Dozens laid off as Las Vegas Strip venue maps future

The number of cast and crew members being laid off is in the dozens as a result of “America’s Got Talent Presents Superstars Live!” closing.

Sixty-five employees are to lose their jobs as a result of the show’s announced shutdown, according to those familiar with the show’s employment structure. A total of 37 employees from Cirque du Soleil’s company The Works Entertainment have been notified they will be laid off, through a Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) WARN Act issued Tuesday.

WARN is the Workplace Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which ensures advance notice is given in cases of mass layoffs.

But DETR’s reported 37 figure covers just the Cirque employees. The full cast and crew is split between MGM Resorts International and Cirque. The cast, artists and management have worked for Cirque. The house team has been staffed by MGM Grand.

This includes all performers, carpenters, dressers, audio and video techs, ushers and concession-merchandise staffers, among other positions.

“AGT” announced Sunday that it will close May 11. Those who have been notified of the layoffs are to work through the finale. Often forgotten in the show’s creative structure, “AGT” is actually a Cirque du Soleil partnership (along with MGM Resorts, Fremantle and Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment), as part of that company’s acquisition of The Works in February 2019.

Cirque’s takeover of The Works also led to the creation of “Mad Apple” at New York-New York. Launched in May 2022, “Mad Apple” is co-produced by The Works founder Simon Painter, and is doing solid business where “Zumanity” once reigned.

South of the Strip, the variety-based “AGT” did not catch on, even though Cowell is reportedly not giving up and is reviewing suitable venues to revive the show. Otherwise, expect the 1,200-seat room to be shut down for several months after the show closes as MGM Resorts reviews options.

“AGT Superstars” closing might mark the end of production shows at Luxor Theater. The hotel has booked TV personality, comic and best-selling author Jonathan Van Ness in the theater for a one-off April 20. But I don’t foresee the venue returning to a headliner series, which was tried in the mid-2000s as the Criss Angel-Cirque project “Believe” was being developed.

Instead, the theater has vast potential as an immersive-interactive experience, which is the trend at that resort and across the city. You can thank Area15, in part, for showing that non-traditional entertainment can draw a mix of tourists and locals, all ages.

And MGM Resorts is said to be averse to bringing in another fanciful production, after “AGT’s” 2½-year run and the faltering, five-month lifespan of its predecessor, “R.U.N.” The company has enough shows at other resorts, and has likely seen enough at Luxor Theater.

Prost to 20!

Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas celebrated its 20th anniversary the best way it knows how — loudly — on Wednesday.

The happy energy rose to the roof of the Bavarian beer hall. Mayor Carolyn Goodman paraded in with the cast of Chippendales cast members. Goodman tapped the ceremonial keg with Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas owners Stefan Gastager, Klaus Gastager and Franz Krondorfer. The mayor also declared Tuesday as Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas Day, and presented the owners with the coveted Key to the City.

The cast members of “Fantasy” at Luxor and BMX champ Ricardo Laguna were also on the scene. Sonny Vinuya, Southern Nevada Outreach Director from the Office of Gov. Joe Lombardo; and Denise Daniels Fanning from the Lieutenant Governor’s Office of Small Business Advocacy all arrived wielding proclamations.

Beer was quaffed. Schnitzel was devoured. The Biermeister Band stretched the limits of the club’s sound system. It was a party not for the demure, in a space that deserves every ounce of its success. Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas was a favorite of Siegfried & Roy, from its inception in 2004. Its authenticity was achieved, at the start.

He goes to 11

David Saxe Productions is developing 11 new (or, rewritten) shows at V Theater at Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. These will all be on line “within months,” and by the end of the year, Saxe reports.

One of these shows, “Lioz Master of Delusion,” which actually opened at 6 p.m. Tuesday before Saxe took it down for a re-write. Lioz has been an adult performer previously, but had adapted a family friendly theme at V Theater.

No bueno. Saxe wants the old Lioz back, and the two are conceiving an updated version of the show to run at 10 p.m. Expect edginess, and satire, for the grown-ups.

End of the World

The Ray’s Comedy World dinner-show concept has flamed out. An appropriate reference, since its star, Ray Wold, is the Man of Fire in “O,” and still recovering from flaming mishap in January.

But operational challenges of serving food to a comedy crowd, along with related cost overruns, have forced Wold and partners Joe and Jessica Trammel to shut down the club.

Wold owns the venue. He had gained fame last year on “America’s Got Talent,” with his Ray Wold & Mom act. He performed with flaming whips and threw flaming knives at his 86-year-old mother, Corinne. The act was also performed at Ray’s Comedy World on Monday.

Among the problems, says Joe Trammel, was “customers were complaining the place smells like cats,” because — as Trammel reports — the owners kept cats (and also snakes and rats) on the premises. Even the comics were joking about the odor. Maybe they should have called the place The Litter Box.

Anyway … Shows had been staged Mondays since January at the space at 3625 E. Flamingo Road, which has also known been known as the Amazing Clowns party and banquet hall. Just last week, the partners announced an expanded schedule to weekends. The decision to close was that sudden.

“I’m shaking. I’m nervous,” Jessica Trammel said Wednesday. However, the partners do want to move forward elsewhere. As Jessica says, “We want to do it properly, because we care about the comics.”

Cool Hang Alert

The latest variation of The Platters plays Italian American Club Showroom at 6:30 p.m. (dinner), 8 p.m. (show) Friday. The act bills itself as not a tribute group, and this is a brand-new show. Coast II Cost Entertainment of Las Vegas produces; go to iacvegas.com. They are ready for “Only You.”

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 X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.