Theater on The Strip

The Blue Man Group peers down from a McCarron Airport billboard. At the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Mamma Mia! is looped on the in-house video channel. In Caesars Palace, Celine Dion’s face adorns the gambling chips. Blackjack and slots may account for the bottom line, but in Las Vegas there’s no business like show business.

Yes, there’s more to do in Vegas than stay up all night keeping craps croupiers company.

So I do the unthinkable. Three nights in Vegas. Three shows. My guys’ weekend buddies won’t believe this. But you can actually have a good time in Sin City watching something other than the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

 

Abba-Dabba-Do!

There are 3,644 rooms inside the Mandalay Bay. I snag a 700-square-foot executive suite (there are two separate entrances to the suite’s colossal bathroom). I click on the TV, and out comes “The Song.” Mamma Mia! is a musical story wrapped around preexisting songs by 1970s pop phenom ABBA. The Swedish band’s biggest U.S. hit was “Dancing Queen”—hereafter referred to as The Song.

There is no catchier musical hook than that contained in The Song. It’s rolling around in my brain as I fill up on a preshow dinner at Mandalay Bay’s top-echelon restaurant, 3950 (named from the hotel’s address). Lobster bisque ... you can dance, you can try ... bone-in rib-eye steak ... having the time of your life...

Mamma Mia! isn’t as meaty as 3950, but both are appetizing. The show centers on a once-promiscuous mom whose daughter is about to get married. Nobody’s sure who the dad is—but the bride-to-be has invited three likely suspects.

San Diegan Karole Foreman (Serra High and San Diego Repertory Theatre alumnus) plays one of the lead characters—she helps belt out The Song. “This is a very Broadway-type production for Las Vegas,” says Foreman.

 

Color Me Blue

Inside the Luxor Hotel’s theater, my attention is immediately captured at The Blue Man Group show. Onstage, an electronic ticker displays introductory messages. It notes that an Olympic curling champion is in the audience. So’s a prominent businessman. Then my name appears. Everyone say “Hello” to Ron Donoho, it reads. The curious audience obliges. Then: Who is Ron? And: Ron is a person of no particular distinction. I get a healthy round of applause—not bad for a person of no particular distinction.

The Blue Men—remember them from those Intel commercials?—don’t speak. They play an unusual collection of percussion instruments, toss around inordinate amounts of colored paint and catch vast quantities of marshmallows in their mouths. These are the more mainstream parts of the act.

The show is enjoyable—but not a blockbuster. It has a Gallagher feel—front-row audience members are supplied with raincoats. Audience members are taken onstage to dine on and spew forth Twinkies. And to be covered in overalls, painted blue and hurled against a giant canvas. Yep, that all happens.

 

Celine’s Drive-By

Celine Dion is French-Canadian, but she’s taken American capitalism to heart. Her deal: $100 million to perform 200 nights a year for three years. Caesars Palace built a $95 million, 4,000-seat Colosseum just for her show. There are more than 60 dancers who perform on a 22,450-square-foot stage. Caesar himself would be awed.

Old-school artists, however, must be aaawed by the commercialization. This Barbarella meets Madison Avenue production, called A New Day..., is “presented” by Chrysler. A Sebring convertible sits in the lobby. Ushers wear the car company’s winged badges. Four levels of the Colosseum are named after car brands. When Dion sings Cyndi Lauper’s “I Drove All Night,” you expect the Sebring to make a cameo.

Shockingly, my expectation of A New Day... runs counter to my reaction. I go in wanting Dion’s head to explode when she hits the high note in her Titanic hit “My Heart Will Go On.” But Dion gushes niceties to the audience. Her singing voice is commanding. She’s enormously compelling singing “Je T’aime Encore” in French. She borrows from Etta James, Peggy Lee, Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra. Unfortunately, she steals her blond spiky hairstyle from Billy Idol.

But all in all, A New Day... is a night of guilty pleasure. And that’s Vegas in a nutshell.

 

If You Go

The price of an executive suite at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino varies; a September weekend rate starts at $369 a night. Reservations: 702-632-7777. Mamma Mia! tickets range from $45 to $85. Box office: 702-632-7580...The Blue Man Group at the Luxor costs $86-$95. Tickets: 702-262-4400...Prices for Celine Dion’s A New Day...at Caesars Palace range from $87.50 to $200. Information: 888-995-1555.

 

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