Jubilee Theater at Bally's Las Vegas (Las Vegas, USA)
Jubilee Theater at Bally's Las Vegas
Bally's Las Vegas is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise. The resort was home to the long-running Jubilee! theatrical show, which ran from 1981 to 2016.
When it opened in 1973, the MGM Grand Hotel featured two large theatres: the Ziegfeld Room, with a capacity of 800 people; and the Celebrity Room, with capacity for 1,200. The Ziegfeld featured productions by famed Las Vegas choreographer Donn Arden, including Hallelujah Hollywood, which ran until 1980. The resort also hosted Arden's long-running theatrical show Jubilee! It premiered at the resort in 1981 and eventually closed in 2016, making it one of the longest-running shows in Las Vegas history. A motorcycle stunt show by Nitro Circus was to replace Jubilee!, although it was put on hold and ultimately never opened.
Sergio Franchi was the first entertainer signed to star in the Celebrity Room (three-year contract starting February 1974). Franchi's frequent co-star was comedian Joan Rivers. The Celebrity Room also hosted such acts as the Carpenters and Barry Manilow. Other notable performers at the resort have included Lou Rawls,Sam Kinison, Andrew Dice Clay Bob Dylan, Liza Minnelli, Taylor Hicks, and Dionne Warwick. Penn & Teller made their Las Vegas Strip debut at the Celebrity Room in 1993.
The Celebrity Room was eventually demolished to connect Bally's with Paris. In 2003, there were plans to build a seven-story theater on an acre of land at Bally's east side. The theater was to host a new show starring Esther Williams, although both projects were scrapped. The Price Is Right Live! debuted at Bally's Jubilee Theater in April 2006. It was a scaled-down version of the television program.
During 2012, The Amazing Johnathan hosted a magic show in a space formerly used for the resort's buffet, which had closed several years earlier. Tony n' Tina's Wedding also premiered in the former buffet space in 2012, followed by another show, Divorce Party the Musical. The buffet space was renamed as the Windows Showroom. Tony n' Tina's Wedding ended in 2016, but returned two years later at the resort's Buca di Beppo restaurant. From 2016 to 2018, Wayne Newton hosted a show in the Windows Showroom called Wayne Newton: Up Close and Personal. It included singing and sharing stories with the audience.
An audience participation game show, titled Miss Behave, debuted at Bally's in 2017, and ended three years later. Masters of Illusion, a magic show based on the television series of the same name, began its run at the Jubilee Theater in 2017. In 2019, the Windows Showroom debuted a show by magician Xavier Mortimer, and a Harry Potter parody show titled Potted Potter.
The variety show Extravaganza debuted in the Jubilee Theater in March 2020, but was closed after one show, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened later in the year, and performed its 100th show in February 2021.