Plans for "Sunny: Blondes and Boy- Toys," the new show at Harrah's Reno, already were far advanced when producer Greg Thompson decided one of the costumes was simply too provocative.
Unless a change was made, Thompson figured, women in the audience might be offended.
That's no small concern in a show shaped from its first brainstorming sessions to capture a well-defined demographic the thousands of women who will be in Reno for the Women's International Bowling Congress tournament March 20 through July 8.
And the show is designed to capture that market without causing men to turn away.
"We're trying to take care of everybody, and it becomes a little tricky," Thompson said last week as he kept an eye on a production crew assembling sets for the new show.
"Sunny: Blondes and Boy Toys" might be a case study for a collegiate marketing class.
A target audience was identified.
A product was created to appeal to the audience.
And now advertising seeks to bring the audience into Sammy's Showroom for a production that opens Tuesday.
Work on the production began last autumn, Thompson said, with a review of the Reno casino market.
He hardly broke a sweat on that work, having worked about a dozen years in Reno including approximately 20 shows at Harrah's.
The Reno market, Thompson said, is dominated by the 45-plus age group from September through June.
That's a demographic that wants a good variety show, something that isn't too edgy.
Complicating the picture, however, is a strong Asian demographic at Reno casinos.
That's an audience that doesn't want a lot of dialogue, but instead wants a hotter production.
As a result of that mix, Thompson said, his Reno productions often involve a PG-rated early show and an R-rate late show.
But things get all the more complex with the arrival of women bowlers 4,000 a day in the market.
They're in town without their families and husbands, Thompson thought as he considered his new show, and they're looking for a girls' night out.
So a beefcake show think "Chippendales" would be the ticket, right? Not unless Harrah's Reno was willing to abandon the male half of the market.
"Sunny: Blondes and Boy-Toys," provides this answer to the conundrum: Sunny in real life, she's Thompson's wife is there for the men.
The Boy Toys? "They're there to provide eye candy for the ladies," Thompson said.
Even after that decision to make a double-barreled appeal was made, Thompson's staff needed to carefully watch everything in the show's development.
For starters, there's the way Sunny presents herself during her act which includes her impressions of famous blondes ranging from from Mae West to Madonna.
"Women are really, really concerned about which women they're going to like on stage," Thompson said.
"Those women are going to hate her because she has a good figure.
If they don't like her dress, they won't like her."
And that's how Sunny's onceprovocative costuming became a little cooler as the show was put together.
The same worry about the little things went into advertising for the show.
Some clever drafts of radio spots, for instance, went out the window because Thompson figures women bowlers aren't listening to local radio.
Better, he said, to use those spots to attract locals and that means men as well as women.
It's all old-hat to Thompson, whose Seattle-based company last year produced 23 shows in 11 cities and five countries.While most of the shows are casino performances, the company's work ranges from corporate shindigs to musical reviews on cruise ships.
The company and its core production team of about 30 have been repeat nominees for the mayor's award for small business excellence in Seattle.
On the other hand, Thompson isn't exactly a conservative chamber of commerce kind of guy.
He and Sunny renewed their marriage vows on national television last summer with the world's first showgirl wedding in Las Vegas, which featured 12 Las Vegas showgirls as bridesmaids and Elvis as the best man.
