Moreno’s great audition ends its run at Planet Hollywood

By John Katsilometes

Saturday, July 2, 2016 | 5:12 p.m.

In his penultimate sendoff show at Planet Hollywood Showroom on Friday night, Frankie Moreno clasped a glass of Crown Royal over ice and said, “This is a new Las Vegas show …”

Ooof. There was hearty laughter, loud and somewhat sarcastic, from Moreno’s crowd. We were 30 shows into a 31-and-out run at Planet Hollywood.

“I’d say tell your friends to see this show,” Moreno later said, “but unless they are coming tomorrow night, forget it.”

Ending Saturday evening, “Under the Influence” will be remembered as the grandiose attempt to make a national star out of a multifaceted Las Vegas entertainer.

In this show, Moreno did everything required. He came with a vision of knitting his own material with familiar covers, showing off his ample songwriting skills alongside the classics that inspired them. He advanced the show with movement, his own and that of his band, relying on his life and creative partner, Lacey Schwimmer, to bring fluidity to the stage. Schwimmer showed why she enjoyed the rarefied air of performance as a pro dancer on “Dancing With the Stars” by dancing in the show.

The show came off like a vehicle loaded with extras. It was like the Batmobile of productions, lights flashing, smoke emanating from the stage, LED panels blowing up with Moreno’s image, vintage Vegas signs, even cathedral settings during “Eleanor Rigby.” And his band of musicians who had to learn refashioned versions of about 500 songs during Moreno’s run at Cabaret Jazz showed they have collectively grown into a tight and versatile unit. Moreno himself won over audiences by playing an array of instruments (including mandolin and harmonica), and reminded again of his peerless piano virtuosity.

So this is a review of a show destined to succeed. Why didn’t it?

Poor planning, and a serious misread of the Las Vegas market.

Having seen Moreno perform more times than I can count over nearly 10 years, I can make the educated assertion that any show with him at the front is going to be well-received — and also take a while to seriously take hold. His followers have chased him all over the city, from the Armadillo Bar at Stratosphere to Shimmer Cabaret, South Point Showroom, the pools at Green Valley Ranch Planet Hollywood (yes, he was there for a time early in his career), Rush Lounge, the Lounge at the Palms, Stratosphere and Cabaret Jazz.

The long and winding road has proved Moreno’s dexterity, but also forged a somewhat nomadic image. The Planet Hollywood run was to nail him to a stage, long-term, halting his hopscotching ever since his run at Stratosphere ended in November 2014. Selling tickets in the Planet Hollywood Showroom is not easy; a host of productions have cratered in about the same time as “Under the Influence” flamed out (“Sydney After Dark” and “Surf The Musical” are two ill-fated examples, though both shows had some lethal structural and marketing issues).

But “Under the Influence’s” early challenges were expected. The Moreno ad campaign from producers Base Entertainment was evidence enough: “A Vegas Legend in the Making.” You don't make a legend in two weeks — but that is how long it took Base to issue its four-week “out” clause in Moreno’s contract, as we learned this week.

That two-week timeline matches perfectly the murmurs I had heard that Moreno’s show was expected to close when it was cut from five shows to two. Even so, Moreno’s team and Base officials had agreed to try to recruit new investors to the show to keep it onstage and, hopefully, start filling the room with ticket-buyers.

But if my gauge of Moreno’s marketability is even close to accurate, and I believe it is, there is no reasonable level of ticket sales in that room that would have kept the show profitable. It would have likely taken about 600 sold per night, from the start. No. Not in today’s Las Vegas, not for a new show with a star in the making steering the production. Developing anything close to that number would take several months, and Moreno was consistently talking of a six-month strategy to properly market the show and introduce his name — and talent — to the uninitiated.

Instead, the plug was effectively yanked two weeks in. The Base explanation was that the show “was unable to draw the level of audience required for an ongoing residency.”

But again, Moreno’s show was going to need months to consistency draw the level of audience required for an ongoing residency. A show’s initial investment — and Moreno’s production cost millions — has to account for a period of financial losses before ticket-buyers find the show. Anyone who felt “Under the Influence” was going to turn a profit within two weeks was smoking something.

Last weekend, I hit Moreno’s show with Clint Holmes and the producer of his “Between the Lines” show at Palazzo Theater, Best Agency CEO Ken Henderson. Holmes, a strong supporter and close friend of Moreno's, watched Moreno tear it up, and often shook his head in frustration that the show was about to close. Holmes reiterated a story he’s told me before:

During the early weeks of his run at Harrah’s, back in 2000, Holmes’ audiences were often so sparse he was concerned he might be an “early out” at the resort. But hotel officials cooled his concerns by telling him to keep doing what he was doing. It took a few months for Holmes’ show to turn the corner, but it did and ran for more than six years.

Times have changed in Vegas, certainly, with more shows of all variety and costs all along the Strip. But the idea of giving a show ample time to succeed has not. Moreno is now on a scouting mission for new venues, and he’ll find one among the many suitors who tried to make a deal prior to his signing at Planet Hollywood. His showmanship has impressed audiences at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, the Smith Center and even the Paris Metro. All the big places.

As Moreno told his audience Friday, “We’re going to be back at a different place. I’m still going to be doing this, because I don’t know how to do anything else.” The crowd cheered that comment.

The greats, they do survive. Moreno is one of those. He’ll one day look at his dalliance at Planet Hollywood as a very expensive audition, and a lesson learned.