WE ARE FAMILY
For the past month, intense rehearsals have been underway for Spiegelworld’s long-awaited celebration of disco and the nightworld of 1970s New York City. DISCOSHOW commences previews on August 14 inside a custom-designed venue that promises to be unlike any other entertainment experience in Las Vegas, complete with three cocktail bars and Spiegelworld’s new restaurant, Diner Ross. For the show itself, months of auditions resulted in an exceptionally talented cast of young dancers, actors and roller skaters being hand-picked from across the country.
Drag Icon Eureka O’Hara Mothers an Ensemble Cast
Drag Icon Eureka O’Hara, who became a national phenomenon in her seasons on RuPaul’s Drag Race and HBO’s We’re Here, plays the role of Mother, DISCOSHOW’s sassy but big-hearted spiritual guide who leads guests on their express subway disco journey to downtown New York City. This extravagant figure is the conduit to all of DISCOSHOW’s captivating cast of characters including Ryan Blackson (Ensemble), Krystina Burton (Ensemble), Alina Carson (Afrodite), Virginia Crouse (Tina), Unissa Cruse (Sheila), Jake Guidry (Brent), Tenile Jimenez (Rosario), Sydney Lastorino (Ensemble), William Luetkehans (Ted), Ashton Onaga (Eric), Kedrick Pasley (Anthony), Jordy Perry (Ensemble), Aaron Telias (Apollo), Hirari Watanabe (Athena), Eli Weinberg (Åke), and Tony Zane (Ensemble). Drag icons Tamisha Iman and CoCo Montrese join the cast as swing performers for the role of Mother.
DISCOSHOW’s creative team is a gathering of visionaries with deep roots in New York and London theater, convening in Las Vegas and joining Spiegelworld’s expansive community of artists. The show is directed by Obie and Olivier Award-winning choreographer and movement director Steven Hoggett (Broadway: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Once), with Choreographer and Associate Director Yasmine Lee (Wild Goose Dreams, Tender Napalm), and written by Olivier Award-winner Michael Wynne (The Priory). It features set and costume design by 10-time Tony nominee and three-time winner David Zinn (Stereophonic, SpongeBob Squarepants, The Humans), video and production design by Darrel Maloney (American Idiot), music production by Jamie Siegel (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill), lighting design by Olivier Award-winner Natasha Chivers (Prima Facie, Sunday in the Park with George), sound design by Colle T. Bustin (Melissa Etheridge: My Window), custom soundscapes by sound associate and Olivier Award-winner Tom Gibbons (Ivo van Hove’s West Side Story), and hair and wig design by Brittany Hartman (Saturday Night Live).
Spiegelworld Impresario Extraordinaire Ross Mollison said
“This is a show we have been dreaming about and planning for almost a decade, and I cannot wait for Las Vegas to experience it. We assembled an extraordinary creative team for a workshop production in New York six years ago, and they all enthusiastically agreed to come back together in Vegas this summer to turn the vision into a reality. What has kept us going, kept us all together, is a shared love for the joy of disco and all that it means. It’s what the world really needs right now.”
Director Steven Hoggett said
The appeal of DISCOSHOW came in the potential to deliver “the best night you never had,” and an experience of communal catharsis, to multiple generations. Hoggett said, “Yasmine, Michael and I have been in the thick of rehearsals for three weeks now, working with an incredible cast of talented young dancers and performers. With diverse backgrounds and experiences, they each bring something unique to the process of making a show and telling stories. They’re dancers and party people, so yes, they love the classic disco hits. But what has been most exciting is seeing their eyes open to the cultural history and what young people just like them experienced in the early days of disco half a century ago. That is what is going to make this show so alive and contemporary and connected to all generations. In addition, one of our first major artistic decisions in creating this show was to allow audiences to hear these familiar, classic songs as they were meant to be heard: in a dazzling club environment, on an incredible, state-of-the-art sound system, so that it all feels completely fresh and new.”
Show Information
Tickets are on sale now, for performances beginning August 14, (guest tickets from $69, including taxes). Performances take place Wednesday to Sunday at 7pm and 9:30pm at 3535 Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas.
The multi-level DISCOSHOW venue boasts two richly detailed, playful bars with drinks curated by Spiegelworld’s Executive Beverage Director Niko Novick, who puts a mirror-ball spin on classic cocktails. The first, 99 Prince, is a gritty New York subway platform where drinks are slung from midday until late into the night. The second bar, the Glitterloft, is a raw loft space inspired by the hand-built, found, and borrowed vibe of disco pioneer David Mancuso’s legendary “rent-party” space, The Loft. Before or after the show, guests can dine at Diner Ross, Spiegelworld’s cozy new restaurant with its entrance tucked away in one corner of the Glitterloft. It’s known as the ‘friendly finer diner’, with Executive Culinary Director Anna Altieri of Superfrico serving the greatest hits of New York American cuisine. The bars and restaurant at DISCOSHOW are open to all, even without a ticket to the show.