‘Funhouse’ to require theater remodeling

If Garth Brooks wants to get back to Wynn Las Vegas to film his one-man show for posterity, he’d best not wait forever.

Wynn officials say a new production show called “Funhouse” could take all next year to develop, before it debuts at the end of next year or in early 2014. But it will involve extensive renovation of the Encore Theater, which should get under way before April.

Brooks only fancied up the bare stage with a couple of footlights and potted plants. But he wouldn’t want to perform in front of a big gaping hole either.

That level of remodeling will accommodate the big, gravity-defying ideas Steve Wynn has in mind for what he’s called “a new genre” of entertainment. “Funhouse” will follow the business model of “Le Reve,” and be produced in-house, with Wynn closely involved at the creative level.

But just as “Le Reve” was originally entrusted to Franco Dragone, the hands-on work for this one is under the helm of Kenny Ortega, known for the “High School Musical” films and live concert work with stars including Gloria Estefan and Michael Jackson.

Wynn associates have been scouting the world for all manner of variety acts. Though it’s been reported the show is already in rehearsals, Wynn officials clarify that it’s not very far along in terms of specifics. The next three to four months should deliver Ortega’s conceptual presentation, or workshop/storyboard version of the show. …

While that big variety show is in development, a smaller one belonging on the short list of Worst Titles Ever seems to be at a stalemate.

“The Hole” – more poetically, “El Agujero” in its native Spain – is a cabaret variety show that, based on YouTube videos, mixes circus and burlesque not unlike “Absinthe” at Caesars Palace. But apparently its producers have hit impasse with management of the new, freestanding Boulevard Theater, each side not yet to the point where they must admit they really need one another and have run out of other options. …

When Cirque du Soleil opened “Iris” in Hollywood in September of last year, I wondered if a permanent show in Las Vegas’s main feeder market might cannibalize ticket sales for the Cirque shows on the Strip.

It turned out to be more the other way around. “Iris” closes Jan. 19 at the Dolby Theatre (long known as the Kodak) because of poor ticket sales.

The movie-themed Cirque was intended to run at least 10 years, in the model of the resident Las Vegas shows; most Cirques in the Los Angeles area are touring “big top” productions.

“Iris” had a reported $100 million budget and a score by film composer Danny Elfman, but its staging was more restricted in the historic theater that also hosts the Academy Awards.

Those who remember the trampoline superheroes from “Viva Elvis” should see them refitted for Cirque’s Michael Jackson-themed show at Mandalay Bay next May. But Cirque folk say the Jackson show was cast before the “Iris” decision, making it unlikely to see any “Iris” acts imported intact.

Hmm, what about the whole show? Cirque just opened “Zarkana” and there is no reason yet to believe it won’t be at Aria a long time. Still, “Zarkana” points the way to a potential new model of Cirque rotating already existing shows through Aria every couple of years. “Zarkana,” it should be pointed out, arrived with a strong track record for sales, not the taint of failure. …

Tony Sacca keeps on giving. “I just created the first Las Vegas shower curtain,” says the veteran local TV producer and host. But that prototype is for his gift and novelty company, Las Vegas Rocks Souvenirs. It’s his other company, Sacca Productions, that has given us 26 years of “Merry Christmas Las Vegas” specials.

The latest happens at 4 p.m. Saturday on the big stage of the Las Vegas Hotel; the $25 tickets benefit his Youth Fund for the Performing Arts. Guests include guitar maestro Esteban and the casts of the hotel’s Shimmer Cabaret productions.

It airs at 3 p.m. Dec. 22 on KTUD-TV, Channel 25. But between now and then, Sacca’s “Entertainment Las Vegas Style” will be running clips from the best of his Christmas shows past. …

Some audience members at Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s Venetian shows this weekend may cast a wary eye to the chandelier on the ceiling.

Yes, the big star of “Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular” is still there, even if it no longer performs a fake crash-landing every night.

“There was not enough time or money to get rid of it,” says the show’s production designer, Roy Bennett. “It’s actually not a bad thing,” he adds of the opera-house vibe.

When McGraw and Hill met with reporters to announce their show last summer, McGraw said the couple’s daughters “love going to the (Las Vegas) shows,” and will probably be “a little upset that ‘Phantom’ is gonna be out.”

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