Caesars Atlantic City to Open ‘Absinthe’-Like Revue

Posted on: December 6, 2022, 01:58h. 

Last updated on: December 6, 2022, 02:51h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

Spiegelworld – the brand behind Caesars Palace’s long-running “Absinthe,” an eccentric mix of adult circus, burlesque, and vaudeville – announced Tuesday that its next project will be a similarly themed attraction at Caesars Atlantic City.

The Hook
A Spiegelworld performer poses in front of a projection of Atlantic City’s Warner Theatre in its early 20th-century heyday. Spiegelworld’s ‘The Hook’ will reanimate the former 4,300-seat movie palace as a 400-seat theater inside Caesars Atlantic City. (Image: Spiegelworld)

“The Hook” – set to be directed by Cal McCrystal, an Olivier Award-nominated director for his work on “One Man, Two Guvnors” – will premiere in June 2023 on the site of the historic Warner Theatre on the Atlantic City boardwalk.

The production is the result of a partnership between Caesars Entertainment and Spiegelworld. Announced last year, its purpose is to create new entertainment experiences at Caesars properties in Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and New Orleans. As part of the deal, Caesars reportedly committed $400 million to renovate its Atlantic City destinations.

“A decade ago, we came to Vegas and did things differently in live entertainment,” said Spiegelworld founder Ross Mollison in a statement. “Now, we’re incredibly excited that our pals at Caesars have given us this opportunity to bring our party to the playground of potential that is Atlantic City.”

Warner History

Built in 1929 for the then-extravagant cost of $2.7 million, the 4,300-seat Warner’s Embassy Theatre was Atlantic City’s grandest movie palace. In 1958, it was sold to George Hamid, a theater owner who had been booking stage shows there. As a condition of the sale, Hamid had to change the Warner name. He chose to call it the Warren, according to a 1996 New York Times article, because that was the least expensive way of changing the marquee.

Hamid closed the theater in 1966 to convert it into the Boardwalk Bowl bowling alley. Four years later, he sold it to the Howard Johnson’s Boardwalk Regency Hotel, which Caesars acquired in 1977. Though Caesars demolished the guts of the old theater’s auditorium to convert it into Bally’s Casino, the theater façade – listed on the National Register of Historic Places – was preserved as the boardwalk entrance to Bally’s (now Caesars Atlantic City).

Caesars has pledged to reanimate the Warner as a 400-seat theater for “The Hook,” which it’s touting as the city’s only permanent live entertainment attraction. The theater will also host the first East Coast location of Superfrico, Spiegelworld’s psychedelic Italian-American restaurant, currently open at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

“Come to AC,” Mollison’s statement continued. “We see beauty. We see brashness. We see the charm and history of the boardwalk. Experience a show that can be seen nowhere else in the world. Have an incredible cocktail. Have an incredible meal. Get caught on “The Hook.”

Tickets to see “The Hook,” beginning in June 2023, are available for $68 through spiegelworld.com/thehook.