Jeff Leibow delivers another dash of hope with NF all-star show at Venetian

By John Katsilometes

Published Friday, Oct. 17, 2014 | 6 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014 | 10:33 a.m.

“The NF Hope Concert” has been around long enough that it has developed a genuine tradition.

Kristen Hertzenberg, formerly of “Phantom — The Las Vegas Spectacular” and today one of the city’s best and busiest vocalists, will sing the finale, as she has in the previous four “NF Hope” productions.

As to what that song will be, well, find out at the show. I heard Hertzenberg sing a snippet on the phone today — "Jersey Boys"-style — and it’ll be a big hit.

The “NF Hope Concert” event is set for 1 p.m. Sunday, with a red-carpet walk and silent auction set at 11:30 a.m. at Sands Showroom in the Venetian. Tickets are $45 and available at the Venetian box office at (702) 414-9000 or (866) 641-7469. Also, link to Ticketmaster from the Venetian website at Venetian.com.

Event founder Jeff Leibow, who leaves “Jersey Boys” in November and will work full time for NF Network, has lured a formidable lineup to the event. Clint Holmes, Veronic, members of “Jersey Boys,” “Million Dollar Quartet,” “Rock of Ages,” "Absinthe" tap twins Sean and John Scott, the vocal group All-4-One, “American Idol” finalist Jasmine Trias and her British beau, Ben Stone, are all on the bill.

The event raises funds and awareness for the NF Network, which combats the condition Neurofibromatosis (or, NF, as it is commonly known). Last year the concert raised $93,000, its highest total ever, for NF Network. Emma Leibow, the 5-year-old daughter or Jeff and his wife, Melody, was born with this condition, which remains something of a mystery to the general public.

Simply, NF is a genetic disorder of the nervous system that causes tumors to form and grow on nerves anywhere in the body, at any time, without showing any pattern of development. It is a progressive disorder that affects all races, ethnic groups and both genders equally. Leibow has taken the fight all the way to Congress, attempting to secure public funding for a disorder that affects more than 100,000 Americans.

Leibow’s new role, post-“Jersey Boys,” will be as full-time director of the NF Hope Foundation, charged with producing such fundraisers as Sunday’s show. One day, maybe, he’ll be to the fight against NF what Jerry Lewis was to the battle against muscular dystrophy: The very face of the fight. His goal, over time, is to produce a television show from the charity production and broadcast it nationally.

“I’m not limiting my goals,” Leibow said during a recent appearance on the KUNV 91.5-FM radio show “Kats With the Dish,” which I co-host each week with Tricia McCrone.

In his time in Las Vegas, Leibow has made innumerable friends in the city’s entertainment community, a significant factor in the success of these annual all-star shows. His final performance in “Jersey Boys” at Paris Las Vegas is Nov. 23. He made his debut in the show when it opened at Palazzo in May 2008. Before joining the cast at Palazzo, Leibow played Nick Massi in the show at Curran Theater in San Francisco, and will have logged 2,726 performances over seven years when he leaves the cast.

Leibow anticipates attaining some measure of normalcy in his life after departing the show.

“I’ve stopped into the grocery store between shows to grab something to eat, watching people wander into the grocery store, as if they’ve just ended their (work) days,” he said. “I’ve wondered what that feels like; it’s been so long.”

Jeff, Melody and Emma Leibow plan to stay in Las Vegas, their home for the past six years, making the city the headquarters for the national fight against NF. It’s a handy place to generate a lot of support, in one fell swoop, as we will be reminded of Sunday.

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