By Peter Shaughnessy and John Hoglund
There's more than one way to get rich in Atlantic City. Performing in casinos on the Boardwalk may involve as much risk for a performer as it does for a gambler, but if you play your cards right, you could cash in on what promises to be a jackpot for stage performers.
When the State of New Jersey legalized gambling in Atlantic City in 1978, the city-by-the-sea saw its greatest construction explosion since the building of the boardwalk. The city's economy boomed, and performers from all over found a new place to play in Atlantic City. Before long, the Boardwalk had a total of 30 active lounges, which meant hundreds of booking opportunities per week.
But the State of New Jersey recently lifted restrictions on the number of gambling tables allowed in a casino. As a result, lounges which were previously adjacent to casinos have been eliminated. "The space has been re-utilized," as Jim Escher, entertaiment manager for Bally's Park Place Casino Hotel & Tower, phrases it.
Where performers once held regular slots, slot machines now hold permanent positions. "It's all a simple matter of square footage," says Debbi Fitzpatrick, president of Gypsy Productions, and one of the town's most prominent agents. "A 30 x 30 foot lounge space can generate about $20,000 a week in business. The hotel pays about $30,000 out for entertainment--a $10,000 loss. By replacing that same lounge with slot machines and gambling tables, the hotel can make from $200,000 to $2 million!--in that same week!"
"With each lounge that has closed, the numbers of musicians and aspiring singers with big dreams have been forced to seek day jobs to pay the rent," says Fitzpatrick.
SUB: Winds of Change
The impending arrival of Las Vegas mega-developer Steven Wynn's Atlantic City Properties is expected to change this attitude towards entertainment in the casinos. Wynn's outlook on casino entertainment has already changed the face of the Las Vegas' performance scene, and he is expected to do the same for Atlantic City.
Entertainment has always been a major priority with Wynn, whose standards are high. He has stated in a previous interview,"Entertainment is imperative for the success of my business operations." His plans also include bringing musical theatre productions and high-profile revues to the area. "The last thing Atlantic City needs is just another casino," he claims.
Steven Wynn successfully fused eye-popping spectacle with family-style fun in Las Vegas. His operations have proved that a successful casino incorporates much more than just blackjack tables and roulette wheels. His opinion is echoed by New Jersey Governor Christined Todd Whitman. "The gaming part is important and it's big and it's going to continue to expand," she states, "but what we really need to do if we're going to get this place back to a sound footing is to get it back to a vacation land. All the casinos are beginning to recognize that they need to be more than just slot machines for gamblers."
Wynn's casinos will be located three miles inland from the Boardwalk, and will undoubtedly be a large tourist draw away from the casinos that already exist. He has asked the state to build a major roadway leading to his properties, which would save him millions in construction costs. Donald Trump has come out against the project, calling it favoritism. Legislative holdups and pressure from the casino owners have delayed the final decision thus far.
Everyone seems to be waiting with bated breath to find out what the next move by Vegas mogul Wynn will be. It is commonly believed that his entertainment ideas will set the standard for the future of Atlantic City bookings. Agents and performers alike marvel at his plans for four new hotel-casinos, each with multiple performance spaces. It is still uncertain, however, what types of acts Wynn is going to use to fill those spaces.
"Many performers and entertainment directors are waiting to see what Steve Wynn is planning," says Nicole Foret, a dancer-singer currently working in the long-running "Legends in Concert" revue. "There are signs of change on the horizon," she continues. "Logically, the competition has to keep up."
The need for new sources of entertainment in casinos will undoubtedly bring about more openings for performers of all types. New casinos may spark the re-opening of lounges with singers and musicians, and could also open the door for more book musicals and comic bookings.
In the past few years, Atlantic City has seen vast changes in its non-gambling entertainment. Where there used to be about 30 active lounges, there is now only one (Gatsby's in Bally's Park Place), leaving no more than 12 slots available per week!
Ten of the existing 13 casinos either have plans or have already broken ground for towers adjacent to the boardwalk buildings that now exist. Active lounges and performance spaces are included in the plans for seven out of the 10 towers. These structures should be finished in about two years. Their completion should coincide with the opening of Wynn's casinos, creating an explosion of opportunities for talented performers sometime in 1998.
With such a bright future ahead, however, it is never too early to start looking for opportunities to get a foot in Atlantic City's door.
"With all of the openings coming up, now is a good time to get your act together," said Jennifer Heaney, a six-year Atlantic City performing veteran.
