Whether I want to admit it or not, the 1980s are my glory years.
Yes, I am old, but under those leg warmers, big hair and acid-washed denim was some damn good music … and memories.
And there’s no one more equipped to deliver all of that nostalgia from the years that brought us The Walkman and The Rubik’s Cube than Allen Valentine, the talented producer who has delivered fantastic Atlantic City production shows including the long-running Burlesque Show at Borgata to similar trips to other decades and genres at various casinos up and down the boardwalk.
His latest, “‘80s Live” arrived at Harrah’s Resort’s The Concert Venue last weekend and will offer everyone from Michael Jackson to Madonna 4 p.m. every Sunday to June 28 in a fun production filled with top-notch dancers, singers, elaborate costume and — most importantly — a live band.
The fact that Harrah’s is offering a long-running production show is news in itself. It has been a very long time since the stunning Concert Venue housed a show like this. You can thank Harrah’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Joseph Giunta for that. Giunta recently moved from Trop, where he did a great job programming that theater with awesome entertainment, and he clearly has the same ideas for Harrah’s.
“This show is packed with the music, style and electric energy of one of the most iconic eras, creating an atmosphere that’s impossible not to enjoy,” said Harrah’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Joseph Giunta. “It’s a high-energy experience that offers a fun, immersive night out that’s uniquely Harrah’s.”
“The Harrah’s showroom has been sitting empty as far as a production shows go for a long time,” Valentine added. “And back in the day, it was the place for production shows, back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. And I’m very excited that Joe Giunta and his amazing team there are really kicking this in. Joe is trying to really do some new things over at Harrah’s. And sometimes new things are old things in a sense of sometimes you have to revisit what worked. If it worked back then, it could still work today.”
Giunta was wise to enlist Valentine, not only because he’s damn good at writing, producing and directing shows like this here in Atlantic City as well as in places like New Orleans, Lake Tahoe and the Bahamas, but because he’s also a child of the ‘80s.
“Yeah, I love this stuff,” Valentine said. “When I received the green light to do this show, I was a kid in a candy store. We didn’t want to do an impersonator show, so this is really a huge celebration of the music itself. It’s a concert. It’s as if you’re just being transported in your DeLorean back to the ’80s to feel that energy of a concert where your heart’s pumping, you’re on your feet, you’re singing your head off, you know every song.”
‘Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing’
Like most Valentine productions, “80s Live” uses a live band. No tracks. It’s the real deal. And it’s worth noting in a world where everyone is trying to cut costs and uses tracks instead of live musicians. Hell, even some of the headliners aren’t doing everything live anymore.
“I have a killer band here,” Valentine said. “These guys are amazing. It’s an eight-piece band and they are very strong, seasoned veterans from this area, from New York, from Philly, and that is a huge component. A lot of these shows are done to track, and our shows are not. This is live music, live singing. There’s no sampling going on. There’s just true authentic vocals and musicians.”
That makes such a huge difference.
“I get it, sometimes there are financial constraints and they are thinking, ‘Hey, why don’t we get rid of the band and just do the whole thing to track,’” Valentine added. “And it feels like karaoke in concert, which is not something that would interest me. So, I usually pass on those. But Harrah’s is checking every box here, doing everything right, and I think we’re going to have huge turnouts every week. People are already talking about it.”
‘I Love Rock ’n’ Roll’
Of course, the music is the centerpiece, and “’80s Live” has it all covered from the pop of Madonna and Culture Club to the hair metal from Bon Jovi to the beginning of the hip-hop generation with Run-DMC.
“Yeah, a lot of surprises,” Valentine said. “We don’t want to give too much away. Everyone has a part of the ’80s music scene that really hits you in your heart? It’s so hard because, you know, in 1983, ‘Thriller’ came out, right? I was at that age, and it really moved the needle for me. I remember the first time I heard ‘Billie Jean.’ It was just so infectious a song. So, the Michael Jackson part of the show, for me personally, is very special.
For Valentine, it was harder to decide what not to include than what to include.
“I took my favorite ’80s songs over the course of about a month, and I put them into an Apple Playlist. I just kept adding songs, adding songs,” Valentine explained. “I had three-and-a-half hours of music! So I had to really trim this down to the biggest anthems, the songs that everyone knows. And I’m trying to hit each genre? The hair bands, the girl pop groups, the icons like Prince… it was not easy. But we got it to about 75 minutes.
“’80s Live” has it all covered, from the pop of Wham! and Whitney Houston to the synth of “Take On Me” and Duran Duran and Simple Minds to the yacht rock of “Africa.”
A little bit of magic?
When you go see an Allen Valentine production, there’s something magical about them … pun intended.
“I began my career in 1990 at the Taj Mahal doing magic and then went over to the Plaza to do my own show for a couple years and then Tropicana,” Valentine said. “So being a performer who now produces production shows, I think, gives me a certain feel of what audiences want to see from tempo to the costumes, which are critical.”
Valentine, of course, doesn’t do it himself. His wife Kristine is a huge part of the successful formula as they do everything together from casting to scenery to costumes.
“I hope the one thing that my team and I are always striving for is to create a show that when the audience is leaving the theater, they’re like, ‘Wow! We’re really glad that we caught that show.’ And so what they’re really saying is it was worth their time. And that equals they were really entertained. And that’s what it comes down to. Are they entertained? And I think we do a pretty good job at that. When you hear the cheering and the applause and see the standing ovations, it’s just a great thing. I feel very lucky I get to work with these young, talented people and put these shows on and drive traffic to the casinos, which is incredible. I’m passionate for this and I love doing it.”
That magic really shows in “’80s Live” with the sparkles and bright colors and rhinestones and bandanas and leg warmers of the costumes to the dances that feature signature moves we remember form the MTV video days.
“We are really going for it in this show,” Valentine promised.
Extending the weekend
Like some of other Valentine’s production shows that have been produced on Sundays and Thursdays, this one follows that plan to extend the weekend and grow visitorship.
“Sunday is a way to keep people here,” Valentine said. “We find that people will stay a little bit longer, especially with a 4 o’clock show. So, if they’re staying overnight, even if they’re not staying Sunday night, they’ll have some fun on the casino floor, grab a bite to eat, see the show and then head home. So, we get to keep them in town a little bit longer. And for the customer, they have just one more thing to add to their list of having a great time in Atlantic City. I think this is going to be the hottest ticket in town,” Valentine said.
“’80s Live” is performed every Sunday at 4 p.m. through June 28 at Harrah’s Resort’s The Concert Venue. Go to HarrahsResort.com for more information and Ticketmaster.
Scott Cronick is an award-winning journalist who has written about entertainment, food, news and more in South Jersey for nearly three decades. He hosts a daily radio show – “Off The Press with Scott Cronick” – 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays on Newstalk WOND 1400-AM, 92.3-FM, and WONDRadio.com. He can be reached at scronick@comcast.net.
