Summerguide 2019

Thanks to Maine, Elvis is back in Vegas.

By Colin W. Sargent

An early review from John Katsilometes of the Las Vegas Review Journal reports: “The Elvis lead, Eddie Clendening, is a killer performer, and this backing band smokes.”

During the summer of 2017, Ogunquit Playhouse’s Brad Kenney delighted Maine theatergoers with Heartbreak Hotel, a curated presentation of Elvis songs, some unknown, that Kenney created with producer/director/writer Floyd Mutrux from a shelved trial sequence Mutrux had originally envisioned as part of Million Dollar Quartet, also successfully produced at Ogunquit. At Heartbreak Hotel, Maine crowds rocked out to the big sounds of the smoldering, sensitive 18-year-old Elvis Presley—and the tears. End of story, right? No, it’s the beginning.

Love Me Tenderloin

“The phone started ringing,” Kenney says, first from “the cruise ships, then Caesars Entertainment.” Investors piled on board, including creatives and financiers connected to the Elvis estate. What to do? Kenney knows showbiz like Smilla knows snow. While he treated us to a sizzling season at the same time in Ogunquit, “We transferred the production to Chicago last summer. Caesars Entertainment came and saw Chicago. They said, ‘If you can do A, B, C, and D, we can do a casino show.’ I spent my spring in Las Vegas. I worked with Broadway director Jeff Calhoun. We took what went well in Ogunquit, what went well in Chicago, and curated a show for the Las Vegas concert space.”

As in Harrah’s Showroom, which dates to the Rat Pack days.

Imagine the curious and wonderful word “Ogunquit” falling on Vegas ears.

Rosy Future

Heartbreak Hotel opened in the city of neon in April and is still playing. But for how long? “Forever,” Kenney says. “The contract is open-ended!”

An early review from John Katsilometes of the Las Vegas Review Journal reports: “The Elvis lead, Eddie Clendening, is a killer performer, and this backing band smokes.”

Which is no surprise, since Kenney conducts some of his business meetings while walking the smoky coast of Marginal Way. As for Clendening, we saw him first in the Maine version of the show, itself a world premiere.

The ripples go outward. While the show continues in Vegas, another version is being announced for “London,” Kenney says. “Seriously.”

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