SUB: Current Attractions
The current state of Atlantic City entertainment features a wide range of revue shows, including:"Wahoo Baby," at Merv Griffin's Resorts; "Dick Clark's Golden Age of Television," at Trump's Castle; "The Basin Street Follies," at Showboat; and "Legends in Concert," at Bally's Park Place. "Legends," the brainchild of Fitzpatrick, features impersonators, and is into its 10th year with periodic cast changes designed to keep the show fresh, therefore encouraging repeat business. "Legends" currently plays in Bally's 375-seat house, and features impersonators of various showbiz greats like Neil Diamond, Cher, Michael Jackson, and, of course, Elvis Presley. The casting is handled through Gypsy Productions, a national agency which produces "Legends in Concert," and shows of this type are popular all over the world, not just in Atlantic City or Las Vegas.
The main entertainment draw for the casinos is big-name headliners who perform in the casinos' main rooms. If your name isn't Liza Minnelli or Wayne Newton, it will be difficult for you to sell out a 1,200-seat house, but savvy performers vie for the opening slots for these returning favorites.
Each of the 13 casinos has worked to develop a personality of its own, doing so through decor, atmosphere, and the types of acts it books. Atlantic City performers know, however, that the arrival of Steve Wynn could change the face of the entertainment in all the casinos.
SUB: Opening Credits
Openers get 20 minutes in the spotlight and exposure that isn't possible to get from a normal, self-contained cabaret or comedy act. Some headliners travel with their own openers, but rising stars are often sought to fill these slots. The operative word in casting openers is opposites. A male headliner who is a singer will have a female comic open for him, for example.
The booking of openers is usually handled through agencies, but getting a job could sometimes be a case of being in the right place at the right time.
Jennifer Heany was performing in Gatsby's, a jazz lounge in Bally's Grand Hotel (which recently closed to make way for an expanded casino), when the entertainment director saw her and thought she's be right to fill in for Don Rickles' absent opening act. She had to scramble to get ready for the show, which was less than a week away, but the gig opened the door for a tour with Rickles, as well as jobs opening for Bob Hope, George Burns, and the Smothers Brothers in Atlantic City.
That move catapulted Heaney out of the lounge scene and into the main rooms for performances. Heaney got out of the lounges just before they began to close, leaving less and less work for performers. Others were not so lucky.
At 26, Tom Postilio has performed in Atlantic City for seven years. He has been a popular entertainer there, working in lounges in addition to opening for Joan Rivers, Pat Cooper, and Phyllis Diller. After a recent six-month tour, he returned to find that he had not been re-booked at a venue where he was a regular with a strong following. For the present, he no longer counts on usual bookings in Atlantic City. "I love working there, but it's become a craps-shoot."
SUB: Lounging Around
As a solo performer looking for a break on the Boardwalk, you will have to be persistent and have something special to offer. This entertainment arena provides performers with a milieu that is unique in the entertainment industry. It's not cabaret, where intimacy is the norm and contact with the audience is intrinsic. A lounge is a bar with a performance space; its patrons sit at tables or hang out around the bar--and they talk often and loudly. People breeze through the lounges and the performer's importance is about one step above that of background music, so your sound should be able to fill the room, but not take it over.
You must be able to shape your act to fit the personality of any of the casinos. You must appeal to a wide audience. If you are a singer in a lounge, aside from having a good voice, you must be exciting and appeal to a mixed crowd that may include tired tourists, kids, and others just passing through en route to another table.
When you get booked, the casino's entertainment director will tell you what type of room you'll be playing to. You have to have a versatile repertiore, so that you can fit into "high-energy" rooms as well as gigs for the calmer crowds.
Knowing the audience you're playing to is as important as knowing who you are and what you have to offer as a performer. Be familiar with your strengths and limitations. Above all, know what the audience really wants to hear. They are generally not there to concentrate; they're there to take a break from the gaming tables.
Fitzpatrick confided that lounge performers who have a following of "lounge lizards" are frowned upon by booking agents. The purpose of entertainers must be to bring people into the casinos--not to take them away from the tables. This may have been the reason that Postilio was cut from his regular gig. It seems performers have to be good if they want to get booked, but not too good if they want to keep their slot.
To sing in a lounge, you should be prepared to do three to four shows a day. You want at least two of those shows to be different. Therefore, you will need to have at least two completely different 40-minute sets of songs if you are a singer. You should have charts with instrumentation for three to five pieces. That will basically cost about $50 per piece in the band with a competent musician writing the charts. (A "name" musician is a greater expense.)
If the hotel has a house band, it pays the musicians, and the check you get is yours. If you are booked as a self-contained act (the singer provides his/her own musicians), you will receive a higher salary. However, you will have to hire your own musicians and pay them.
Explains Heaney, "I had a core of about 10-15 musicians that I would work with. None of them could be available all the time, so I had two pianists, two drummers, [and so on]. I wanted the best musicians around, so I had to pay them more. Consequently, I only made about seven or eight hundred per week while I was working in the lounges."
One of the best things about working in an Atlantic City lounge is the wonderful learning experience you get as a performer--although at the time you're doing the learning, it may not seem quite so wonderful. "In Atlantic City there's always some kind of noise," says Heaney. " Still, I wouldn't trade my time in Atlantic City for anything. I really learned how to communicate with people, to be in intimate sessions with the audience. In a show where people have paid to get in, they're there for the whole time no matter what. In a lounge, you really have to win them over." You also have to learn how to deal with hecklers, excess noise, unexpected interruptions, slot machine jackpots, and more. "I really appreciate a fine cabaret audience now," concludes Heaney, "you can hear a pin drop."
Cabaret acts have venues other than the lounges to take in Atlantic City. Singer Kitt Moran ended up with a steady job and became the singular sensation at the posh eatery Le Palais (located at Resorts).
"Merv Griffin heard me singing in a lounge one day. Soon after, I was told he had this idea for me. I went from table to table taking requests and quietly singing to the diners. I'd done piano bars, cabarets, etc., but this terrified me," she said. "He gave me six weeks to see if it worked. That was three years ago and I'm still here!" As do all working performers in Atlantic City, Moran knows how to keep the customers happy. "I have no trouble singing the same familiar songs over and over," she says.
SUB: Comic Bookings
For a stand-up comic who's always on the road, Atlantic City could be a great place to hang your hat for a short time. Several venues that regularly book rising star comedians offer a sizable paycheck, good exposure, and sometimes provide accommodations.
The Comedy Stop at Tropicana Casino Hotel is perfect for a hip-type comedian who appeals to a younger crowd. A comedian's first booking there is a week-long contract that pays in the area of $1,000.
The Basin Street Follies at Showboat is a revue show that books all types of acts, and is geared towards an older audience. The Follies books comedians for a month at a time, and takes great care of its performers, including providing accommodations for the length of the contract. The Basin Street Follies pays $2,000-$3,000 per week.
Atlantic City features many revue shows that book comedians for week- or month-long contracts or engagements. The lineups are constantly being changed to keep the shows fresh for returning visitors. Each one has a different personality, and the city is big enough that just about any good comedian can fit in somewhere.
Comics are usually booked as the openers for headlining singers. This type of exposure is terrific, but it usually goes to comics that have performed in Atlantic City before. You don't necesarily have to be a "name" to get an opening job, since the headliner is always the main draw. A solid comedian who is an opening act will always take his headliner's audience into account. As much as anywhere else, knowing the personality of the room you are playing will help please audiences, peers, and most importantly, booking agents.
SUB: A Room With Revues
"Production shows, by their very nature, are bigger draws in Atlantic City. Revues are about familiar music, big, flashy dance routines, choreography, and sex. It's not about plot development. It's all about entertaining customers who don't want to think a lot. It's a much different world than legitimate theatre," says Bob Chambers, entertainment director of Merv Griffin Resorts.
If you are a singer-dancer and are willing to work in the chorus or as a principal in a revue, it's the way to go.
There are many revue shows in the hotels, hence more opportunities for performers. These shows will run for a long time--often six months or more. Occasionally, the headliner the hotel brings in for a weekend takes the place of the revue show. Performers can work in a glitzy revue show every night of the week in the main room, except when a star attraction is in for the weekend.
Average performers in a revue earn from $500 to $900 a week, depending on their role in the show. (Some leads earn as much as $1,500.) These shows are usually booked as a package and sold by the producer to the hotel directly.
"Wahoo Baby" is a high-energy wild west show produced by Roger Minami and Bill Thomas in collaboration with Merv Griffin, and is a long-running revue playing at Merv Griffin's Resorts Casino Hotel in the Superstar Theatre since September 1995. One of the show's leads, John Fisher, has been with the production company for years. "After having it rough trying to make it on Broadway, and working for production companies touring the United States, Canada, and Japan with production shows, I came here signing a six-month contract. That was several years ago! It's been a great experience. It's rewarding and secure to be doing what I love most, and having a steady paycheck."
Fisher added, "Being in a revue in Atlantic City is like no other experience in show business. It's all so exciting to play for thousands of people a week who love the show so much. Audiences respond to the splashy production numbers. They love it."
Many of the revues in Atlantic City are variety shows that hold positions for talent of all kinds. Illusionists, acrobats, dancers, singers, and any other experienced performer has a shot at an extended run with any of these variety shows. Again, the important thing to remember when you're auditioning for one of these is to know the tone of the show beforehand, so that you can put your act into the show's terms. Versatility is a great attribute to have, no matter what your talent.
SUB: Getting an Agent
Knowing what to send to agents and entertainment directors is vital as you seek recognition in a crowded field. Whether you are looking for a job in a revue or a book musical, or work on a solo stage, present yourself with complete professionalism. Your information package can get you off to a good start if you put together the right ingredients. Use common sense and a few helpful hints to make it as effective as it can be.
The package should contain photos, a video, and a resume. It should contain one or two pictures--either head shots or productions shots. These should be fairly recent, have commercial appeal, and should truly represent you. The resume should be clear and detailed. Including any favorable press mentions or reviews is acceptable.
The video must capture all of your versatility and talents, but can't be any longer than 10 minutes. If you are a dancer, be sure the video emphasizes this. If you are a singer, the video should show you singing something bright and uptempo at the top, followed by a ballad. Try to include footage that shows you speaking to an audience to show your stage personality.
If you are a comic, make sure the tape shows your best material, and it will really help to get a tape with a great audience reaction. Make sure your video shows you as an entertainer with commercial appeal.
"People in Atlantic City want to know what they're getting before they buy it. Before they hire you, they either want to see a live show, or see a videotape. Usually they won't schlep out somewhere to see you, so you're left with your tape to represent you," says agent Dan Mulhern.
Each hotel has an entertainment director who oversees all amusement events. It is not their practice to see unknown performers. "We really do all of our casting through the agents, as most of the hotels on the boardwalk do," said Paul Pavis, entertainment director at Harrah's Casino Hotel. It is possible to work in Atlantic City without going through an agent, but as a solo performer, you don't have the knowledge or the contacts that an agent has. Most of the time, you can't even get an audition without representation, so the first step is naturally to get an agent who knows the casinos.
A good agent is well known and respected around town. Agents receive the standard commission of 10 or 15 percent. Don't agree to give away any more than that.
The Casino Control Commission (CCC) keeps a very tight rein on everything in Atlantic City, from gaming regulations to the licensing of agents. The CCC makes sure that all of the casinos operate fairly, and that a fair share of the revenue is turned over to Atlantic City. (An 8 percent tax is required on all casino profits.) In terms of licences, agents are categorized as vendors under current laws. It is possible for an agent to operate in Atlantic City without a CCC vendor license, but if he isn't licensed, he's not regulated by the commission. It is much safer to deal with an agent who is vendor registered. This way, performers know that their agents are well known by the casinos, and run a reputable business. Ask the agent about his/her registration before doing business, or call the CCC at (609) 441-3000.
A reputable agent will usually have the casino make the performer's contract out to the act itself. After proofing the contracts, the agent forwards them to the performer(s), to be signed and returned to the casino directly. "Payment by check is issued weekly in the performer's name every pay day. This method avoids confusion over salaries, as the act itself receives the check. Then, it is the performer's responsibility to pay the agent the pre-arranged agreement," says Fitzpatrick.
A savvy performer will do some good bookkeeping, as agents are required to report all income to the government. As a result, if an agent reports receiving 15 percent from a performer, the IRS will know what that performer was paid. Never deal in cash payments or without receipts. If a casino representative offers to pay you in cash, a red flag should go up. Protect yourself.
The information you send to agents is your calling card. The way you package it all is also a reflection on you as a professional. An agent's reputation is on the line when he recommends a performer; no talent representative will want to deal with someone he doesn't think is going to be the very best. Make sure that your video shows you at your best.
SUB: Getting Started
Send your package to anyone who you think will look at it. Even if there are no auditions now, it doesn't hurt to have your tape on file. In Atlantic City, performers can deal with as many agents as they want, so don't be afraid to make more mailings if you currently have an agent and he/she is not getting you any work. "I think performers should send their package to anyone who will help them," says agent Patte Rockwell.
While the entertainment boom is still a few years away for Atlantic City, it is never too early to start getting your package out to agents and casting directors. Opportunities are available now, and someone who's begun networking has a better chance than a newcomer.
Winning at anything in this city takes luck. For a gambler, it's a matter of waiting for the right numbers to come up. For a performer, having your number come up is a matter of being in the right place at the right time, knowing the right people, getting the right breaks. Success in Atlantic City doesn't come easily, but getting booked on the boardwalk is within the reach of any talented performer.
Performing here is a waiting game. It may help to take the advice of one hero to all lounge and casino performers: Wayne Newton. Now a consistently sold-out attraction, the former lounge act was discovered by a booking agent while singing for just $20 per week. Newton offers: "I'm very proud of my beginnings as a lounge act. Tell performers not to give up. Above all, don't ever think any job is too small. When you're a performer, always give it your best. You never know who is in the audien