'Girls Night' At Studio 54 Las Vegas; Will The Producer's Wish Be Fulfilled?

In May, 2007, Girls Night: The Musical had its American premiere at in Scottsdale. Since then, it's toured successfully in the UK and the US. It is now running off-Broadway, at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and the Seminole Hard Rock in Florida. Tim Flaherty (photo left), owner of Entertainment Events, Inc., the producer of the show, was very excited to bring it to Las Vegas and, specifically, to the MGM Grand, located on what he calls "the best real estate in Las Vegas."

The production was originally supposed to run for a week at the MGM's Hollywood Theatre. Then, the scheduled entertainment bailed and left an additional two weeks open for Girls Night. Sharing the stage with dance troupe Jabberwokeez, Flaherty requested a change of venue and the show was moved to Studio 54, playing at 7:30 — finished in plenty of time for the club's 10 pm opening. He is hoping it will become a permanent resident there. If so, he says, "I'll probably put out audition notices locally."

Girls Night: The Musical is the story of five friends who reliving their past in a night on the town to celebrate the engagement of one of their daughters. The daughter is Sharon's (Priscilla Fernandez). She, however, died when the child was little and attends to party wearing her wings. No one can see or hear her — except the audience — but that does not prevent her from being all over the theater, talking and singing louder than any of those still living. The still-living are Liza (Sonya Carter), who isn't very happily married, Carol (Debra Toscans) who isn't very happily divorced; Anita (Deb Radloff) is known for her willingness to say whatever she wants to say and Kate (Kira Galindo), the designated driver in the bunch.

They go to a karaoke bar where the 1980s are alive and thriving. They sing I Will Survive, It's Raining Men, Girls Just Want To Have Fun and others of that ilk. Of course, as the saying goes, in vino veritas, leading to some revelations and lots of frank talk. The cast is talented. They are refreshingly average in appearance. Thus, it's easy for the (mostly) women in the audience to relate. They do engage much of the audience in singing and dancing along.

Studio 54 seats relatively few people (maybe, 200) when compared with the original venue (733 seats). It is intimate so the audience is thisclose to the stage. There are, however, two drawbacks to the venue. First, except for the $99 front row seats, there's nothing reserved. It's first-come, first-served. When we arrived just before curtain the only seats were on the side and the sight lines were awful, so we stood in the back. (By the way, that wasn't a hardship...I've put in lots of time with standing room tickets on Broadway.) If you are going, you should plan not to get there at the last minute.

The second drawback is the sound.The system there was, quite naturally, built for a club. It is very loud and the clarity isn't wonderful. Someone remarked that even when she knew the words to the songs, it wasn't easy to follow them.

Flaherty was thrilled with the move to Studio 54.  He says, " The club has such an iconic history. There are great photos there, likeJohn Travolta and Kelly Preston who posed in front of their photo taken at the original Studio 54 in the 70s. And," he added, "with a ticket to the show, you get to stay in Studio 54. That fee is otherwise $50."

He notes, "This model can work in any club. Las Vegas is a very different market, unlike any other. There's no such thing as building an advance. You have to play there, settle in and make a name for yourself."

Clearly, he's hoping to do this. And, since Chippendales and Thunder From Down Under are the only shows that specifically seek a female audience and they are very different from this show. Girls Night: The Musical seems to be a natural — Flaherty says the audience is "99 percent female" — it's a natural to market to women. In addtion, he says that "we average six people per ticket order outside of Las Vegas. The average is normally 2.7 tickets per order."

There is a niche in Las Vegas entertainment for Girls Night: The Musical. It'll be interesting to see if the powers-that-be in entertainment here believe it can thrive in that niche.

Tickets for Girls Night: The Musical at Studio 54 are available in person or by phone, 702-891-1111 or 1-877-660-0660.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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