Courtesy Harrah’s Resort
Atlantic City Harkens Back to the ‘Good Old Days’
As 50th and 60th anniversaries loom for many of the greatest hits of the 1950s and 1960s, Atlantic City is harkening back to the upbeat tunes of the past to lift spirits after the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy.
As part of its national tour, “I Love Lucy Live On Stage” appeared this summer at Harrah’s Resort for the 60th anniversary of the hit 1950s comedy “I Love Lucy.” In the new rendition, the casino audience becomes the studio audience for filming of two “I Love Lucy” episodes. The backstage-style angle incorporates the Ricky Ricardo Orchestra and the Crystaltone Singers performing jingles to add an extra musical element to the original slapstick comedy.
Although the original “Showboat” musical dates back to 1927, it is the 1951 film that has endeared many modern viewers to the original Oscar Hammerstein classic. The House of Blues has put a new culinary twist on its “Showboat” by integrating the show into a gospel brunch, complete with biscuits and gravy, chicken and waffles, and shrimp jambalaya.
Casinos Go Classical with Symphony and Opera Collaborations
Before the permanent Kansas Star Casino opened next door, the Kansas Star Arena housed the casino, but from this December on, it will also moonlight as an opera house.
Beginning with a December 13 concert of the Celtic Woman Irish Musical Ensemble and the Wichita Grand Opera symphony orchestra, the Kansas Star Arena and Casino will embark on a new partnership to bring classical music to the 6,000-seat arena.
Parvan Bakardiev, the director and president of the Grand Opera, is excited because the collaboration will allow the opera to present “one of our very popular grand operas that is geared toward that kind of venue, such as a comedy in English like ‘The Merry Widow,’ ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ or ‘The Barber of Seville’ in English. We want to present things that a regular audience doesn’t just view as opera but as entertainment.”
In Atlantic City, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony brought a more traditional opera experience to a more traditional casino venue, the upscale Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa. Throughout July and August, the symphony serenaded casino-goers with the likes of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Tchaikovsky, including Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.”
