Skip to main content

Search the Special Collections and Archives Portal

ent000816-019

Image

File
Download ent000816-019.tif (image/tiff; 177.43 MB)

Information

Digital ID

ent000816-019
    Details

    Publisher

    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    LIDO'S BIG SIX ?╟÷ Donna Arden, extreme right, director-choreographer of the all-new "Pourquoi | Pas?" edition of the "Lido de Paris" revue at the Stardust Hotel, discusses the show's Gypsy production number with five members of the stage spectacular's executive staff: From left, Folco, famed costume designer, French Lido producers Pierre Louis-Guerin and Rene Fraday, Madame Bluebell and the Stardust Hotel's producer, Frank Sennes. Over 100 entertainers star in 'Pourquoi Pas' More than 100 entertainers from a dozen nations will appear at the Stardust Hotel in another edition of the famed "Lido de Paris" production starting Friday. Produced by Frank Sennes and directed and choreographed by Donn Arden in collaboration with French Lido producers Pierre Louis-Guerin, Rene Fraday and Madame Bluebell, 'Tourquoi Pas' races with excitement. It features exquisitely costumed Bluebell Girls, and each is multiplied several times by huge, triangular shaped mirrors. The show scene shifts to Greece for a breathtaking discovery of a Grecian city buried beneath the sea for centuries. The number opens at the Port of Kykonas, where a small boat puts out to sea. The undersea kingdom is discovered when the boat capsizes and sinks with its occupants. The survivors as well as the audience witness the Temple of Athena, gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus, mermaids and giant seahorses. Climaxing the scene is a dramatic transition from modern to ancient Greece. The finale is reproduction of colorful London town, featuring the Royal Guard Parade and the Changing of the Guards. It is climaxed by the excitement of Picadilly Circus at night. Focusing the scene is a Fountain of Light, an enormous mechanical revolving star, which fills the stage and emits a myriad of lights. A bevy of beautiful dancers ride it outward toward the audience. The number was created by Michael Knight, London lighting designer, whose specialty is mechanical effects. Interspersed between these numbers are specialty acts with a Continental flavor: Rudy Cardenas, an accomplished juggler; Heather Belbin, diampion figure skater; Vdantes, whose unicycle exploits are called "Fun on Wheels"; Siegfried and Roy, two of Europe's most accomplished magical illusionists; the Argentine Devils, a crazy gang of five male funmakers; and Dominique, the renowned ''international pickpocket.''