How many chances does a Las Vegas entertainer get?
How many chances do you get in Las Vegas?
It’s a fair question as a couple of resilient acts prepare to resurface: Impressionist Rich Little and the variety troupe Recycled Percussion.
The over-used buzzword “reinvention” comes into play for both.
Little’s legacy on the Strip is secure after his years as a big-room headliner in the ’70s. But by 2007, Loni Anderson and Paul Lynde jokes seemed to be in denial of the times. Three years ago, at the former Las Vegas Hilton, Little wisely narrowed his old act into a more focused Jimmy Stewart tribute.
This time, when he opens at the Tropicana’s Laugh Factory on Tuesday, Little promises to make his own career the focus. I thought that was a great idea four years ago. Talking about the politicians and movie stars who came into his orbit would give new context to impressions of Richard Nixon and John Wayne.
If the 76-year-old Little needs to pique the interests of nonretirees, Recycled Percussion could skew a little older. The quartet which makes a good show of drumming on ladders and trash cans seemed like a good fit for the Strip as a family alternative to magicians.
But they’ve sure been a traveling band in the past five years, with stints at the MGM Grand, Tropicana and the hotel now called The Linq. Producer David Saxe is now prepping a reboot for a July 20 opening at his Saxe Theater in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort.
This one sounds less like a case of an act stubbornly refusing to admit consumers have said “no thanks,” than one that needs “to broaden the appeal more,” as Saxe says.
Recycled does fine business in the summer, but needs to “soften up their image” and expand beyond the family trade, adds Saxe, who is promising “a lot more comedy” in the next round.
When you look at other shows or headliners who have taken several swings on the Strip, there’s not much of a common denominator. A lot of specific circumstances give entertainers hope that we still want them around.
Did the quick closing of Mo5aic mean ticket-buyers twice took a pass on a resident a cappella act? More likely it just means sublets are tricky, and that you’re launching almost from below ground level when you’re renting show space from a guy who is also renting the venue from Caesars Entertainment Corp.
But most of the Strip is a rent-the-room business. If you want to invest your own money or work for the tickets you sell, you can usually find a place to do it.
A place like the Tommy Wind Theater, where hypnotist Justin Tranz — did you miss him from the early 2000s? — shares the room with insult comic Vinnie Favorito, who gives new meaning to Las Vegas as ‘Home of the Second Chance’ after being shown the door at the Flamingo amid controversy over his personal debts.
It’s different with other people’s money. Even Celine Dion’s. Will “Veronic Voices” be back to see if the third time’s the charm for impressionist Veronic DiCaire? Or will last month’s limited-return at Bally’s do it for now?
If the budget gets really big, failure is not an option. Cirque du Soleil pulled “Zarkana” for a month early last year and brought it back for what is the third, maybe fourth version, depending on how you score the time it played at Radio City Music Hall.
Or you can try staying on the run, hoping you’re not gone long enough between venues for anyone to miss you. Like the Prince tribute Purple Reign, and “Country Superstars,” now in the Windows Showroom at Bally’s.
“Superstars” just celebrated eight years in (and all over) town last month. “We now have a ‘name’ that people know,” producer Leonard Quenneville says of his mobile brand of longevity.
But some acts just get the fight taken out of them. “I’m not ready to do another Vegas gig,” says Louie Anderson, late of the Plaza and now on the road with Rita Rudner, another stand-up headliner who has opted for short visits instead of a dig-in residency.
Permanent residency was a real prize for road-weary comics in the post-9/11 years. But after years of working the ticket-sales games on the Strip, Anderson is finding it “so much fun to go out on the road with somebody like-minded” and to play for locals in their neighborhoods. He will be at the South Point July 24-26.
Who is the ultimate comeback, and comeback and comeback kid? The durable old-school showmen of The Scintas? Their Hawaiian brethren Society of Seven?
I’d say the record still belongs to magician Steve Wyrick, who kept managing to resurface even after bankruptcy and other disastrous signs that audiences weren’t interested in his services. He’s been gone since late 2011, and now seems safely relocated in Branson. But in this town, you never know.
Read more from Mike Weatherford at bestoflasvegas.com. Contact him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.
