Must-see Las Vegas stage shows await
LAS VEGAS — Proven productions and aggressively hyped projects across the city should keep Vegas a popular entertainment destination in 2024. Here are a few of the highlights.
“Love”
The only live Beatles show in the world licensed by Apple Corps is under an uncertain timeline, a compelling reason to see it ASAP. The show is selling through June at the Mirage, but there is no definitive horizon for the production as the hotel switches over to Hard Rock Las Vegas. “Love” opened in 2006, with a burst of support from surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, but sales have been inconsistent since the pandemic reopening (often under 40%). The music is, of course, glorious, masterfully remastered and mashed up by Giles Martin (son of Beatles producer George Martin).
“Absinthe”
The best in class remains a juggernaut at Caesars Palace. I always say it’s the best show in the city, provided you can handle raunchy humor. If so, enjoy the ride, with the provocative witticisms of the Gazillionaire (who is now wearing flashy new Vegas-styled shoes); peerless twin tappers Sean and John Scott; the terrific Silicon Valley Girls four-member sway-pole act; and the body-balancing tandem dating to the show’s April 2011 opening, Duo Vector, featuring Misha Furmanczyk and Lukasz Szczerba.
“Come From Away”
A returning title to Reynolds Hall at the Smith Center from May 14 to 19. Smith Center President Myron Martin said the production was a box office and fan favorite in its first run in 2019 and is expected to sell out its return. The story follows 7,000 stranded passengers, and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them, during the week after the 9/11 attacks.
“Scream’d: An Unauthorized Musical Parody”
The quintessential underdog production at Majestic Repertory Theater in the Arts District. The show has drawn tens of millions of views on TikTok, leading to an open-ended engagement downtown. Expect an extension in March. The script is drawn from the original story about smalltown teenagers threatened by a masked killer and saved by a young heroine. The production ravages horror films, musical theater and the very genre of unauthorized musical parodies. As writer-director and Majestic Rep founder Troy Heard says, “This show literally saved Majestic Rep.”