Roman Theatre

Description

This performance space was an original feature of the Caesar's Palace Casino when it was first built in 1966. First listed as "Nero's Nook", and marketed as a show lounge, it had a seating capacity in a lounge setting of a little over 200. In Jun of 1969 it was reconfigured with a 400 seat capacity as the first "legitimate" theater of Las Vegas, producing Broadway plays rather than musicals or acts. It was renamed the Roman Theater. The legitimate stage struggled to compete with the larger spectacles and the first production, a controversial play about 8 gay men at a birthday party, did not do well among the largely conservative audiences despite being highly popular elsewhere in the country. Roman Theatre was briefly converted back to Nero's Nook but after the more popular new Cleopatra's Barge opened, the Nook was converted into a keno parlor in Oct 1970.