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Jan. 16, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

'Folies' to end a 49-year LV run

Strip revue helped craft city's image

By MIKE WEATHERFORD
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Slideshow


A showgirl performs in "Folies Bergere" at the Tropicana on Thursday. The Tropicana announced Thursday that the iconic show will end its 49-year run on March 28.
Photo by K.M. Cannon

"Folies Bergere," the longest-running show on the Strip and one that helped make feathered showgirls the image of Las Vegas, will close March 28 after 49 years.

The Tropicana revue is giving way to another production, but hotel officials said they don't have a signed contract and so aren't ready to announce the title. The "Folies" closing was announced to give 60 days notice to about 80 performers and stagehands, said Tropicana spokeswoman Brittany Markarian.

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    • Hotel president Ron Thacker did not comment beyond an official statement noting the revue's "amazing and unprecedented run." But it's likely the Tropicana, whose parent company is trying to reorganize and restructure $3 billion in debt, sought to move from employer to landlord.

    "Folies," along with Bally's "Jubilee!," is one of the last "in-house" productions, in which cast and crew are direct employees of the casino. Most casinos now contract with outside producers who foot production expenses and pay cast members. Markarian said this will be the arrangement for the new show.

    The Tropicana long ago assumed rights to the "Folies Bergere" name, which belongs to a historic Paris theater that still is in operation but no longer has a showgirl revue. Farming out both the name and financial risk to an outside producer was a third option, but "as far as I know there wasn't any talk of that," Markarian said.

    "It's just sad that they have to do away with history and kind of a Las Vegas icon," said a longtime cast member, who asked that her name be withheld for fear of early termination. The cast was informed after Wednesday's show. But some already had suspicions because their current contracts expire Jan. 24, and they usually get new contracts a month before.

    "It's kind of like hearing your childhood home has been sold," said Lance Burton, the Monte Carlo magician who was one of the "Folies" specialty acts from 1982 until 1991, when he left to open his own show.

    The show has a long reach in Las Vegas. Alumni range from Siegfried & Roy to Vassili Sulich and Nancy Houssels, who started what became Nevada Ballet Theatre using show dancers with classical training.

    "Folies" wasn't the first French showgirl revue. It opened on Christmas Day of 1959, a year and a half after the Stardust debuted with "Lido de Paris" in July 1958. Neither was the first to bare a female breast on the Strip; that honor went to a Minsky's burlesque in 1957. But the showgirl concept was still so new to the United States that United Press International writer Vernon Scott had to explain: "The so-called 'nude show girls' do not disrobe on stage -- they walk out on stage in spectacular skirts and headgear, and that's about it."

    Producer Lou Walters (father of Barbara Walters) imported the revue in the wake of the Lido's runaway success, after the interim move of surrounding Jayne Mansfield with Parisian-style production numbers at the Tropicana. The costume budget for the original "Folies" was an estimated $100,000.

    "Folies" eventually came under the creative control of Los Angeles producer Jerry Jackson, who started with the show in 1966 and took over as director in 1975. In its heyday, the revue was updated every year or two. But it went into a long period of creative limbo from 1983 to 1997, ultimately neglected by management indecision, turnover and ownership changes at the hotel.

    Jackson added a new 15-minute finale in 2001. In 2006, then-entertainment director Ari Levin reshuffled and rewrote the revue without spending any significant new money, restoring its signature cancan sequence.

    "The 'Folies' opened before I was born," said Burton, who was born four months later. "It is kind of surprising because that really is the end of an era." And no show is likely to surpass its track record. "Lido" closed in 1991 after 32 years, and "Jubilee!," which opened in 1981, would have to stay open until 2030 to surpass it.

    Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.

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    Linda wrote on January 19, 2009 10:58 AM: I too worked "behind the scenes" for 10 fun years, But, that was when Las Vega shows had class....with the orchestras and dinners with wine (in glasses). Those were the days! I am happy to be part of what is part of Las Vegas' history. I was surprised it was here for this long. It's time for change, but who knows....it might come back in the future when they want some nostalgic change. :o)


    P. wrote on January 19, 2009 09:03 AM: loved the show--gonna miss it


    Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on January 16, 2009 09:38 PM: Replace Folies with a Fair and Balanced, Jerry Springer type extravaganza with nightly mud wrestling matches between Marfan syndrome Ann Coulter types and West Virginia hillbillies.

    That'll draw the crowds!


    A Jerry Jackson dancer wrote on January 16, 2009 08:13 PM: I was in the Folies for years myself and I am sad to see it go, but all great things must come to an end and we had a great run. I feel so blessed to have been a part of such a great Vegas Icon and I know that "Folies Bergere" will live on in all of our hearts and will never be forgotten. I applaud the Tropicana for believing in the Folies for so long and for keeping it alive for this long and for giving a title of "the longest running Vegas show" that will probably never be surpassed. Jerry we love you and appreciate you more than you will ever know. Thank you Tropicana for housing such a wonderful show.


    Dave wrote on January 16, 2009 01:24 PM: The Folies should have packed up and left that dump called the Tropicana years ago. I hope some casino has the smarts to bring them on board - there is always room in Las Vegas for the traditional showgirl with long legs!


    Tom, Burbank wrote on January 16, 2009 10:41 AM: Sad news. Folies was the second feathers and rhinestone revue I saw as a young visitor to Las Vegas. Lido de Paris was the first. Lance Burton was the feature act (and very strange with the way he would look into the audience members' eyes, challenging, nay - daring us to not be amazed.). I've seen tne show a few times since, most recently about 18 months ago. I felt it had reached a creative low point and came across very amateurish. I applaud them for the desire to update the show, but regret they chose to go in a more "street" direction instead of honoring their tradition and challenging the scale and class of Jubilee! for some Las Vegas pizazz. This is a sad commentary on the troubled Tropicana, a once true Lady of the Strip who's been allowed to wallow in the memory of lost glamour, a backward looking Miss Havisham in a faster moving town. Farewell Folies.


    Larry wrote on January 16, 2009 10:41 AM: Hay great!

    Does this mean there is more room for yet another Cirque du Soleil show?


    Ken wrote on January 16, 2009 10:34 AM: *yawn*

    Who cares? If anyone really did, they would have a full house every night and they would have no desire to close it. The new generation would rather see Tera Patrick and assorted farm animals then this outdated nonsense.


    Sal Angelica wrote on January 16, 2009 10:33 AM: It is very sad to know that the Tropicana Hotel is going to end the - 'ONLY' - last remaining original French Revue that has made Las Vegas the Entertainment Capitol of the world - I (Sal Angelica)have been a Lead Dancer in Las Vegas since 1965 and have performed in the 'Casino de Paris' @ The Dunes Hotel, the 'Lido' @ the Stardust Hotel and was Jerry Jackson's Lead Dancer (partnering Virginia Justice)at the 'Folies Bergere' @ the Tropicana Hotel in 1968 when he presented 'The House Of The Rising Sun' (Vocals by Renee Lee)as one of his production numbers ~ this will truly be another sad day for the world of people that like and enjoy good clasic entertainment ~


    Lou wrote on January 16, 2009 09:23 AM: Why so sad for the Folies? I'm sure another casino in town will pick this show up.


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