Shows may not go on but actors' Vegas lives do

Some performers stay in town when curtain comes down

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By LAURA TUCKER

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Megan Selensky, who performed in the recently closed "Hairspray," said the cast found out on June 5 that the show's curtains would fall for a final time on the following Sunday.

"We walked around like zombies that Monday a half-hour (before the show started)," Selensky said. "Luckily, I wasn't on that night, because most of the cast was crying."

Selensky said she was fortunate because she had taken up residence in Las Vegas. Many in the cast were from out of town, and she said most assumed "Hairspray" would run for at least a year. Some had apartment contracts and found themselves stranded, she said. Still others had sold their real estate in other cities just months before.

Currently, southeast resident Selensky said she is working as a go-go dancer at Jet, the nightclub in The Mirage. She also auditioned for a few of the musicals that are coming into town later this year.

With the recent closures of "Hairspray," "Avenue Q" and "We Will Rock You," many Strip performers had to find new jobs. Still others retired or voluntarily left show business and made Las Vegas their home.

Selensky came to Las Vegas from Los Angeles to perform in "Mamma Mia!" on the Strip as a swing actor four years ago. Like so many performers in Las Vegas who came from elsewhere, she did not intend to call Las Vegas her home.

"I never thought that I would live in Vegas," she said. "I could see myself working in Broadway and living in New York. But I thought Las Vegas was a vacation place."

Keith Thompson moved to Las Vegas two years ago to work as music director for the ill-fated "We Will Rock You." Shortly after the Queen-themed musical closed, Thompson took the same position with "Hairspray."

Las Vegas' potential to become "Broadway West" lured Thompson to the city. He is currently substituting on keyboards for "Mamma Mia!" and "Menopause: The Musical," and recently auditioned for new musicals coming to town. He also is taking wine classes to become certified to work in the industry.

Thompson said "Mamma Mia!" assistant music director Michael Brennan came up with the idea to begin a workshop for local composers and performers to showcase their talents.

Every third Monday night, groups of local performers and composers take over Suede Bar & Restaurant, 4640 Paradise Road. Thompson said they chose the venue because it is classy, with a baby grand piano and a stage. He said many people find it reminiscent of a cabaret room in New York City.

The workshop features about four or five acts per night, and the group attempts to feature not only theater writers, but folk, comedy and pop writers, as well.

"What you end up with is a wide variety of music being presented," he said. "It's all original music. There might be a comedy number followed by a dramatic piece that sounds like it might have been written by Sondheim. It's a cool mixed bag of stuff."

Thompson said the workshop is not open to the public, but organizers are getting the word out to other artists who wish to showcase their work.

Thompson said he hopes the effect will help create more outlets allowing local artists to present their work in a public way.

"There are creative people here in Las Vegas on every level," he said.

Thompson said he plans to stay in Las Vegas for now.

"If the work is here, I'll stay. If it's not, I'll leave," he said.

Despite working on two shows that ultimately closed early, Thompson said there is hope for musicals coming to Las Vegas. Marketing is the key in many of these shows, he said.

"More attention should be paid to figure out who the target audiences are. (The producers) need to figure out how to get those people interested," he said.

Theaters in Las Vegas are much larger than those in New York City, Thompson said. Most of the theaters in Las Vegas house 1,500 to 2,000 people, while theaters in New York accommodate around 800 to 1,000, he said. If a show fills up 800 seats in Las Vegas, it is considered a flop, Thompson said.

Ticket prices also are an issue. Thompson said venues should charge less in order to attract more local people.

"Mamma Mia!" actor and Green Valley resident Rick Passagno said the challenge is getting tourists to buy tickets.

"I wouldn't say that the majority (of tourists) are a theater-going audience. They're an attraction-going audience," Passagno said.

Passagno performed in the original cast of "Chicago," which lasted for just under a year in Las Vegas. He said many tourists believed "Chicago" referred to the band of the same name.

