DISCOSHOW, A Celebration Of The Beginnings Of Disco In Early 70s NYC, Opens On Las Vegas Strip

On Saturday September 7, live entertainment and hospitality trailblazer Spiegelworld and Caesars Entertainment hosted a dusk-to-dawn party to celebrate the world premiere of DISCOSHOW and the new restaurant Diner Ross.

The red carpet was rolled out along the Strip, leading hundreds of VIP guests through the velvet rope, to a small door in the wall, and then a mirror-tiled entryway, at the new address of disco heaven: 3535 Las Vegas Boulevard. Lined up under the giant, illuminated DISCOSHOW sign that has stamped a new party promise on the Strip, the crowd was buzzing. Was it because the guests had read their invitations and dressed to party in “nineteen-seventy-fine”? Was it because it has been a seven-year wait since Spiegelworld first announced it was going to create a new show about disco, unlike anything else ever seen in Las Vegas? Not to mention September 7 was Gloria “I Will Survive” Gaynor's 81st birthday.

Once inside, the multi-layered nightworld, DISCOSHOW offered two richly detailed, playful bars, a restaurant, and an innovative show that put guests in the center of a disco celebration. Saturday's guests were catapulted into a myriad of itineraries through downtown New York City. The first stop was 99 Prince, a gritty New York subway platform where Spiegelworld's Executive Beverage Director Niko Novick honors the classic cocktails from New York's greatest bars in the early 2000s. Upstairs, they entered Glitterloft, a raw, industrial space inspired by the DIY, found-objects aesthetic of disco pioneer David Mancuso's legendary parties at The Loft. Over 5,000 balloons filled the space in honor of Mancuso's signature party décor. Before and after the night's two special performances of DISCOSHOW, many guests sat down to dinner at Diner Ross, Spiegelworld's cozy new restaurant with its entrance tucked away under a neon sign in one corner of the Glitterloft. Spiegelworld describes it as the “friendly finer diner,” with Executive Culinary Director Anna Altieri of Superfrico serving the greatest hits of New York American cuisine.

Spiegelworld's Impresario Extraordinaire Ross Mollison said on Saturday, “This is the beginning of a Las Vegas party that will not only go all night long tonight, but for years to come. In fact, it started in 1970, and we all simply fell in love with the idea of keeping it going. It's disco. After years of development, months of construction, weeks of rehearsals and previews, and many hours of kitchen and cocktail tastings, we are ready to share our love of disco with everybody. It's what we all need right now.”

Beginning at midnight, Saturday's opening night party was turned over to two special guest DJs, exemplifying the spirit of DISCOSHOW, celebrating disco's origins, and passing the torch to new generations. Iconic DJ Nicky Siano provided a direct link to Mancuso's Loft parties in New York, widely credited as the birthplace of disco. A teenage Siano was a regular at The Loft from when it began in 1970, inspiring him to become a DJ himself the next year. He went on to establish the groundbreaking Gallery in 1972 at the age of 17, when his pioneering skills in mixing records took the evolution of disco to new heights. He was also an early resident DJ at Studio 54 and a mentor to countless disco DJs to follow.

Horse Meat Disco DJ collective founding members Luke Howard and James Hillard flew in from London for the occasion. When they began as a weekly party night at The Eagle in 2004, their mission was to resuscitate the disco dance genre. They went on to become freewheeling global disco pioneers, with new music record releases and residencies around the world from Berlin to New York, proving that disco has a present and future as glittering as its storied past. DISCOSHOW director Steven Hoggett and writer Michael Wynne were regulars at Horse Meat's Sunday nights in Vauxhall, communing on the dance floor long before their creative collaboration with Spiegelworld on the other side of the world.

Meanwhile, downstairs on the subway-platform-styled 99 Prince, local DJ Night Weapons provided dirty grooves while guests kicked back with cocktails and took selfies in the vintage phone booth.

As he had promised weeks ago, at around 4am, Spiegelworld's party chief Ross Mollison was on hand to cook breakfast pancakes in Diner Ross for the ravenous revelers.

Saturday's opening night party officially adds a third Las Vegas resident show to Spiegelworld's line up, joining the smash-hits Absinthe and Atomic Saloon Show, and its second restaurant following Superfrico. DISCOSHOW itself is a show, and a party, all in one. The 70-minute entertainment experience puts the audience in the center of a disco celebration, wrapped in pulsing action and infectious music, and on their feet. Spiegelworld brought together some of the greatest shape-makers of the stage, led by director Steven Hoggett and choreographer / associate director Yasmine Lee, who have previously teamed on movement direction or choreography for Broadway and London West End productions including Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, Once, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and A Beautiful Noise. DISCOSHOW is written by Olivier Award-winner Michael Wynne (The Priory) with set and costume design by Tony Award-winner David Zinn (Stereophonic, Spongebob Squarepants), music production by Jamie Siegel (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill), lighting design by Olivier Award-winner Natasha Chivers (Sunday in the Park with George), sound design by Colle Bustin (Melissa Etheridge: My Window), custom soundscapes by sound associate and Olivier Award-winner Tom Gibbons (Ivo van Hove's West Side Story, Broadway), projection & video design by Darrel Maloney (American Idiot) and hair and wig design by Brittany Hartman (Saturday Night Live).

DISCOSHOW Performance Schedule and Ticketing

Performances of DISCOSHOW take place Wednesday to Sunday at 7pm and 9:30pm at 3535 Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas.

Dinner reservations are also being taken for Diner Ross, located right inside the DISCOSHOW venue at 3535 Las Vegas Boulevard. The bars and restaurant are open to all, even without a ticket to the show.

Bookings: For DISCOSHOW guest tickets and Diner Ross table reservations go to www.spiegelworld.com/discoshow

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