Las Vegas Stage Shows

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Back to Las VegasLas Vegas Stage Shows

Vegas on the Upswing -- Vegas: Everything old is new again, and again. Whereas once it was the thing to do -- to have a regular Vegas act, back in the Frankie and the Rat Pack days, and then again in the Elvis days -- so it went that such acts became cornball and cheese. Then you couldn't get a performer with any critical or commercial legitimacy to touch the place with a 10-foot roll of quarters. And now? Miss C?line Dion has made it safe again, and here comes Elton John, filling Dion's spot on some of her off nights with his The Red Piano show. It's a gorgeously mounted production, featuring Elton and his lacquered piano, plus artistic video installations and other touches that have earned the show critical raves. Too bad he does it only a few weeks a year. Oh, and that the prices make even Dion's look cheap. tel. 888/4ELTONJ (435-8665). Tickets $110 to $275 plus Ticketmaster surcharge (no charge for box office walk-ups). Less technical pizzazz, but no less showmanship (not to mention more frequent dates and lower ticket prices) comes from Barry Manilow: Music & Passion, who, bless him, knows just who he is and how to use it. In the Las Vegas Hilton, 3000 Paradise Rd., tel. 800/222-5361. Tickets $85 to $145. Wednesday to Friday at 9pm, Saturday at 7:30 and 10pm.

We really wish these guys, in making Vegas safe again for legit performers, also made it safe again for those on budgets. Oh, well, there's always Wayne Newton! Meanwhile, look for more performers to follow suit -- if the rumors play out, M?tley Cr?e will be getting their own venue at the new Planet Hollywood. The mind boggles, and really, really wants to go.

Lounge Lizard Supreme -- All those faux-hipster artists doing woeful lounge-act characters in Hollywood and New York only wish they could be Mr. Cook E. Jarr, whose sincerity and obvious drive to entertain puts mere performance artists to shame. With George Hamilton's tan, Cher's first shag haircut (it's certainly not his factory-original coif), and a bottomless, borderless catalog of rock, pop, soul, swing, and standard favorites, he's more Vegas than Wayne Newton.

Cook has a cult following of blue-collar casino denizens and the youthful cocktail set, who listen enraptured as he plays human jukebox, complete with karaoke-style backing recordings, terrible jokes, an array of disco-era lights, and (his favorite) a smoke machine. He's actually a solid, throaty singer, with a gift for vocal mimicry as he moves from Ben E. King to Bee Gees to Tony Bennett turf. And his tribute the night Sinatra died -- a version of "My Way" in which he voiced, alternately, Sammy, Dino, and Elvis welcoming Ol' Blue Eyes to Heaven -- was priceless.

He moves around a lot, but lately you can often catch him on Friday and Saturday nights, late, at Harrah's Carnaval Court Lounge, at 3475 Las Vegas Blvd. S. (tel. 702/369-5222). Don't miss him! (And if he has left there by the time you read this, try to track him down.)

Afternoon Delight?

By now, it will not have escaped your attention that most of the nighttime shows in Vegas, at least the ones of any quality, cost a lot. Except for the ones that cost a whole heck of a lot. And that we tend to prefer the latter. "Isn't there any cheap entertainment in this town?" you may have begun to wonder, and trust us, even if we are awfully liberal with the contents of your wallets, we feel your pain.

So, barring the possibility that you might be the kind of gambler we wish to be, the sort who gets comped free tickets to expensive shows (that you could probably afford anyway, in typical Vegas irony), there are some alternatives. Several Vegas hotels offer afternoon shows, at much more reasonable prices -- that, of course, being a relative term. Here are a couple of the better offerings (note that Mac King, because he's quite a bit better). Ronn Lucas (in the Rio, 3700 W. Flamingo Rd.; tel. 888/746-7784; Sat-Thurs 3pm; $30, including drink and program) seems like a throwback to corny vaudeville days -- after all, he's a ventriloquist. But his puppets are maladjusted (why not?) with bite and wit, and he is fearless in the same manner of Penn & Teller; he gleefully deconstructs his art form, confident that after he shows you how it all works, he can still bamboozle you. Watch if you don't suddenly start thinking of those puppets as real characters, even though you know exactly how it all works. He's clever, funny, and weird. And if the price seems too high (even with drink and souvenir program as part of the package), look for discount coupons in the free magazines in your hotel room.

Rick Thomas (Stardust Resort & Casino, 3000 Las Vegas Blvd S.; tel. 866/888-3427 or 702/732-6325; Thurs-Tues 2 and 4pm; $25) is an entertaining magician, though one wonders why he merits his own afternoon show but not his own nighttime show, or a part of one of the big nighttime production revues. Viva Las Vegas (in the Stratosphere Casino Hotel & Tower, 2000 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; tel. 800/99-TOWER or 702/380-7777; Mon-Sat 2 and 4pm; $17, including tax), an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Vegas variety show, is good only if you really need an hour's respite from the slots in the afternoon.

Note: Discount coupons for the afternoon shows are often found in those free magazines in your hotel room. Sometimes the discount gets you in free, with just the price of a drink.