Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014 | 12:32 p.m.
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.”
With top accommodations, first-rate entertainment, high-end shopping and a slew of acclaimed chefs, the Palazzo has positioned itself as one of the most luxurious resorts on the Strip.
More than 3,000 all-suite rooms start at 740 square feet and are decorated in a modern, yet classic, Italian style. Each room features a sleeping area, with a king or two queens, and a sunken living room area with floor to ceiling windows.
A cathedral ceiling tops the Palazzo casino, while a second 80-foot dome brings natural light to the property's lobby. The 105,000 square foot casino features more than 2,000 slots and 80 table games but lacks the stale smell of cigarettes, as the property is LEED certified with smoking off limits in most of the Palazzo — including 50 percent of the casino floor.
Dining at the Palazzo is among the best of the Strip, starting with Wolfgang Puck's CUT. Chef Simon To serves up authentic Chinese cuisine at Zine, while Sushisamba combines Brazilian and Peruvian flavors with Japanese techniques. At LAVO, club-goers can dine on Mediterranean dishes before heading upstairs to the bath house-inspired nightclub.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.
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