Backstage Pass
For an extra $60, you can observe a few things most people don’t know about "Monty Python’s Spamalot."
• Those giant cartoon cut-out feet of God? The ones resembling Terry Gilliam’s distinctive animation from the original "Python" TV series? The feet are pointed in a direction which suggests God, voiced by John Cleese, has his back turned on the actors.
• Caught up in watching the musical, you’re not supposed to think about things such as, "Where would a scantily clad female dancer hide her wireless microphone?" But the answer would be, "In the skullcaplike headpiece known as a ‘wig prep.’ "
• If you need a giant can of Spam in a hurry, it’s going to cost you $10,000. The prop was commissioned as a rush job so John O’Hurley could pop out of it during a news conference when the show was officially announced.
But now, the can is slowly being amortized, as backstage visitors climb in after the show to have their souvenir photos snapped. It’s all part of the "V.I.P.P." (Very Important People Package) that includes a premium seat and a giant plastic goblet of beer.
"Spamalot" isn’t the only show discovering the popularity of upgraded ticket offerings. Others offering extra perks for those willing to pay more: the Wynn Las Vegas sister show "Le Reve," the musical "Phantom — The Las Vegas Spectacular" and headliners including Wayne Brady, Rita Rudner and the Scintas.
"Jersey Boys" also will have a VIP upgrade when it opens at the Palazzo in April, and the Blue Man Group plans to introduce a new one early this year at The Venetian.
Producers say the VIP packages have been one of the few effective weapons to fight back against nightclubs that have drained show attendance, as well as a way to stand out given the sheer number of show choices available.
"It’s tough out there in Las Vegas-land at the moment for everybody unless you’re Guy" Laliberte, head of Cirque du Soleil, says Martin Bergman, Rudner’s husband and producer. "There’s so much of a supply of tickets that advertising costs have risen enormously. I think you have to try and do whatever you can do to sell tickets."
Bergman and Rudner tested a meet-and-greet when she performed at New York-New York, but limited it to just a handful of tickets. "When we moved to Harrah’s (in late 2006), I thought maybe I could expand it a bit.
"We threw it on just to see what would happen, and it was impossibly successful, immediately," he says. "It surprised me."
Rudner’s VIP tickets sell for $99 compared to the usual $59.40. Bergman says some of the 40 or more people who buy them each night are doing it just for upgraded seating, and are surprised to meet the comedian and have their photo made with her before the show.
That wouldn’t surprise Jennifer Dunne, who is in charge of marketing the two shows at Wynn Las Vegas. "Despite what you hear about how there’s so much inventory and so many tickets available, the No. 1 price is always the first one to sell," she says. "Typically, when people come to Vegas, they want the best seat in the house."
"Le Reve" staged a radical experiment last year, removing seats in the circular theater to create a VIP section mimicking the restricted area of a nightclub. For $159, compared to $119 for the next-best seat, patrons get a larger chair, French champagne and video-screen views of what’s going on backstage before and during the show.
"If we could figure out a way to make the whole theater VIP, we’d do it," Dunne says. "People love this experience."
The VIP seats number 86 of the 1,606-seat total. If any remain unsold before the show, "We sell them right away, prior to showtime," she says. "People walk in, see them, and walk back out to the box office and ask if they can upgrade. All the time. Every night."
The success of the "Le Reve" upgrade inspired the preferred seating and backstage tours for "Spamalot," which started in late August. They have been so successful that other cities hosting the musical are considering the idea.
The generous tours run about 40 minutes and some are conducted by cast members, such as ensemble singer/dancer Amber Owens.
"I’ve learned so much more about this show than any other show I’ve ever done," she says of passing along facts such as the number of hairpieces made for the production (107) and the amount of confetti dumped on the audience each night (61 pounds).
The Monty Python element, she adds, is "a whole other thing. I had someone on my tour once who had actually written a thesis on Monty Python, and it was one of my first tours."
"You get more backstage than most of the people in the show get," says Randal Keith, currently starring as King Arthur. On this night (but not always), Keith was available to pose for photos on the stage. If you forgot your camera, the tour guides will give you a disposable one.
Rather than feeling put upon, the cast and crew seem to enjoy showing people around. Owens dutifully holds the show’s killer rabbit puppet to visitors’ necks for photo-snapping, and even gives one shutterbug an encore of a visual gag from the show: a tray of fake fruit with suggestively arranged melons.
"My father will be so proud," she says, as she holds the tray to her chest and smiles.
Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0288.
