Splash paddles for new horizon: producer Kutash to take successful show into new venues in U.S., abroad.

Jeffrey Kutash got his show together and took it on the road -- and, in the meantime, wrote a new page in the history of Las Vegas-style entertainment.

Kutash, whose Dancing Machine Productions is based in Los Angeles, is the creator and producer of Splash, the water-drenched revue that has been playing at the Riviera Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip since 1984.

Kutash also owns the rights to Splash. Meshulam Riklis, a corporate entrepreneur and one-time owner of the Riviera, has invested in the show as well.

The show combines singers, dancers, lasers, motorcycles, ice skaters, acrobats, mermaids, divers and synchronized swimmers on a stage filled with fountains, waterfalls and a giant glass-encased aquarium/performance tank.

By all accounts, the show has been a hit, outlasting its original four-week contract by playing continually for the past 10 years at the Riviera.

Beyond Sin City

What really makes Kutash's company different has been its ability to stage a Vegas-style show beyond the confines of Sin City. The company opened productions of Splash in Reno and Osaka, Japan, this year -- a feat that has yet to be duplicated by any other Vegas-based show.

The expansion has apparently had a dramatic effect on Dancing Machine's bottom line. Last year, Kutash's company generated about $3.5 million in revenues, he reported. This year, he said he expects revenues of up to $15 million, once merchandise sales are factored into the equation.

The three Splash shows play to an average combined audience of 8,000 people a day, more than any other stage show on earth, according to Kutash. He is also looking to bring Splash to such seemingly unlikely places as China, South Africa and Australia.

Vegas constraints

Kutash said his success with Splash boils down to two fairly simple ingredients. One, he said, is that, unlike other Las Vegas producers, he -- not the hotel -- owns the rights to the show, giving him the flexibility to take it wherever he wants. The other ingredient, Kutash said, is persistence.

"It's taken me 10 years," he said.

Las Vegas is a different animal than most when it comes to live entertainment. Stage shows are most often designed with an eye toward filling hotel rooms and gaming tables, not for their artistic merits. On top of that, Kutash said, Vegas still has a stigma all its own.

"To have a Las Vegas stage show and take it out of Las Vegas is the problem," he said. "People still think it's the mob, or they still think that the show will be tacky, or they still think that it's just T&A, all of those old cliches.

"In order to achieve acceptance outside of Las Vegas, we first had to achieve respectability within Las Vegas."

That respectability came with the year-in, year-out success of Splash at the Riviera, as well as the numerous awards the show has garnered, including being voted Show of the Year for the past six years by Las Vegas Magazine.

The opportunity to expand came first at the Reno Hilton, which houses what the Guinness Book of World Records calls the largest stage in the world and, Kutash said, a stage that had largely been dark for the prior eight years. Splash opened in the 2,000-seat theater in June, where it plays eight times a week.

Next came a group of Japanese investors who were interested in bringing Splash to Japan -- but hesitated to sign a deal that would entail investing millions of dollars in the show and in constructing a new theater to house it.

That all changed, Kutash said, when Gov. Bob Miller of Nevada, where Kutash employs more than 300 cast members and technicians, officially endorsed Splash.

"Splash has delighted Las Vegas visitors for many years. I hope the show brings you as much pleasure and enjoyment," Miller wrote in an open letter to the people of Japan to accompany the Aug. 1 opening of the show at the Showplaza Theater at the Metrohills luxury resort in Osaka.

The Japanese venue -- built at a cost of $22 million -- was designed specifically for Splash, which has a signed contract to play for one year.

In Las Vegas and Reno, Kutash said, he "four-walls" the show, meaning he puts up all the money to produce it -- including leasing the "four-walled" theater space -- and therefore gets the full take from the box office.

In Japan, Kutash produces the show for Metrohills, getting a flat-rate paycheck each week rather than the box office take.

The show brings in about $150,000 a week in Japan, $250,000 a week in Las Vegas and $125,000 a week in Reno, not counting merchandising, Kutash said.

Global conquests

In the meantime, Kutash is talking to three companies, each of which is vying to bring Splash to China in the wake of the show's success in Japan. However, as China lacks the appropriate theatrical venues, Kutash said, Splash is shaping up as a road show, probably to be staged in tents.

Other deals are being negotiated to produce the show in Australia, South Africa and Europe, Kutash said.

And back at the Riviera in Las Vegas, Kutash said, he is set to create what he calls the first "interactive" stage revue, allowing audience members to interact with the players and sets through a series of joy-sticks, levers and buttons.

"The future of entertainment globally is changing," Kutash said, noting that he plans to be there every step of the way.

Then he added with a smile, "A lot of countries want a taste of Las Vegas."