Las Vegas Weekly

May 14, 2009 · 12:02 PM

Quick blasts: Change in the air as ‘Menopause’ moving to Luxor

By John Katsilometes

From left, Queen Emily plays "Professional Woman," Paige O'Hara plays "Soap Star," Cheryl Spencer plays "Earth Mother" and Marsha Waterbury plays "Iowa Housewife" in "Menopause the Musical" at the Las Vegas Hilton on Monday, March 2, 2009.

Photo: Leila Navidi

The best little production show you've not seen -- and I know I haven't seen it -- "Menopause the Musical" is moving to the Luxor's Atrium Showroom beginning May 26. I know, it's not the first time visitors to the Luxor have gone through the change (ba-dum-bum), and this show should serve as a balance to the Luxor's entertainment lineup, which features "Believe," Carrot Top and the adult-themed "Fantasy." The show logged more than 1,500 performances in three years at the Hilton, making me wonder, how the hell have I not seen this, yet made it to "Believe"?

Tickets go on sale Friday at the Luxor box office and are $49.95. Give 'em a $50, and tell 'em to keep the change, and hey-OH! I'll stop now.

Four on the floor

They sound like Motown. They look like the Four Seasons. They are Human Nature, the Australian quartet presented by Smokey Robinson, which just signed to a one-year deal at Imperial Palace. The show's official title is "Smokey Robinson Presents Australia's Human Nature," but maybe they should call it "Detroit Boys," as the cast so resembles the stars of "Jersey Boys" at The Venetian. Regardless, hotel President Don Marrandino says he has a winner with the show supplanting "Legends in Concert," which has since moved to another Harrah's property, conveniently Harrah's. I've learned not to argue a show's prospects with Marrandino, who usually hits the target with his entertainment decisions. "I do see the comparison (with "Jersey Boys")," he said during a news conference/mini-concert announcing the show's residency at the I.P. showroom. "But I think Motown music has a wider appeal. I know all these songs. They don't sing anything I haven't heard of." In fine voice are Human Nature members Toby Allen, Phil Burton, Andrew Tierney and Michael Tierney, who simply belt out the greatest hits of Motown while donning early-1960's styled suits.

The show begins May 23, fast-tracked to launch in just 10 days, but the key time frame is six months from now. That's when Marrandino will decide if the Aussie crew, backed by the coolest guy in any room (that'd be Smokey) will have earned a longer stay. Same as the way he approached Donny & Marie at the Flamingo, actually.

Murray dance studio

Long ago, I covered rodeos in Red Bluff and Redding, Calif. Fittingly, they were called the Red Bluff Round-Up and Redding Rodeo. Remember Lane Frost and his famous series of rides on the legendary bull Red Rock? The first time Red Rock was taken to eight seconds was in Redding (the film "8 Seconds" moved that scene to Vegas, because, believe me, Las Vegas is more theatrical than Redding). One year, in Red Bluff, I interviewed Ty Murray. We were to meet in a double-wide behind the chutes at the Red Bluff rodeo arena. There were about a dozen cowboys in the room as I waited for Murray, and when the rodeo icon walked in, he announced, "Hello, girls." I loved that. There were no women in the room, but Murray was sort of letting the crew know that the man had arrived.

Given that memory, I never expected to be writing that Ty Murray has been eliminated from "Dancing With the Stars." Same Ty Murray, married to Jewel these days. It's been quite a ride for this cowboy.

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