Risk pays off for ‘Jersey Boys’ star Faugno

Rick Faugno saw a picture of the South Point’s showroom on the Internet one day and proceeded to pull off something very rare.

The “Jersey Boys” star put his own money on the line for a solo showcase, “Songs My Idols Sang (and Danced).” He filled the room, with paying customers, not slot-clubbers. And he did it six times during the past nine months.

“The first time was pretty terrifying,” Faugno says of the opening show Labor Day weekend. “I might just be taking a bath. What if no one showed up? I was just concentrating on doing it once and hoping it was good.”

It was no small risk. Remember, he wasn’t a “name.” The Palazzo’s “Jersey Boys” was a huge calling card, but no stars are billed above the title.

Neither was there the buffer of a charity or not-for-profit organization, which usually serves as the focal point when Broadway performers venture out for a side project.

But retirement-age locals responded to Faugno’s tap-dancing tribute to an earlier era of show business at a modest ticket price.

“I don’t know if it really started for me as a business venture. I think it turned into that,” he says. “I don’t think I really appreciated what kind of work goes into putting your own show together, and my show is really on a small scale. I’ve learned so much about the business side of things.”

Sunday will be the final time Faugno plans to perform in this format, but he vows to be back by late summer with a new vehicle, sharing the stage with fiancee Joyce Chittick.

“Now I feel like I’m a proven entity down there and they’re really behind me with the things I want to do. Which as an artist is the best place you can be.” …

Singing impressionist Greg London, better known in Northern Nevada, tries his luck in Las Vegas with a Riviera show called “Icons” starting June 17. …

Performers in the Harrah’s Entertainment family are mourning the cancer death of Debbie Barrentine, 47, a longtime entertainment director at the Rio, Harrah’s Las Vegas and, most recently, Paris Las Vegas. Over the years, she tended to the needs of both the big names (Barry Manilow, Prince) and the little guys (the cast of “Tony ‘N’ Tina’s Wedding.”) …

Those who miss the days of the dinner show — or wish someone would invent “the lunch show” — should look to the eastern edge of the Fremont Street Experience, where three new titles are on the boards.

“Sexy and Dangerous” opens today in The Las Vegas Rocks Cafe, formerly Jillian’s. It’s a showcase for the creepy-cool Mario & Jenny (Ferreira), whose acrobatics got them into the finals of “America’s Got Talent” last year.

Venue operator Tony Sacca plans to follow that with his own “Vegas the Show,” starting June 9. It will be a matinee with lunch for $5 above the $19.95 ticket.

A longtime Las Vegas personality, Sacca fast-tracked the “Vegas” show — which he has performed a few times in the past — after producer David Saxe announced “Vegas! The Show” for the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood next month.

“This is a show I’ve been wanting to break ever since I bought the cafe,” Sacca says. “We shouldn’t have two and it’s going to get confusing, but he’s being obstinate.”

Saxe says much the same of Sacca: “Now he knows I’m doing this and trying to rush and open a show before me, just to say that he beat me to it and create confusion. That’s so shady.”

On the other side of Fremont Street, Hennessey’s Tavern hosts the dinner show “Only You,” an oldies revue fronted by former Platters singer Derek David. …

Wayne Brady returns today to The Venetian theater he anchored until last October, when he went missing after citing vocal strain and the rigors of doing a live show alongside TV’s “Let’s Make a Deal.” He’ll be back in June and July. …

The Las Vegas Hilton never owned up to rumors of a new magic show starring a Siegfried & Roy-like duo called LaRaf. But the Hilton’s website now hosts a pretentious teaser ad for a show called “Triumph … The Eternal Struggle,” so you can do the math. The show is said to have both afternoon and evening performances, working around the booking of Hilton concert headliners. …

Today also brings the resurrection of the former Club Rio, now the Crown Theater and Nightclub. The first concert act is Devo on June 19. But a series of tribute acts commences Sunday with the Journey covers of Lights.

The Las Vegas Hilton also offers a weekly series of long-form tributes. If you think that’s as low-budget as it gets in this recession, the Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip is actually charging $20 to watch an air guitar contest on Friday.

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