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ent001633-025
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    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    Tropicana Hotel presents all-new ?╟ Folies Bergere?╟╓ ?╟úIt used to be that when a champagne glass could fit over the breast of a woman, then she got the job in the ?╟úFolies Bergere/* remembers Las Vegas ?╟úFolies*?╟╓ director/choreogra-pher, Jerry Jackson. ?╟úYou see, back then small breasts were desired, and most of the show was filled with smaller girls from France and England.?╟Ñ Today, that concept serves to illustrate just how far the production development has travelled through the years in the making of the ?╟úFolies Bergere,?╟Ñ beginning its 24th year at the Tropicana Hotel. Ike original Paris ?╟úFolies?╟Ñ fostered the famous ?╟úStaircase?╟Ñ scene that Is a trademark of the ?╟úFolies?╟Ñ in Las Vegas as well. But die ?╟úFo- lies Bergere?╟Ñ is most famous for its tall, statuesque showgirls, and its old-fashioned storybook theme, featuring dramatic tableaux with an underlying Music Hall theme. ?╟úActually it was a concept I devised myself,?╟Ñ explains Jackson, in reference to the Music Hall format. ?╟úThe old ?╟ Folies* in Paris didn?╟╓t do that. I chose the Music Hall theme because I could tell a story, but more iihportantly, because I could feature the music itself as a major part of the production.?╟Ñ ?╟úIf the excitement isn?╟╓t in the music,?╟Ñ continues Jackson, ?╟úthen I can?╟╓t make it happen in the choreography. The music is extremely important.?╟Ñ So important is the selection of the ?╟úFolies?╟Ñ music, that Jackson began six months ago, and hand picked a dozen ?╟ústandards?╟Ñ from over 3,000 recordings. In the all new ?╟úFolies,?╟Ñ Jackson also wrote and arranged three of the numbers As a member of ASCAP, Jackson is credited for having Written three of the songs from the previous edition of the ?╟úFolies?╟Ñ as well. ?╟úTo illustrate the effect, music can have on an audience,?╟Ñ notes Jackson, ?╟úin the can-can I begin with a single pedal note on a drum, and then f overlay four different levels of melodies, so that as the music keeps building and building, the dance becomes more and more intense -*r~' and the momentum drives the audience crazy.?╟Ñ Jackson works out the kind of music he?╟╓ll use and exactly how it will be patterned ?╟÷?√ß how many bars, the instruments used, and the key it will be sang or performed in. Jerry Jackson is unique in the production show business, in that he is one of the few directors that also writes (conceives), choreographs and stages the show ?╟÷ and designs the costumes. In the all new ?╟úFolies Bergere,?╟Ñ Jackson has de-viatd from the age-old tradition of the Music Hall apd opted for a newer, more sophisticated look in tempo with the progressive ?╟╓80s. The Music Hall theme remains, but this time the ?╟úFolies?╟Ñ salutes American music, and in so doing, creates a historical sketch of the times that ends with a spectacular staging of the ?╟úspace age.?╟Ñ Jackson believes that a Las Vegas audience has to sit too long sometimes ?╟÷ just to see a show. They stand in line for entrance into the theatre, they wait to eat, they wait for the show to begin. +