What will a 90-minute, express rendition of The Phantom of the Opera look like when it finally pulls into the Venetian? Or for that matter—given how songs were discarded for the Vegas versions of Hairspray and Avenue Q—sound like? In an interview with Broadwayworld.com, Producer Michael Gill dropped some hints:
"We haven't cut out any one song. You won't come to see it and say, 'Oh, that song's missing.' We have managed to get every song that was in the original show into the production. Some of them are naturally shorter now, though."
Noting that original creators Andrew Lloyd Webber, Hal Prince and Gillian Lynneall have a hand in the Phantom of Vegas, he promises that casting will be announced within the next month, and though the show will clock in at a faster running time, the scope won't shrink:
"It's going to be bigger than any version of Phantom you've ever seen. ... It's a $35 million production. ... The last most expensive tour of Phantom in the U.S. was $12 million. The extra money is being spent on the physical production to beef up some of the moments, make them bigger and more spectacular. It's not going to be untrue to the original, nor to the spirit of how Hal Prince and his collaborators originally created the show. Our tag line is going to be: 'Phantom—As You've Never Seen it Before,' and we think we're going to deliver on that."
Stay tuned for any more Changes of the Night ...
A Rapper on the Strip? When Does Sheriff Bill Young Get Waxed?
Legendary gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur is the latest addition to Madame Tussauds wax museum at the Venetian. The sculpture will be unveiled April 5 and is based on a bandana-wearing, shirtless Tupac. According to a press release, all of Tupac's tattoos were painstakingly re-created by hand. The musician, who was murdered in Vegas by unknown assailants, is reportedly the celebrity most requested to be represented in the Vegas branch of the international chain of museums. Clark County Sheriff Bill Young's protest memo is due to arrive ... now.
Round Two in the 'This School Sucks' Feud: In Which We Take a Whipping
William Epstein, professor of social work at UNLV, takes the Weekly to task on "This School Sucks" [Weekly, March 16, 2006]: Epstein says developer Irwin Molasky isn't upset with him as the article says, but with other UNLV professors. Also, he retorts, the law school and hotel administration programs are mediocre at best—not stellar, as the article suggests; and, the professor points out, the UNLV vs. University of California at Los Angeles faculty comparison covered 10 years, not merely eight.
This School May Suck ... But Not For Long, With Professors Like This:
According to Regents' Review, the glossy newsletter/puff piece/hype machine of the state's higher education system, the National Institutes of Health recently awarded a $221,750 grant to UNLV chemistry professor Bryan Spangelo to study for three years how, and this is heady stuff, "specific neurostransmitters may inhibit the activation of proteins that some scientists believe may lead to cell death and brain degeneration." The grant was awarded through NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Hey Spangelo, you go boy!