"Mamma Mia!" and "Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular," unlike "Avenue Q" and "Hairspray," are internationally known, he said. In order for shows to attract audiences in Las Vegas, they must be familiar to the myriad tourists, he said.

Passagno hails from Los Angeles. He moved to Las Vegas with his wife, Tammy, in 1994, when there wasn't much theater work to be found in L.A.

Now, though the two have considered leaving Las Vegas from time to time, they call it their home. Tammy Passagno works as a choreographer for Las Vegas Academy after leaving full-time dancing.

"Having children kind of shifts things," she said. "Teaching can be very rewarding."

She also works at ReJAVAnate coffee lounge, 3300 E. Flamingo Road. Las Vegas actor and Henderson resident Bruce Ewing started the shop with fellow performer Greg Davis.

Ewing came to Las Vegas from New York 10 years ago to perform in "Forever Plaid." He said he intended to stay for three months, but ended up falling in love with Las Vegas.

"It's more affordable to live here than other places," he said. "No matter what, this is my home."

Ewing left show business in 2000 to start ReJAVAnate, not intending to go back. Currently, he is performing in the ensemble and as an understudy in "Phantom" at The Venetian.

Although Ewing was able to make the transition from full-time performer to coffee shop owner, not all performers on the Strip are able to make such a change without help.

New York-based Career Transition for Dancers held its first workshop in Las Vegas last fall, and plans to hold another on Sept. 24 in partnership with the Nevada Ballet Theater. The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with 1-on-1 counseling from 2:30 to 6 p.m., at the Nevada Ballet Theater, 1651 Inner Circle Drive in Summerlin.

Career Transition began in New York City in the early 1980s to help dancers who were leaving the business and were looking for a way to work in a new field.

According to Joanne DiVito, who works in Career Transition's Los Angeles office, there are about 700 dancers on the Strip, compared to about 550 in on Broadway. The reasons for this, she said, is that there is not as much use for people who are strictly dancers on Broadway as there is on the Strip.

"Sometimes dancers feel that they've failed after they can't dance anymore," she said. "We teach them they don't have to hide."

Rosie Brown is an on-site Las Vegas representative of Career Transition. She first became involved after she received hip surgery and stopped dancing after 8 1/2 years with "Folies Bergere" at the Tropicana. Now, Brown is back dancing part time in the show and is working with Dick Foster Productions.

"When you're in dance for so long, you really don't know what else to do," she said.

Pam Marvel also works with Career Transition in Las Vegas. Marvel said she was not a dancer on the Strip but used to perform with a traveling ballet company. Marvel said for any dancer, suddenly being out of work is difficult.

"When it's over, whether you're working Vegas or a ballet company, your heart is so consumed with this thing that you do. It fills you emotionally, spiritually and physically," she said.

Performers end up in many professions, Marvel said -- some open their own companies, others enter the medical field and some end up in an entirely different line of work.

Marvel said she and Ewing plan to work together to help performers open a ReJAVAnate franchise when they are looking to get out of show business.

Marvel said many others end up teaching.

Elena Ferrante-Martin performed in "Mamma Mia!" before leaving four years ago to teach drama and choir at Bishop Gorman High School after she had a baby.

"When I became pregnant, I realized something had to give, and it wasn't going to be my child," she said.

Ferrante-Martin went back to school to get her master's degree in education. Teaching was always something she was interested in. Although she said she loves her job at Gorman, she likes to say that she is only on hiatus.

"I feel I'm settled here right now. I'm older ... I waited a very long time to have my family," she said.

Whether they leave voluntarily or suddenly, most of the performers on the Strip find a new place to use their talents.

Selensky said she is doing "odds and ends" jobs like conventions until she can find a more permanent position after "Hairspray."

Despite all of the questions surrounding the future of theater in Las Vegas, Selensky said she thinks the scene will continue to thrive.

"Actors will always need jobs," she said. "There are so many actors out there who don't have jobs. For the people who choose not to audition in Vegas, there will be others who will take their places."

For more information on Career Transition for Dancers, visit www.careertransition.org.