Gans makes many positive first impressions at Mirage

Joe Delaney

Friday, April 7, 2000 | 8:52 a.m.

Danny Gans is the consummate performing artist, peerless as an impressionist, especially when performing acting vignettes. He's an impressive recording-quality singer as himself, a fluid dancer and a quality musician. His new theater, named for him at the Mirage, ranks with the world's finest venues.

Gans is also a perfectionist in every respect. He has added a percussionist and a horn section with all-new musical arrangements for this long-term Mirage engagement. The Mirage has provided masterful lighting and incredibly good sound in a theater custom-built for the performer(s), as it has in the past for Siegfried & Roy, "O" and "Mystere."

Our impression count at the show caught was more than 60 voices, each one right on the mark, plus several strong songs in his own voice. Following an excellent overture, Gans became Smokey Robinson, Joe Cocker, David Clayton Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears, James Brown, Ray Charles, and Tom Jones, in rapid succession. He was home free from the first impression.

Next came Billy Ray Cyrus "in a medley of his hit," a very funny Randy Travis and a nicely satirical Willie Nelson, followed by Willie with Julio Iglesias in special lyrics based upon "To All the Girls I've Loved Before." Garth Brooks was good for more laughs to conclude a solid country-western artists group.

Michael McDonald did not emerge unscathed, while Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Aaron Neville, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, Hootie and the "Bloated Fish," Michael Bolton and Stevie Wonder were accurately duplicated, each with an added touch of good humor.

A dramatic section featured a definitive George Burns and Jimmy Stewart in a duet with Kermit the Frog. Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Boz Scaggs, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, the Bee Gees and Billy Joel and earned immediate recognition and strong applause.

Neil Diamond led into, of all people, Ross Perot, a dead-on Bill Clinton, a former presidents segment, "Mambo No. 5," followed by Johnny Mathis, Nat "King" Cole in a duet with daughter Natalie on "Unforgettable," Frank Sinatra in a song from "The Lion King," Dean Martin and Tony Bennett, all with good-natured humorous touches.

Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, Sylvester Stallone, Tom Hanks as "Forrest Gump" and Al Pacino were cumulative show-stoppers. The trade-mark "Twelve Days of Christmas" had the audience standing again. An Apollo Theater tribute as Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis Jr. and Louis Armstrong had everyone on their feet once more. Two songs, one from "Les Miserables" and the other from "Phantom of the Opera," plus his own "The River" ended a bravura, nearly two-hour performance.

One discordant note: Gans' President Clinton voice was perfect, but the material was dismal; old, stale, and tasteless, far beneath everything that preceded and followed an otherwise superlative evening. Prognosis otherwise: outstanding.