As the San Francisco cast of Jersey Boys heads down to Los Angeles to finally begin the actual touring part of this national touring company, the Curran Theatre welcomes a whole new cast (more about that next week).

In the meantime, the big Jersey Boys news — and it’s hardly a surprise — is that the show will open in Las Vegas, a town that hasn’t exactly become the “Broadway of the West” some expected.

Mamma Mia! is the one huge hit, but Avenue Q, Hairspray and We Will Rock You all bit the dust much sooner than expected.

Other current Vegas shows include shortened versions of The Phantom of the Opera and Spamalot.

Apparently every new Vegas resort (they used to be just hotels) needs to build a theater for a Broadway musical. Jersey Boys will be housed in the new Palazzo, whose theater will seat 1,650. The show is expected to arrive in early 2008. No word yet on whether this will be the full version or a (typical for short attention spans in Vegas — “Get me back to the casino!”) 90-minute version of the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons story.