The Casino File
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City has added a new wrinkle to its already bursting-at-the-seams entertainment blueprint.
Last weekend, the Rock — which boasts Our Town’s only 365-day-a-year, live-entertainment policy in addition to a heavy-hitting headliner schedule — debuted the Balcony Cabaret, a sleek, sophisticated space whose previous incarnations have included the Daer dance club.
Fridays and Saturdays this summer, a 40-minute variety show featuring a live band, burlesque-style strippers and specialty acts (think “The Burlesque Show” at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa meets “The Hook” at Caesars Atlantic City) will be staged. But there’s more to the customer experience than simply watching performers go through their paces. Instead, explained the Hard Rock exec who oversees the casino’s show business end of operations, the goal is to provide guests with a unique way to spend some time at the adult playground that on Saturday celebrates its seventh anniversary.
“When we were talking about what the summer was going to look like at Hard Rock, we realized the need for some sort of nighttime entertainment for a more refined crowd,” offered Michael Woodside, the gaming hall’s vice-president of entertainment. “We weren’t really looking to open a ‘big-box’ nightclub, and we realized that sometimes, our Lobby Bar offering might be a little much for some customers in terms of noise level.
“So, we wanted to create a fun, engaging environment where people can enjoy a cocktail and see a great show and be able to…have a conversation.”
To conjure the production, Woodside recruited veteran Atlantic City-based producer Allen Valentine, whose “The Burlesque Show” is currently in its twelfth year at Borgata. “Alan is a great producer,” he enthused. “We know that his product is always fantastic.” But as noted above there’s more to the Balcony Cabaret experience than simply watching the various performances.
“Every Friday and Saturday, customers will have a chance to enjoy a great cabaret experience, and then they can go outside and have a handcrafted cocktail and smoke a cigar if they’d like” noted Woodside. “We wanted to create this indoor-outdoor lounge. There’s nothing better than a summer night in Atlantic City overlooking Steel Pier and the Boardwalk and just being part of all that energy.
“Our goal here at Hard Rock is to provide unique and memorable entertainment experiences. And no one else in Atlantic City is providing this lounge atmosphere with the burlesque and variety show feel. We think it really fits the existing platform that we have in this building, and it’s really what our customers are looking for.”
One interesting feature of the Balcony Cabaret concept is the three-sets-per- evening schedule. Each time slot, offered Woodside, is designed with a different segment of the audience in mind.
“Our thought,” he said, “is that the nine- o’clock show caters to the post-dinner crowd. They can have dinner at 7 and wander upstairs to the Balcony at 9. And it’s not too late, where they’re staying up until one o’clock in the morning.
“The 10:30 show is really more for the post-entertainment crowd. They’re going to see a headliner in the arena and that still gives them time to get to the 10:30 show.
“And finally, the midnight show is for those looking for a nightlife experience, but not looking to turn it up to ‘level 20,’ which you would get from a headliner DJ in another nightclub.”
Woodside added that unlike a disco, whose customers tend to be in the 21-35 demographic, the Balcony Cabaret strategy is far more inclusive.
“We wanted to find something that’s not about an older clientele or a younger clientele,” he reasoned. “We think that this program is good for people from their early twenties until their late seventies. The music is going to be fantastic. We’ve got burlesque dancers, and we’ve got aerialists and we’ve got magicians. It really is something that speaks to many generations.
“We wanted to cater to different people at different times of the night. I think we’ve accomplished that.”
While Woodside raved about the show, it should be noted that the room and its adjoining, spacious al fresco hangout — the coolest Boardwalk overlook since that of the members-only Foundation Room at the long-gone House of Blues inside what was the Showboat casino — are stars in and of themselves.
Guests take a brief escalator ride (from the level below the Sound Waves theater) that deposits them at the foot of a corridor illuminated by vertical pink neon fixtures, and which leads to the Cabaret.
The club occupies a visually arresting circular space with an elevated stage from which protrudes a runway into the art deco seating area. The back wall is outlined by a long, curving bar that completes the seductive visual milieu. The vibe is that of the kind of old-school nightclubs that were a staple of black-and-white movies of the 1930s and ‘40s.
With only one (pre-July 4) weekend under its belt, it’s far too early to gauge how Balcony Cabaret’s fortunes will play out over the next two-plus months. But Woodside is optimistic the concept might outlive the summer season.
“If this is successful, we will find a way to continue it,” he promised. “We’ve already got some interest from private groups that want to use this entertainment space for their events. So, there’s a good chance that it will continue past Labor Day.”
Admission is limited to patrons 21 and older. For tickets, go to fp.sevenrooms.com/events/thebalconyathardrock.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
