Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
So What's the Lowest Price?
Every once in a while, the discounted price for a show will be the same as the
lowest price being sold by the box office. So why patronize the discounters?
Because the ticket booths and websites that mark down tickets are often able to
get better seats at those lower prices than you'll get direct at the box office. Sad
and annoying but true.
The Scintas
(at the Sahara;
%
702/737
-
2515; www.saharahotel.com;
$
60-
$
71
box office,
$
34 discounted; Tues-Sat 8pm)
is another “don't bother” to my mind,
a trio of middle-aged siblings who seem intent on recreating the variety shows of
the '70s. So they do a little bit of singing, trade sibling rivalry quips a la Smothers
Brothers, throw out some tired impressions, and in a classic Lawrence Welk show
move, play the banjo and the spoons. If their material were a little less tired, or
the performances a smidgen more dynamic, that would suffice, but they're simply
not in the league of other Vegas headliners.
FIVE DAYTIME SHOWS OF VARYING INTEREST
The best daytime show, in fact one of the most exceptional shows in Vegas period,
the
Mac King Show
555
9
(in Harrah's;
%
702/368
-
5000; www.macking
show.com;
$
20 box office,
$
11 discounted, free if you sign up for Harrah's slot
club; Tues-Sat 1pm and 3pm)
is that rare breed of entertainment that's not only
appropriate for all ages, it's actually a show that junior, grandma, and the hot date
you met in Vegas will enjoy. A comedian with a big talent for magic—King is the
only magician who was asked to appear on all five of NBC's
World's Greatest
Magic Show
specials—King looks like a refugee from
The Music Man,
wearing an
old-fashioned plaid suit and a goofy aw-shucks expression. His tricks are oddball
illusions (featuring fellows in bear suits, a “cloak of invisibility” and disappearing
heads), which he performs with a generous dose of whimsy and intelligence. If
there's any justice in the world, he'll soon be headlining his own evening show.
He's that good.
I should also mention that
X-Treme Magic with Dirk Arthur
(at the Tropicana;
%
800/829
-
9034; www.tropicanalv.com;
$
34 at box office,
$
12 discounted; Sat-
Thurs 2 and 4pm)
keeps afternoon hours, but with King as his competition, he
might as well pack it in. Yes, this is the only show on the Strip to now feature
white tigers (ever since Siegfried and Roy's horrific incident), but the poor cats
behave like they've been injected with multiple doses of valium, and so does dull
Dirk.
From big cats to tiny ones,
Popovitch Comedy Pet Theater
9
(in the V
Theater, in the Miracle Mile Shops;
%
702/932
-
1818;
$
32 adults,
$
18 kids,
$
15
discounted; Sat-Thurs 3:30pm)
is an act you may have caught if you happened to
be wracked with insomnia and watching one of the late-night talk shows. You
know, the fellow who's trained stray cats to do all sorts of odd and unusual tricks?
He intersperses the cats with dogs, and ferrets and mice and, yes, humans, for a
