“Every time I’d see her at the studio she’d be shooting, and she’d always talk about this idea,” Ellis said. “It was obviously her passion. So I thought, ‘I have a lot of relationships in the entertainment field, I could help her.’ It just looked like fun, and I was willing to take the time to make it a reality.”
With Ellis’ contacts and Brystan’s money, the two eventually found a home for “Show: the Supper Club” at the new Code Restaurant in Newport Beach. It seemed like a perfect match initially. Code needed something to attract customers, and “Show” was appealing to an upper-income 35- to 55-year-old demographic, Ellis said.
But now the live-musical-theater experiment appears to be in jeopardy. It started out with a variety show Friday nights featuring 1930s and ’40s music with singers and burlesque dancers and even some comic spoken word. It expanded to include a night with a Sinatra theme. Then there were plans for a “Whole Lotta Love” Wednesdays featuring ’70s rock and burlesque dancers and an Americana-rock night Fridays. The Americana-rock show was canceled before it started, and “Whole Lotta Love” lasted one night before it ended up in limbo.
After spending tens of thousands of Brystan’s money on the project, “Show” isn’t generating quite enough profit to sustain itself, Ellis said.
“I’m 80% sure it will keep going,” Ellis said. “We’ll be spending some time [Tuesday] with [Code’s owners] to try to come up with a plan. We have to work together for their success and our success.”
