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m 18?╟÷ ..EVENING OUTLOOK LAS VEGAS - When bigger and better shows are produced ?╟÷ Las Vegas will produce them. Case in point is ?╟úHallelujah Hollywood?╟Ñ which opened last week at the MGM Grand Hotel. It is probably the most expensive, the, most elaborate and most spectacular show on earth. It used to be that one had to go to Paris to find the spectacularly staged i shows such as The Lido and The Folies Bergere. The format was imported ten years ago to Las Vegas ?╟÷ and expanded until the Lido show (at the Stardust) and the Folies Bergere (at the Tro-picana) and another show patterned after them, the Casino De Paris (at the Dunes), far outclassed anything seen in Paris. Computer When MGM built its $107 million hotel, they built staging facilities rivaling anything in the theater today. The mechanical facil-ties are masterpieces of ingenuity and complexity ?╟÷ all computer controlled. For example ?╟÷ a pirate ship, which takes up the whole stage, burns and sinks and tne whole stage full of people and apparatus dissolve into an underwater scene in which an underwater ballerina and a live dolphin vie for grace. Animals The show uses a veritable circus of animals from an elephant down to dogs with a llama, lion, tiger, leopard, camel, baboon ana more thrown in for good measure. There are more than 120 people in the cast and there must be a huge back-stage crew. The 25-piece orchestra is never seen. It plays underneath the staging. Scenery The scenery, elevated stages, Staircases and multitudes of props glide into place with amazing ease and timing. If that computer ever goes haywire there wifi be chaos. There are the usual ?╟ blio?╟╓* acts in front of the curtain while the elaborate sets are being prepajiifL^fliere are also him clips with brief * Scenes fiwi' ?╟úGone With The Wfad?╟Ñ with Viven Leigh anw?·lark Gable ; ?╟  ?╟ Camille?╟Ñ With Gretja Garbo and Robert Taylor; ?╟úMin And Bill?╟Ñ with Marie Dressier and Wallace Beery; ?╟úLassie Come Home?╟Ñ with Elizabeth Taylor and Lassie, and Judy Garland singing l?╟ Dear Mr. Gable. ?╟╓?╟╓ Costumes Naturallv there are scores of girls in magnificent costumes (and no cos-? tumes). The costumes must have cost a fortune. The solo voices are excellent, a facet of show business frequently overlooked by producers. Too Loud Unfortunately the amplification is too loud, enough to drive one up the wall. One doesn?╟╓t need all those decibels. The show is produced by-the veteran Las Vegas showman who has many ?╟úspectaculars?╟Ñto his credit, Donn Arden. His imagination appears to be limited only by budget, and in this venture Kirk Kerkorian, head of MGM, appears to have given him a pretty free hand. If the show doesn?╟╓t put MGM into bankruptcy it will make money. Credits The costumes were designed by Ray Aghayan and Bob Mackie. Choreography is by Nor-man Maen With Jules 8 Fisher doing the lighting ?√ß and Tony Costa conducting I the orchestra. The produc- 11 tion designer is John j Decuir. The fantastic, eye-pop- | ping show which will stand I the entertainment world j on its ear employs over I 700 costumes consuming I 25,000 yards of material, | thousands of feathers and I rhinestones, sequins and I beads. V Mechanics The Ziegfeld Room s(age ?! incorporates eleven lifts, a dolphin tank 20 feet long, ?√ß filled with eight feet of I water weighing in^excess \ of 75,000 pounds, ceiling i drops, a 100-foot passerelle overhead, 1,600 lighting ^circuits with more j than 20,000 bulbs uicotpofated inthe ?╟ ^EWr'Vyotind system capable of 40 jjfsunultaneous or separate program * sources" utilizing 24 wireless radio microphones plus 124 set microphone lines. The stage loft, 80 feet High, has 95 sets of lines for hanging scenery. Hollywood* i*$f)ing two nighTf in the Ziegfeta Room arMGM Gf?╟╓and Hof ef, E6J Vegas Thurs. May 2, 1974 Southwest ToRic$-Wave -j In Vegas MGM Show 7 Claijhe | Greatest By ?╟úCHES?╟Ñ WASHINGTON j LAS VEGAS: Colossal! I Phenomenal! Spectacular! ln- i credible! Probably the last word is * the most appropos to describe I Donn Arden?╟╓s fantastic salute to MGM famous mu si cals which opened here recently in the Ziegfield Room of the MGM Grapd Hotel. And as one theatrical critic said, it even out-Ziegfield.'the great Ziegfield?╟╓s immortal produc-' tions. Called ?╟úHallelujah Holly-wood,?╟Ñ the spell-binding danc- jji ing, singing, mystifying, star-1 -fling and thrilling production tops anything, everythingB;. al magician, a | checkboard k ever staged in Vegas ... which 1s, of course, the rec-f ognized capital of high-powered stage shows. With a glittering cast of nearly 200 . . , including ?╟ en- ' trancingly beautiful girls,-sen- . sationai dancers, a phenomen- J chorus line and impression-1 ?╟? ?╟╓ aires of Judy Garland, Gable,j :r Durante, Mae West, Cantor...| -the show dramatizes the bigj names and the great shows of j the halcyon and golden daysi ; \ of MGM and its'brilliant thea/ ' atrical triumphs. -* * J You can even epjoy. a thriving carpet-ride, though the i-!V colorful streets of 'Bagdad in the typicfy costume? which arp kaleidescooic in color and backed l|p^rillii$ni; penery. Other Settings include a ?╟úMeet^Me in Sfty^iis?╟Ñ ngjbs- - entatipnp a?╟╓"pirate ?╟≤ ship which, sinks in. a maze of flames and; even a giant leopard, an/ ele-f phant, |t' .figgr of course . the symbb^ M^I?lion. mPectdcular shows ^|i|ou ghoijf' r jthe /world; ?╟≤ ?╟≤ ?╟≤ Including the follies Bei> gere hj f . ?╟? I?╟╓m con- vinced -tfial ^a^tljah* Holly, wood?╟Ñ at tba'Gfand is/simply[! the greatest.