A Barking Dog

It’s a dry heat, only 109 today. On the way back from Memphis earlier this afternoon when I boarded the plane at DFW the flying waitress, errr, I mean flight attendant said it was only 94 in my fair city. Of course I knew by the time we got there it would be almost 110.

I just got word from the “Two Way Hard Three” RSS feed that Hairspray will close next week. YIKES! The guys on TheStripPodcast.com broke the story earlier tonight. (BTW, one of the best Vegas podcasts out there, if not the best). It’s confirmed, they close the 11th. That and Avenue Q closing kind of tanks my theory on musicals in LV. What the hell do I know anyway. Bummer for all those that are losing their gigs. Especially those that moved here from NY. It’s not like I haven’t been on any tours that cancelled after a few weeks or so. But still, and it was a good show.

The Beatles Cirque show, “Love” opened for previews a few days ago (gotta see it next week before we leave overseas next week) to rave reviews. It will probably go for the next decade or so. Reports from Cirque principals are that the next Vegas Cirque show will have an Elvis theme. It’s Vegas, that’s what we do. Now if it were a Meatloaf themed show, I might be able to get the lead. Apparently I resemble Mr. Loaf.

We got Phantom opening next month, The Producer’s in the fall and Spamalot next year so it will be interesting to see how that shakes out. I’dathunk Hairspray would do well, but let’s see how it goes with these others. Could it be that Vegas and it’s tourist centric demographic more represent what mainstream American want to see? Let’s face it, the Broadway audiences are pretty elitest and do half of the shows per week, in rooms that are at least half of the capacity. Broadway ain’t Vegas and Vegas ain’t Broadway and I’ve got the testicular circumference to sack up and admit I was talking out my ass when I pontificated not that long ago that Vegas would save musical theater. Vegas is going to do what it needs to do and it’s the fastest growing economy in the country, and one of the fastest in the world. When something like Headlights and Tailpipes outdraws Hairspray, that basically signal either we are just about to armageddon or that people here would rather see tits than hear showtunes. (actualy I enjoy both)

For assholes like me that haven’t been able to break into the theatrical or production show scene (not for the lack of trying) it doesn’t mean much. When guys like me aren’t on the road, we’re doing big time industrials and that market is far from being tapped. Yeah, it’s not as cool as mixing Tracy Turnblad in the finale but it’s a constant stream of talking heads that aren’t going to dry up anytime soon. And that’s a bummer because I’d rather be mixing the guy with the messed up face and crashing chandelier than Fortune 50 CEOs and what little remains of my touring rock/pop career.

Always greener on the other side, ain’t it? Well, in a week and half we’ll be way into where no western band really goes that often.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 6th, 2006 at 1:04 am and is filed under Bright Light City. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.