R.I.P. Broadway West: We Hardly Knew Ye

Here's this week's column from the Weekly. To hear more discussion of Gill's comments -- including the surprising show Gill believes to be among the most successful in town -- grab this week's episode of "The Strip," which also features a chat with Lance Burton as the magician prepares to return to work Friday at the Monte Carlo. Listen here or right-click here to download the file to hear whenever you want.

R.I.P. Broadway West: We Hardly Knew Ye
By STEVE FRIESS
It’s not as though this ought to come as much of a surprise, I know.
We all saw “Avenue Q” come and go, “Hairspray” come and go, “The Producers” come and go. We saw “Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular” cut back from 10 shows a week to eight. We knew that “Mamma Mia!” is in its final throes, even as it this month celebrated its fifth birthday, impressive by any Vegas measure. And we’ve all heard the rumors that “Spamalot” isn’t long for this street.
But that, my friends, is a far cry from the declaration made by the man most responsible for this decade's Broadway wave in Las Vegas, Michael Gill.
He’s the man with his finger most firmly on the pulse of the Vegas entertainment scene and he’s calling the body.
"If there ever was a Broadway West phenomenon, it’s done,” Gill told me this week. “Jersey Boys will be very successful. But that’s an anomaly and that's it. No casino I know is looking to bring another Broadway show here."

Read the rest HERE

BREAKING: "Producers" Closes Feb. 9

You heard it here first: "The Producers" will close Feb. 9. An announcement goes out later tonight.

This is not a surprise, seeing how Mel Brooks basically said as much in June on "The Strip" and in my interview for Newsweek. But the other bit of news is that Tony Danza, who has been playing Max Bialystock since late summer, will remain in the gig for the rest of the show's run.

It's unclear whether we can call this a failure if Brooks himself didn't expect it to be more than a one-year run. From what I understand, the show essentially broke even and brought healthy foot traffic into Paris Las Vegas.

With this show gone, we've still got "Spamalot," "Phantom," "Mamma Mia!," "Menopause" and the upcoming "Jersey Boys." But I suspect that the Broadway "experiment" is petering out, and I'm predicting "Spamalot" won't stick around through the end of 2008. (Wynn did say on "The Strip" in September that the royalties to Eric Idle and Mike Nichols eat deep into his profits.) It's hard to imagine what show anyone would go for now given the difficult recent history although the Billy Joel-scored "Movin' Out" certainly has potential for all of the "Mamma Mia!" and "Jersey Boys" reasons.

The News From Mel Brooks

OK! My interview is now online as a special edition and with a full transcript on TheStripPodcast.com. You can hear it here or right-click here to download it and listen to it whenever you want. (FYI, Brandon Flowers of "The Killers" is next week's guest.)

The Newsweek piece should be up by mid-day Friday, but here are some of the news highlights, some of which won't make it into that version because of space and will only be found via "The Strip" podcast:

* "Young Frankenstein": "Desperate Housewives" guest star Roger Bart will play Dr. Frankenstein, Christopher Fitzgerald is Igor, Cloris Leachman was not cast because she's too old and not because they were trying not to repeat any actors from the 1974 film. Andrea Martin will play Frau Brucher. The role of Elizabeth, small in the film, has been greatly expanded. The show will open around Halloween at the Hilton Theater. Brooks expects it to play Vegas eventually. There will be 17-18 songs, including "We're The Happiest Town in Town" and "There's Nothing Like The Brain." The workshop will take place in Seattle this summer.

* "The Producers" in Vegas: Brooks believes the show will close next March after one year. He also expects Tony Danza to replace Brad Oscar when Oscar leaves the cast later this year, which confirms a rumor reported by Norm Clarke in the R-J last month.

* Hasselhoff: Brooks says the management never knew about his drinking issues and denied Hasselhoff's daughter's videotaped warning that he could be fired from "The Producers."

* Personal: Brooks explained (for the first time that I've seen anywhere) that he goes by "Brooks" because the former Melvin Kaminsky was going to use his mother's less-Jewish maiden name, "Brookman" but it wouldn't fit on a set of drums he wanted to write it on, so he altered it to "Brooks."

As. Good. As. Advertised.

Just hung up with Mel. The interview was absolutely amazing. Tons of breaking news in there about the future of "The Producers" in Vegas and about the cast of "Young Frankenstein." Brilliant stuff. Gotta go write and edit audio and a few other things.

Mel Brooks - Today

I'm 40 mins away from my exclusive interview with Mel Brooks, which explains why I've been quiet on the blog the past day. I've been going over his two best films, "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles" as well as interviews with Terry Gross from NPR's "Fresh Air."

The results of this interview will include airing the audio by 11 pm PT tonight on this week's episode of "The Strip," posting a Q-and-A for Newsweek probably tomorrow and writing a long piece for next month's Vegas magazine.

I've fought hard (ok, begged hard) for many months for this opportunity; he gave no interviews that I know of to anyone in Vegas as "The Producers" debuted and spoke only at a 20-minute press conference. From what I gather, this may be one of his only interviews before the media blitz to open "Young Frankenstein," the musical adaptation of his film, which is expected to star "Will & Grace" alum Megan Mullally, "Desperate Housewives" and "The Producers" star Roger Bart and "Thoroughly Modern Millie" Tony winner Sutton Foster. I'm hoping to find out more about the rest of the cast, including who's playing the Gene Wilder character of Frederick Fronkensteen.

And, of course, any insight into hamburger-eater David Hasselhoff, formerly of the Vegas company of "The Producers."

Wish me luck.

This week on "The Strip"

This week's upcoming podcast to post Thursday features a terrific interview with "The Producers" star Brad Oscar, who was nominated for a Tony as the original pigeon-obsessed Nazi playwright, then took over for Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock and reprised that role in London and now here. David Hasselhoff is departing the Vegas production this week, so we ask Oscar about the changes afoot.

Coming up in the next few weeks: Brandon Flowers from The Killers, master chef Joel Robuchon and Pamela Anderson. Not necessarily in that order.

Join us online to listen in and chat with fellow fans as we record the show live on the Internet Tuesday night from 7-8 pm at LVRocks.Com.

Plus, don't miss the current show with a very relaxed and insightful Paul Anka. And go back and listen to our Hasselhoff chat from December.