‘Viva’ good, clean way to spend day

Joe Delaney

Friday, Aug. 20, 1999 | 1:32 a.m.

Monday: WCW Monday Nitro, MGM Grand

Tuesday: Ann and Nancy Wilson, Hard Rock

Tuesday: Ministry, House of Blues

Tuesday- Aug. 29: Neil Sedaka, Orleans

Thursday: Lyle Lovett, Las Vegas Hilton

Thursday- Aug. 29: The Four Tops, Desert Inn

Thursday-Aug. 29: Earth, Wind & Fire, Caesars Palace

Thursday-Sept. 8: Rodney Dangerfield, MGM Grand

Aug. 27: Steve Winwood, Hard Rock

Aug. 27: Mark Farner, Randy Bachman, Texas Station

Aug. 27-28: The Osmonds, Riviera

Aug. 27-28: Nick Di Paolo, Riviera

Aug. 27-28: Cher, MGM Grand

Aug. 27-28: Def Comedy Jam, Las Vegas Hilton

Aug. 28: Joey McIntyre, Hard Rock

Aug. 28: Rick Springfield, Sunset Station

Sept. 1: De La Soul, House of Blues

Sept. 1-5: Righteous Brothers, Orleans

Sept. 2-5: Bolshoi Classical Collection, Luxor

Sept. 2-5: Donna Summer, Caesars Palace

Sept. 3-5: Tony Danza, Desert Inn

Sept. 3-5: LeAnn Rimes, Las Vegas Hilton

Sept. 3: Alice Cooper, Hard Rock

Sept. 3: Burning Spear, House of Blues

"Viva Las Vegas" is the city's longest-running afternoon show and for good reason. The Broadway Showroom at the Stratosphere is a warm, intimate room, and the top price for the show is $10. (Slot players can secure a ticket that allows admission for the price of one drink.) More important, it is a production worth seeing, with five comely and talented dancers, singer Connie Crawford and three unique comedians, Dave Swan, Bruce Mickelson and Joe Baker, appearing in that order.

Crawford and the dancers -- line captain Chelly Franken, Jeannie Duran, Cheryl Slader, Aimee Shank and Mindy Harris -- open the show with a rousing "Viva Las Vegas," nicely costumed, choreographed and performed. Comedian Dave Swan is a Las Vegas fixture, doubling between the Stratosphere and the Excalibur where he appears nightly in "The Tournament of Kings."

Swan is a Welshman who grew up in the same small village as Tom Jones. His vocal sound is a double for Jones, and after a rapid-fire series of jokes and one-liners Swan does a credible Jones singing impression to finish with strong applause.

The five dancers do a cute number as the Jackson Five, fast and furious, an excellent dynamic excitement to follow Swan and precede Crawford singing the big ballad, "I Dreamed A Dream," from "Les Miserables." This occasionally becomes a show high spot.

Now it's time for comedian Bruce Mickelson as "Big John," complete with a Stetson hat and an attitude to match. Michelson alone is worth paying top dollar for. He takes on the ladies, deploring that man's last bastion in his marriage is the barbecue. "Man can still burn meat."

He hits hard, hits home, but never below the belt. (Warning: Mickelson will be leaving in October to do a production show in the 1,800-seat Grand Casino Theatre in Biloxi, Miss., a tribute to the late Jackie Gleason, with a full cast including the June Taylor Dancers.)

Crawford and the dancers go country with "Why Haven't I Heard From You," bringing up a man from the audience and strapping him into a mock electric chair. Good, clean, innocuous fun, but the audience enjoyed it.

Swan reappears, speaks briefly, goes behind a curtain and Golden Joe Baker emerges in an Elvis outfit, singing "The Wonder Of You" and "One Night With You," wandering through the audience. Baker is a howl as the Elvis most unlike the original. The cast returns for the finale, introductions and a reprise of "Viva Las Vegas." Worth the money and more.

"Viva Las Vegas" opened in April 1991 in the Sands Copa Room doing two shows a day, five days a week. Producer Dick Feeney moved the show to the Stratosphere in October 1996 doing three shows a day, six days a week with most of the shows at capacity (711 seats). This really tells the story.