Steve Wynn’s $10 million ‘Showstoppers’ bet paying off
When hotel mogul Steve Wynn launched his musical spectacular “Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers” last December, he admitted it was a risky bet. Despite it being a beautiful and brilliant production, naysayers said Broadway razzle-dazzle was no longer a Strip entertainment attraction.
Reviewers said he was courageous for trying it, but there was a lukewarm response to the concept. He and the passionate cast have proved them all wrong, and the $10 million bet has paid off.
There have been regular sellout audiences, and now Steve has added five numbers to the glitzy spectacle, extending it from a 70-minute package to a 90-minute knockout.
Itisunusualinthat“Showstoppers” director Philip Wm. McKinley and Steve have welcomed the cast to collaborate on adding potential numbers to the show.
New songs added to “Showstoppers” include:
“OnceinaLifetime”from“Stop the World, I Want to Get Off” performed by Randal Keith; “If My Friends Could See Me Now” from “Sweet Charity” performed by Lindsay Roginski; “Together (Wherever We Go)” from “Gypsy” performed by Lindsay Roginski and Kerry O’Malley; “Luck Be a Lady” from “Guys and Dolls” performed by Andrew Ragone and dancer Ferly Prado; “Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat” from “Guys and Dolls” performed by Randal Keith; and “Willkommen” from “Cabaret,” now brilliantly performed by David Burnham.
Onstage after opening night in December, Steve commented, “The beauty of ‘Showstoppers’ is that there are so many wonderful numbers that from time to time we can add, augment and freshen the show.”
Six months later, with audiences enthralled with the production and adding their own favorite song requests, the show is 12 minutes longer. I chatted with Steve’s general manager of entertainment operations, Rick Gray, about the changes. Here’s our Q+A at the Wynn:
So changes are afoot at “Showstoppers”?
When we opened, we had a showthatwasabrisk75to80minutes. Steve had mentioned that we’d always have an opportunity to put in more songs and change things around. It was never set in cement.WenowhavewhatIreally feel is an even brisker show that’s grown nicely to 90 minutes.
We have just taken out and added and adjusted, and we’ve tried to listen to our audience as to what they found was most exciting about the show and basically added to it. Some things have been added and some subtracted; we took out “Can’t Get a Man With a Gun” and also took out “I Can’t Say No.” We replaced that with “Together”outof“Gypsy.”Wealso originally had planned on adding a “Guys and Dolls” section to the show; we had “Guys and Dolls,” “Luck Be a Lady” and “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat.” ...
We opened on Dec. 20. We’re almost six months. I don’t believe we’ve gone a month without rethinking, rejiggering, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing. It’s been just a real work in progress. Not the last couple of weeks, but a continuous change. Steve and I just had this conversation about two weeks ago. We are changing to improve.
Will you continue making changes?
I know that’s the case. Interestingly enough, we’ve opened the door to some suggestions from our singers and the cast. They’re terrific — top-quality and incredible pros. So there have been some proposals from some of our cast members, our singers, and we’ve listened to a couple of those.
Steve has kindly allowed Phil and Marguerite to work with the cast members and see whether if these things are out of state or whether we want to put them in the show. We’re always looking at new things. Whether they go in the show or not at this juncture is the question. I think it creates positive energy.
Is Steve still at the show on a regular basis?
Absolutely. We’vedoneapproximately 130 to 140 performances at this time. I would say Steve has seen 100. Maybe he’s seen 90, but it’s a majority. There’s probably only one person who’s seen more performances than Steve Wynn, and that’s me because I watch it almost every night alternating with “Le Reve.” Steve is always very interested to know what’s happening with his show.
It’s a show that’s growing, it’s still a baby show, to some extent. We’re still trying to figure out some things as to how it really works and how we can make it work better. The addition of things has been a logistics issue, as well as a creative issue. Many times the logistics require us to come up with another piece of business or music.
What’s very interesting to me is what we’ve heard from our audiences. One of the things they really enjoy is when we use more than one number from a show, they feel they’re getting to see a mini version of that show. They get a real flavor for it. The audience really enjoys that.
At the beginning when everybody saw this, there were a lot of naysayers who said it was an extraordinary, valiant and courageous undertaking, but it won’t work, and it was driven only by Steve’s determination to bring back Broadway razzle-dazzle to Las Vegas. Reviews were lukewarm. ... Does Steve feel the bet’s paid off?
Yes, absolutely, 100 percent. Our musical spectacular according to Broadway vets from way, way back have said to me nobody would ever do this in New York, nobody would ever make anything that looks this great, nobody would make this kind of effort, nobody would do any of this stuff that youguyshavedone. This is something completely different. I think what Steve wanted to do was exactly what he did.
Everything in this show is what we wanted. We’ve got a show where people walk in and when they walk out they feel really good. There’s not a heavy story, there’s not a lot of ballads, there’s not a lot of love songs. It’s the songs and theater that makes people feel good. I think the bet has paid off, Steve is still solidly behind this, and we’ll keep at it.
Steve now has “Showstoppers” and “Le Reve” as successes under the same hotel roof. Do they play off each other?
It’s a funny thing. I used to think that people would see both shows. I think it’s a very interesting thing that there are three types of audience members. There’s a “Le Reve” audience member, there’s a “Showstoppers” audience member, and then there’s somebody who likes both. So we broadened our audience in a very good way. That is something that I’m really happy about. It’s not something that I really saw coming.
No cast changes yet, right?
No. We’re six months into performances, but we’re nine months into development and performance. The cast changes, if there are any, will be in the fall. That’swhenthatmayhappen,but nothing to report as of this time.
Steve had the last word when I talked with him: “We have a hit on our hands. We’re selling out and actually now turning a profit. We will be doing very nicely by the end of the first year. I’m happy and delighted that it’s paid off, and our Encore Theater has a show that everybody loves and will run for a long time.”