By Chuck Darrow
Once upon a time, and for many years, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa was the undisputed entertainment leader in Atlantic City. Year after year the gaming hall’s 2,500-seat Event Center would host not just “A-list” acts, but A-plus listers: Among the super-duperstars who gigged there were David Bowie, Bob Dylan, The Who, Robin Williams, Michael Buble, Stevie Wonder, Sting (with his musical sidekick Shaggy) and Paul Simon (not to mention Billy Joel, whose July, 2007 set was for invited guests only (read: high rollers and other VIPs).
Back then, it was not unusual for the bayside pleasure dome to host three–or even four–headliners in a weekend (with less-prominent acts booking the 1,000-seat Music Box).
But, as it’s said, things change. Today, Borgata’s main performance spaces are only in use once or twice a month. So what happened? Why is the casino no longer Atlantic City’s showplace?
According to the man responsible for the property’s show biz operations, part of the situation is by design, while another part is due to the shifting sands of the local gaming industry.
According to Gerard Mills, the gambling den’s director of entertainment, things began to change when Borgata acquired serious competition with the 2018 opening (on the same day in June) of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City and Ocean Casino Resort, both of which have venues (7,000- and 5,200-seat respectively) larger than the Event Center. To make matters worse for Borgata, Hard Rock had—and continues to have–a nationwide relationship with the concert-promotion behemoth Live Nation Entertainment. As such, suggested Mills, booking acts “became a little more interesting.”
Borgata and MGM Resorts could have entered into massive bidding wars for talent, but that likely caused plenty of agita among the bean counters at MGM Resorts’ Las Vegas headquarters. So, offered Mills, they readjusted their entertainment strategy.
“We have a very loyal player base here, so now, we are catering to our players” as opposed to concentrating on the folks who simply want to attend a concert, he explained. “What do our players want to see? What do they want to hear? What kind of music? And so we’re kind of tailoring our entertainment programming to what our players are looking for.
“The main [goal of] Borgata is giving customers an experience. We don’t want people to just come buy a ticket, see a show, and then leave. We want them to come and get a hotel room for the weekend. We want them to eat in our restaurants. We want them to see a show.
“It’s more of an experience, and that’s the type of customer that we’re looking for, someone who’s going to come in and stay for the weekend, and not a get-in-and-get-out kind of thing. We’re a fully immersive resort and that’s really the game that we’re looking to play.
“We just want to be a little more selective, in the acts that we’re choosing now.”
This is not to suggest that Borgata has totally left the big-name act realm. Jerry Seinfeld, who has been a signature act for a number of years, remains in the fold (he’s due back March 16). And Mills is especially proud of the June 21 Event Center booking of R&B titan John Legend.
Legend, said Mills, “Doesn’t necessarily tour a lot, but we got him. That’s a quality act for us. And it will be an intimate experience in the Event Center. Those are the kind of shows that we’re looking to do. We want to give people a big bang for their buck; give ’em a ‘Wow!’ moment. They don’t want to be sitting 300 feet away from an artist in an arena.”
While Legend and Seinfeld are the two biggest names on the Borgata calendar thus far this year, they’re hardly the only noteworthy attractions. Among other bookings are those of cerebral British comedian Jimmy Carr (April 27) political provocateur (and host of HBO’s “Real Time”) Bill Maher (May 18), and ‘70s rockers Bachman-Turner Overdrive (Sept.13).
Mills is also enthusiastic about the series of once-a-week production shows being staged in the Music Box. Currently running is “Motown Forever” (Sunday afternoons through April 28), to be followed by the 11th annual edition of the adults-only rave-up, “The Burlesque Show” (Thursdays beginning May 9). He had high praise for the shows’ impresario, Allen Valentine, who, for a number of years, has pretty much singlehandedly kept alive the casino-revue tradition in Atlantic City.
“He is a guy that came to town back in the ’80s as a magician, and saw that there wasn’t a lot of revue shows going on, and he took a concept and he’s been here ever since,” he said. “We love that he’s local; he’s not coming from out of state. He’s a great promoter.”
For more on Borgata entertainment, go to theborgata.com.
Superfrico hosts
tequila dinner
March 13, Superfrico, the “Italian-American Psychedelic” restaurant inside The Hook theater at Caesars Atlantic City, is hosting a specially prepared dinner featuring libations from the Don Julio line of tequila.
The repast begins with Rigatoni All’Amatriciana paired with Don Julio Reposado. The main course is a choice of filet mignon or grouper served with Don Julio ‘70th Anejo Cristalino. That will be followed by a tiramisu/Don Julio Anejo combo. The fee is $99 per person. For reservations go to superfrico.com and click on “Happenings.”
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
