Philip Potempa, Times of Northwest Indiana
philip.potempa@nwi.com
Amid the familiar landscape of the steel mills and cornfields of Northwest Indiana, there's also been the lasting glow of marquee lights. From the earliest spotlight at the Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso, built by veterans in 1893 as a tribute to the soldiers of the Civil War, to last year's Hammond opening of Horseshoe Casino's multimillion-dollar 90,000-square-foot performance space The Venue, there's always been audience and entertainment opportunities in the region.
When the Holiday Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville was unveiled along U.S. 30 in 1979, it became the latest and newest destination to see the headliners, with Donna Summer as the first performance to grace the stage.
"It was a good memory," said Summer, who's back in the region tonight playing one exclusive Chicagoland engagement, this time, in Hammond for the one-year anniversary of The Venue at Horseshoe.
"Northwest Indiana fans have always been receptive to my music through the years. It (Star Plaza Theatre) has been a positive thing."
She said back in 1979, she was churning out her famed dance anthems, and was honored to open what was then Merrillville's Holiday Star Theater.
She said she was equally thrilled when invited back to perform for Star Plaza Theatre's splashy 20th anniversary in 1999.
And tonight, the singer/songwriter said she's just as thrilled and anxious to play The Venue, which opened Aug. 8, 2008, with an inaugural performance by Bette Midler.
While The Venue ranks as the newest stage standard in the region, Star Plaza Theatre's three-decade history earns it landmark status for ticket traffic.
The vision to build an entertainment and lodging destination in the middle of a cornfield in 1979 came from Dean and Bruce White, who planned and developed the $6 million Holiday Inn and Holiday Star Plaza, which today is the Radisson Hotel at Star Plaza.
Charlie Blum, president and talent buyer for the Star Plaza, is the force credited with making it a major player in the field of live entertainment.
Blum, who began organizing talent for the theater in 1980, had the idea to book Jay Leno more than a year in advance and schedule his stand-up show just weeks after the 1992 announcement that he would replace Johnny Carson as host of "The Tonight Show."
Blum also helped produce comedian Howie Mandel's HBO special in 1997, filmed on the Star Plaza stage.
"Sure, today's climate is challenging because of the economy, but we still offer more shows than any other Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana venue," Blum said.
"Right now, we have 26 shows on sale for performances scheduled for the Star Plaza state between September and December. No one else even comes close to that kind of a line-up."
And to celebrate this year's 30th anniversary, Blum announced Friday that Star Plaza will host two splashy party events for invited guests and VIPs in December, which marks the actual opening and unveiling of the Star Plaza stage.
On Dec. 5, Patti LaBelle, who was the invited headliner for the property's 25th anniversary, will perform one special show. On Dec. 13, the Oak Ridge Boys will be centerstage -- significant since the group has performed every Star Plaza season for the past 30 years.
As for his booking secrets, Blum says it's both knowing about show biz along with "a bit of luck."
"When we booked Jerry Seinfeld for his stand-up act, his show was just added to the NBC lineup as a summer fill-in. Who knew just how popular it would be?" Blum said.
Blum said the live concert arena today is more challenging than ever.
"It used to be we'd get big names in here like Liberace, who would do 14 shows for us and Tom Jones who would do three nights of performances," he said.
"Today, most are just one-night dates. And deals are no longer done with a handshake. There's lot of people and papers to deal with now."
Bill Wellman, 85, an executive of Whiteco Industries and region restaurateur, was the man hired in 1976 to work with the White family to help develop the new venue.
Wellman, whose own Bridge-Vu Theater and Wellman's Restaurant on U.S. 30 in Valparaiso had been very successful, said it's the attraction of true entertainment names that guarantees ticket sales.
Wellman's favorite entertainer of all time is still Liberace, who would play 14 shows at the Star Plaza in 12 days.
"One time on 'The Tonight Show,' Johnny Carson asked Liberace of all his tour dates, where did he earn the most money from sold-out audiences," he said. "Carson thought it was Radio City Music Hall. To his surprise, Liberace said it was a small theater in Indiana called Star Plaza."
Blum says today, based on gross revenue, Liberace and his Las Vegas showmanship remain the theater's biggest money-making headliner.
It's the Las Vegas reputation that Horseshoe Casino General Manager Rick Mazer and Mike Hodin, director of entertainment for The Venue, have counted on for the past year to compete with traditional ticket sales that Star Plaza garnered for three decades.
With the help of "heavy hitter" booking agent AIG Entertainment, which books the shows for The Venue's parent company Harrah's sister properties, including Caesar's Palace, The Venue's line-up in the last year has included everyone from The Smashing Pumpkins, Wayne Newton and Tracy Morgan to Don Rickles, Liza Minelli and Melissa Etheridge.
"We want to blow away any of the Chicago competition by offering something very different and affordable," said Mazer, who announced last week he'll be departing his Hammond property position after 14 years in the region, to manage five of the Harrah's casino properties in Las Vegas, including the legendary Flamingo Hilton.
Hodin said his staff have also learned from guests during the past year about what works best for show programming.
"We tried it all, from comedians and rock groups to nostalgia names, boxing events and most recently, a cooking show starring Oprah Winfrey's celebrity chef Art Smith," Hodin said.
"Up next, we're going to try our space with some other diverse ideas were still working on, from fashion shows and touring Broadway shows on to magic and illusion acts."