Voice of Choice

Friday, Oct. 15, 1999 | 9:23 a.m.

What: Bill Acosta's "Lasting Impressions."

Where: Luxor Live Theater.

When: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Tuesdays and Saturdays; 8:30 p.m. Sundays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Tickets: $24.95.

Information: Call 262-4400.

For more than an hour Bill Acosta has sampled the personalities and mannerisms of around 60 celebrities of all shapes and sizes. Afterward, it appears one departed legend refuses to vacate Acosta's fertile mind.

He sounds suspiciously like Sammy Davis Jr., babe.

"I'm very grateful," Acosta says. "I got a little gift from the Big Kahuna."

In Sammyspeak, the Big Kahuna is the big man upstairs. But whether subconsciously adopting the lingo of one of his favorite stars or speaking without a co-pilot, Acosta conveys a polished, concise -- at times even clinical -- production at the 350-seat Luxor Live Theater.

Acosta has been performing at the previously faceless theater since 1997, after producing a similar incarnation of the production at the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, N.J. Acosta is signed at the Luxor through April.

"The response, the word-of-mouth, has been wonderful," a relaxed (and exceedingly cool) Acosta says after the show. "People will always love these performers and this type of entertainment."

Acosta's show is a refreshing "throwback" act to the days of reasonable ticket prices, limited frills and stately attire.

Eschewing the full-blown costumes used by "Legends In Concert" or the comfortably casual shirt-and-slacks ensemble favored by Danny Gans, Acosta graces the stage in a full tuxedo for every performance. His only concession to informality are the shined, black alligator boots.

"I feel very comfortable in a tuxedo," the silver-haired, 51-year-old Acosta says after a recent show before a polite, three-quarters-filled theater crowd. "The tuxedo is your armor and it signifies the style of an era."

It's an era Acosta, who first performed in Las Vegas at Nero's Nook at Caesars Palace in 1970, hopes to emulate as much as any entertainer.

"There was a polish to it, some formality," Acosta says. "A certain type of grace that might have been lost over the years that we're trying to recapture."

But Acosta is no more than a tux model without his well-cultivated stage skills. Signed at the Luxor in 1997 to take over the faceless Luxor Live Theater, Acosta has mastered more than 150 voices, both singing and speaking.

Anyone who grew up throwing the voices of John Wayne, Jack Benny or even Howard Cosell (all Acosta favorites) can relate to Acosta's impression-flavored boyhood in New Orleans.

"Impressions came when I was a kid. I lived in a very rough neighborhood, and if you didn't feel like fighting or running very fast you made people laugh," Acosta says. "And so I did, and I knew I could do it for kicks. Every kid does it a little bit, but I did it as a kind of survival thing."

Acosta picked up his early voices by osmosis, watching the family TV or listening to the music of the time.

"Louie Armstrong, Jerry Lewis, Ed Sullivan, John Wayne, the typical ones everyone did in the old days," Acosta says. "I watched so much TV my eyes turned square. I started singing along and I said, 'Hey, I can do this.' "

Acosta sang in a church choir as a teenager (his father was a minister), but was not eager to embrace the stage.

"You had to put a gun to my head to sing in public," he says. "I was the opposite of an entertainer.

Rather, Acosta initially dreamed of becoming a commercial artist. But he was coerced into joining a jazz band in New Orleans at age 18, and that was it.

"People applauded us," Acosta recalls. "No one applauded when I was painting. I loved the response from audiences."

Acosta originally used his own resonant singing voice, opening for performers such as Lou Rawls, Patti La Belle, Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers. But the more he sang, the more versatile his voice became. The ability to shift effortlessly from Ray Charles to Andy Williams proved too powerful (not to mention profitable) for Acosta to ignore.

"I'm not a pure impressionist," Acosta says. "I'm a singer who does impressions."

Nor is he an impersonator. There is a difference, albeit a minute one to the average fan.

"I'm an impressionist. I use a couple of little gimmicks, but I don't go and change clothes and put on full makeup," Acosta says. "Nothing against impersonators, but I find it very limiting."

Acosta's show features a half-dozen showgirls and a 15-minute interlude by Jay Fagan, an energetic-as-a-puppy dancer who pays homage to Fred Astaire, Gregory Hines and Donald O'Connor, among others. In all, the show moves at a measured pace, with Acosta starting off with the oddly fascinating trio of Nat King Cole, Neil Diamond and Sean Connery singing Cole's "Unforgettable."

Immediately, the crowd senses that variety in unexpected packages is the order of the evening.

"I love Nat King Cole, one of the all-time great singers," Acosta says. "Connery's something different. I've always loved voices across the waves, and his has a wonderful accent that people recognize right away."

Acosta moves on to Tom Jones, overcoming the urge to take a comedic turn with the singing veteran's obvious stage enhancements. "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime" follows, a four-part adaptation starring Dean Martin, Willie Nelson, Julio Iglesias and Jerry Lewis (the latter impression having saved Acosta from some school yard scuffles as a kid).

Acosta's signature bit (also employed by Gans) is a "12 Days of Christmas" rendition narrated by Bill Clinton and featuring (among others) Ray Charles, Garth Brooks, Jim Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd's "Taxi" character), Ross Perot, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jack Nicholson and Sylvester Stallone.

The toughest impression is Sinatra.

"Absolutely," Acosta says. "There is both subtlety and strength. It's always a challenge."

Especially in arid Las Vegas, a notoriously unfriendly climate for vocalists.

"The dry air is very tough to deal with," Acosta says. "The second show is always tough. The first show just sails along, but the second ... sometimes I have trouble with a couple of the high notes. It's a very tricky thing and you have to pace yourself, especially when you're changing your voice all the time, when you tackle Sinatra."

The night closes with a 20-voice impression fireworks show spotlighting long-lost legends such as Boris Karloff, Jack Benny, Walter Brennan and Lou Costello (sorry, no W.C. Fields, Mae West or Groucho Marx) and ends with Porky Pig's "Th-th-th-that's all folks."

But that's not all. Not for Acosta, who spends much of his time away from Las Vegas touring on cruise ships, traveling more than 160,000 miles a year. He also provides voice-overs for commercials (including Heinz salsa and Polaroid film), and is the voice of Buddy Greco and Lezlie Anders' "Las Vegas Live!" radio show from the Flamingo Hilton.

Eventually, Acosta says he'd be happy performing in a larger room than the Luxor Live Theater.

"A bigger stage with a bigger band, more dancers, live music, oh yeah," Acosta says. "I don't necessarily want more seats, but a bigger stage for a bigger show. I'd love that.

"I'm working on voices all the time. I'm working on 'Frasier' (Kelsey Grammar) and politicians are always fun," Acosta says. "We'll have to see how the elections pan out. George W. (Bush) doesn't have an identifiable voice yet and Al Gore, I'm sorry, but he's a hard one to crack."

But if needed, a voice of our time -- and of all times -- will nail it down.

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