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player ready...Born in 1970, I’m a child of the decade of disco music.
Despite those who might wish disco as a music genre would disappear forever, I’m a firm believer it’s around to stay.
Disco has been on my mind since last month.
I published a weekend column in August about my pilgrimage with my older sister Pam to see the opening weekend of “The Wizard of Oz” 1939 film classic shown with all the immersive effects and “bells and whistles” treatment at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
This prompted readers Bob and Karen Montgomery of Munster to email me and ask, “Did you catch any other shows while in Vegas? Any you would recommend?”
Because it was a short trip arranged by my sister, we only had time for tickets to one other show, and we selected “DISCOSHOW,” a production helmed by Caesars Entertainment and produced by Spiegelworld. The show first opened a year ago in July 2024 and has now planted roots for a long run in the entertainment complex called LINQ, 3535 Las Vegas Boulevard, just across the street where we stayed at The Venetian Hotel and Casino.
Spiegelworld first hit the jackpot producing shows along the famed “strip” in 2012 when it propped its outdoor luxury climate-controlled tent next to the fountain gardens in front of Caesar’s Palace to herald the arrival of “Absinthe,” which I saw with my sister and parents in September 2013. Spiegelworld now touts a string of successful “adult-circus shows” including “Atomic Saloon Show” at The Venetian, “OPM” at The Cosmopolitan and “The HOOK” at Caesar’s Atlantic City.
With a running time of 70 minutes with no intermission, “DISCOSHOW” is inspired by the spirit of New York disc jockey David Mancuso’s legendary New York City loft parties, the first of which was on Valentine’s Day 1970 with a theme of “Love Saves the Day” hosted at his home. Later parties, always secret and by invitation only, were held in a multi-level space at 99 Prince St. in the Big Apple.
Mancuso, who died at age 72 in 2016, always said he dreamed up the idea for his parties as “a wild extension of the childhood parties the nuns used to throw at his orphanage, complete with colored balloons, punch and just a simple record player.”
Like many cities, including Chicago, New York faced hard times. In October 1975, President Gerald Ford famously told the city and New York Mayor Abraham Beame to “drop dead,” as he focused on the escalating similar problems around the country.
All of these historical timeline events are recalled with vintage photos, sound bites and moving archive images displayed on large video screens which surround guests arriving to “DISCO SHOW” and corralled onto a lighted, colorful moving tile dance floor.
There is a free pre-show in the bar and lobby area, where much of the fun is the decor and real magazine covers and newspaper headlines plastered along the walls before guests make their way upstairs and ramps to the main “secret loft area.”
Several dancers, each in their own identities of the day (businessman, young street lad, roller-skating lass, working lady turned party queen at night…) mingle with guests, including impromptu dance partners and also provide entertaining dance moves from elevated landscapes to the music soundtrack of “Le Freak,” “Good Times,” “We Are Family,” “Disco Inferno,” “Disco Duck” and “Everybody Dance” and more.
And of course, the grand finale of disco’s final days and fate was ushered in by angry mobs in Chicago on Thursday, July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park during a White Sox Game against the Detroit Tigers.
As a dreamed-up promotion by then White Sox owner Bill Veeck and his son Mike, they hired Chicago radio personalities Steve Dahl and Garry Meier to host an “end of the disco era party” which invited fans to take advantage of a special 98 cents admission price if they brought a despised disco record which would stacked as part of a mountainous effigy as a focal point on the grassy field to be “exploded.”
Dramatic footage and news reels are shown of the event on the giant screens during the final moments of “DISCOSHOW.” While White Sox brass had anticipated about 20,000 attending the curiosity seekers’ dream event, more than 50,000 people showed up, and drunk revelers spun records (like Frisbees) from the stands out into the field, interrupting the first game of the doubleheader. Once Dahl and his cohorts arrived (by Jeep) and conducted the explosion, mobs of fans stormed the field and remained defacing property and creating other mayhem as a large bonfire raged in centerfield until Mayor Jane Byrne called in the riot police.
Press box commentator Harry Caray attempted to use the public address system to restore order, but was ignored, as were the flashing scoreboard signs proclaiming “PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEATS.” (The second game was never played and White Sox had to forfeit.)
“DISCOSHOW” is moving in every way, from audience group dance lessons for all of the most popular disco moves, as taught by a character called “Mr. Ake Blomqvist,” to the historical image reminders of where we’ve been and where we are headed as the show provides a sly final bow music moment ushering in of the 1980s and Michael Jackson’s rise to music fame and acclaim.
“DISCOSHOW” is written by Olivier Award-winner Michael Wynne with set and costume design by Tony Award-winner David Zinn, lighting design by Olivier Award-winner Natasha Chivers, sound design by Olivier Award-winner Tom Gibbons and projection and video design by Darrel Maloney.
Tickets for “DISCOSHOW” with performances at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday, are $97 including tax at www.spiegelworld.com/discoshow
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Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and radio host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at [email protected].