David Cassidy in the News
EFX
December 5, 2000:By Mike Weatherford
The Las Vegas Review-Journal
The MGM Grand is expected to confirm in an 11 a.m. news conference today former pop star Rick Springfield will take over as the new star of "EFX" next year, replacing Tommy Tune. He will become the fourth headliner of the show that opened with Michael Crawford, followed by David Cassidy.
On the same day last week that the Rio announced Cassidy would close his "At the Copa" show in January, "Bottom's Up" producer and star Breck Wall said he was "putting on roller skates" to zip over to that hotel.
And who could blame him? A piece of prime showroom real estate doesn't come on the market very often.
But entertainers or producers who have their sights on the Copacabana showroom might want to skate in with a fat bankroll.
Though no one's saying it, it's fair to believe the next tenant will be there under some variation of a "four-wall," or rent-the-room, arrangement.
It helps explain a question never completely answered at last week's news conference, in which Cassidy and Rio president Jay Sevigny announced the former teen idol would spend the second year of his contract touring other Harrah's properties as a concert headliner.
Why retire the show when ticket sales were respectable to good?
One answer is that "Copa" had an expensive payroll, including an 18-piece band, which could be trimmed with the concert format.
Another answer is that hotel money was involved.
Cassidy received an undisclosed producer's fee from the hotel for "At the Copa," and was guaranteed a minimum revenue against ticket sales: If sales didn't meet the minimum, the hotel would make up the difference.
That used to be a fairly standard arrangement on the Strip, but more and more has given way to outside producers assuming most or all of the risk, and working solely for the money generated by ticket sales.
Harrah's bought the Rio in January 1999, a full year before Cassidy's show opened. But key management at the hotel has changed since the show opened. And the Rio's earnings have fallen below last year's, partly due to a decline in entertainment revenues since the departure of impressionist Danny Gans, according to the parent company's third-quarter report.
Cassidy acknowledged having to "reconnect" with the new regime, though he told reporters, "there was never a time when (Harrah's officials) said, `We don't want you here,' and there was never a time when I said, `I don't want to be here.' "
