Brick by brick, name by name, moment by moment, the International Theater at Westgate Las Vegas was built with a strong foundation and reinforced by history-making entertainment that spanned generations. It set the stage for what the Las Vegas entertainment landscape is today. Its tale is packed with some of the biggest names in music, theater, comedy and more, and while the resort has changed owners and names in its 50-plus years, today Westgate Las Vegas has restored the venue to its former glory.
Prologue
In 1967, entrepreneur and businessman Kirk Kerkorian, then known as the landlord of Caesars Palace, purchased more than 60 acres off-Strip along Paradise Road and built the world’s largest resort at the time—the International Hotel. After purchasing the land for $5 million, he spent more than $50 million erecting one of the city’s first mega-resorts, which stood 30 stories high and housed more than 1,500 rooms. (Today, with the expansion of the hotel over the years, the Westgate Las Vegas now houses nearly 3,000 rooms, along with convention space and the world’s largest sportsbook).
On July 2, 1969, the International Hotel opened its doors to celebrities and tourists and locals alike, with singer Barbra Streisand performing inside the International Theater, then called Showroom Internationale. The showroom on opening night was packed with stars like Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth, Rudolf Nureyev, Andy Williams and owner Kerkorian. Streisand, just coming off her Academy Award win for Best Actress in Funny Girl earlier that year, was signed to a four-week engagement and played a stripped-down show that at first received lukewarm reviews (some press said her show was more suitable for a cabaret-style setting, not a large, luxurious theater like the Internationale), but toward the end garnered praise, wowing audiences with hits like “People” and “Don’t Rain On My Parade.”
Although her star power brought in the crowds and laid the foundation for future programming, the next star to take up residence inside the International Theater would make the biggest impact, not only for the property but for the history of Las Vegas entertainment.
The Two Protagonists
Literally the day after Streisand ended her run inside the International Theater, posters, banners and merchandise were plastered across the hotel’s property with the face of Elvis Presley—even the cocktail servers sported buttons on their lapels promoting his new residency. On July 31, 1969, Elvis stepped onto the International Theater stage to perform live, for the first time in years, in front of the celebrity-packed house.
“Vernon (Presley), my mother, Priscilla, Lisa and my two brothers and me were in a booth,” David Stanley, Elvis’ stepbrother, told Las Vegas Magazine this year. “Elvis walked out on that stage and, ‘Oh my!’ He hadn’t done a concert in nine years, and he came out that night inside this historical theater and man, that was it. I thought, ‘My god, this guy!’ I went up to him and I said, ‘Elvis, that was unbelievable.’ And he said, ‘David, I’ve been wrong for so long, but I was right tonight.’”
And boy oh boy, was Elvis so right. His star power, his heartthrob status and the glowing reviews of his show kept him performing seven years for a total of 636 record-breaking, sold-out performances. And there every night was Stanley, who eventually dropped out of high school to join Elvis’ security team and entourage, known as the Memphis Mafia, during his theater tenure—two shows per night, for 30 days straight, for two months out of the year, until Elvis’ death in 1977.
“The first night he was here, it was like a prize fight,” Stanley said. “Everyone was all excited. He hadn’t done any concerts in nine years. He’d done movies. So everyone was anticipating. That was the era of The Stones and The Beatles—Elvis was a ’50s cat. All of a sudden there was this new breed of music, so was Elvis still the King? Anybody who was anybody was here. And the thing about an Elvis concert—when Elvis comes out onstage, the electricity just took the paint off the wall. The magnetism and the charisma—it was like, ‘God almighty!’
“He did that from 1969 to the day he died. Every time he would walk out on that stage, the crowds would go insane. From the day he started to the time he died, there was not an empty seat in this theater. He would come out onstage and girls and women would rush the stage—every show. It was insanity.”
During his run, Elvis lived on the 30th floor and Stanley recalled those nights after each concert. “Downstairs was the dressing room, and he’d go and change, and then come out and hobnob with the celebrities. Depending on how he felt, he’d invite them up to the suite and take the back elevator up there, 30th floor, and they’d go till 4 or 5 in the morning. Elvis wasn’t a big partier, though. Elvis’ idea of a good time was to go to the suite and sing gospel music. He didn’t drink. He didn’t smoke pot. … He left so much of his soul on that stage. He gave so much of himself. Elvis left a mark.”
Another man that has left his mark inside the historic venue, and come September is on track to break Elvis’ record for number of shows inside the International Theater, is Barry Manilow. The singer-songwriter first signed a contract with the theater in 2005 and, with some breaks away from the theater through the years, to this day continues to perform inside the International Theater, with his show The Hits Come Home.
