Friday, Oct. 18, 2002 | 9:01 a.m.
I like the style of Fitzgeralds' new owner, Don Barden.
It took a businessman from Detroit to bring back a little old Las Vegas mentality -- give the customers something. Don't gouge them at every opportunity.
Since buying the downtown venue in December, there have been a number of renovation projects, and one of the most significant (from my perspective) is the new showroom.
There is nothing elaborate about the room, but what do you expect for free?
Or almost free.
For a one-drink minimum, customers can see a lineup of shows that includes entertainers who are as talented as many of those performing on the Strip, including Larry G. Jones, an impressionist who could give Danny Gans a run for his money. Elvis impressionist Craig Newell is superb.
The Drifters joined the team Tuesday. And if that isn't enough, there is late-night karaoke.
Formerly a 70-seat, lounge-like cubbyhole tucked away in a corner on the second floor of the casino, during the past few weeks workers have turned the room into a small theater that seats between 150 and 175.
It's an intimate setting, one that is perfect for another member of the entertainment roster -- magician Arian Black, whose promoters like to say is the heiress-apparent to Melinda, First Lady of Magic.
Melinda recently ended a two-year run at The Venetian, saying she wanted to concentrate on beginning a family, so maybe the city is ready for a new First Lady.
Both female magicians are exceptionally attractive and make the most of their beauty -- flaunting their shapely figures as they create illusions.
And both relate well to audiences.
But Melinda's illusions are on a larger scale than those of Black. Melinda has disappearing horses (or she did before her engagement at The Venetian) and levitation.
Black's forte seems to be sleight of hand, not nearly as exciting as Melinda's guillotines and disappearing motorcycles, but still entertaining enough for an hourlong show to be watched while nursing a drink.
She has been a professional magician since age 18, first in New York City and then Atlantic City. She has lived in Las Vegas for the past seven years, appearing in such productions as "Splash" and "Vegas Magic."
Black claims to have learned some of her magic from fellow Canadian Doug Henning. Henning, often credited with spurring popularity of magic in the 1970s, died in 2000 at age 52.
There wasn't much evidence of Henning on the stage at Fitzgeralds. Perhaps if Black were in a larger venue, she would be able to demonstrate the breadth of her talent. An intimate setting can be confining.
The 33-year-old illusionist crams a lot into her hour in the spotlight. During a recent performance she did about 20 routines, moving at a fast pace, mixing comedy with magic, replacing levitation with levity.
The show opens with an assistant unfurling a banner and Black magically appearing wearing black leather pants so tight the audience can see she has no hidden tricks.
Most of Black's sleight of hand is pretty basic stuff. She pulls off her white gloves and makes them disappear; produces playing cards out of thin air; shreds a piece of heart-shaped tissue and then puts it back together; and she takes a glass of wine from a scarf.
Black is audience-friendly. Several times she left the stage and worked with customers. In one routine, a man chose a card from a deck, showed it to the audience and replaced it. Black picked up a sword, tossed the deck of cards into the air and pierced the one chosen by the volunteer.
Other illusions involved producing a parakeet from an egg, linking rings and stepping through a mirror.
One of the more interesting tricks involved Black being tied up by her assistant, with the help of a volunteer from the audience. The volunteer was given a sports coat to wear as he checked the knots on the ropes. When Black was securely trussed, she and the volunteer were hidden behind a curtain and when they came out the magician was wearing the coat under the ropes.
Black is very good at what she does, and what she does may be enough for the free show at Fitzgeralds. But if she hopes to occupy the throne vacated by Melinda, she will need a bigger kingdom.
archive
