I may have to make my way back to Las Vegas some day. Mark Evanier reports:
That may be the new trend: Less show, more performances. Once Avenue Q vacates its space at the Wynn Las Vegas, the showroom will be remodelled and renamed The Grail Theater and in 2007, it will be home to a production of Monty Python’s Spamalot. The New York production runs two hours and twenty minutes, fifteen of which is intermission. The Vegas version will reportedly run ninety with all roles double-cast to allow for an unprecedented twelve performances a week. I don’t think any show that ever originated on Broadway has gone on to do twelve performances a week in any theater anywhere…and that’s not the end of it. There will also be something called (tentatively) “The Spamalot Experience,” which will cost $70 million to build. One presumes it will be not unlike “The Star Trek Experience” at the Vegas Hilton, which is like a mini-theme park allowing tourists to become a part of the show.
Like Evanier, I’m not too interested in seeing a shortened version of the show. To be honest, having seen the full-length version last year, I’m in no immediate rush to see that again either. It’s good, silly fun, and if you can afford the ticket price you should definitely go; but I think the ideal audience is maybe a peg or two down on the Python-familiarity scale from me. (If you’ve never seen or liked Python, you probably won’t like the show. If you’ve seen and liked as much as me…well, you’ve seen a lot of this stuff before. I liked the newer stuff best.) But “The Spamlot Experience” does sound interesting.