Crown Takes the Center Square

Crown Theater and Nightclub at the Rio, which opened in late May, has just signed an agreement to host the new, live, onstage production of the beloved TV game show The Hollywood Squares, complete with audience participation for cash and prizes, five afternoons a week, beginning in mid-October. Robert Burke of Benner Productions acquired the rights to the show from CBS and is in negotiations with a comedian host, as well as a celebrity to grace the famous center square and possibly be the face of the show.

The remaining squares, Burke says, will be populated by Las Vegas’ resident celebrities, performers passing through town and even celebrity impersonators. “You never know who’s going to be there,” he says, adding that the ushers, too, will be celebrity look-alikes. “You might have a Cher or Garth Brooks look-alike escort you to your seat.”

Burke has Crown from noon to 6 p.m., so there could be two shows per day if the demand is there. Inspired by the success of The Price Is Right at Bally’s, tickets should fall into the $45 range.

“This is just a natural progression that has the room moving in all the directions it can be,” says Crown owner and managing partner Darin Feinstein. “During the day it’s a great showroom and cabaret space; at night it’s a great nightclub.” To that end, Feinstein has concurrently signed with producer Leon Quenneville of Studio 24 Productions to bring another show, slated to be called Red Light—tagline: “The circus just got sexy”—to Crown from 8 to 9:15 p.m. five nights a week beginning Sept. 5.

The sexy circus will feature a husband-and-wife balance duo from Cirque de Montreal, an aerial strap and hoop act, a sexy contortionist and an appearance by Las Vegas’ own Swingshift Sideshow. As the show segues into club hours on certain nights, Feinstein will keep the party going, rolling the show right into the club.


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