Before Celine Dion and Elton John ushered in the era of the big concert residencies, production shows ruled the Strip. They featured everything from dancers and illusionists to acrobats and ventriloquists.
Twenty years ago, the Strip boasted four Broadway shows. As recently as 2013, Cirque du Soleil had seven shows being staged simultaneously on the Boulevard.
Economic factors and lower visitorship have wiped out productions over the last year — including "DiscoShow" and "Bob Marley: Hope Road" in January — but show closures were happening in earnest between 2023 and 2025, and even more in the mid-2010s.
In short, there are myriad reasons why ticket buyers have been prioritizing other forms of live entertainment, but one stands out.
"What Las Vegas has become is a very top-heavy city when it comes to sports and entertainment, hospitality, culinary, and retail," Las Vegas Review-Journal entertainment columnist John Katsilometes recently told KNPR. "When you add all that up, it's taken a big chunk out of the tourist time in Las Vegas, and even those who live here."
This includes big draws like Electric Daisy Carnival and National Finals Rodeo, as well as multiday holiday celebrations with high-ticket offerings like New Year's and Mexican Independence Day.
"I think that what has happened is that people treat Las Vegas as an event-driven destination, and they just focus on the event," Katsilometes said. "They don't think of the second and third thing they're going to do."
That's difficult when the number one thing they're doing costs hundreds of dollars, and/or takes up so much time that it's the only thing those attendees do that day. Katsilometes points to Sphere — which, he says, sells some 100,000 tickets of its concert and film offerings every weekend — and events at Allegiant Stadium and the various arenas on the Strip.
"You might go and have dinner and have that show, and that's pretty much it," he said. "And you're not thinking of these other shows."
Those other shows include the five remaining Cirque du Soleil shows, two Spiegelworld productions, as many as 25 magic shows, a handful of topless and male revues, and several variety shows like "V - The Ultimate Variety Show," among others. Long gone are the Strip-residing Broadway musicals like "Jersey Boys," and showgirl-style mainstays like "Jubilee," its 2016 closure being an inflection point to some when it comes to the downturn of traditional Vegas entertainment.
Not included in this area of live entertainment are comedy, tribute, or concert-like headliner shows — though high-tech, holograph-style avatar shows such as London's "ABBA Voyage" are due to touch down in Las Vegas in the coming years. And speaking of high-tech: Wynn's $120-million "Awakening" is preparing for its fourth anniversary, though Katsilometes argues that it benefits from its host property owning it outright. Many shows four-wall, or lease space from hotel-casinos.
Rent paid by producers highlights another factor in the closure or downsizing of stage shows: They're expensive to produce. The cheaper the show, the cheaper the ticket. With visitors and locals alike still pounding the drumbeat of an increasingly expensive Strip experience, lower-cost options would help make Las Vegas entertainment more accessible.
"If we're going to be considered the entertainment capital of the world, we have to do more than just Sphere and big touring shows and Bruno Mars and, you know, all the usual suspects," Katsilometes said. "There has to be some mid-level value entertainment that is good."
Guest: John Katsilometes, entertainment columnist, Las Vegas Review-Journal
