Edgy acts, ‘best steak in Vegas’ on Spiegelworld’s menu

Mollison, founder of Spiegelworld and the celebrated Impressario Extraordinaire, is referring to “The Party” at The Cosmopolitan. This is the cozy dinner show that abuts Superfrico, in the narrow arterial between the restaurant and the former “OPM” theater.

The dinner show runs from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, $150 per person. This month is sold out. August is filling up.

The experience opened last week and is open-ended, a celebration of the inventive side acts for which Spiegelworld is famous, toggling with fine dining.

If you want branzino piccata with a side of bubble artistry from Denis Lock, “The Dinner Show” is for you. Manic plate-spinner Gypsy Wood races around the dining room as you enjoy a dessert of tiramisu or seasonal gelato.

The shenanigans are hosted by frequent Spiegelworld collaborator Laurie Hagen. A favorite of London, Berlin and Paris, Hagen seems to satirize the more freewheeling moments of Judy Garland.

Most of the acts are familiar — Lock and Wood are veteran Spiegelworld artists — but instill a creatively nervous energy at close quarters. For all of its impressive architecture, Spiegelworld does not favor the fourth wall.

“The Party” offers more than roving entertainment, of course. Mollison has almost incidentally become a pugnacious culinary figure, with the successful Superfrico at The Cosmo, distinctive Diner Ross at The Linq Hotel, and Green Fairy Garden (with its signature No Pants Burger) at “Absinthe” at Caesars Palace.

He risks hyperbole when saying, “We have the best steak in Vegas, and we’re not a steakhouse. But the New York strip in that restaurant is better than any in Vegas, anywhere.” He pauses, adding, “That’s a big claim! A big claim! Haha!”

The art of Mark Ogge, Spiegelworld’s artist of record, and his Circus Automaton piece — a specially commissioned, mechanical theater — are featured throughout.

At The Cosmo, Mollison’s company now controls most of the second-floor entertainment hospitality venue with The Ski Lodge tavern and The Reliquary hideaway room, where Hagen entertains select guests. The room is outfitted with a bathtub of ice, and the former control panel of the OPM 73 spacecraft, and the Falzone Family Circus sign from the company’s Burning Man tent show.

The theater next door to “The Dinner Show” is vacant. Mollison says he hasn’t had any serious talks about what to put in the space, owned by MGM Resorts International. Cirque du Soleil officials have said they’re up for designing a show in the space, which would create an odd neighborhood of Spiegelworld and Cirque sharing a wall with unalike production.

“We’re just playing with a few ideas, but we haven’t talked about expanding the other room yet,” Mollison says. “We’ll see if MGM thinks it is a good idea, down the track.”

For now, Spiegelworld has a small, smart success story building in what the company calls “Superfrico Royale.”

“With this small footprint, we only need to sell 40 tickets a week in advance, which is insane,” Mollison says. “This show could be like the Magic Pudding in that space.”

The reference is to the character in the century-old children’s novel that keeps reforming, to be eaten again. “The Party” is a simple idea with a lot of hard work and ingenuity behind it. Eat it up, and come back for seconds.

Dark goes ‘Disco’

Spiegelworld is taking down “DiscoShow” at The Linq through Aug. 6. to work on the Glitter Loft’s LED rigging, and to shuffle its cast.

Ticket sales were in the red for the upcoming month, though more than 350 turned out for Saturday’s show, on what was the last night before the production returns in August.

“We looked at the audiences, what we’re going to get during July, and I said, ‘Well, if we, you know, I think we might lose some money for those weeks. What if we use that as an opportunity to retool some of it?’ ” Mollison says. “We’re going to do some rehearsals. We’ve got some choreography happening. We’ve got a big cast change happening as well. This is the end of a contract period, so we’re going to be using that as an opportunity to look at some of the roles that we have in the show.”

There has been speculation that “DiscoShow” would be going dark permanently. But it plans to celebrate its year anniversary in September. The map of “DiscoShow” is similar to the Superfrico space at The Cosmo, with several enclaves in an interlocking experience. Diner Ross, the 99 Prince bar and Glitterloft club are all symmetrical venues.

“We’ve got so many things that we want to do in that space to keep the growth of that show going, and the growth of the restaurant and growth of the Glitterloft and 99 Prince,” Mollison says. “There has been an enormous shift in consumer behavior in that show. I’m optimistic that it’s maybe the first attempt of a new way of entertaining people who come to Vegas, who are maybe not going to a nightclub anymore. But they still want to have a bit of a blast. We want to find that market.”