A look back at the year in Las Vegas entertainment

The year 2019 will go down as one of the most pivotal points in the history of Las Vegas entertainment. Certain trends continued to grow while others faded away, shows big and small opened and some of them also closed, but overall it was a year of transition on the Strip with everything pushing toward the future and the game-changing 2020 arrival of the biggest entertainment venue ever built in Las Vegas: Allegiant Stadium.

It was a year of major shifts in the resident headliner world as two of the longest running and most successful shows of all time pulled the curtain closed for the last time. Celine Dion wrapped up her epic run at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace in June — signaling a new era for the venue, which closed for a few months for a big renovation — and Donny and Marie Osmond performed their final show at the much smaller Flamingo Showroom in November. Both classic rooms are bringing in new names with the Colosseum partnering with Live Nation Las Vegas and launching residencies with Journey, Sting and Keith Urban; meanwhile the Flamingo has added Paula Abdul, CeeLo Green and “RuPaul’s Drag Race Live” to its roster.

Three distinctly different and hot-selling acts have emerged at Park Theater with Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and the newest addition, Aerosmith. Janet Jackson (at Park Theater), Lady Antebellum (at the Pearl at the Palms) and Def Leppard (at Zappos Theater) touched based for quickie residencies that truly resonated with their respective fans. British pop star Robbie Williams has found his niche on the Strip at Wynn’s Encore Theater. And Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood continued to put female artists in the spotlight this year, continuing Gwen Stefani’s show, launching productions with Christina Aguilera and Shania Twain and announcing one with Kelly Clarkson for next year.

In the realm of production shows, Cirque du Soleil captured the buzz with its innovative “R.U.N” action thriller, opening in October at Luxor, while Spiegelworld built upon its Strip momentum with the exciting launch of “Atomic Saloon Show” at the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian. Both are must-see events. Other established shows settled in at new locations, including “Legends in Concert” at the Tropicana (which recently extended the guest starring appearance of Frank Marino through December 30) and Criss Angel’s “Mindfreak” at Planet Hollywood. The popular “Magic Mike Live” at the Hard Rock Hotel is relocating to Sahara Las Vegas in early 2020.

Three unique productions opened and closed in 2019 and I enjoyed all of them immensely and would love to see them return to Vegas somehow in the future. “Greatest Piano Men” took a fun musical turn at the Flamingo, “Fuerza Bruta” partied in a tent outside Excalibur and “Blanc de Blanc” partied really hard at the Sahara.

The Stratosphere rebranded into The STRAT and launched the family-friendly “Celestia,” another tent-based show, to anchor its entertainment offerings. Excalibur and SPI Entertainment renovated its busy showroom and re-opened it as Thunderland, the home of “Thunder From Down Under,” “The Australian Bee Gees Show” and the new magic spectacular from Hans Klok.

Simply put, Las Vegas entertainment is getting bigger and smaller at the same time. The spectrum of fun on the Strip has never been more broad and colorful than it is right now, and 2019 made some significant contributions to that evolution. Will 2020 be even bigger? Of course.

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