Las Vegas Weekly

December 31, 2008 · 11:10 AM

It’s final curtain for three Las Vegas shows

By Robin Leach

Vicki Van Tassel (left), distinctively costumed with Carol Linnea Johnson and Robin Baxter, in Mamma Mia! at Mandalay Bay.

Photo: Joan Marcus

It’s time to say a fond farewell! This Sunday marks the end of not one but three musicals on the Strip. One is a long-running hit, the other is a newcomer, and the last is one that might well reopen within a few days!

Here’s the breakdown:

After nearly six years and more than 2,200 performances to 2 million ticket-buyers, the ABBA-based musical Mamma Mia! ends its run at Mandalay Bay. It was back on Feb. 13, 2003, that the show with the unforgettable musical score of ABBA hits premiered. This summer, Mamma Mia! even became a feature-film hit with Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan, and the DVD has become a No. 1 hit across the globe. To this day, the Mamma Mia! franchise has grossed more than $2 billion at the worldwide box office and has been seen by more than 32 million people throughout the world, with more productions playing globally than any other current Broadway musical. The final performance starts at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, and we’ll be there to witness the closing and then join the 30-strong-cast after-party celebration! We have a special interview planned with lead actress Carol Linnea Johnson, who with Robin Baxter and Vicki Van Tassel has been with the show the past three years, for our Monday morning coverage. Walt Disney’s The Lion King takes over and opens in April after a theater redesign is completed.

Stomp Out Loud is about to be swept away from Planet Hollywood.

Stomp Out Loud enjoyed a 22-month run with just over 600 performances at Planet Hollywood. Its Vegas cast entertained at the NBA all-star game, the Latin Grammy Awards and the Professional Bull Riders World Finals and appeared on America’s Got Talent and Planet Green’s Battleground Earth. “The producers determined that in light of the current global economic landscape, it’s in the show’s best interest to close during the traditionally slow winter and pursue another more intimate venue elsewhere on the Strip,” said BASE Entertainment’s Scott Zeiger. Vegas DeLuxe believes that the show will reopen at the Sahara in the near future.

Fuego Raw Talent Live at the Sahara.

It’s at the Sahara that creator and producer Nicole Durr will bring down the curtain of her ambitious music and dance extravaganza Raw Talent Live, also on Sunday night. She promises an adrenaline-packed finale and afterwards will announce her exciting new plans for the cast. Vegas Deluxe believes she will divide the acts into a series of cabaret performances for her new multimillion-dollar nightclub planned to open this spring at the Palazzo. We’ll have that announcement right here, also on Monday morning.

— From Vegas Deluxe

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