Tournament of Kings (ToK; formerly known as King Arthur's Tournament) is a medieval-themed dinner show performed on the Las Vegas Strip at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino. Opened in June 1990, Tournament of Kings was the third-longest running show on the Las Vegas Strip in 2018.
As Excalibur Hotel and Casino was being architected, owner Circus Circus Enterprises's entertainment director Mike Hartzell wanted to install a show that fit the hotel's medieval theme. Inspired by watching Medieval Times in Los Angeles, Hartzell enlisted the father-and-son producer duo Peter and Patrick Jackson to create a jousting show. The Jacksons hired Doug Baker to play the main character Merlin and to write the script. King Arthur's Tournament opened in June 1990 at the Excalibur. After running for about 6,000 performances, the show closed in January 1999 and reopened the next month with a new name, Tournament of Kings. The new show featured a new script written by Baker, upgraded costumes, and a modernized set. The show is directed to families, and its cast members encourage audience participation.
Tournament of Kings is a dinner show where audience members are served a three-course meal featuring a Cornish game hen. Diners are typically not given utensils. In the show, King Arthur asks eight European kings to participate in a sporting contest to celebrate Christopher, his son. Riding horses, the kings engage in jousting and Capture the Flag. King Arthur's enemy, Mordred arrives and kills the king. The show uses a large amount of pyrotechnics as Mordred and Christopher fight. Christopher vanquishes Mordred and is crowned king.
History Origins
Excalibur Hotel and Casino's architects envisioned a design where the hotel's basement would have two movie theaters and a miniature golf course. Entertainment director Mike Hartzell, who had worked at Circus Circus since 1968, vigorously pushed for putting a show in the basement over putting Sherwood Forest Miniature Golf Course there. Circus performances would have been a mismatch with Excalibur's medieval design so were ruled out. Hartzell's friend advised him to travel to Los Angeles to check out Medieval Times, a dinner show featuring knights jousting. Although Hartzell wanted a Medieval Times at Excalibur, Circus Circus Enterprises could not reach an understanding with the show's owners. To occupy Excalibur's basement with a new jousting show, Hartzell signed a contract with the father-and-son duo Peter and Patrick Jackson to produce that show solely for the hotel.
After Utah-based actor Doug Baker's friend suggested to the Jacksons that they consider him, the Jacksons said they wanted a professional actor such as someone who was based in New York or Los Angeles. Despite not being particularly motivated by the opportunity, Baker sought it because he was irate about the producers' requirements. Every week, he made two phone calls and penned one letter asking for an audition, convincing the Jacksons to accede to his request. Between 1985 and 1989, Baker had been the writer, the director, and a cast member of Utah Shakespeare Festival's Royal Feaste, an Elizabethan era show. In his audition for the Jacksons, he showcased vocal and character demos inspired by his experience at the Royal Feaste. The Jacksons notified him after two days that they wanted him for the role which he accepted. The show had a scenario and a list of characters but no script, so Baker offered to pen one for King Arthur's Tournament while rehearsing for his role as Merlin.
The Royal Feaste and King Arthur's Tournament have a number of parallels. The two are theatrical dinner shows that serve roasted hen as the main course and do not give customers utensils. The two cost roughly the same in 1995 and encourage audience participation. They have dissimilarities as well. The Royal Feaste is set in the Tudor period, while King Arthur's Tournament is set in the Middle Ages. The Royal Feaste is a more conventional show, while King Arthur's Tournament features special effects in large quantities such as lasers and fog.
King Arthur's Tournament King Arthur's Tournament started having shows at the Excalibur on June 19, 1990, and routinely filled all seats. Doug Baker wrote the show's story. Spending $300,000, the show purchased handmade costumes from England for the 40-member cast. The sumptuous embroidered costumes were designed by the Frenchman Michel Fresnay which Michael Paskevich of the Las Vegas Review-Journal said "captured the spirit of the day". The show used 3,000 special effects including fireworks as well as 40 cast members and 22 horses.
Peter Jackson co-produced the show until kidney failure led to his death on December 30, 1998. Patrick Jackson, Peter's son, became the show's producer following Peter's death. He had worked behind his father for nearly a quarter of a century, described his father as having difficulty in deputization of work. Patrick Jackson said, "It's almost like he didn't want me to be in front. 'I'd say I had an idea and he'd say, 'Oh, that won't work.' Then, two weeks later he'd say, 'I've got this great idea.' And it was the same idea." Excalibur contracts the show to Jackson via an independent production company, so contract extensions can be intricate discussions. After King Arthur's Tournament ran for about 6,000 performances, its run ended on January 3, 1999. The show was supposed to undergo no adjustments for two years but Excalibur owner Circus Circus Enterprises decided to make the changes before the opening of the new casino Mandalay Bay. With new Las Vegas Strip casinos opening, Circus Circus Enterprises wanted to upgrade King Arthur's Tournament while it was still doing well.
