Strip headliner is again ready to put a spell on you
Marc Savard has an interesting profession. While most entertainers win over audiences, this showman makes them doze off.
Savard is a veteran comic hypnotist who took his show at V Theater at Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood off the boards more than five years ago. He made the call following a brief attempt at reopening in June 2021, after the live entertainment returned during the pandemic. But masks and social distancing are not conducive to the hypnotist’s craft.
Savard soon closed, leaving David Saxe Productions and performing on Royal Caribbean International. Las Vegas, his home, would have to wait.
Savard has finally returned to the Strip, reopening at Nathan Burton Theater inside the Flyover attraction, next to Hard Rock Cafe, across the boulevard from Park MGM. Burton, himself a former V Theater headliner, opened the venue two years ago. Savard returned Dec. 22.
In a quirk of timing, the Vegas Marc Savard resumed work on same day the OTHER Marc Savard, the former journeyman NHL player and current executive, was fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs. The two Savards are not related but friendly. The Vegas Savard is a huge Edmonton Oilers fan, having seen the team play in every NHL city over the past 40 years.
Like a hockey star returning to the ice, Savard says his return to a regular routine in has been smooth sailing. Or, skating, adhering to the metaphor.
“I guess it takes a little bit of time to get back in the groove, but the performance side of it is fine, because with a hypnosis show, you hypnotize people and they do all the work and I get all the credit,” says Savard, whose show . “So that part’s easy. But the whole feeling of working the production, the light and sound and LED wall, it’s not something I get to do often. That’s been an enjoyable process.”
That leaves Savard to hone his time-tested bits, enticing performers to sing a manic karaoke number, wear a “magic snake belt,” or pretend to suddenly lose a leg while dancing. In short, the nuts-and-bolts of a hypnotist’s stage show.
“My type of show needs participants, and everyone likes to play big crowds, but a juggler can walk onstage and juggle five balls for eight people,” Savard says. “I can’t do that. I need participants. I need about 50 people, but I like to be more on the 80-to-100 range, ideally.”
The theater seats about 180, with Savard playing 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Burton takes the 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. daily slots (additional noon shows are on Fridays-to-Sundays, dark Tuesdays-Thursdays).
Burton’s venue became an option just this year, and as a fluke. In March, Savard posted on social media that he was donating proceeds from a show to his daughter Renee’s Pre-Dental Society Program at UNLV. Savard was able to bridge (ha) the success of that show to a new home on the Strip.
“Nathan messaged me, and he said, ‘Are you out of retirement?’ And I said, ‘Nope!’” Savard laughs. “He said, ‘I see you’re doing shows. Why don’t you come down and see my theater?’”
Savard was equal parts persuaded and impressed.
“It’s a beautiful theater, just state of the art,” the hypnotist said. “Nathan hadn’t wanted to be a landlord, or work with anyone else, but it was a great compliment for him to want to bring me in. We have a 15-year history, we both came out of the V Theater and the Saxe Productions umbrella. We work very much the same, we’re both hustlers, wer’re boots on the ground, talking with ticket brokers to fill the room.”
Savard wants a heavier schedule. But putting a spell on ticket-buyers takes some time, especially for a performer whose images hasn’t been on a billboard, taxi-top or flyer for five years.
“As the demand grows, we’re going to add shows. Are we going to end up at six shows a week, you know, by mid February? Well, we’d love to think so,” Savard says. “But that’s probably not realistic. It takes a while for people to learn that you’re back, to re-introduce yourself, ‘Hi! I’m Marc Savard, I used to have a show!’ There is a re-education, and I’m reasonable about it. We’re back now, and that makes me happy.”
Cool Hang Alert
The Ramblers are Saturday, followed Sunday by Cheyenne Adams & The Dirty Business at The Underground at The Mob Museum. Love this little hideaway haunt. The Ramblers are a Prohibition-styled jazz band that leans into 1920s, performing ragtime, blues and early jazz (Fats Waller, Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong are sampled). Adams’ three-piece outfit opens up to that era, too, and she’s a mirth-some, fun-loving host.
Adams also claims to play the world’s tiniest trombone. We’ll give her that, as we’ve never seen one tinier.
The Underground entertainment runs 8 p.m.-midnight Fridays and Saturdays; 7-11 p.m. Sundays. Find the weekly password in The Underground’s Instagram stories for free admission to the speakeasy, located in the basement of The Mob Museum. It’s 21-over, because this is a working distillery.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
