Friday, May 10, 2002 | 8:53 a.m.
This is a column about lounges and lounge entertainers. I really wanted to see Marlene Ricci's new show at the Riviera -- everyone I talked to about it said it was great -- but I had to find a way to justify attending the performance as a lounge columnist.
Well, Le Bistro Theatre was a lounge before Ricci leased the room a couple of months ago and turned it into a 200-seat showroom and began charging admission.
And Ricci was performing in a lounge at the Aladdin in 1975 when Frank Sinatra discovered her and took her on tour with him for 2 1/2 years as his opening act.
With the lounge connection made, I joined an enthusiastic audience of fans who were treated to one of the best shows in town.
Ricci is from the old school of entertainment -- she wants to connect with the audience and is concerned about whether it is having a good time.
No problem. It's hard not to enjoy yourself at a Ricci performance. Not only does she cover a wide range of music, she is backed by a marvelous six-piece ensemble. Brian W. Tidwell is her conductor and musical director. He was the director and orchestrator for the Broadway production of "Peter Pan," starring Cathy Rigby.
Although Ricci has a loyal fan base, many people don't know her.
"I don't have a huge name," Ricci said after her performance earlier this week. "I have a following, but I'm kind of starting over in Vegas."
Ricci is an entertainer with class, a tiny lady with a big voice who began honing her craft at age 5, when she began singing at a roller skating rink in a small town outside of Buffalo, N.Y.
Ricci has performed with some of the top entertainers in the world -- Sinatra and Dean Martin among them -- and has never been out of her league.
But for the past 10 years she has been performing on the corporate circuit, where she became a close friend of Danny Gans, who was big on the circuit before he landed in Vegas and Steve Wynn built him his own showroom at The Mirage.
Today Ricci wears two hats -- entertainer and entrepreneur.
She says family considerations prompted the decision. She and her husband, Jim Burgett, have an 11-year-old son, James.
"I wanted to stay home with my son," Ricci said. "He's going into the crucial years, and I don't want to be gone the whole time. It's not good for the family situation. Besides, I'm tired of traveling."
So Ricci leased the lounge and became a producer, of her show and others. She has booked into the venue to fill an evening with entertainment.
At 7 p.m. Jay White does a tribute to Neil Diamond. Ricci's show is at 8:30 p.m., followed at 10 p.m. by "Rockin' USA," a tribute to early rock 'n' roll singers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and young Elvis. Beginning May 21 "Voices in My Head," starring impressionist Stephen Sorrentino, will join the lineup.
Ricci didn't look at the Riviera as a place to launch her producing career. It just worked out that way.
"I had a meeting with Riviera President Robert Vannucci about coming into the hotel," she said. "I first looked at a room upstairs, where they had bingo. But I didn't think it was the right room for me -- it would have required some very expensive remodeling."
She said Vannucci was considering turning Le Bistro Lounge into a disco and so she thought about doing an 8 p.m. performance, followed by disco at 10 p.m.
"They ditched the disco idea and proposed that I do two shows a night," Ricci said. "I didn't want to do two shows a night, so I said I would take the room and book something else in there."
Ricci says the songs she does are difficult to do more than once a night.
"It's very taxing on you, and I want to give 100 percent," she said.
Also physically taxing is the time she spends promoting her show, as well as the others. Ricci says she spends most of her days on the telephone.
"I'm spreading myself out, trying to make it work," she said.
Her efforts are paying off. As word gets around, the attendance count is growing.
"This is a perfect place to start," Ricci said. "And the steady growth is encouraging. Hopefully, within a year we will be packing the room every night."
Ricci is the eternal optimist, similar to the character Cinderella she was compared to early in her career.
"Maybe Steve Wynn will build me a new theater at Le Reve," she said. "He built one for Danny at The Mirage."
Lounging around
Saxophonist/vocalist Tommy Alvarado is taking a break from his duties hosting the Sunday night jam sessions at the Blue Note Las Vegas. While he's performing at Mandalay Bay's Island Lounge, filling in for him will be pianist/vocalist Dennis Mellen and trombonist/vocalist Brian O'Shea. O'Shea and Mellen are mainstays at the Kitchen Cafe most nights.
The Thursday night Boulder Blues series, usually at Boulder Station's Railhead, moves to Sunset Station's Club Madrid for one night only. The featured musician will be guitarist Tinsley Ellis.
"Jazz at Winchester," a half-hour show featuring videos from jazz concerts at Winchester Community Center, premiered at 9 p.m. May 3 on Cox cable channel 4 (the Clark County community channel). Future artists on the Thursday-night program will include the Fred Haller Quintet; singer Laura Taylor; pianists Bill Cunliffe and Joey Singer and the Rudy and Edie Aikels Quintet.
Fans of John Earl & The Boogie Man Band can find one of the town's legendary blues men at the lounge in the Memphis Championship Barbecue at Santa Fe Station. Earl is there 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursdays and 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. He usually has guest artists sit in with the group. Tonight it will be Art Groom. Future guests will include Jeff Greenburg, Bob Rosales, Tim Fahey and many more.
archive
