LAS VEGAS GROWS UP STRIP BRING STYLISH ENTERTAINMENT TO ITS MATURE VISITORS.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

LAS VEGAS - There are no sure bets in Las Vegas, and no one knows it better than those behind the hotels and casinos here.

So bringing in the offbeat three-man performance troupe Blue Man Group to headline an extravagant show at the Luxor may have seemed like a gamble, but so far the bet has been paying off.

This is part of a sea change that's been going on in the desert community for the past few years. With the addition of luxury hotels such as Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, the Venetian, Paris and the Aladdin, which in turn have brought in high-end restaurants and entertainment, the city has been changing its image, says Rob Powers, vice president of the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.

``What was partly driving that was the spread of gambling around the United States,'' he said. ``Las Vegas had to really reinvent itself because people were no longer compelled to come here to gamble when they could go anywhere.''

In the mid-1980s, according to surveys, 99 percent of Vegas visitors were there for the gambling. The '99 survey found that 69 percent of people cited vacation/pleasure as their primary purpose for visiting while only 5 percent cited gambling.

And nowhere is this sea change more in evidence than in the Blue Man Group show, which opened in March, and in another spectacular, Cirque du Soleil's ``O'' at Bellagio.

Trying to describe the Blue Man show is like the three blind men and the elephant: Whatever part you grab onto is only going to capture a portion of the act. Bald, blue-headed and dressed in industrial wear - which seems in keeping with their drumming on PVC tubing - the players are sly, witty deconstructionists.

A seven-piece musical band - which appears in two darkened lofts on either side of the stage - accompanies them. Neon lights, bright splashes of illuminated paint, electronic streaming bulletins, giant television screens and what seems like a ton of crepe paper that is rolled over the audience are all part of the performance. And while the three Blue Men never speak, they say volumes about art, the computer age, science, communication and, ultimately, our expectations.

Of course, one of our expectations is not seeing something so edgy and smart in the home of shticky comedians and showgirls.

``The best thing that happened to Las Vegas is the proliferation of the other gaming resorts (around the country),'' says Chris Wink, one of the original founding members of Blue Man. ``The people that own the casinos and hotels (in Vegas) realized that they have to take some risks and expand the reputation of the city and the reasons why people would go there.''

That wasn't the case even a few years ago, says Wink. ``Earlier, it was, 'We have the different rules in Vegas so you'll have to adjust.' ''

The Blue Man Group had already been looking for a place, including Los Angeles, where it could put on a larger production. (It already has shows in New York City, Boston and Chicago with different Blue Men, including one woman, filling the roles.)

When the Mandalay Resort Group (which owns the Luxor) approached the group members, they were impressed, says Wink, finding the theater at the Luxor, ``the kind of place that can house the kind of work we were doing.''

More importantly, the Blue Men found the creative trust they were looking for, and Las Vegas audiences have responded. This is helped, says Wink, by the ever-changing flow of visitors to the city.

The 10 shows in the 1,250-seat theater have been sold out or playing to near capacity crowds each night. Seats run $55-$65, and with the success, Wink says the group expects to add a show or two to the weekly schedule this fall.

Wink gives credit to Cirque du Soleil for establishing a beachhead for Blue Man's unconventional antics. Cirque's ``Mystere'' had already been playing at Treasure Island for four years when the water-based extravaganza ``O'' opened at the Bellagio in October 1998. The 1,800-seat theater was built specifically for the show, and high divers, synchronized swimmers, clowns and acrobats perform in and around a 1.5 million-gallon pool of water that's part of the stage.

The hydraulics of the show are amazing enough, with the pool becoming bigger or smaller or disappearing altogether as various parts of the stage fill in. Couple this with Cirque's eye-popping acrobatic feats, colorful costumes and elaborate staging, and calling the show ``breathtaking'' seems so anemic. (Having seen all the Cirque variations that have beached at the Santa Monica tent during the past decade, I can safely say that ``O'' is even more unbelievable.)

And yes, it's profitable. According to Dave Kervin of the Bellagio publicity staff, ``O'' runs at better than 98 percent capacity. This, too, is part of the sea change in Vegas, according to Powers.

``For a typical hotel-casino, only about half of its revenues are derived from the casino,'' says Powers. ``Five, six, seven years ago that was probably 75 to 80 percent. So the hotels now generate just as much revenues on nongambling attractions as they do on gambling.''

He then points to ``O,'' which has 10 shows a week with tickets running between $93.50 and $110. ``Can you imagine the gross revenues from that show?'' he asks.

(Doing the math, even at 90 percent capacity and at an average ticket of $100, ``O'' would bring in roughly $84 million yearly.)

Wink thinks that ``O'' and Blue Man are bringing in ``a whole new kind of person'' to Vegas. When the troupe finishes its show, the three Blue Men go out into the lobby and pose with members of the audience.

``It's so cool to see the diversity of the people that show up,'' Wink said. ``I enjoy seeing middle-age tourist couples that stumbled on it and decided to take a chance. We're an alternative to Siegfried and Roy.''

