Eclectic Lineup

If you follow the signs to the Jersey Boys Theatre on Saturday, the trail will lead to construction walls and beams. Redirect yourself to Hall D for the Palazzo's grand-opening concert headlined by Diana Ross.

The Broadway hit "Jersey Boys" will anchor the Palazzo's entertainment, but you can't see it until April 4, when previews begin as a run-up to an opening night gala May 3. Tickets already are on sale, ranging from $65 to $135.

Saturday's concert does includes a sneak preview from the "Jersey Boys" cast, which performed a recent holiday engagement in San Francisco to tune up for Las Vegas. The eclectic bill also includes Seal, Venetian headliner Wayne Brady and actor Andy Garcia and his Cineson All-Stars, a Cuban big-band project stemming from Garcia's movie "The Lost City."

Brady is billed as host, but he says he is more an early performer, since he has to get from the concert to his own show, which starts at 9 p.m. But he mapped out his route, and he may even get to go back if the timing works out. "If I get a chance to introduce Miss Ross, then it's absolutely great."

Ross, 63, was part of the 30th class of artists to be honored by the Kennedy Center and the White House last month. The Supremes singer has been doing concerts, including one scheduled last weekend in Atlantic City, to promote last year's album "I Love You," her first since 1999.

The Palazzo also features Jay-Z's 40/40 club and an open lounge, Salute, with a stage for live bands. But the big attraction will be "Jersey Boys," the musical biography of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The show won four Tony Awards in 2006 and continues to clean up on tour and run at full capacity on Broadway.

"I hope this will work for us in Vegas. The breadth of interest or enthusiasm is wide, not narrow," says producer Michael David of Dodger Theatricals. "Men like this show. They don't feel like they're going to (see) singing and dancing on Broadway. They're pleased to go. It speaks their language."

Still, Broadway musicals have had mixed receptions on the Strip, so David is cautious in his optimism. For all he knows about the nuances of Las Vegas, "This is like doing it in Hungary for me," he says with a laugh. "We're going to see how all this works. ... More than anything, we don't want to screw it up."

Theater fans may be cheered to know the musical is breaking ranks with most Broadway-to-Vegas productions that trimmed down to 95 minutes or less.

A few minutes may be trimmed, but "I can safely say that 'Jersey Boys' in Vegas will have little perceptible difference from the show on Broadway. Every scene and every song will be there," David says.

As to the issue of an intermission, the producers will try a new approach: a six-minute break that falls between a full 15 minutes for "Mamma Mia!" and none at all in the other Broadway-to-Vegas musicals.

"We're gonna have fun with that break," David says. "You might see a clock up there on the stage. You might be able to buy a drink in the aisle if you want to."

But beyond nature's call, "We really feel, for the rhythm of the show, the audience needs to take a breath."

David and "Jersey Boys" director Des McAnuff -- whose credits include "The Who's Tommy" and the current "The Farnsworth Invention" -- also had input into the theater design. "We were able to effect, really thanks to (the Palazzo management), two or three things we felt would enhance the experience."

Most significantly, they successfully lobbied to downsize the house by about 500 seats from the original plan, for a more intimate 1,650 seats. They also pushed for the elimination of a center aisle and for the balcony to be closer to the stage.

David says all these are important for the story-driven production, which many critics compared to VH1's popular "Behind the Music" series. "Jersey Boys" doesn't redirect The Four Seasons hits in the manner of "Mamma Mia!," but tells the true story of "four blue-collar guys who dug themselves out of a place where they could have found themselves stuck," David says.

"This is another version of the American dream, and it's told from the position of the everyman."

David also credits the show's success to its cinematic pace -- "It doesn't start and stop; it just sort of goes" -- and the fact that the songs are performed outside of a "show tune" context.

The producer planned to be on hand for the Palazzo's weekend festivities and doesn't feel bad that the theater is still under construction.

"I think the hotel will have its celebration and get working on all cylinders. In the meantime, people are working hard to get us ready for our first performance in April. That feels to me like a pretty good way to do this, as opposed to doing it all at once."

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0288.