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The Venetian’s new ‘This Is Christmas!’ leads a slate of Las Vegas Strip wintertime fun

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‘This Is Christmas!’ cast members (left to right) Lou Gazzara, Ben Stone and Jasmine Trias, Randal Keith (top), Laura Suzanne Wright (bottom), Eric Jordan Young (top) and Jaclyn McSpadden (bottom).
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The holiday-themed ice-skating rink at the Cosmopolitan’s rooftop pool opened this week, and Christmas décor is beginning to return to casino resorts. Despite the coronavirus-caused struggles across the Strip’s live entertainment landscape, the time-honored tradition of special holiday shows is coming back to life as well, at least at the Venetian.

An original, family-friendly musical titled This Is Christmas! is set to open November 27 at the Venetian Theatre, featuring a cast that includes American Idol competitors Lou Gazzara, Jasmine Trias and Laura Suzanne Wright, and veteran Vegas performers Randal Keith, Jaclyn McSpadden, Ben Stone and Eric Jordan Young.

The show is set for 3 and 7 p.m. performances Fridays through Sundays through December 27, and tickets ranging from $70 to $100 are on sale now at venetian.com or through Ticketmaster. The normally 1,800-capacity theater will be reconfigured for a maximum audience of 250, and the events will go beyond state safety guidelines under the extensive Venetian Clean operational protocols.

While some resorts have relaunched production shows throughout October, Venetian and Palazzo have only reinstalled minimal live music offerings. This Is Christmas! came about when longtime local producer and musical director Pat Caddick reached out to the resorts’ Executive Director of Entertainment Neil Miller.

“It came to the point where my family and I thought we needed to do something to help get things off the ground again,” says Caddick, who has worked on music for Baz, Vegas! The Show and Zombie Burlesque and headlining productions from Siegfried & Roy, Danny Gans and Wayne Newton. “All this time has been really harsh for the performance community. If we can put some people back to work—and this is a cast of nine, a band of six, a crew of 10 and probably 20 people at the hotel helping out—we’ll get it done in time, and it will all sound really great.”

Caddick has built shows from scratch before, but this is different, thanks to a tight timeline and COVID-19 conditions. But the goal is also different: It’s about creating a fun, festive and safe performance, not a financially sustainable production.

“Some of it will be audience sing-alongs, some more jazz or classical-infused. It will be all over the spectrum, but it all pays homage to Christmas,” he says. “And this is a cast of superheroes. They all have special powers and strengths in different areas, so it’s been fun to be able to make use of those talents.”

Here are a few more Vegas-based live shows and livestreams celebrating the holiday season:

Commercial Center supper club the Vegas Room is presenting 20 performances of A Vegas Room Christmas December 2-27, staged by Benjamin Tucker and directed by Keith Thompson, with a rotating cast including Vegas singers Anne Martinez, Amanda King, Michelle Johnson, Janien Valentine and more. Tickets cost $109, and reservations can be made at thevegasroom.com.

Jersey Boys Tony winner John Lloyd Young brings his Vegas Holiday show— a blend of seasonal classics, rock, Motown and doo-wop—to the Space for two performances on December 4. The pay-per-view price is $30, or $70 to add the VIP afterparty, with more info available at thespacelv.com.

Italian-born singer and Las Vegas resident Giada Valenti (PBS’ From Venice With Love) will perform pay-per-view livestream concert Love Under the Christmas Tree December 12 at 5 p.m., presenting holiday hits in new arrangements with some storytelling mixed in. She’ll be singing from a villa in the Spanish Trails neighborhood, and tickets are on sale for $25 at giadavalenti.com.

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Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of managing editor at Las Vegas Weekly ...

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