Las Vegas Spotlight: February 2008

On February 20, Bette Midler begins her scheduled two-year reign over Caesars Palace in The Showgirl Must Go On. As always, the Divine Miss M will be entertaining her fans with lots of songs, laughs, and dancing. In the words of the lady herself, “Get ready Vegas ’cause here I come! Caesars Palace will never be the same and to all those critics who have accused me of being ‘tacky,’ ‘too much’ and ‘over the top’ I say, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!”

Elsewhere around Sin City, William Inge’s Come Back, Little Sheba (February 8-17) is on the mainstage at UNLV this month. This classic drama is about a marriage that becomes troubled when a college student moves in with the couple. Meanwhile in the Black Box Theatre is The Australia Project (February 21-24), a joint venture from the Dance and Theatre departments. Later, the Black Box will host Oscar F. Limon’s Freedom Deck (February 28-March 2), a romantic comedy set on a gay cruise ship bound for Hawaii.

Opening on Valentine’s Day is the unconventional romance Same Time, Next Year (February 14-23), produced by Good Medicine Theatre Company. The Bernard Slade-penned comedy stars Ginger McCann and Chris Mayse as two people, married to others, who spend a weekend together at a country inn once a year over the course of 25 years. And there’s even more romance this month over at the College of Southern Nevada, where the USF Touring Group will be putting on Shakespeare’s tragic love story, Romeo & Juliet (February 8-9).

In anticipation of baseball season, Las Vegas Little Theatre presents Bleacher Bums (February 15-March 2), a 1977 play conceived by actor Joe Mantegna and written by the Organic Theatre Company. The sporting comedy is about an eccentric group of dedicated Chicago Cubs fans and their antics during the course of one game. Playing the bleacher bums are Jaqueline Fayeighi, Mario Mendez, Jim Williams, Scott Miller, Eric Carlson, Will Klundt, Kyle Jones, and Amanda Stuart-Heaney.