Four guys walked into a seedy Las Vegas bar… it’s not the start of a joke, but the beginning of something unexpected.
Their only requirements for the bar that night were food, booze and a piano. From that carefree evening when the four friends shared their original tunes came the world’s most distinctive musical tradition and an experience unique to Las Vegas: Composer’s Showcase.
The Smith Center celebrates the showcase’s 20th anniversary with a gala at Reynolds Hall April 29.
A year after relocating from New York, Keith Thompson, still immersed with the spirit of Broadway from years working its productions, joined three local theater colleagues to share a night of original, unpublished music. The rules were simple: three songs each at the bar’s clanky piano, its splintered stool protected by a phone book.
“We had so much fun. We had a ball. it fed my soul,” Thompson remembered, gripped with memories of Broadway’s after-parties. He became inspired to recreate that first impactful barroom evening in his new city’s other no-frills dive bars and pizzerias.
As audiences grew, word spread, eventually reaching the leadership of the Liberace Museum, earning an invitation where the showcase was presented for the ensuing 3 ½ years. Paul Beard, who helped oversee Smith Center’s construction and served as COO, attended the final museum performance, telling Thompson, “If the Smith Center was open, we’d call you to come tomorrow.”
When the museum closed, the showcase struggled for 18 months to find a home, bouncing between venues before landing at the Smith Center’s art deco room, Myron’s Cabaret Jazz in the Boman pavilion.
Since arriving in Las Vegas in 2005, Thompson has carved his name into the town’s culture as musical director/conductor of major casino productions including We Will Rock You, Hairspray, The Producers and Jersey Boys. His production of Cocktail Cabaret at Cleopatra’s Barge inside Caesars Palace won multiple Best of Las Vegas Awards.
Thompson’s monthly showcase, where musicians, vocalists and techs are unpaid volunteers, continues as a unique venue for newbies and Grammy winners, headliners and scratchy-voiced composers who perform their own music.
There are only two rules: no recorded music and the writer must be present. Audiences, in one evening, may see a student prodigy, a Grammy winner, a Broadway composer testing a tune or an instrumental for a movie’s closing credits.
Recognizing the Showcase’s potential, Albert Mack, whose family’s name adorns UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, suggested that Thompson form a non-profit to help fund student music scholarships. When covid struck, venues quickly shuttered, devastating the entertainment community and funds were redirected.
With the help of “parlor concerts” and a rooftop performance during a telethon “we saw the money roll in.” Thompson estimated $350,000-$400,000 provided aid for over 500 colleagues.
Thompson, who also works as an unpaid volunteer, reflected, “ My life has always had a purpose.” His goal, he said, is to “give composers an opportunity and I try to do it without losing my shirt.” Tickets: thesmithcenter.com
