Beatles tribute to reopen showroom

The Tropicana’s showroom will be back in business with a Beatles tribute next week, and its new operator promises as many as five more titles will join it.

The Tiffany Theatre has been leased by Eagle Group Holdings, which is also behind the Las Vegas Mob Experience set to open in another area of the Tropicana in December. “Yesterday — A Tribute to the Beatles,” reopens the showroom Tuesday.

Jay Bloom, the managing partner, says he isn’t concerned about adding a third Beatles-related title to the Strip, or another half-dozen shows to an already stressed market.

“We’re increasing the size of the pie, not necessarily taking somebody else’s piece,” he says. His firm brings “new techniques for ticket distribution that, to my knowledge, haven’t been done before.”

To explain them, however, would tip off the competition. “It’s kind of like the secret recipe for Colonel Sanders,” he jokes.

Bloom does volunteer that it isn’t a broker-commission model like that used at the V Theater, a venue also packed with multiple titles including “Beatleshow Tribute.”

“We’re just hitting very different market segments. V Theater operator David Saxe “relies very heavily on ticket brokers. We’ve gone a different route,” Bloom says. “There’s going to be very little overlap.”

Saxe says Bloom used to work at the V Theater operating a photography concession but was terminated in December 2006. “Jay reminds me of Incrediboy,” he says, referring to a wannabe sidekick in “The Incredibles,” who turns into a supervillain when he is spurned by his hero.

The vintage showroom that hosted “Folies Bergere” for 49 years will have new sound and lighting equipment. But it still awaits the major remodeling announced when “Folies” closed in March of last year.

Bloom would neither confirm nor deny earlier reports that the venue would host a Gloria Estefan-themed production show. “Over the course of the next 30 days, the lineup of the showroom will become very clear,” he says. …

The drumming show band Recycled Percussion is about to throw in the sticks at the MGM Grand’s Studio 54. A move was imminent at this writing, but producers weren’t ready to announce the new location.

Producer Bill Blumenreich says the show is suffering from a legal glitch that is keeping away the group’s sizable following of fans younger than 21. Minors are allowed in most casino show venues, unless producers impose voluntary age restrictions (usually because of topless content).

But they aren’t allowed inside Studio 54 because it’s a nightclub. Blumenreich sees the early evening show time as a separate use of the venue, but hasn’t been able to gain any traction for that argument with management or gaming regulators.

If that were the only issue, he says he might continue the fight. But consumers are likewise confused by the dual use of the room and don’t easily comprehend that Recycled is sit-down entertainment, not a nightclub function. …

Rio officials walked onstage after Penn & Teller’s climactic “bullet swap” Tuesday to anounce a three-year extension for the duo. Some guests at the after-party questioned the math of their 10-year anniversary celebration. My “Top 10” list at the end of 2000 identified them as an MGM Grand act, but maybe they jumped ship before the end of the calendar year.

The duo’s audience counts have climbed of late, perhaps because of Penn Jillette’s growing popularity as a cable news pundit. There’s a new project in negotiations that also could boost their basic-cable profile as a duo.

Harrah’s entertainment executive Michael Weaver said Jillette is “the master of the plug,” after Jillette demonstrated onstage how to name-drop “The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino” in his many side endeavors. …

They’ll try hard to make it a happy Halloween at The Riviera Comedy Club this weekend. Mitchell Walters, once part of Sam Kinison’s entourage, brings down the brick wall on Sunday at the club that is one of the city’s longest-running show operations, if you count back to 1986 when it was The Improv (now at Harrah’s).

The Amazing Kreskin takes over the room, at least for the short term, starting Wednesday.

Another long-running comedy package, The Comedy Stop, has pulled out of the Sahara and is in talks with two other properties, spokesman Norm Johnson says.

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