Imperial Palace to ‘Name That Tune’

The Imperial Palace, not typically at the forefront of entertainment headlines, grabs some attention this week with a new building wrap for drag star Frank Marino and a new afternoon title that has been familiar since the 1950s.

“Name That Tune Live!” launches today as a 3 p.m. matinee, sharing the second-floor showroom with Human Nature and Marino’s “Divas Las Vegas.” The new title is produced by Adam Steck, who also helms the other two.

Audience contestants will compete for prizes and possible cash in the quiz show format that goes back to 1953, when NBC contestants raced to ring a bell signifying they recognized the first few bars of a song. The show has been revived several times over the years, and current rights-holder Noah Rubenstein reached out to Steck in his efforts to place the show in Las Vegas.

“The first thing that came through research was the more contestants, the better,” Steck says. Hence, the plan for nearly 100 people to compete in every show, with the prizes escalating as the contest gets harder.

This live version is hosted by Chris Phillips and Marley Taylor, who perform as Zowie Bowie and have worked all around town since 2006. The set is by Andy Walmsley, the Las Vegas-based production designer of the stages for “American Idol” and other TV contests.

“I’m not used to structure in anything in my life,” Phillips says of the challenge, but believes he and Taylor are otherwise adaptable to the task because of their crowd work and “the back-and-forth banter we’re kind of known for.”

And they had a head start on naming that theme song, suggesting the lyrically appropriate Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme duet, “I’ve Heard That Song Before.” …

It seems like I have written this story before. But Frank Marino says he’s really, truly breaking free of any association with Joan Rivers in “Divas Las Vegas.”

“I’m not using her to sell tickets anymore,” Marino says of a new ad campaign and Imperial Palace building wrap that should be fully visible today, with an official christening set for a press event Friday.

When Marino joined “An Evening at La Cage” as a young man in 1985, he impersonated Rivers down to the joke. After the comedian sued, Marino quit using her material and the two have long been friendly.

“I ended up losing the taste of wanting to be Joan Rivers,” he says. “I love Joan as a person. I just don’t like impersonating anybody. I’d rather be me.”

But Marino’s opening comedy segment evolved into a confusing hybrid: He didn’t mimic her infamous voice and mannerisms, but was still introduced as Rivers and worked in front of a “Can we talk?” sign.

“It was a fear of letting go of the crutch of Joan Rivers’ celebrity,” he says. “I was hanging onto Joan Rivers’ coattails because that’s what I was used to.”

The new ad campaign aims to clarify that “Divas” is a drag show, distancing it from “Legends in Concert” next door at Harrah’s Las Vegas. Marino denies the new visibility was motivated by the recent reboot of “La Cage” at the Four Queens. The campaign has been in the works six months, he says.

The show itself has new tributes to Rihanna and Janet Jackson, and an updated, upgraded Lady Gaga segment.

“La Cage” has so far remained under the radar as any serious competition, though veteran impersonator Frankie Kein has joined the cast and producers are testing matinee shows. A media night has been pushed down the road to late September. …

Producer Adam Steck also launches another project today: “Night School for Girls,” a pole-dancing class overseen by Holly Madison’s pal about town, Laura Croft, in the “Thunder from Down Under” room at Excalibur. “We want to be the one-stop shop for girl’s night out,” Steck says of the classes that might get TV time on the reality show “Holly’s World.” …

At the risk of a backhanded compliment: It’s less shocking that Scott Lewis is closing his Riviera hypnosis show on Tuesday than the fact he stayed at it so long — since March 2002, better, busier days for the enclosed lounge known as the Le Bistro cabaret.

More remarkable is that Lewis, a chiropractor and hypnotherapist by day, performed at the Riviera only once a week, every Monday, for most of that stretch. It’s hard to build up any traction with a weekly schedule, but Lewis credits repeat customers and word of mouth, as well as a “family-friendly angle” that distinguished him from raunchier hypnosis shows.

Lewis hopes to bring his show back to Las Vegas after a Norwegian Cruise Line booking that will keep him busy through January.

Elsewhere within the Riviera, comedian Paul Rodriguez is the next headliner booked for the second-floor Starlite Theatre (for years the home of “La Cage”), Aug. 31-Sept. 11. The opening act is Murray Langston, better remembered as the bag-on-his-head Unknown Comic.

David Brenner, the Village People and Gallagher are booked for the fall under the room’s new headliner policy.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.