Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Sinatra returns to the Strip as Bob Anderson signs for a year at Palazzo

Nevada Sesquicentennial All-Star Concert

Tom Donoghue / DonoghuePhotography.com

Bob Anderson performs as Frank Sinatra during the Nevada Sesquicentennial All-Star Concert on Monday, Sept. 22, 2014, at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Las Vegas.

Nevada Sesquicentennial All-Star Concert

Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki and Gov. Brian Sandoval attend the Nevada Sesquicentennial All-Star Concert on Monday, Sept. 22, 2014, at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Las Vegas. Launch slideshow »

As Bob Anderson hung out in his dressing room at the Nevada Sesquicentennial All-Star Concert at the Smith Center on Sept. 22, he looked at the mass of folks who had crammed in to say hello.

“Jerry Lewis, Wayne Newton, Vinnie Falcone, the Jersey Boys, Deana Martin, everyone was in this room,” Anderson says. “It was like I was really Frank Sinatra.”

Nearly. Not quite, but so close is Anderson’s adaptation of Sinatra that even those who knew him — and many of the stars in that room were close to Sinatra — feel the pangs of nostalgia when Anderson takes on that persona. Anderson sang a Sinatra medley that night, with Falcone as his pianist, and the moment proved a teaser for something more permanent in Las Vegas.

Anderson’s “Frank, The Man, The Music,” opens Jan. 24 for a scheduled yearlong run at Palazzo Theater. The schedule is Tuesdays through Saturdays with all shows set for 8 p.m. aside from the Friday performances, which are 9 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at the Venetian website; prices are $71.50, $82.50 and $93.50. VIP packages are $176. “Panda!,” currently occupying the room, closes Dec. 28.

“This is going to be phenomenal,” Anderson says. “People will really believe they are being taken back to 1975.”

Fans can expect a full-scale, untrammeled tribute to Sinatra by one of the great vocal impressionists ever to play Las Vegas. The host of his own show at the Top of the Dunes for a decade beginning in 1975, Anderson uncorked a version of this show at Venetian Theater in May and blew the minds of a capacity audience.

The shows set for the new Sinatra production will be adjusted visually, with the set of the Palazzo Theater (which might well be in line for a new name, given the tenor of the performances) to reflect a classic supper club. Even the Zebra Lounge is due for a makeover to match the design and feel of the theater.

The feeling will be intimate, with two-time Tony Award-winning set designer Kevin Rigdon bringing an old nightclub vibe to the big showroom. But the sound will soar, with Falcone (Sinatra’s own former music director) navigating a 32-piece orchestra.

“We will play what people want to hear, what they expect to year, and it will be very refined,” Anderson says. “The lighting will be very advanced compared to the first show (in March), with reds and yellows. I’ll be made up in the same way, too, to look like Frank Sinatra.”

That process has famously required a three-hour session with Oscar-nominated makeup artist Kazu Tsuji (nominated for his work on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”). Tsuji can’t make every performance, but an assistant familiar with the process will apply the stage makeup before every show.

“I told Kazu, ‘I cannot sit for three hours every night. I’ll go crazy,’ ” Anderson says. “So they figured out a way to do it in two hours. They’ve shaved an hour off, and I can live with that.”

The arrangement between Anderson and the hotel is a true partnership between his investors and the property. “Two-wall” is the term, and entertainers in the city who have bemoaned full-lease contracts signed by performers to headline in resort venues will be happy to hear that both sides are invested in this show.

“We’re looking for it to be intimate but big,” says Anderson, who left Las Vegas for Branson (and other locales) a decade ago when work dried up.

“I am ready to be in that time, in that room, and do a really sophisticated show that people will love.”

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy