Jubilee!
Jubilee! is a long-running Las Vegas Strip-based burlesque show. It opened on July 31, 1981 at an initial cost of 10 million dollars and was originally produced by Donn Arden.[1] Donn Arden set the standard for all the spectacular Las Vegas shows that celebrated female beauty, in combination with a demand for only the best; in costumes, set, and talent. As of 2006, this resident show at Bally's Las Vegas is the longest-running production show in Las Vegas. The Jubilee! showgirls are an icon of old Vegas. The show uses costumes designed by Bob Mackie and Pete Menefee. UNLV Special Collections houses many of the original costume design drawings which can be accessed online through the Showgirls collection from UNLV Digital Collections.[1] Many of the show's sets date back to the original production and include the sinking of the Titanic and the bull used in Samson and Delilah. The bull is 27 feet tall and collapses down to 13 feet after it has been destroyed. The bull is the heaviest single piece of scenery in the show weighing 3 tons. It takes 9 stagehands to move it from one position to another. Jubilee!'s longest serving principal dancer from the opening night until her departure 23 years later was Linda Green. The current cast consists of 4 female principals, 3 male principals, 12 male and female chorus singers, 18 male dancers, 28 topless dancers, and 22 female dancers. Within the female covered and topless dancers, they are further categorgized as "short" and "tall" dancers. A "short" dancer is a female dancer between 5'8" and 5'9" and a "tall" female dancer is between 5'10" and 6'2."
Creators
- Donn Arden - Producer
- Fluff LeCoque - Associate producer
- Michael Pratt - Assistant company manager
- Winston Hemsley - Choreographer
- Rich Rizzo - Choreographer
- Pete Menefee - Designer
- Bob Mackie - Designer
Current staff
- Damien Costa - Entertainment director
- Diane Palm - Company manager
- Suzanne Swanson - Assistant company manager
- Open - Technical director
- Open position - Stage manager
- Donna London - Wardrobe manager
- Joel Mann - Music director
- Carol Beeman - Production assistant
Technical/show information
- Jubilee! features a cast of 85 showgirls and showboys.
- There are 75 stagehands working on the show.
- The feathered headdresses worn by the showgirls can weigh up to 35 pounds.
- This is a topless show for 18 and over.
- The total width of the stage wall to wall in 190 feet- half the size of a football field.
- The heaviest set piece lifted by a motor weighs over 6,000 pounds and the heaviest set piece of scenery lifted and lowered by the crew weighs 4,000 pounds.
- Over 1,000 costumes were designed for Jubilee! By Pete Menefee and Bob Mackie.
- The costumes worn in the Grand Jewel Box Finale tribute to Florenz Ziegfeld, were designed by Bob Mackie. There are 36 individual designs, each based on the jewel tones of amethyst, sapphire, emerald, and ruby.
- The Rhinestones that are used on our costumes are all Austrian crystal by Swarovski, the highest quality rhinestones in the world. If all the jewelry were weighed together, they would weigh 10,000 pounds.
- According to designer Pete Menefee, when Jubilee was in production in 1980, there was a worldwide shortage of rhinestones because they were all being used in Jubilee!
Acts
- Act 1 Showtime! Putting It into the Right Vernacular
- Act 2 Hand Balancing Specialty Act
- Act 3 Samson and Delilah Tonight, a Lesson from Ancient History
- Act 4 Gaucho Specialty Act
- Act 5 Titanic Away We Go on the Mighty "Unsinkable" Ocean Liner
- Act 6 Aerial Specialty Act
- Act 7 The Finale A Tribute to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Notable dancers
- Tiffany Coyne, model[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 UNLV Libraries. "Jubilee!". Showgirls. UNLV Libraries Digital Collections. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
- ↑ Wright, Becky. "Tiffany Coyne the real deal". Hers. Standard-Examiner. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- Caroline Fontein (2010). "Viva Vegas showgirls". LasVegas. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- Kristine McKenzie (2010). "Girls, Girls Girls". VEGAS. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- Anthony "Hitman" Brown (14 November 2010). Moonlighting Vegas Cop Takes It Off Onstage (audio/transcript). Interview with Liann Hanson. Weekend Sunday Edition. NPR. Retrieved 14 November 2010.