Revamped Liberace Museum Screams, 'Vegas!'

LAS VEGAS -- We've always loved the Liberace Museum. Not because of some deep greater meaning behind the rhinestone-covered exhibits -- or the entertainer himself for that matter -- but simply because, more than just about anything else, this place screams, "Vegas!" Come on! An entire museum devoted to the flash and crass that was Liberace?! In a town that delights in flash and crass? It don't get no better than that, ladies and gentlemen.

For those of you who don't know, Liberace was one of the biggest stars of decades gone by. His virtuoso-level piano playing secured his position as a musical luminary, but it was his outrageous, over-the-top stage shows that really established his identity. Whether he was arriving onstage in a rhinestone covered Rolls Royce or flying across the stage suspended by wires in some bejeweled and feathered get up, Liberace epitomized spectacle, and in many ways is to be credited (and perhaps blamed) for all of the giant special effects-laden pop concerts hitting an arena near you this summer. That's right Britney; Liberace did it first.

After the performer's death in 1987 of AIDS, a conservancy group with obviously way too much time on its hands set up the Liberace Museum to house his wild and wacky belongings for public consumption.

But what was once a small yet adequately ironic collection of ephemera in a nondescript strip mall has now been transformed into a showplace, almost as gaudy and irreverent as Liberace himself. All-new exhibit spaces, displays, a cafe, a store and a "walk of fame" are just a few of the improvements debuting after a multimillion-dollar remodeling and expansion project finished in May.

Oh yeah, there's also a new entryway shaped like a giant rhinestone topped by a giant pink piano, a huge wall designed to look like sheets of music ("Beer Barrel Polka" of course), and an outdoor patio shaped like a giant record for parties, just in case you worried that the place was getting too serious.

It is important to note that the museum is getting a bit more serious, but in a good way. All of the exhibits that you know and love (rhinestone-covered cars, pianos, costumes, and more) have been researched and displayed with more information than they used to have, and the newer exhibits (the designers behind those outrageous costumes for example) are both illuminating and interesting.

You enter the new museum experience through a redesigned rotunda at the satellite building toward the front of the strip mall. That's where you'll see a video about Liberace and his life, view a timeline, and see the cars and piano exhibits. Then you head down a renovated walkway emblazoned with commemorative plaques that lead you to the second part of the museum (the one with the rhinestone entryway) housing costumes, furniture, the cafe, the store and a new exhibition room that will feature revolving displays (the first is about Liberace and entertainers in Vegas.)

Of course, this renovation wasn't cheap, and some of the cost of it is being passed on to visitors. Admission has risen to $12 per person (with discounts for students, seniors, etc.) and while that's a lot more than it used to be, it's still cheaper than most of the attractions in Vegas and a heck of a lot more fun than a lot of them also.

It's kitsch, it's camp, it's silly Vegas fun and it's a part of the history of this city that we applaud the folks at the Liberace Museum for preserving. Sure, it may not be a Picasso or a collection of fancy motorcycles, but it is a bit of pop-culture history nevertheless, and we're happy to see it thriving in its new home.

Liberace (and his brother George) would've been proud.

Grade: A

The Liberace Museum
1775 E. Tropicana Ave.
Las Vegas, NV 89119
(702) 798-5595

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