Friday, Dec. 12, 2003 | 8:46 a.m.
Saturday the 43-year-old former star of "The Bold and the Beautiful" puts on a Santa hat when he stars in the second annual "A Las Vegas Christmas Celebration" at The Rio.
"It's a great variety show that really flows together beautifully," said Trachta, who played the role of Thorne Forrester for eight years in the CBS television production.
Dick Foster Productions is producing the show, which will be a revue with singing, dancing and comedy.
Joining Trachta will be a cast that includes Fifth Avenue, a harmonized jazz vocal group that sings a cappella; Flight La Femme, two female acrobatic artists; a troupe of dancers; and vocalist Genevieve Dew-Craig, who goes by just her first name.
The Jerry Lopez Band, featured in Clint Holmes' show at Harrah's, provides the music for the Christmas production.
Trachta says he fell into the starring role at The Rio by chance after manager Ken Kragen took him on as a client in Los Angeles.
Kragen has managed such celebrities as the Smothers Brothers, Trisha Yearwood and Lionel Richie.
"When he took me on as a client, he said I should have my own show in Las Vegas," Trachta said.
Kragen sent a tape of Trachta performing to Michael Weaver, vice president of marketing for Harrah's Entertainment (which oversees shows at The Rio).
"Michael liked the tape and showed it to Dick Foster and we were talking about the possibility of me doing my own show when the Christmas show slot opened up," Trachta said.
In effect, Trachta said the Christmas production will be a showcase for him.
"I've only performed in Vegas once before," he said. "It was one night, years ago at the Sands Hotel. I shared billing with five other soap opera people.
"A week later they imploded the Sands. I always tell people I brought the house down."
Trachta, a native of Staten Island, N.Y., has entertained people most of his life, doing impressions for classmates.
His interest in acting dates back to the third grade, when he won the role of Papa Bunny in an Easter pageant. He graduated to roles in various high school productions such as "Camelot."
Trachta received degrees in psychology and theater arts from St. John's University. He worked as a recreational therapist for blind and retarded adults, first in New York City and then in Los Angeles, where he pursued his acting and singing careers.
In 1989 he joined the cast of "The Bold and the Beautiful." He and co-star Bobbie Eakes sang a duet on one of the shows, which led to offers to perform around the United States and Canada.
In 1995 at the Coast Playhouse in Los Angeles he performed in "Agency," a quasi-autobiographical show that ran for a year.
"I did 24 characters in the production," Trachta said. "After that, people took me more seriously as a performer."
In addition to his acting and singing, earlier this year Trachta became the host of a showroom production based on the television show "The Price is Right."
"The Price is Right Live" began Sept. 25 at Harrah's Reno.
"We took the exact show that you see on TV -- same prizes, same curtains, everything -- and put it into a casino showroom," Trachta said. "The show is sold out so far in advance that if 100 people canceled today, we could make some calls and fill the room tomorrow."
Trachta will resume his hosting duties Dec. 27.
"The ironic thing is that for the eight years that I worked on 'The Bold and the Beautiful' the show was taped one wall away from the studio where Bob Barker was being taped," Trachta said. "I saw Bob every day."
He said the stage version of the game show will go to Atlantic City in March and will come to Las Vegas in 2005.
Trachta is so busy with his various activities he has little spare time, but he doesn't mind.
"I'm having a wonderful time right now," he said. "One of my nephews says that I'm sucking the marrow out of life."
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