Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

What’s to come of the brightest stars of ‘Jubilee’?

The Strip’s Secret Spaces

Marios Ignadiou, head of the costume shop at “Jubilee!” at Bally’s, holds up a headpiece from the disco number Tuesday, June 11, 2013, at the long-running show.

‘Jubilee!’ Through the Years

Launch slideshow »

‘Jubilee!’ Showboy Costumes

A selection of male costumes from the show Jubilee is seen on display at the Nevada State Museum Friday, April 4, 2014. Launch slideshow »

To the millions who have seen “Jubilee” over its 34-year history, the costumes have been as much a part of the show as the performers. They are stars unto themselves, these grand garments, which boast such nicknames as Mohawk and Swirl. More than 8,000 miles of sequins have been used in this production, which boasts headpieces as high as 2 feet and costumes that weigh upward of 20 pounds.

And there is the famous claim that the worldwide shortage of Swarovski crystals in 1981 — when the show opened — was due to the high volume of such bling used in “Jubilee.”

The costumes are timeless and have been described as priceless, but their cost can be quantified. The crystal-encrusted tuxedoes worn by the men cost $10,000 apiece. Each costume worn by the women in the “Red Feather” show-closing scene cost $7,000, and at the show’s peak, 18 stagehands in the wardrobe department kept the “Jubilee” wardrobe in mint condition.

So with the closing of the production upon us, the epitaph written after the performance of Feb. 11, what happens to this wondrous wardrobe? The costumes and sets are property of host hotel Bally’s, and thus will be kept in a sort of production-show limbo.

According to Caesars Palace officials, the plan is for the costumes and sets to be stored in the underground fortress of the Jubilee Theater at Bally’s. There, they will await a possible resurrection onstage — but be kept out of the public eye.

This underground space is the area that was flooded and left thick with soot after the fire that raced through the MGM Grand on Nov. 21, 1980. That area, in what was then called the Ziegfeld Theater, was rare for the hotel in that it was equipped with a sprinkler system. Those overhead devices were activated during the fire and left a 3-foot pool of water in the 30-foot pit.

About 1,000 costumes had to be replaced. Those are the gowns, headpieces and tuxes — laden with provenance and crystals — worn onstage today.

The hope is that some of these costumes can be used in an upcoming production at the theater, which somehow advances the art of showgirl presentation in Las Vegas. But until then, there is no plan to display any of the costumes or sets.

Until such a show opens, the last time we’ll see Mohawk and Swirl and all of their dazzling contemporaries is Feb. 11. Make sure the final bow is extra long, covering 34 years, a famous fire and a worldwide dearth of crystals.

• Reports from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association indicate that Super Bowl weekend is another touchdown for Las Vegas (could not resist the gridiron metaphor there).

Even with 1,300 fewer hotel rooms offered across the greater Las Vegas area compared with a year ago, nearly 300,000 visitors were expected to hit the city during Super Bowl weekend.

The official number was about 296,000, comparable to last year’s reported total of a little more than 300,000, with a little less than $124 million in direct economic activity for the valley. The expected citywide hotel-room occupancy of 86.5 percent was slightly better (by 0.9 percent) than last year’s recorded number.

By comparison, 340,000 visitors hit the city for New Year’s Eve.

• The Mob Museum, one of our favorite places to send the family on visits to VegasVille, is celebrating its fourth anniversary Feb. 13-Feb. 14, with a preview of crime-scene evidence from the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. The new items include a first public display of the bullets removed from the bodies of the seven victims of Bugs Moran’s gang who were (allegedly) lined up and gunned down by Al Capone’s henchmen Feb. 14, 1929, in Chicago.

Other items are bullet fragments, shell casings, “test” bullets from the Tommy guns used in the assault, and the coroner’s documents and reports drafted by Dr. Calvin Goddard. His groundbreaking work in the field of ballistic science helped identify the weapons used in the murders.

A segment of the original wall and a video documentary outlining the events surrounding the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre were unveiled Feb. 14, 2012, the day the Mob Museum opened.

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