Some of the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas gets its unlikely start in a complex of buildings on Elliott Avenue West, where Greg Thompson Productions mounts a staggering number of music-revue shows and takes them on the road each year.
"Right now we have 11 shows out playing anywhere from four to 12 to 18 weeks, depending on their size," Thompson said of a schedule that typical includes roughly two dozen productions a year.
Thompson Productions operates domestically, but it has also mounted shows in Europe; Japan; New Zealand; Branson, Mo.; and on Caribbean cruise ships.
But there's more to the company than just sometimes-bawdy Vegas shows, stressed Greg, who lives with his singer wife, Sunny, in Lower Queen Anne.
"People get the impression we produce those Las Vegas showgirl shows," he said. There's a certain irony there, according to Greg, because showgirl productions are only a small part of what the company does.
For example, Thompson Productions is also responsible for the long-running "Dance on the Wind," an American Indian cultural show in Tillicum Village on Blake Island.
The company is also involved in putting together a cultural-history show in Thailand, Greg added. "It's very elaborate, but it has nothing to do with showgirls."
A family affair
Another of Greg's productions is "Sunny Sings Sinatra," which stars his recording-star wife and is currently playing at Crepe de Paris in downtown Seattle.
In addition, Sunny will star in an upcoming production of a play Greg wrote about Marilyn Monroe, and she has performed in other casino musical shows Greg has mounted, the couple said.
But the company is a family affair in a figurative sense, too. There are anywhere from 150 to 200 singers and dancers working in his shows at any given time, Greg said, though typically there are 20 people working on the production staff in Seattle, he said.
The in-house staff include - among others - a casting director, set designer, costume maker, a choreographer and a lighting director. "We're totally self-contained." Most of them have been with the company for at least 15 years, and almost all of them formerly worked as talent in his shows - including Sunny before the two were married, Greg added.
"I worked for Greg years and years ago," Sunny said of a career that has taken her to Europe and South America, where she recorded a gold record. "Five or six years ago, Branson needed someone to headline, and he [Greg] called me," Sunny said of a town that is a diminutive entertainment capitol in its own right.
"I hadn't seen her since she was a little girl," Greg said. But she was all grown up when the two met again 10 years later, one thing led to another and the two eventually tied the knot.
Changing times
Greg has been in the entertainment business for almost three decades, getting his start in the recording business and managing bands in Seattle, he said. "Then I started doing little lounge shows," Greg added. "Then we started producing larger, Las Vegas-style shows."
But Seattle wasn't a good venue for those kinds of shows. "Seattle is a very big theater town," he said. "It's not what I call an entertainment town."
That led to hitting the road with the productions, including shows in a small Branson theater, but the proliferation of Indian casinos in America changed the equation.
Greg said he figured the casinos were going to kill Branson, and the city took a major hit. "So we got out just in time before the big depression hit," he said.
There are so many casinos out there these days that there is a constant demand for entertainment, but the kind of entertainment people like is changing, Greg said. "In the old days in casinos, you couldn't say four-letter words," he said, for example. "Now you can say anything you want."
He blames television programming, which has grown increasingly edgy as of late. "Everything has to be a little naughty to work anymore, or it has to be gross (like CSI)," Greg said. "Otherwise, people will think it's boring."
That shift in popular taste has changed what was "pretty much middle-of-the road" casino shows that appealed to gamblers over 50, he said. Casinos these days are looking for younger customers, aging Baby Boomers who would prefer to hear Guns & Roses covers rather than Andrews Sisters medleys, according to Greg.
Thompson Production pulls in millions of dollars a year, and Greg attributes his success to one thing: "I never book my own tastes... I produce shows for the audiences that are out there."
However, sometimes Greg's taste coincides with popular tastes, which is one reason he has staged "Sunny Sings Sinatra" at the Crepe.
Greg is already a fan, and it seems Old Blue Eyes is hot again. "Interestingly, when you talk to young guys, Sinatra is hip," said Sunny, who added that she got standing ovations when her show opened a couple of weekends ago. "Sinatra fans are so wonderful."
There's another reason for doing the show. The couple is hardly ever in Seattle, Greg said. "This summer we decided that since we're on the road so much, we'd stay home for a Seattle summer."
The idea was to do a small cabaret show, and a Sinatra show seemed a natural pick, the couple said. Besides, the two are getting a break from their usual hectic schedule.
"We're just doing weekends," Greg said. "Which is great for us," Sunny added with a smile.
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.[[In-content Ad]]
