‘Ba Da Bing’ expands hit show into nightclub

Friday, March 4, 2005 | 8:36 a.m.

If you know the password, you can get into the Ba Da Bing Room's new Speakeasy nightclub at the Stardust -- but even if you don't know it, it's written on the door so you won't have any problem getting into the Strip's latest night spot.

The Speakeasy is the brainchild of Ben Morgan, creator and star of the hit musical dinner theater "Ba Da Bing."

Morgan portrays Cousin Vinnie, whose likeness appears on billboards around Vegas.

"The Speakeasy has been in my head for two years, since we were at The Orleans," Morgan said. "There are 15 major nightclubs on the Las Vegas Strip, from Ra to Studio 54, and every one is geared to the 21-to-35- year-old crowd.

"The Ba Da Bing Speakeasy is geared to 35 and up."

"Ba-Da-Bing" is a spoof of mobster stereotypes. The premise is a surprise birthday party for mob boss Mr. Big. Audience members become part of different crime families attending the party.

Morgan says the show changes every night, so no one ever sees the same show twice.

"We have so many repeat customers we have to change constantly," he said. "One night we might end with 'Mack the Knife,' the next with 'Bill Bailey.' "

The show begins nightly at 7:30 p.m. and ends at about 9:15 p.m., when the room is converted from a theater/restaurant into a nightclub with live music and dancing.

The club is open nightly until 2 a.m. or later.

The "mob" atmosphere is maintained throughout the evening, with drinks served in coffee mugs and occasional raids by police.

"You'll see flappers dancing the Charleston and goombahs walking around," Morgan said.

The music will include pop, jazz and standards.

Morgan said guests can spend an entire evening at the venue, starting at 6 p.m. with music, followed by a pre-show, then the performance and then the Speakeasy conversion.

"If the ones who attend the performance want to stick around and enjoy the Speakeasy they can do so at no extra charge and receive a drink on 'Ba Da Bing,' " Morgan said.

There was a soft opening earlier in the week. There will be a grand opening in the middle of March.

"We're negotiating with several performers to come in to entertain at the Speakeasy," Morgan said.

Don't be surprised to see tap dancers or someone doing a tribute to Sophie Tucker, Ella Fitzgerald or some other entertainer from the pages of history.

"It's an era that is gone," Morgan said.

"Ba Da Bing" has made several stops en route to its present home, a former restaurant that has been turned into an elegant room that Morgan hopes will remind guests of the bar in "Casablanca."

Morgan debuted "Ba Da Bing" at Alexis Park in June 2001, moved it to the Greek Isles in January 2002 and to the Orleans in October of that year, where it was performed in a dining area in Sazio's.

Last January, having outgrown Sazio's, Morgan moved the production to the Aladdin and then, in October, to the Stardust.

Morgan says the show has been so successful that he is negotiating with venues in London, Chicago, Atlantic City and other cities for franchises. A road show also is in the works.

He said his moving to the Stardust was destiny.

"My parents had a show band called Jack Morgan and Margie Peters and the Entertainers," he said. "They performed at places like the Copacabana in New York City -- they were the Louis Prima band of the East Coast.

"In the mid-'60s they were booked into the Hollander Hotel in Cleveland, which was owned by the Boyds, who owned the Stardust -- and in 1967 they were booked into the lounge at the Stardust."

Morgan said across the street at the Sands were Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack.

On the wall of the Ba Da Bing Room, Morgan has a photo of his parents outside the Stardust when they performed there.

Morgan's father is deceased, but his mother (a Vegas resident) sang at the Speakeasy the night it opened.

"We opened almost 35 years to the week that my mother and father opened in the lounge here," he said.

Morgan said he has always wanted to come back to the Stardust and to see his mother perform here.

"That's all I really wanted for the last 30-something years," he said. "And I did it, and I have that on video, which I will have with me for the rest of my life."