Memories fading on Vegas icon Liberace
A town that lives in the present has little use for its past. We blow up the buildings, rename the theaters and replace the marquees.
Of course, at any given time, Las Vegas had performers who in different ways came to symbolize the Las Vegas of a certain period, Old Vegas is best captured by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and, of course, Liberace. Of those three, only Liberace has failed to leave an extensive legacy that attracts new generations of fans. In the future, this will certainly be a problem for newer-era Vegas icons such as Siegfried & Roy, Wayne Newton and the ultimate icon, the Vegas showgirl. All were at one time also synonymous with the city in which they performed.
The reason for the transience of memory is that for decades talent was focused on showmanship, charisma and entertainment in Vegas production shows that offered pure escapist, feel-good entertainment for 75 minutes. These shows were not meant to be remembered and evaluated in some distant future but to distract audiences from what was then their present. And, that rarely ages well.
Sinatra and Presley and more recently Celine Dion and Elton John all delivered successful Vegas shows that will forever leave their names associated with the Strip too. But those Vegas runs were just a part of their legacies. Sinatra, Presley, Dion and John transcended Vegas and brought people here. This will also be the case for Carlos Santana, the new headliner at the Hard Rock.
But for Newton, Siegfried & Roy, Liberace, and even the classic Vegas showgirls, their major achievements as entertainers, the backbone of their celebrity, was inexorably connected to the Vegas of times past. ...
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Of course, at any given time, Las Vegas had performers who in different ways came to symbolize the Las Vegas of a certain period, Old Vegas is best captured by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and, of course, Liberace. Of those three, only Liberace has failed to leave an extensive legacy that attracts new generations of fans. In the future, this will certainly be a problem for newer-era Vegas icons such as Siegfried & Roy, Wayne Newton and the ultimate icon, the Vegas showgirl. All were at one time also synonymous with the city in which they performed.
The reason for the transience of memory is that for decades talent was focused on showmanship, charisma and entertainment in Vegas production shows that offered pure escapist, feel-good entertainment for 75 minutes. These shows were not meant to be remembered and evaluated in some distant future but to distract audiences from what was then their present. And, that rarely ages well.
Sinatra and Presley and more recently Celine Dion and Elton John all delivered successful Vegas shows that will forever leave their names associated with the Strip too. But those Vegas runs were just a part of their legacies. Sinatra, Presley, Dion and John transcended Vegas and brought people here. This will also be the case for Carlos Santana, the new headliner at the Hard Rock.
But for Newton, Siegfried & Roy, Liberace, and even the classic Vegas showgirls, their major achievements as entertainers, the backbone of their celebrity, was inexorably connected to the Vegas of times past. ...