‘Quartet’ must climb; ‘Legends’ will be fine

The Elvis connection is obvious, but ladies and gentlemen, there’s another way to look at “Million Dollar Quartet” replacing – or at least displacing – “Legends in Concert.”

If the cool factor translated into hard dollars, “Quartet” will be the one to bank on. There’s no sequined jumpsuit in the show that opens Feb. 4 at Harrah’s Las Vegas, and Elvis doesn’t share the stage with Michael Jackson. The Broadway hit instead puts him in historical context with Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins.

At a media preview last week, the actor-musicians threw themselves into “Blue Suede Shoes” with an energy that made it sound new again, or as new as the authentically vintage guitar amp would allow.

Still, I think “Quartet” will have its work cut out for it. And that “Legends” will do just fine, even when shuffled to afternoons at the Flamingo.

Why? Call it the value of low expectations.

If you divide Las Vegas shows into the highly articulated categories of “big stuff” and “little stuff,” the little stuff often ends up staying put while the big stuff comes and goes.

It’s exciting when producers try to diversify the entertainment choices. But it’s a risky business. “Stomp” is but a memory, but the “Stomp”-on-a-budget Recycled Percussion stepped up to a new stage this weekend at The Quad.

That room freed up because Human Nature jumped to The Venetian, with hopes of making the Motown tribute even more prominent on the Strip.

Human Nature is produced by Adam Steck and Recycled Percussion by David Saxe, two producers who focus on the ground game of ticket sales and know its intricacies.

Moreover, they know how to be happy with a break-even point of around 250 people, while bigger shows often come in with more optimistic break-evens of at least double that.

On this front, it looks as if the small cast of actor-musicians in “Quartet” is more modestly competitive than say, “Rock of Ages” from the same co-producer, Base Entertainment. Base already learned the value of low expectations when it downsized “Peepshow” to work at a lower break-even.

Beyond the value of a low-numbers game, Saxe says “there is a secret sauce to surviving in this town long enough.”

And a big part of the formula, he argues, is custom-building a show “created for and written for” Las Vegas instead of importing a title that worked in other places and saying “Vegas is gonna love it!”

With “Quartet” at least, I hope we do. Either way we get Elvis.

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