Piano great Philip Fortenberry is again a major player at Cabaret Jazz

By John Katsilometes

Friday, Oct. 3, 2014 | 6:15 p.m.

Philip Fortenberry feels as if he’s already told his story.

Problem is, he continues to add to that story.

“I wasn’t looking to do this show again because I thought I’d done it already,” says Fortenberry, returning with his “Man at the Piano” show at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Smith Center’s Cabaret Jazz (tickets are $26 and $36 and available at the Smith Center box office). “But, you know how life happens, and there are so many stories, and people were asking me to do it again.”

This circuitous, musical retelling of Fortenberry’s path to Las Vegas — and Broadway and back again — is backed by his dynamite piano work. His fellow entertainers in Las Vegas are typically awed when he’s onstage, whether in performances at such productions as the Nevada Sesquicentennial All-Star Concert at Reynolds Hall on Sept. 22 or during his many appearances at Keith Thompson’s Composers Showcase at Cab Jazz.

Fortenberry’s career has been dually boosted over the past year and a half or so. He was sought for the role as Michael Douglas’ hand and body double for the performances in the HBO film “Behind the Candelabra,” which aired in May 2013. This year, he was associate conductor for the inspired but nonetheless ill-fated musical adaptation of “Rocky” at Winter Garden Theater in New York.

That show ran from March through August, and Fortenberry was granted time away from his regular gig as associate conductor at “Jersey Boys” at the Paris, where he works with Thompson.

Of course, through the “Rocky” experience, Fortenberry has collected new material for the stage.

“I was graciously granted a leave of absence to do this, for as long as I needed to do it,” Fortenberry says. “I’m sharing that and also sharing the experiences from long ago as if they are new because to a lot of people who don’t know me, they are new.”

Fortenberry, remarkably, has worked on 11 Broadway musicals in the course of his career, which was sparked at age 4 when he first heard his first Liberace record (how that inspiration fueled his passion for the piano is conveyed in his Cab Jazz show).

Fortenberry moved to Las Vegas as part of the lineup in “We Will Rock You” at the Paris and worked on “Hairspray” at Luxor and “Mamma Mia!” at Mandalay Bay before joining “Jersey Boys.” He also was the artist-in-residence at the Liberace Museum in the cabaret performance “Liberace & Me.” Over the years, he also lent his talents to such well-known productions as “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Cats.” He even gave a boost to a show called “Cleavage” and had about sworn off a return to that medium when “Rocky” officials found him in Las Vegas.

Fortenberry is thrilled that one member of the audience is exhaustively aware of his story — but not the stage version. One John White, who has known Fortenberry since first grade, is making the trip to Las Vegas to see the great pianist perform live for the first time.

But Fortenberry will need to make an allowance of time to pull off this show on Sunday afternoon. One of his regular gigs is as the organist at Community Lutheran Church.

“I tried doing the church gig and this show in the same day before, and it wiped me out,” Fortenberry says. “I’m going to have to play hooky from the church gig, but I’ll be back for that. They understand. They let me do ‘Rocky’ and come back, too.”

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