“When Barry Manilow came in in 2005, we completely remodeled the stage for his show,” said International Theater head stage carpenter Craig Hayes, who has worked at the theater for 29 years. “I love Barry Manilow. He is a perfectionist. He’s very picky. He videos every show and watches it every night to see if there’s anything he wants to make better or change for the next show. That’s the consummate performer—wanting to do the perfect show.”
The Other Characters
On top of Elvis’ and Manilow’s history-making residencies, The International Theater has been home to many other stars in its 53-year history. When it comes to concerts, it’s a who’s who of world-renowned performers, including Hall & Oates, Donna Summer, Kenny Rogers, Keith Urban, Smokey Robinson, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Liza Minnelli, Burt Bacharach, Earth, Wind & Fire, Johnny Cash, Heart, B.B. King, The Righteous Brothers, Charo, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Paul Anka, James Brown, Brooks & Dunn, Wayne Newton, and Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.
Another Vegas legend, Liberace, held court inside the International Theater beginning in 1972 until the early 1980s. At the time, Liberace’s salary was one of the highest, close to $200,000 per week. His show was a spectacle, with flashy, flamboyant outfits and his arrival onstage by way of a Rolls-Royce.
The 2013 HBO movie Behind the Candelabra re-creates Liberace’s famous performances, and the movie was in fact filmed inside the actual International Theater, which was staged to appear as it did back when the superstar performed there.
“I got to watch Liberace a few times when my dad worked there,” said Hayes, whose father worked at the International Theater when it opened. “Liberace knew how to entertain. He’d walk out there and he’d play for a while, and then he’d walk off and get changed into something more fabulous. He’d say, ‘I’m going to change into something more fabulous!’—and it’d be more fabulous. He was amazing; watching him play, he’d have the audience mesmerized. He’d say stuff like, ‘People always ask me how I play with all these rings on my fingers and I say, ‘I play very well, thank you.’”
When it comes to comedy, the giants of the industry also graced the theater’s stage, including Redd Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Engvall, Paul Rodriguez, Doug Henning, Andrew Dice Clay, Bill Maher, Eddie Griffin, Ron White, Jamie Foxx, George Lopez and Steve Harvey.
In 1993, the International Theater underwent its biggest renovation to date, more than $10 million, to accommodate its first big theatrical production, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Starlight Express. The abridged version ran for 90 minutes, received a Vegas-glitzed revamp and featured a cast that famously performed the entire show on roller skates. Starlight Express was another score for the International Theater in that it was one of the first big musical productions to have a permanent home on a Las Vegas stage and run every week over five years, thereby setting the standard of craftsmanship and big-budget spectacle for the production shows you see on the Strip today.
The theater also appeared in homes all across the country by way of television, staging everything from the Mrs. America Beauty and Mrs. World Beauty pageants to the ESPY, BET and Victor awards shows and games shows like Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and The $250,000 Game Show Spectacular.
Epilogue
“I get paid to work with some of the best acts, and when each show is over, I get to look out at the audience and see people smiling because they just had a great time,” Hayes said. “I have the best job around. The early days of Vegas, people used to show up to the theater in suits, ties and evening gowns. Now it’s T-shirts and flip-flops, but they’re all coming to see a show, to be entertained.
“When the International opened, it was the biggest showroom in Las Vegas,” Hayes added. “Most other showrooms could fit between 800-1,000 seats; when the International opened, it could put 2,000 people in there; that’s almost double. And when Elvis played in there, they’d fit 2,000 people in there twice a night for a straight two months out of the year, for years.”
When Stanley thinks back about his time inside the International Theater, those thoughts are about Elvis, his brother. “I grew up in this building,” he said, looking around the theater. “I feel Elvis right now, being in this theater.”
Fans of Elvis can join Stanley, who serves as an ambassador for Westgate Las Vegas, once a month inside the International Theater for the My Brother Elvis experience (the next one is Aug. 9). The intimate experience includes a backstage tour of the theater and Elvis’ personal dressing room and a sit-down Q&A with Stanley, who will also recount his and Elvis’ time in Las Vegas during the King’s historic run.
Gordon Prouty, vice president of pubic and community relations for Westgate Las Vegas, recounted the International Theater’s impact on the city’s entertainment landscape. “When the theater opened it was this incredible experience,” he said. “It was old Vegas glamour. The only people bigger than the ones on the stage were the people that showed up to watch the concerts. Everyone would come to see a show in this theater. The entertainment and names in the theater itself really set the bar for Las Vegas entertainment you see today.
“We’re really building on the legacy of the International Theater and expanding on the overall legacy of the shows that were established over the decades,” Prouty added. “The theater in so many ways parallels the history of Las Vegas.”
Today, the International Theater continues its success of leading the pack for memorable moments in entertainment and no doubt has many more chapters in its tale left to be written.
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