Zombie Burlesque producer David Saxe tells us, "I don’t use budgets. I spend like crazy until it is open, then I try not to look back and calculate because it will just make me angry at myself for not creating and sticking to a budget. If I had to guess, I think I spent at least $250,000. It all adds up," admitted the veteran Vegas show producer, whose gonzo-style approach would surely have won grudging admiration even from Hunter S. Thompson himself. Two weeks before Saxe's Zombie comedy debuted, around this time last year, the cast and crew were still designing costumes, finalizing the soundtrack, and figuring out how to make the undead look sexy. As the somewhat understating Saxe put it in an interview with Las Vegas Review-Journal entertainment columnist Mike Weatherford, "This is a very aggressive schedule."
And, as you can see, "low" is a relative term when it comes to showbiz production budgets: We know personally of one short-lived Strip afternoon show that cost a half-million dollars to produce, with much of that expense going towards marketing. Of course, that's still a drop in the ocean compared to a Cirque-esque extravaganza.
Unfortunately, it has been difficult to persuade interested parties to discuss their cost structures with us, in part because no one wants the stigma of being labeled a "low budget" producer. One who doesn’t mind talking, however, is Adam Steck of SPI Entertainment, whose credits include Frank Marino’s Divas Las Vegas, The Australian Bee Gees Show, Thunder From Down Under and Human Nature. "There’s a lot of different factors," Steck says, "including room rental [and whether a show is two- or four-walled, for example], your time slot, cast size, whether it’s a union or non-union room (if you have to use union stagehands, it can significantly escalate the cost). Even a small one-performer afternoon show could cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars, in large part so you can market it and build an audience so you "can go from the red to the black."
For a show in a prime-time slot, says Steck, "you’re looking at a million-dollar minimum." Even then, "all the planets have to align just right. You have to have people with a passion" and a show that stands out from the hundred-some other ones on the Strip. "It all depends on scenery, set design, cast size, cast members, union or non-union." If you succeed, "It’s pretty amazing to have a show where everybody comes to you," Steck concludes. To which we would add that's it's also far from intuitive or a predictable gamble -- who knew that a sexy-zombie burlesque show could stay the course, or a comedy-musical version of Evil Dead, for that matter, when multiple Broadway smash hits have tanked spectacularly upon arrival in the desert and major names like the Jacksons at Planet Hollywood or the Ray Charles tribute at Venetian have recently ended slated runs prematurely due to low ticket sales.
Mounting even a miniscule Strip show is not for the faint of heart nor shallow of pocket, neither of which factor appears to have deterred Absinthe star and puppeteer Penny Pibbets from setting her sights on a solo production. With the incredibly modest target of just under $20,000, her Kickstarter campaign will likely have eight days left to go when you read this (closing date is Nov. 20), with celebrity backers to-date who've put some money where their mouth is including Holly Madison and Neil Patrick Harris. Make a pledge of $5,000 and you'll practically see the campaign safely home and dry, while making yourself eligible for one of two VIP-donor thank-you packages that could see Penny Pibbets hosting a dinner party in your home or taking you out on a date.
