MIKE WEATHERFORD: Irish revue steps up Strip action

The "Lord of the Dance" has magical powers, but are they strong enough to break
the losing streak of an under-performing theater?

Producer Bob Cayne will find out when "Lord of the Dance" returns to the Strip
for a limited run June 25 through Aug. 16, as a roommate to magician Steve
Wyrick at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood.

The Irish dance revue ran four years at New York-New York, from 1998 to
mid-2002, then at The Venetian until July 2003. It was created as a star vehicle
for retired dance sensation Michael Flatley, but sustained after he left it.

"The show has become an iconic brand," says Cayne, whose Las Vegas-based Global
Entertainment Group oversees both a U.S. and an international company on tour.
He compares the name recognition to titles such as "Cats" or "Les Miserables,"
and says he has never received a complaint about Flatley not performing.

Both casts are dormant this summer, so the troupe of about 36 will be drawn from
both companies.

That will be more people onstage than in some audiences for the Wyrick theater's
last tenant, Elvis impersonator Trent Carlini. Wyrick has hosted other
productions along with his magic show, but none lasted for any tenure.

"Lord of the Dance," however, was able to negotiate for a 7 p.m. time slot,
something no previous roommates have enjoyed.

With only 425 seats, "the profit margins are slim," Cayne acknowledges. But he
was taken with the theater design, in which the stage is proportionately
oversized to the seating area. ...

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