Entertainment audiences in Las Vegas have returned to pre-pandemic levels, casinos and independent producers keep reporting in their press releases. However, they don't tell us everything.

 

Demand for superstar residencies and one-off tour tickets is back, and their numbers are growing every year. Now, thanks to the opening of Allegiant Stadium, the Las Vegas Strip has added NFL games and Taylor Swift-sized chamber music attractions.

 

But the Broadway-style production that defined Las Vegas entertainment alongside Cirque du Soleil starting around 2006 -- when "The Phantom: The Spectacular of Las Vegas" opened at The Venetian -- doesn't seem to be feeling it. to a post-pandemic comeback. In fact, they still seem to be struggling.

 

how do we know

Casinos don't release sales figures for shows, so journalists and other industry observers must look for other indicators of success or trouble.

 

Closing prematurely is a pretty big indicator. In the final quarter of 2022, five shows on the Las Vegas Strip failed to cross the threshold for entry into 2023. "Bat Out of Hell - The Musical" at Paris Las Vegas, Criss Angel's "Amystika" at Planet Hollywood, "Extravaganza" at Horseshoe, "Legends in Concert" at Tropicana and Xavier Mortimer's magic show at The Strat all Involuntarily called a curtain call.

 

Even the musical genius of "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda couldn't keep "Freestyle Love Supreme" at the Venetian for more than two months.

 

"Awakening" is the largest of four recent production shows testing new markets. It replaces Wynn's "Le Rêve," which financed its $120 million production cost. Yet it went off the air for two weeks — less than three months before its Nov. 7 premiere — so its producers could rework the show.

 

Now, according to ticket seating charts, most viewers are half-filled, despite mostly positive reviews.

 

"'Awakening' made a very basic mistake," Mike Weatherford, a former theater reporter and critic for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, told Casino.org. “It’s really easy to raise prices. It’s really hard to lower them, so when you open at $200 and you lower your price, it’s a bit of an awkward and a failure. So they’re going to do it very carefully. .They're going to try to do that with some sort of discount or this sort of installment payment."

 

Is the Make-in-Vegas show obsolete? Is it the new showgirl show?

According to Weatherford, the problem with such shows is that the competition is fierce. From 2000 to around 2013, a superstar music residency meant playing at Caesars Palace (usually Cher, Elton John, Rod Stewart or Celine Dion), Carlos Santana at the Hard Rock Hotel or Las Vegas Choose between the Hilton Barry Manilow. Residencies by more contemporary artists are now the norm, not only at Caesars (Adele), but Resorts World (Katy Perry, Luke Bryan), Park MGM (Usher, Bruno Mar Smith, Jonas Brothers) and Planet Hollywood (Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban).

 

“There are more shows at Allegiant Stadium than I expected,” Weatherford said. “In the beginning, I thought, who else was there but the Rolling Stones and some other geeks who could fill a stadium? Then, the K-pop group BTS sold out the four nights they were there.”

 

And U2's MSG Sphere, which opens in September, will add another 17.5K superstar residency tickets several times a week.

 

"It's a matter of priorities and how much money people have to spend on these shows of general interest right now," said Weatherford, whose essay is titled: "Is Vegas' Entertainment Growth Leaving Big Productions Behind? ?”

 

"If you're in town for a basketball game or a NASCAR race, you're already paying extra for admission and room," Weatherford said. "If you have the money left over, and you can find tickets, Usher, Keith Urban, Katy Perry and Adele will be in residency, and you'll have two Jimmy Buffett nights .

 

"Are you really going to see "Awakening"?"

 

goodbye ticket booth

Also, coming to Vegas without an itinerary used to be a common tactic. By the mid-2000s, the Gaza Strip was packed with a dozen ticket booths, selling thousands of half-price tickets to shows of the day. Today, there are only four.

 

"The primary marketplace for ticket purchases is now online," Weatherford said. "More and more people are coming to town already knowing what they're going to do. I doubt many people will choose to watch a made-up show at the last minute anymore - especially one that costs a lot of money, even if it's in installments provided under the circumstances."