The way old friends do. Last Sunday, I received an early Christmas present in the form of tickets to Mamma Mia!, entering its antepenultimate week on the Strip (where it's still the best entertainment value around). Happily, the cast was still grabbing all the gusto they could, to paraphrase an old beer commercial. You'd never know this particular ensemble had been together for three of the production's six years.

... to fill the hole in your soul.

The visitors. Anyway, I figured that might be my last-ever look at the show that's successfully flouted conventional wisdom about what "won't work in Vegas." And which is still packing them in, I might add. Well, the ABBA gods (or goddesses, for those who worship at the shrines of Frida and Agnetha) must have smiled upon us, as the Better Half just scored tickets to Jan. 4's last-ever performance of Mamma Mia! at Mandalay Bay.

It's liable to be a bittersweet experience. I'm sorry to see it end but we can take some consolation in observing that -- like ABBA itself -- it's going out with a full head of steam instead of being put out of its misery. (Compared to, say, Fuego Raw Talent Live, where you expect the closing notice to be posted in mid-show.) Besides, the same evening sees the final performance of Stomp Out Loud at Planet Hollywood, so it will be a dark night indeed for theatre on the Strip.

Why did it have to be me? At least in the case of Mamma Mia!, if it had to depart, I can think of no more auspicious successor than The Lion King.* (Did subliminal associations with Leo the MGM lion play any part in the decision?) Second-hand word from last week's media preview is that it will be the full-scale Lion King, without any of the downsizing that was hinted at in the initial announcement. Also, the Lion King's producers are prepared to go into the M'Bay theatre "as is," which must have endeared them to MGM Mirage no end. A seventh (God forbid) Cirque du Soleil show would have required expensive, er, I mean extensive customization of the space.

(* -- Of the mooted replacement for Stomp Out Loud, the less said the better.)

Nonetheless, Cirque high pajandrum Guy Laliberté has continued to play the role of spider on the valentine, openly coveting the M'Bay space for himself even before Lion King has planted its first paw there. Hey, M. Laliberté, don't you have a Criss Angel vanity project that's stinking up the joint over at Luxor? Why don't concentrate on your three months of "fixations," as you call them, while MGM Mirage gets on with a show that's certain to succeed (and I don't mean Believe).

Oh, and thanks for asking people to shell out $160 apiece to see a work in progress. Quel schmuque.

Here's to six long years or more of The Lion King -- and at least as many before we have to endure any more of M. Laliberté nicotene-stained bombast. The silver lining to Jan. 4's dark cloud is that Mamma Mia! will be making room for another class act.