Columnist Kate Maddox: Mini-Sinatra spices up nuptials

Kate Maddox

Sunday, Aug. 6, 2000 | 9:10 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach her at kmaddox@lasvegassun.com.

By now most of us have heard that the separated-at-birth couple (not kidding, they even highlight their hair to match), Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston tied the knot last weekend in Malibu, Calif., and that one of the spotlight-stealers at the megawattage event was Dakota Horvath, a 12-year-old Frank Sinatra impersonator from Chicago.

The story of how the pint-sized crooner hooked up with Hollywood's current darlings could be a movie on its own.

According to Dakota's dad, Larry Horvath, it was all in the timing. Back in '94 when Dakota was just 6 years old, Horvath spotted Pitt coming out of a restaurant in Los Angeles so he grabbed his son and got Pitt's attention just as the actor was getting into his car. Horvath introduced Dakota and told Pitt the kid could sing -- and Pitt opened the passenger door and invited Dakota to sit in the car and do a tune or two.

Horvath says he was impressed by the actor's kindness and interest in his son, so when Horvath was scoping the scene at an L.A. awards show a couple of months later, he wasn't surprised when the actor spotted the father/son team on his trek up the red carpet and came over to talk to them.

"He remembered Dakota from the day on the street," Horvath recalls. "He knew exactly who he was."

OK, so the two didn't become pen pals, but about a month ago when Pitt and Aniston started to plan the details of their "to-do," Pitt came across a rerun of "The Martin Short Show," where Dakota was performing his Sinatra schtick. Some kind of light bulb flickered for the blond actor and he got his people to call the show's people, who called Dakota's people and ba-da-bing, it was show time.

Dakota is reveling in the post-wedding hoopla. He just wrapped up a guest stint at "Legends in Concert" and hopes to continue performing on the Strip. "He loves it," says his dad, who travels with the mini-Sinatra during Dakota's school breaks. "We like Vegas ... Dakota wants to be the next Wayne Newton."

Well, don't we all? But right now Hollywood's knocking. Horvath just got a call from a producer looking to cast a young Frank Jr. in a big-budget Sinatra biopic.

The gossip on "Nebulae: The LifeForce" is so abundant that most people familiar with the production aren't even talking, at least not on the record. In fact, I've never met so many people who know nothing about something that they're all connected with. But with rumors about everything from the show's inflated attendance figures to its alleged connections with the Russian mob, most insiders are gossiping at a whisper -- no one wants to rock this boat.

However, a few reliable entertainment sources are sticking to the story that the Russian-imported snoozer is on the verge of closing. After a dismal late-June opening at the Showroom at the Venetian (an 800-seat venue), it looks like the production is in a death spiral.

Some insiders say that ticket sales will cease after Sept. 1, while others are speculating that the 60 or so people who attend each performance are not cutting it and that despite show renovations nothing's going to save this baby. People once thrilled to be involved with the multifaceted production are now gingerly backpedaling. The top brass at the Showroom wouldn't even comment on the production.

The general manager of International Show Productions, which produces "Nebulae," insists that the show has no plans to close and says it will "hopefully stay for quite some time."

As for the low audience count, which is said to be abysmal, the GM says simply that "Nebulae" is "keeping up with other shows," but declined to reveal any specifics on ticket sales. Nikolaj Vissokovsky, the show's producer, is in Russia and couldn't be reached for comment.