Insufficiently “Awesome”

After seemingly endless previews (months of them, I believe), Sirc Michaels Productions has folded its second V Theater show, Awesome 80s Prom. Actually, to call it a “show” would be a misnomer. It was more of a semi-scripted “happening,” at which one was encouraged to “[mingle] with characters from their favorite 80s movies like The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. You will dance and sing along to the ‘gnarliest’ hits of the decade like ‘Wake Me up Before You Go-Go’ and ‘Jessie’s Girl’ and more!” Did you hear that? You will dance, tourist monkeys! It is commanded of you!

As will happen with any vortex of suckage and ‘meh’ whose basic elements include le cinema de John Hughes, plus Rick Springfield and Wham!, Awesome 80s Prom collapsed like an unstable wormhole. I could explain why … but then I’d have to kill you, unfortunately. Producer Sirc Michaels extended coupon offers, added seating (which was initially somewhere between minimal and nonexistent — one was basically forced to participate) but to no avail. As one local wag put it, with ticket prices starting at $66, you should at least get a punchbowl and some Chex Mix. While this might not be the last sighting of 80s Prom in Las Vegas, the next sock hop won’t convene at V. In its place, Michaels has rushed something called Legwarmers, it was learned this afternoon. Legwarmers will, presumably, provide employment for Prom cast members like Amanda Kraft and others, like Nicole Unger and John Tomasello, who were supplementing their Evil Dead The Musical salaries with Prom duty. Ironically, SMP had just held auditions for Evil Dead understudies, who are unlikely to be needed now.

Since no media night was ever held for 80s Prom (or you would have read about it here), it moves into a special category of  ‘phantom’ Vegas shows. Like the six-performance run of Point Break! The Musical or Las Vegas Hilton fiasco Triumph … It Runs on Steam, which quickly ran out of steam, it joins the unenviable ranks of Strip shows that closed before they officially opened. The ghosts of such showbiz ‘nonpersons’ need a building to haunt. I think The Harmon would be an appropriate venue.