Drag star bringing magic to Strip

Scott Weston was as surprised as anyone when "An Evening at La Cage" abruptly closed on Monday night.

As "La Cage" star Frank Marino cleaned out his Riviera dressing room while pondering the option of reopening the show as producer, Weston faced the short-term likelihood that his alter-ego, Cashetta, the "Queen of Magic," will become the Strip’s only drag star when his one-(wo)man "Magic’s a Drag" opens Feb. 21 at the Harmon Theater.

"My demographic certainly includes them, but we’re so different," Weston says of the potential "La Cage" audience. "I never started out in the bars like a lot of drag performers. My audiences were very mixed. I’ve never done the lip-syncing or been a celebrity impersonator," he says.

Instead, Cashetta is better known on cruise ships and in comedy clubs. The Dolly Parton-type character does comedy magic with audience participation in the vein of Mac King, where "the magic kind of ties it in at the end. It’s not me getting up there with the all-powerful sorcerer thing."

"Magic’s a Drag" replaces Lucky Cheng’s Drag Cabaret, which closes Saturday in the smaller room of the two-sided venue. Weston says he is not on his own as a rent-the-room performer and that the theater staff is marketing it. Though his timing isn’t ideal, he says the content is up for the challenge.

"I’ve always wanted to have a show in Las Vegas, but I wanted to make sure I had a good show to bring to town," he says of 10 years refining the magic act. …

As for "La Cage," its future remained unsettled at this writing. Producer Norbert Aleman characterizes the closing as "a break." He struck a deal with reality-TV producers for a backstage look at the show, and hopes to be back in business once the cameras are ready to roll.

But the show’s star, Marino, also was negotiating with Riviera officials to reopen in the same room with much of the same cast, but with a different title. …

Cashetta isn’t the only optimistic magician defying a bad economy. A new magic show also opened recently downtown at the Las Vegas Club. "Steven & Cassandra Best: Superstars of Magic!" creates a new show space in a former Hawaiian restaurant off the casino floor. …

You know what they say about good intentions and all that. Indeed, it was a fine idea for MGM Mirage to coordinate all their locals discounts into one well-organized Web page (www.mgmmirage.com/ locals/). Check it out, and you’ll see offers for everything from "Love" to Carrot Top.

What might not have been such a great idea was putting a hyperlink to the new site on the company’s main home page (www.mgmmirage.com). Early this week, a show producer reported an out-of-state friend calling to ask what was meant by "locals." Upon being told it meant "Nevada resident," the next question was, "Can you book the room for me?"

And now everyone knows the truth: The Criss Angel show isn’t really selling out, if locals can get in for a 40 percent discount.

It’s a tricky dance, trying to reach out to residents without burning the tourists. There is always the mailbox, old-fashioned but discreet. …

If the sports books had taken futures bets on which of this year’s "America’s Got Talent" finalists would be the first to headline in Las Vegas, someone would clean up big.

The person playing the Las Vegas Hilton on Sunday isn’t the winner, Neal E. Boyd. Or the runner-up, Nuttin’ But Stringz, or even third-place winner Eli Mattson.

That leaves fourth-placer Donald Braswell, the Josh Groban-style singer who twice escaped elimination on the show. Why him? Turns out he has fans in Hilton management and is represented by Terry Fator’s manager, John McEntee.

"He’s got a little cult following of his own," McEntee says of the singer. It was Braswell’s dream to headline in Las Vegas, and the Hilton was willing to take a chance if the guarantee was low, he says. What McEntee terms "a reasonable gamble" looks to have paid off; he says presales had reached the break-even point early this week.

But your futures bet might hinge on the definition of terms. Another "Talent" contestant from last summer, Queen Emily, edges into the Hilton two days ahead of Braswell, but she’s not a solo headliner. Instead, she is joining the cast of "Menopause The Musical" on Friday. The revue departs the Hilton April 5; it wasn’t clear if Emily would stay the duration. …

Finally, a performer can’t be too versatile these days. On Valentine’s Day, Kevin Burke, star of the one-man show "Defending the Caveman," will officiate the wedding of a couple of Las Vegas fans, 72-year-old Mickie Hollander and 80-year-old Gene Adler.

When he first signed on for the show, Burke let producer John Bentham know that he was an ordained minister in case something like this ever came up. That leaves just one question: Does the showroom have a drive-up window?

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