As you all know, David Hasselhoff has been appearing in the streamlined Las Vegas production of The Producers. Though he plays Roger Elizabeth DeBris, the cross-dressing director, Hasselhoff is being billed as the star and his is the only name or image on most of the billboards. To the surprise of many, he's leaving the play in early May, earlier than expected, because of the demands of his "day job," the America's Got Talent TV show. He'll be replaced on May 7 by Lee Roy Reams, who's been playing the role in the Broadway production, which conveniently closes on April 22.
This bit about America's Got Talent probably sounds a little suspicious to some. I mean, Hasselhoff signed for the The Producers knowing full well that his series would need him around this time. How did that schedule not get properly coordinated? I have no inside info here but the obvious (perhaps erroneous) assumption is that it's a cover story to get him out of the show because…well, maybe its producers no longer want him because they don't think its grosses justify his superstar salary. Or maybe he's not happy in the job for some reason.
Or maybe the schedules just weren't as easy to juggle as someone once thought. You never know. Sometimes, someone in show business actually quits a great job "to spend more time with the family" because they want to spend more time with the family.
Right now, the question is what this will mean for The Producers. I have no idea how good Mr. Hasselhoff is in the part but I doubt those who buy tickets will have any less of a time. Reams is a wonderful performer. He was in the first Broadway show I ever saw on Broadway and I saw him do The Producers with Jason Alexander and Martin Short, and he was splendid in both.
The question is how many people are buying tickets. Unlike shows in New York where the grosses are a matter of public record, no one on the outside seems too sure how The Producers is faring at the Paris hotel in Vegas. Anecdotal evidence does not suggest a huge hit but in Vegas, with all the comps and discounts and freebees, it's sometimes hard to tell. Certainly though, the substitution won't help ticket sales. Reams is a great performer but he's not a "name" the way Hasselhoff is a "name." The producers of The Producers obviously thought they needed a star in the show in order to sell tickets and now they ain't got one.
(Or have they? Tony Danza, who recently played Max Bialystock in New York for a while, recently visited the Vegas production. That certainly fuels the rumor mill. Danza is a "name" and while he apparently didn't boost sales in Manhattan, the folks behind The Producers might figure he would in Vegas. And he might be a lot cheaper than David Hasselhoff.)
Why all this matters is that a few years ago, there was a very real belief out there that Las Vegas would become a serious venue for theater, possibly even to the point of challenging Broadway for that honor. Given the finances and facilities of the town, it seemed plausible if — and it's a Big If — Vegas audiences were interested in seeing book musicals there. Then a couple of shows flopped — most notably, Avenue Q, which should never have been booked there in the first place — and lately, theater in that town is kind of on probation. It's too early to tell if the current productions of The Producers, Phantom and Spamalot will prove that musicals can make a go of it amidst the casinos…but a failure by any of the three would not bode well for the future. In fact, if all three fail, it'll probably be a long time before Vegas sees another musical. I mean, if those shows can't attract an audience, what could?