Of course, gambling is still important for Vegas, says Powers, pointing out that some 87 percent of visitors do some gambling. (I threw a quarter in a slot machine while waiting for my wife and won $12.50. Does that count?) It's just that now the city increasingly highlights entertainment and luxury. The tagline for a new fall ad campaign for Vegas will be: ``What you want, when you want it.''

The reason for the campaign is obvious. Last year, some 69 percent of people cited vacation/pleasure as their primary purpose for visiting Vegas, and nearly 50 percent of all visitors attended shows.

Powers sees the growth of luxury hotels, high-end entertainment and fancy restaurants as having a domino effect. ``We're attracting a more affluent visitor,'' he says.

``About a quarter of all our visitors are from affluent households, which we define as $80,000 a year or more. That number just a few years ago was 12 percent. As the market and product changes, we're bringing in more people who just a few years ago wouldn't come here. And as more of those people come here, the more the industry responds by bringing in more high-end entertainment and restaurants.''

You can see this at the new luxury hotels. At Paris Las Vegas, where I stayed recently, the first thing I noticed was that the hotel didn't filter me into the casino. In fact, it was fairly easy to avoid the gambling area altogether.

Powers sees this as Vegas growing up. The emphasis, instead, was on the hotel's service, its restaurants, visiting its shops, the pool and spa areas. I didn't shop but tried two midpriced restaurants (good); the service throughout the Paris was quite good, and while my wife enjoyed the spa for a nominal fee, I spent a number of hours lounging at the pool. The best thing I can say about the experience was that it didn't make me think of Vegas - which I hadn't visited in six years.

Well, at least the old Vegas, which can still be seen in ``Folies Bergere'' at the Tropicana, the city's longest-running show (it began in 1959). They advertise that the leggy, feathered showgirls are topless for the late show. (Does that mean you can bring kids to the early show? I didn't check it out.) Considering what's on cable, it's a wonder that the show keeps going.

And everything isn't a winner in Vegas. While Blue Man and Cirque have been winners, other high-end shows haven't fared as well. Paris imported ``Notre Dame de Paris,'' the English adaptation of the popular French musical, and it closed after a few months. The hotel has yet to announce a new show for its theater.

The musical ``Chicago'' had so-so success at Mandalay Bay, running for about six months, but Powers notes that ``a lot of people didn't think it would last for eight weeks.'' And he expects that the city will embrace more theater as it becomes more sophisticated.

Wink, for his part, thinks that Las Vegas is ready. ``Once you check out the town,'' he said, ``and get off the Strip and meet the people, you see that (Vegas is) exploding with potential energy. People are ready and wanting it to be a real city and not just trapped in whatever image people had of it in the '70s.''

But the new hotels and high-end entertainment have raised the competitive bar to a very high level. ``So whether it's an 'O' or a Blue Man Group, people come here with certain expectations,'' says Powers, and that is the new challenge for the city.

Meanwhile, Powers says that despite all the gambling that has proliferated around the country, Las Vegas is having its best year ever in the number of visitors. So it seems that the city has already won its bet on a new image.

IF YOU GO

``Blue Man Group Live at the Luxor,'' 3900 Las Vegas Blvd., 7 and 10 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays; 7 p.m. Sundays and Mondays. Tickets: $55 and $65. Information: [phone].

Cirque du Soleil's ``O'' at Bellagio, 3600 Las Vegas Blvd., 7:30 and 10:0 p.m. Fridays through Tuesdays. Tickets: $93.50, $99 and $110. Information: [phone].

Cirque du Soleil's ``Mystere'' at Treasure Island, 3300 Las Vegas Blvd., 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Tickets: $75. Information: [phone].

Paris Las Vegas, 3655 Las Vegas Blvd. Information: [phone] or [phone].

CAPTION(S):

6 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- ran in October 8th Travel edition only) A Blue Man Group member performs amid multimedia effects during the extravagant show ``Blue Man Group: Live at Luxor.''

(2 -- color -- ran in October 1st Travel edition only) Members of Blue Man Group, right, create a splashy effect in their act - literally - by beating on concave drums that are filled with different colors of paint and illuminated from beneath. Since the trio often plays in contrasting syncopated rhythms and at different levels (the harder the beat, the highter the splash), the effect is constantly changing.

(3 -- 4 -- color -- ran in October 1st Travel edition only) The stage for Cirque du Soleil's ``O'' show at Bellagio can change from solid to liquid. Three acrobats, top, perform on a barge while a swimmer lurks nearby. Above, the acrobats create a human sculpture atop an island.

(5 -- 6 -- color -- ran in October 1st Travel edition only) Despite being a water-based show, Cirque du Soleil's ``O'' has a spectacular and comic fire act in which an absent-minded man sets himself ablaze. Below left, a trapeze artist swings majestically across the pool.

Box: If You Go (see text)