When you've been in Vegas a while,
either as a resident or a frequent guest, you begin to get the itch
for a new show. Is it so much to ask for something fresh? Something
different? Sure, there are plenty of nights where it seems like it
might be nice to sneak off to watch the flippedy, floopedy exploits
of French acrobats, but sure as hell not every night, and it
seems like that's all Vegas has to offer these days.
Happily, everything old is new again,
and nestled in the drunken wonderland that is Planet Hollywood's
Miracle Mile is The Awesome 80's Prom, a new show hoping to help
revitalize the Strip's otherwise tiring tirade of failed comedians
and aged strippers. Its a different kind of evening's entertainment,
a perfect, light-hearted, jubilant show, that you can either take
your kids to or get drunk at, your pick (maybe both?), and enjoy
yourself either way.
You might know a couple of the names
attached to the Prom, Sirc Michaels, Producer of the infamous and
awesome Evil Dead: The Musical (also running at Planet Hollywood),
and Ken Davenport, who has been directing another rendition of the
show, successfully running in New York for 8 years now. But even if
you know the names you might not know exactly what Awesome 80's Prom
is...
Get your tickets taken at the door by
the prom committee head and the school's principal, head up the
stairs and through the time tunnel, and you'll pop out the other side
in 1989. There, you'll attend Wanaget High's senior prom, traveling
back to your high school days. The actors themselves portray your
classmates, and everyone is there: the jock, the nerd, the princess,
the spaz, all of them anxious to see you, to dance with you to
classic 80's pop music, and to live out all of their fun, their
drama, the sheer madness of their Senior Year with you.
Awesome 80's Prom is, then, an
interactive show, where you don't just sit and watch, but you live
the experience with everyone around you. You drink, you dance, you
meet your classmates and become enamored with them as they play out
their last night before the harrowing, soul-rending experience that
is adulthood mars them forever. You yourself become a character in
the play, as twenty talented performers make it their goal to
entertain you, their new friend.
So now you know what the show is but,
all hyperbole aside, how's the show? This blog doesn't normally cover
Vegas shows, but has made exceptions for Rocky Horror Live! and Evil
Dead, and now here's the third. This is a pretty great, and very
original show. The actors are all very charming in their parts;
Nicole Unger and Jennie Carroll also appear in Evil Dead, and Maxim
Lardent was recently the star of Dick Johnson: Private Eye. The other
cast members, though I don't know them by name, are all familiar
faces from off-strip productions, but here they lend themselves
totally to their characters, all mugging and improvising their way
through the night. What's impressive is that all of them have their
own lives and backstories made up, and when I pressed them for
details, they told me of their plans after High School, career goals,
personal heroes, and all the little goals that made the characters
seem alive, and the show feel immersive. … well, maybe not
Carroll's Swedish exchange student. She was more concerned with
seducing me into becoming her new host family... but somehow I'll
forgive her that.
The characters live in an endless cycle of prom parties, with 80's soundtrack blasting on forever, movie and political references from the time bouncing around the show, and homages to all of our favorite moments from what was, surely, mankind's finest 10-year run. Every few minutes, new events fire off on the stage, including, just maybe, some song and dance from a celebrity mystery guest or two. It is, after all, billed as the greatest prom of all time.
Obviously, the show is a lot of fun,
BUT there is one caveat that I offer before you go in, and that is
that you CAN'T BE A WALLFLOWER! And I say that knowing full well that
I'm a giant hypocrite, because I absolutely did not want to dance
when I got in there. But, much like the real prom, there are two
kinds of people in this room: those who sat along the wall, watching
people have fun, and those who got out of the floor and talked to
people and danced and drank and basically made it into a night they
remembered for the rest of their lives. So I suggest that you go, you
grab a date (its an absolutely perfect date show), get in your best
80's attire, down a couple of stiff drinks at the bar, get in
character, and go have the best damn prom of your life.
And, just like the real prom, hey,
maybe you'll get lucky afterward. Prom is magic like that.
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