A special holiday treat from Mr. Entertainment

Jerry Fink, Las Vegas Sun

Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006 | 7:13 a.m.

What: The Wayne Newton Holiday Show

Where: Harrah's Theater

When: 8 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, today-Dec. 23

Also: Newton performs his regular show Dec. 26-31

Tickets: $86.35; 369-5111

Quintessential Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton brings his Christmas show to Las Vegas for the second year with a monthlong run, which begins tonight.

The yule revue was at the Flamingo last year. This time around it will be next door at Harrah's, where Wayniacs will be happy to know that Mr. Las Vegas is performing for about 12 weeks in early 2007.

The 64-year-old Newton has been synonymous with the Entertainment Capital almost since his arrival as a teenager in 1958. After Newton and the Stardust parted company in 2005, he's moved on to the Las Vegas Hilton, the Flamingo and finally Harrah's. The Stardust closed on Nov. 1, to be torn down to make room for the Echelon resort.

Newton recently talked with the Sun about a variety of topics:

On his holiday show

We actually started doing a Christmas show about 10 years ago. We didn't necessarily do it in Las Vegas because there was a time in this town that all the showrooms closed down for that period of time under the pretense of cleaning the rooms, when in fact, hotel people didn't really realize that the town had grown to the extent that it had and that there was a big local audience, in addition to the tourists that come here, that would support that kind of show.

So we actually went on the road with the Christmas show. Then last year Don Marrandino (president of the Flamingo) asked us to do the show at the Flamingo, and it was such a success that they said, "You've got to do it again this year at Harrah's."

The Christmas show is a great experience and also a chance, in some ways, for me to get past the footlights ... It's a chance for everybody not only to feel good but feel like they walk out with a part of you as a performer. They learn things about me that they probably don't get to see a lot of in our regular show. For example, there are some things that we do, like in the past my young daughter might come out onstage and be a part of the show. And some of the animals we have on the ranch we use in the Christmas show.

So it's kind of an insight for the public to see a side of Wayne Newton that they don't ordinarily get to see, because in our regular show we keep it as impersonal as possible ... I really feel they shouldn't be subjected to that. They're there to forget their own personal life, not necessarily to find out about mine.

On moving to Harrah's

In many instances what we do with the show is dictated by the room we're in. The Flamingo has a little larger stage than the Harrah's stage. Even though the room seats about the same number of people, the stage is considerably different. We have kind of streamlined the show, realizing that we won't have some of the production values that we had at the Flamingo. But I think the showroom makes up for it by the way that it's laid out and the way that it looks, not only makes up for it but forces us into a different mode, too, in terms of the kind of music, the holiday music and everything we're doing.

On why he works so hard

Years and years ago when I was learning to play drums, Louie Bellson became a dear friend ... I asked him to teach me drums ... On my first lesson he was telling me what to do because I don't read music. So he'd play it for me and I'd play it back for him the way I thought he'd played it for me. He finally looked at me about halfway through the first lesson and he laughed. I said, "What are you laughing at?" And he said, "Nobody ever told you it was difficult, did they?" And that kind of sums me up. So when you say, "When are you going to slow down? Why are you working this hard?" The truth is, it's not work for me ... Working is something I'm always going to do 'cause that's probably when I'm the happiest. It's very lucky that I learned that early on in life.

On the Stardust closing

I could see what was going to happen at the Stardust probably about two years before they announced it, or admitted that it was going to happen. If you've been around these places long enough, you kind of sense some of the things going on and where those things will lead to. So when I saw the Stardust not renewing some of their concession people and the retail stores that they had and they kind of cut the room service back, those were just signs that either there's been a decision made or there is one in the making that things are going to change. So I went to Mr. (Bill) Boyd and his people - we are very dear friends; it was a wonderful experience. But I said to them, "Look, I see what's going on. I've had such a wonderful stay here, but I don't want to be around when you finally announce that the Stardust is going to be imploded and another hotel built, so would it be OK for me to phase out of my contract before that happens?" They realized, of course, that I was coming from the right place. I said, "I will stay as long as you need me but I don't want to be around at the end of it."

On the new Las Vegas

If you look at the history of the town, the entertainment history of the town, everything, as in life, has been cyclic. From the star policies of the '60s, with Frank and Dean and Sammy, and then Elvis and Bobby Darin and on and on. Then when Siegfried & Roy stepped out of the Stardust show ("Lido") and created a show for the Frontier, the whole town followed, to a certain extent, with a great number of magicians and all of them had white tigers. And when Danny (Gans) stepped out of the Rio into the main rooms (Mirage), then the town was inundated with impersonators. Now, of course, we are going through the Cirque time and place.

But I think there has always been a place for me, luckily. Hopefully there will always be a place for headliner kind of talent.

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