‘Opium’ at Cosmopolitan suspended indefinitely
The interplanetary farce “Opium” has returned to Earth, at least temporarily. The show at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is joining nearly every major production in the city to halt performances for the coronavirus outbreak.
“Opium” is in the Spiegelworld family of productions, anchored by long-running hit “Absinthe” at Caesars Palace. The company’s latest production, “Atomic Saloon Show,” is performed at the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian. Spiegelworld founder Ross Mollison said Saturday both shows would be going on as scheduled.
However, that schedule is not likely to hold amid the rapidly shifting Vegas entertainment scene. Reportedly, Caesars Entertainment is on the cusp of shutting down all of its entertainment across its Las Vegas properties as early as Sunday.
Mollison reminded of “Opium’s” partnership with the Cosmopolitan. The show opened in the theater connected to Rose. Rabbit. Lie in March 2018.
“(Cosmopolitan CEO) Bill McBeath and his entire team at the Cosmopolitan have been incredibly supportive of ‘Opium’ since we launched this fantastic production,” Mollison said during a phone chat Saturday. “We look forward to relaunching as soon as possible.”
The “Opium” announcement was leveled as productions and headliners across Las Vegas made similar decisions to go dark.
“My heart goes out to all my colleagues at Cirque du Soleil and every other performer in Vegas,” Mollison said, his voice at times shaking. “My heart is broken that artists and crew and everybody has to work so hard to work and succeed in this industry and see everybody suffer like this.”
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 Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
