A break between venues for ‘Jersey Boys’

It will take a little longer than an NJ Transit ride for "Jersey Boys" to move a mile or so down the street.

The musical closes at the Palazzo on Jan. 1 and reopens at Paris Las Vegas on March 6 with the same set and cast. The actors and crew will reassemble about a week early to break in the new venue.

The other seven weeks? My guess would be there is no rush to reopen in January, typically a deadly quiet time for nonconvention tourism and hence, ticketed shows in general.

Tickets already are on sale for Paris and reveal that, perhaps for lack of a mezzanine this time, the lowest price goes from $73.10 to $100.30 before vendor fees. The high end goes up about $10, to $171.80 before fees, with a VIP ticket for a small number of seats remaining at $260.

As coincidence would have it, the Vegas cast of "Jersey Boys" performs on the syndicated "The Doctors" today. If you read this before 2 p.m., you can catch or DVR them on KSNV-TV, Channel 3. …

Barry Manilow had hip surgery this week after closing out his run at Paris Las Vegas. (Hip problems, no pun intended, also sidelined him in 2006.) He plans to resurface with a concert in Chicago on Feb. 2, the beginning of 15 road dates so far booked through July 4. Judging by that, there’s no rush to a new venue in Las Vegas.

Still, might we read something into the fact that it was his former employers at the Las Vegas Hilton, not Paris, who threw him a going-away party last weekend?

"It’s a really close relationship," explains the Hilton’s Rick White. Manilow and his cast "were like family when they were here (from 2005 through 2009)." The party was a "Thank you, we miss you, we love you." Did he forget to add, "We want you back"? …

Still no word from The Venetian on what will replace "Jersey Boys" or Blue Man Group, assuming the latter is still on track to move to the Monte Carlo by this time next year. Clues suggest the Broadway musical "Rock of Ages" is high in the running.

But entertainment is not always predictable. Who would have guessed that movie tough guy Robert Davi would "take music lovers on a monumental journey down the whimsical road to romance," as a poetic press release proclaims of his Frank Sinatra tribute at the Venetian Showroom Feb. 23-25?

Davi, known for "The Profiler" TV series and as the James Bond bad guy in "Licence to Kill," joins the list of seemingly unlikely crooners including Tony Danza, Jackie Chan and Manny Pacquiao.

And no vacation for the Blue Men yet. While a lot of shows don’t even bother this time of year, Blue Man Group adds a third show a day at 4 p.m., Monday through Dec. 30. Locals can make use of this via a two-for-one offer (with the promo code LOC241). …

One side deal from Cirque du Soleil’s star-branded shows has been a soundtrack album to revive said star’s back catalog. But so far, "The Immortal" soundtrack is selling less like "Love" and more like "Viva Elvis."

The remix of Michael Jackson tracks debuted last week at No. 24 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart, then fell to No. 46.

Not to say the disc won’t have legs as the tour keeps rolling; maybe it just got left behind by holiday-season releases from still-living artists.

Fun to see though, that in looking this up, "America’s Got Talent" winner Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. is charting comparably. His "That’s Life" album debuted at No. 34 and fell to No. 44. Still seems like he would be someone to test on the Strip. …

Brooke Burke (who now adds a hyphen and "Charvet" to her official last name) returns as co-host of the Miss America Pageant Jan. 14 at Planet Hollywood Resort. The cover of her book "The Naked Mom" makes the pageant’s demure swimsuit competition look even more modest.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.