‘Shotspeare’ takes a decidedly less sober approach to Vegas entertainment

Las Vegas has long been searching for another custom of entertainment as nightclubs drain the audiences for traditional sit-and-watch shows. “Immersive” or “interactive” have become buzzwords for attempts to make show-going more fun.

But beyond the Drai’s bottle service in Britney’s VIP zone, fighting fire with firewater hasn’t been the obvious answer you might think.

A new show called “Shotspeare” — speed-dating Shakespeare, with drinking games — is a startling contrast to just how sober most show-going has become.

Many venues replaced cocktail servers with lobby cash bars, where $14 beers encourage moderation. In a city that was built on pushing free booze to enhance the beer-goggle appeal of a slot machine, the shows have become almost a prohibition zone.

That’s just fine, say you parents escorting youngsters to a Cirque show and/or those who have endured the guy behind you trying to out-sing Elton John on every song.

Still, it seems contrary to this push for “environmental” or “immersive” entertainment that even the Palazzo’s cool hybrid venue, remodeled with cocktail tables as well as theater seats, can seem deathly calm until “Baz” or Clint Holmes take the stage. (The “pre-show” is something Cirque du Soleil and Terry Fator are really good at, but that’s another column for another day.)

But “Baz” was born in Los Angeles bars, and so was “Shotspeare,” new to an upstairs comedy club and lounge at Planet Hollywood, where it will make a three-month test run, Thursdays through Saturdays. It takes a recent wave of “fringe festival”-type efforts, such as “Evil Dead The Musical” and “50 Shades! The Parody,” to a new extreme.

Both the audience and the performers turn a compressed “Romeo and Juliet” into a twist on the old “Hi Bob” college drinking game. Shots will be easily obtainable as the troupe works the Cabaret Show Lounge before the actual play begins. An audience member recruited to join in even has to sign a waiver.

“So many of the places we’ve been, the drinking component of the show seems to make people afraid of it a little bit in other cities. But the Shakespeare stuff, they’re like, ‘Great. Love it,’ ” says Matthew Morgan, who heads the five-member troupe.

By contrast, “The interesting thing for me coming here is the drinking part is the easy part. Vegas is open to it. It’s the Shakespeare component that’s the part where (Morgan gets asked) ‘Will people come see a Shakespeare play?’ ”

He thinks they will, as long as they know “Romeo and Juliet” has been cut to 65 minutes, including an added sex scene. “Tragedies are always easier to make funny,” Morgan explains.

Morgan cackles when I tell him Las Vegas actors usually aren’t allowed to drink on stage even in Rat Pack tributes, which sub apple juice for bourbon (as Dino himself was rumored to do).

“We’ve all been doing it a long time. We’re all professionals. We all know our limitations,” he says. “There’s certainly not anyone passing out or throwing up on stage. Yet.”

But, he adds, “I love doing Shakespeare.” The drinking is more to “trick the audience into caring about these characters, (but) the story and the characters are of the utmost importance.”

The alcohol can even help “turn the corner into a real theatrical experience with the audience … . When you get a little drunk, you start to tap into some emotions.” …

Let’s extend today’s barroom talk to the announced closing of “Rock of Ages” at the Rio on Jan. 1, a year after the campy ’80s musical moved over from The Venetian. There it was in the true “Shotspeare” spirit, with guys in mullet wigs selling shots in the lobby and an entire casino lounge themed after the musical’s Bourbon Room to cross-promote the title all day.

At the Rio? Yeah, there was a bar in the back. But the pre-show energy seemed to have gone out of the room, apparently mirroring the show’s overall momentum. “Rock of Ages” has been closed on Broadway for more than a year, and the movie is a bad memory. There is no hard science to explain when or why a Broadway hit runs dry, but in this case you have to see the glass as half full: Four years in town is something to toast. …

Shifting Vegas vices from booze to buffets. It’s the latter that shouldn’t be overlooked in the announcement of impressionist Gordie Brown leaving the Golden Nugget on Nov. 27, after five years.

Brown’s act is solid and will always have a home somewhere. But what we’ll really miss is his ticket price. And that buffet. Mmm.

The impressionist was one of the last old-Vegas business models in town. The Nugget paid him a guarantee instead of renting him the room and, in turn, used his show as a marketing tool to drive casino traffic, just like the old days.

Instead of stamping a $90 face value on a ticket to get $45 at a half-price ticket booth, the Nugget offers one of the most amazing deals in town: buffet and show for $35 (before taxes and fees), or $50 for two people.

It’s rumored the Nugget will bring in a Broadway musical to replace Brown, though it will have to play on a single set and a small stage. So no “Jersey Boys” or “Rock of Ages,” but perhaps something like “Million Dollar Quartet,” which is leaving Harrah’s Las Vegas.

Whatever they pick, let’s hope they keep the buffet deal.

Read more from Mike Weatherford at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com and follow @Mikeweatherford on Twitter.