No heartbreak here: Hotel hosts Elvis show
FANS of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll are gonna find a new place to dwell. “Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel in Concert,” charting the King’s early years, will premiere at the Harrah’s Showroom on April 15, performing 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays (dark Tuesdays) with additional 3 p.m. performances Sundays. (Tickets go on sale Tuesday and start at $49, minus fees, and are available at the Harrah’s box office, harrahslasvegas. com, ticketmaster.com or by calling 702-777-2782.)
The future of the show “Heartbreak” will replace, Tenors of Rock, is still to be sorted out. It is certain the Tenors will end their run at Harrah’s on March 25. Producer Sethyudof of UD Factory says venue renovations need to be agreed upon before the five-man vocal group can announce its next home (with the Sin City Theater leading the list of possible rooms). The Tenors have held down the 8 p.m. slot but have been reviewing venues ever since Caesars Entertainment became interested in the Presley show.
The Righteous Brothers are holding down the 6 p.m. Harrah’s Showroom slot on Tuesdays through Thursdays.
The musical is the prequel to “Million Dollar Quartet,” the show depicting the Dec. 6, 1956, meeting between Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins at Sun Studios that played Harrah’s for nearly four years ending in 2016. The Vegas show is inspired by the musical originally written and directed by Floyd Mutrux and adapted for the stage by Ivan Menchell. Broadway veteran Jeff Calhoun is staging the show at Harrah’s.
“Heartbreak” most recently played Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse Place from June 30-Sept. 9. Similar to “MDQ,” the tunes in the jukebox musical are performed live, with Eddie Clendening tackling the lead role as the King.
Clendening is a star among Elvis tribute artists, originating the Presley role in “MDQ” on Broadway for 2,200 performances. The Blue Moon Boys, Elvis’ original backing band, are represented by Matt Codina, who originated the role of guitarist Scotty Moore in the musical; bassist Jonny Bowler, who has backed Wanda Jackson, Guana Batz and Levi Dexter; drummer Cole Maxwell, who has backed Andre Williams, Dick Dale and Brian Setzer; and pianist/music director Colte Julian, who portrayed Lewis on the “MDQ” national tour.
Significantly, “Heartbreak” is an estate-licensed production formally authorized by Elvis Presley Enterprises and Authentic Brands Group. The show’s producers, Robbins Lane Entertainment, have a history in Las Vegas with the “Rock of Ages” musical, which ran at The Venetian and Rio for a little more than three years until New Year’s Day 2017.
“There is no better place for ‘Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel in Concert’ to perform than in Las Vegas, the city where Elvis Presley performed some of his most memorable shows,” Scott Prisand, producer for Robbins Lane Entertainment, said in a statement. Seth Fass of Robbins Lane added, “Whether you love Elvis, love his music or just love a good storytelling concert about the birth of rock ’n’ roll, this production has something for everyone.”
But even as Presley and Las Vegas are inexorably linked, the Elvis brand has not been a surefire hit in major Vegas venues. The Elvis Presley Enterprises-licensed Elvis show and museum attraction faltered at the Westgate (in the very theater where Presley sold out 636 consecutive shows) in the spring of 2015.
Also, “Viva Elvis,” a highly anticipated and seemingly invulnerable partnership between Cirque du Soleil and the Elvis estate at Aria, closed in August 2012 after a 2½-year run. That show was the rare Cirque production that did not take hold in Vegas, even as a tribute to one of the city’s greatest entertainers.
But Elvis survives as a key figure in “Legends in Concert” at the Tropicana and with Steve Connolly’s long-running “Spirit of the King” show at the Four Queens. The Elvis-powered “All Shook Up” has been running for five years at the V Theater at the Miracle Mile Shops. And Pete “Big Elvis” Vallee has been churning out the Presley hits for 22 years on the Strip. Today you can find him at the Piano Bar at Harrah’s, just downstairs from the entrance of “Heartbreak Hotel.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His Podkats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/ podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal. com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @Johnnykats1 on Instagram. As of 9 p.m. Thursday:
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