‘Absinthe’ plans big Las Vegas Strip party on New Year’s Eve
I returned to “Opium” at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Wednesday night. On Sunday, “Absinthe” announced plans for a New Year’s Eve event at Caesars Palace. And I just ran an online a search for “We Are Here,” which has performed a sneak preview in New York.
These events are all interlocked, as production company Spiegelworld sets up for its 2019 advance on the Strip.
“Absinthe,” the company juggernaut, will close the year with a party at the Spiegeltent at Caesars’ Roman Plaza. The Dec. 31 event starts at 8:30 p.m. with a champagne toast in the venue’s open courtyard, a 9:30 p.m. performance of “Absinthe,” and a post-show party from 11 p.m.-1 a.m.
The event’s amenities include open bar, DJ, view of the fireworks and light bites (meaning hors d’oeuvres, not Gazillionaire’s behavior). Maybe Harry M. Howie and his hired hand Chip will toddle over from “Opium,” too. Tickets range from $299 to $499 for reserved seating; $599 for VIP (go to Spiegelworld.com/Absinthe for tickets and inf0).
It’s a lot, but I would bet the event is a swift sellout. This is “Absinthe,” after all. Everything the show touches turns to the same golden hue as Gaz’s footwear.
Spiegelworld founder Ross Mollison continues to marvel at the production’s success. The show has weathered artist defections that would have undercut most other stage shows, reloading with such acts as aerialists Silicon Valley Girls and juggling trio Water on Mars. Body balancers Duo Vector, tap sensations Sean and John Scott and daffy Wanda Widdles continue to support Gaz’s devastating emcee work.
At the box office, it seems every week “Absinthe” sets a new sales record (it sells out at least half of its performances each week) and the crowds are full of repeat customers. The tent goes wild, twice nightly, and Mollison said just Wednesday night, “Every time I go to ‘Absinthe,’ the place is just nuts. We are competing with ourselves, and it ain’t easy.”
No, sir. While “Absinthe” chugs along after 4,000 performances dating to March 2011, “Opium” just marked its 300th show at Rose. Rabbit. Lie at Cosmopolitan. The disco circus “We Are Here,” meantime, seems all but signed to perform on the Strip next year.
“Opium” is Spiegelworld’s important cog at Cosmopolitan. The show has been effectively rewritten and ratcheted, toned and tightened, but still holds fast to its space-flight theme. “Opium” is intentionally sidestepping the long shadow cast by “Absinthe” by playing in a smaller venue (about 250 to the Spiegeltent’s 650) with a reduced schedule (10 shows per week to “Absinthe’s” 14). That leaves room to expand and evolve, but it also ensures the show’s expectations are manageable.
Remember that the RRL showroom was the same home to the wildly talented, but comparatively expensive and unwieldy “Vegas Nocturne.” “VN” was also loaded with great acts — 40 top-level artists — including Captain Frodo the contortionist who is in “Opium” now, bathtub artist David O’mer of “Absinthe” and Sean & John.
But for all of its merit, “Nocturne” was chronically difficult to decipher because of its three-canto format (Vegas audience typically didn’t know what “canto” meant in an entertainment context). It was a challenge to market and explain, and it closed before it could come close to turning a profit. Spiegelworld learned a lesson with “Vegas Nocturne,” and so did Cosmopolitan officials, who were adamant that the next show at Rose. Rabbit. Lie would be a hit.
Thus, “Opium” is a far more streamlined than its predecessor.
Simply, the show is quick-paced, weird, raunchy, funny and brimming with exceptional side acts. It’s a pair of performers spitting bananas into each other’s mouths one moment, a contortionist working with a tiny shelter dog the next. A hypnotic bubble artist gives way to a hula-hoop performer loosely based on Scotty from “Star Trek.” The robot Rob, who looks a lot like fictional producer Harry M. Howie, winds up becoming pregnant with a baby android (remember, this is science-fiction) and somehow delivers by the final bow.
If you can hang on during this ribald behavior, you will find “Opium” a satisfying ride. The Many Moons band, led by the character Dlanor (organ great Ronnie Foster) keeps the engine running.
But the Spiegelworld crew is not finished wrenching on “Opium’s” OPM 73 spacecraft. Characters are being shifted in and out, and the venue itself is being improved. The old folding chairs from the “Vegas Nocturne” days have been replaced by padded seats, which are a bit higher and allow those near the back to see all the action at the stage.
The VIP areas are also being redesigned with taller seating — somewhere, Mr. Howie has figured out the show plays better when the entire audience can see the action.
All the energy is moving in the right direction for Spiegelworld. Watch for activity early next year at Roman Plaza, where the company still plans to remake the space in front of the Spiegeltent with its 35-foot-tall, LED-trimmed Wormwood Tree with adjacent themed bar.
“We Are Here,” showcased at La MaMa (renamed The GlitterLoft for a weekend) in New York City’s East Village in August, is the disco-party production directed by Steven Hoggett (of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” on Broadway), music by Nile Rodgers of Chic. The production has long been targeted for a Caesars Entertainment hotel.
Get to know him … pronounced “OK!” #AkeBlomqvisf #wearehere @Spiegelworld #NYC pic.twitter.com/AhPvlZDqyw
— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) August 5, 2018
“We Are Here” would give Spiegelworld three productions on the Strip. The ’70s-inspired disco show is headed up by dance instructor Ake Blomqvist. Get to know him, too. He’ll be hanging with Gaz and Harry M. Howie, a party triumvirate impossible to miss.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
