wright – Smith Center
Tim McGraw & Faith Hill – Venetian
Garth Brooks – Wynn
Michael Grimm – Red Rock
Shania – The Colosseum
Mannheim Steamroller – Palazzo
Broadway Celebrations – NYNY
Foreigner, Journey and Night Rider – MGM
Society of Seven – Eastside Cannery
Phil Vassar – Eastside Cannery
ABBA – Eastside Cannery
Recycled Percussion – Tropicana
Gladys Knight – Tropicana
Wayne Newton – Tropicana
The Platters, Cornell Gunters Coaster and The Marvelettes – Rio
Rod Stewart – Caesars Palace
Greg London’s Icons – Riviera
Roy Rivers – Tribute To John Denver – Suncoast 
Cheap Trick & Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Paris 
Matt Goss – Caesars Palace
Bette Midler – Colosseum
Cher – Colosseum
Wes Winters
Wynonna’s Classic Christmas – LV Hilton
Jay White as Neil Diamond – Riviera
Donny & Marie – Flamingo
Elton John -Colosseum
Wayne Brady – Venetian
Gordi Brown – Venetian
Big Elvis – Barbary Coast
Celine Dion – Colosseum

Misc. tidbits posted on my original FB Show Stoppers page:
1. Autographed ticket from Earl Turner’s November 22, 2001 show at the Rio. I was his ‘towel girl’. 
2. Original Playbill for Menopause the Musical, playing at Playhouse 91 in NYC. 
3. Stage Magazine’s Starlight Express playbill AND my safety goggles; played at the Las Vegas Hilton mid 90’s. 
4. Ticket stub from EFX Alive, starring Rick Springfield, MGM, November 24, 2001 AND the show program including my 3D glasses!
5. Show flyer to Manilow’s Music and Passion, Las Vegas Hilton
and finally
6. Sigfried & Roy’s program, Mirage – never saw the show but found this discarded.

Phantom Phacts!
– There are 267 candles in the Phantom’s lair, more than in any other production worldwide.
– The Grand Staircase for “Masquerade” weighs 14,000 pounds!
– The dazzling 2000 pound chandelier is 15 feet tall and over 16 feet in diameter.
– The chandelier is strung with 29,444 individual crystal beads and 116 lighting globes in four sections. 
– The sculptural angels and various decorative ladies around the stage and opera boxes are wearing a total of 88 pieces of handmade custom jewelry all designed specifically for this production. 
– More than 3000 yards of fabric make up the set drapes, which are adorned with 1000 yards of fringe and hand-decorated with 15,000 small wooden balls. 
– There are more than 250 automated effects during the performance. WOW! I love knowing stuff like this! And now, hopefully so do you! (Info provided by Phantom Phacts sheet)

I’ve also been in the audience for a few Cirque du Soliel performances in Las Vegas, Orlando and Washington, D.C. area. Definitely a 3-ring circus trying to catch all the acts and watch all the actors do their amazing acrobatics.

I still have many of my original Playbills from the performances I’ve attended including: Hairspray, The Full Monty, Mama Mia, Phantom (again), West Side Story, Les Miserables, Lion King (Toronto), Blast, The Nutcracker, Kraft Country Tour Starring Lorrie Morgan, Pam Tillis and Carlese Carter, July 96; Crazy For You, Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto, October 95; Showboat North York Performing Arts Centre, Toronto June 1994; Miss Saigon, Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto, November 1993; Phantom of the Opera, Pantages Theatre, Toronto, March 1993 and Plaid Tidings, Gold Coast, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Rochester; Crowns; Wynonna, A Classic Christmas; Tom Stevens; Wayne Newton, Once Before I Go; Fame; America’s Got Talent Live; Phantom of the Opera, Las Vegas; Phantom of the Opera, Toronto; Phantom of the Opera, Rochester; Elton John, Red Piano; Cher, Las Vegas; Bette Midler, Las Vegas; Ka’; Mystere; Love; Gordie Brown; Nathan Burton; Wes Winters; Garth Brooks: Frank Marino’s Divas; Hats, The Musical, Las Vegas; Hats the Musical, New Orleans; The Nutcracker (again), Frank Caliendo; The Music Man; Blue Man Group; Donny & Marie; The King and I; Ultimate Manilow, The Hits; Thoroughly Modern Millie, Las Vegas; Hairspray; 42nd Street, Ford Centre; 42nd Street, Tuacahn; Menopause the Musical, Las Vegas; Shag with a Twist; Grease; Les Miserables;The Sound of Music; A Chorus Line; Jesus Christ Superstar; Movin Out; Voices; Cats; Terry Fator; The Producers; Radio City Christmas Spectacular, The Rockettes; 42nd Street, Rochester; The King and I, Rochester; Jekyll & Hyde; The Lion King, NYC; Chicago; Jersey Boys. 

As soon as our COVID-19 restrictions are over, I hope you will go see a live performance and love it as much as I do! It’s been a bit of a dry spell for me, so I’m more than ready!

See also Loving Live Theater – Part I

“Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words…”
Keith Richards