Tournament of Kings
After undergoing an overhaul, King Arthur's Tournament was rebranded to Tournament of Kings and started doing shows again on February 4, 1999.Gholdston, Havalah (1999-07-23). "Meet the men who ride all the king's horses" (pages 1 and 2). Daily Herald. Archived from the original (pages 1 and 2) on 2023-10-16. Retrieved 2023-10-16 – via Newspapers.com. The creative team had been readying Tournament of Kings for almost a year. Patrick Jackson was the new show's producer. Following a $1.2million upgrade, the show had a revamped arena, a modernized set, and opulent costumes. An additional $1million went to other changes. The show's 1999 renovation resulted in new chandeliers, fresh carpets, and fresh paint. The venue installed gargoyles and redesigned the layout so that the audience members could no longer see the stations where the food was heated. Plastic benches were supplanted by upholstered furniture, and an improved setup for lighting and sound was installed. To accommodate people who are disabled, the venue installed an elevator. Previously, the performers went in and out of the arena through a small black curtain. The renovated arena replaced the curtain with a stone castle containing turrets and parapets on which the antagonistist Mordred hurls flames and the cast clashes using swords. Gregory Crane designed the set. Ivan Caulier served as stunt coordinator, a role he had done since the show's 1990 premiere. The cast members took acting classes to make their performances more realistic.
Doug Baker, who originated the Merlin role in 1990, continued in his role and authored the story of the renamed show. Phil Shelburne became the Tournament of Kings director. He was a former Excalibur puppeteer, a King Arthur's Tournament cast member, and a director of several community shows. Peter Jackson originally intended to be the director but advised Patrick to choose Shelburne as director if Peter could not do it. Shelburne made the show "more theatrical" by having a clearer story and more action. Saying he wanted to "do other things" and work on his acting career, Baker left the show in 2003 after performing as Merlin in nearly 9,000 shows.
Mike Weatherford of the Las Vegas Review-Journal said the revamped show was influenced by television shows and video games, citing how the helmets worn by the Dragon Knight and his aides appear to be influenced by Mortal Kombat. He compared the "beefed-up fantasy and action" to the popular television shows Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. The new iteration had "a rougher, more realistic look to its costumes and even a welcome bit of plot and personality", Weatherfield said. Michael Paskevich of the Las Vegas Review-Journal found the money put into the upgrade to be effective as seats routinely were completely filled.
After MGM Mirage acquired Mandalay Bay in 2005, there was talk that Cirque du Soleil, which is an MGM partner, would replace Tournament of Kings with their own show. The rumor was that Cirque du Soleil employees had taken measurements of the Tournament of Kings' dirt field. The whisper of a takeover simmered down by 2010 since physical obstructions prevented the venue from being enlarged. An expansion would be too costly. The show previously had 14 showings, seven days a week. On 7 February 2006, the number of shows was reduced to 12 every week with performers taking Tuesdays off.
As the show hit its 20th anniversary in June 2010, Tournament of King was the Las Vegas Strip's fourth-longest running show, the sole show to have a theme aligned with the property it was housed in, and the only Las Vegas show to have horses. Through a castle-shaped cake that weighed 300 pounds, the show's cast and crew celebrated the occasion. Felix Rappaport, Excalibur's president, said that over seven million audience members had watched the show, which had been put on 12,300 times. That anniversary year, Patrick Jackson wanted to spend $6million on improving the show. He hoped to spend about $1.5million to upgrade the set, add improved lighting, and design new costumes as well as $5million for a completely new idea. Unenthusiastic about the $5million proposal, MGM needed to make its determination on investments and a contract extension by the close of 2010. The show's continuation was in a state of uncertainty for a few years since Excalibur had been unable to make a decision. That uncertainty ended in 2012, the year the show underwent its first significant upgrade since its 1999 renovation. The show revamped its lighting, introduced new costumes, and renovated its set. Although predecessor King Arthur's Tournament had women horseback riders, Tournament of Kings did not have its first woman horseback rider until 2014.
Rumors about the show's closing continued and were so pervasive that the company issued a statement in 2016, "We normally don't comment on rumors but we want to assure our employees and our guests that we have no plans to close (it)." Since the first barn would have interfered with Excalibar's newly constructed parking garage, Excalibur created a second barn at the end of 2016 to house the show's horses. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tournament of Kings paused doing performances in March 2020. During the closure, the horses were relocated to a ranch from their previous location at the hotel's barn. To prepare for its reopening on July 14, 2021, the show brought the horses back to the hotel for a month of training. Tournament of Kings was the third-longest running show on the Las Vegas Strip in 2018—the shows Legends in Concert and Crazy Girls had launched before Tournament of Kings in 1983 and 1987, respectively. Lisa Bornstein of the Rocky Mountain News said that Tournament of Kings was the Las Vegas version of Medieval Times and Renaissance fairs, while Herald & Reviews Bob Fallstrom found it to be "a fantasy twist" on Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows.
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