Society of Seven’s magic formula: serious singing plus silly wigs

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What other show in town can boast singers who were on both Ed Sullivan and “American Idol”?

Las Vegas is now the place where you can’t throw a tennis ball without hitting a big-name electronica DJ, but sequined jackets have become an endangered species. Still, the Society of Seven has doggedly resurfaced every few years since 2001, courting what is now a niche market for old-fashioned showmanship.

This time, the Hawaiian group is at the Riviera. And their main competition on the Strip is no longer The Scintas or Wayne Newton, but Human Nature and the Branson, Mo., import “Broadway Celebration,” two shows strategically employing “young people singing old music.”

But why choose between youth and authenticity when you can have both?

Group founders Tony Ruivivar and Bert Sagum are now in their 70s and first showed up on the Strip in the 1960s, their Sullivan days, as the Fabulous Echoes.

But age doesn’t keep Sagum out of a dress when the joke demands it – not once (the ugly showgirl), not twice (the Supreme with a wardrobe malfunction) but three times (Beyonce’s evil twin).

It could get a little creaky, playing to the shrinking audience that can still reference Randy Abellar’s Tony Orlando imitation (especially this weekend, when much of that audience would be watching the real Orlando at the South Point).

But if “American Idol” has done anything good to offset all its crimes against good taste, it’s to instill respect for real singing and the history of a song. So 2004 “Idol” finalist Jasmine Trias fits right in there, and perhaps leads a few other 20-somethings to the water.

Add a still-younger male singer – lately it’s Ryan Gallagher, though the position seems to be in a bit of flux – who can go toe-to-toe with Trias on the vocal histrionics of “The Prayer,” and the youngsters overcompensate for any fears the old guys don’t have the chops they once did.

And an a capella segment, with the 25-year-old Trias singing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” backed by all the guys, is way more intricate and credible than you’d expect to hear from a group that spends much of the show in wigs, and ends it in red sparkle jackets to the tune “God Bless the USA.”

But the shtick is part of it, too. So is the very format of a “show band,” where each member plays not only an instrument or two, but steps out to be part of the singing and clowning.

The group does everything from a Four Seasons medley to a tribute to Broadway’s “The Lion King,” complete with puppet costumes. Trias has come into her own as a team player, gamely imitating Cher and Diana Ross with the guys.

Sandwiched between two other titles in this vintage Riviera showroom, this 85 minutes is the shortest I’ve seen SOS perform. Even if it’s by necessity, it’s a blessing in disguise, tightening a show that tended to ramble on in the past.

Loyal fans will always miss some bits, but will find something new to like as well. This time, Gallagher saluted Josh Groban by singing “You Raise Me Up.” In a funny wig. Not that anything else about the song or its performance was funny. Just the wig.

Serious singing. Silly wigs. Apparently, it’s something close to the magic formula for Society of Seven. And somehow it still works.

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