John Katsilometes reminisces with Wayne Brady about MGM theme park

Friday, March 30, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

The MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park is long closed, but the attraction lives on in Elvis Jackson.

I mean, Wayne Brady.

Brady, who begins a limited engagement at the Venetian on Thursday, bills himself as one of the most versatile performers in show business who sings, dances, acts and performs improvisational comedy with equal aptitude. He picked up those skills more than a decade ago while plying his craft at the ill-fated MGM Grand theme park, performing in the daily "Grandmosphere" production and as part of a "Legends in Concert" lineup. It was in the latter show that, during a moment of inspired improvisation, Brady developed a black Elvis Presley character he called Elvis Jackson that became a crowd favorite.

Brady said he performed at Grand Adventures from 1993 to 1995. The park didn't perform nearly as well as he did. It closed in 2000 and today is the site of the Signature high-rise project.

"I remember my time there very distinctively. I had interviewed as a singer for 'Jubilee' and I was not their type ... Who knows what would have happened if I'd gotten that job," the 34-year-old Brady said Thursday during a phone conversation. "Then I went to the MGM Grand and auditioned and became part of the singers and dancers who performed throughout the park." By then Brady was a theme park veteran who had performed in the musical production "Beetlejuice" at Universal Studios in Florida and at Six Flags in St. Louis .

"I did everything. I was a swashbuckler in one part of the park, singing, 'Wherever we go, whatever we do, we're gonna go through it together!' " Brady said, laughing. "I was dressed as a painter, singing and dancing with Betty Boop. I sang 'Great Balls of Fire' in the '50s revue in 'Legends.' That whole experience shaped some of the stuff I would perform onstage. I became a jack-of-all-trades because of my years in the theme park."

Brady upgraded more than his stage capabilities. He arrived in Vegas with a beat-up old Toyota Corolla lacking air conditioning. "Working as a full-time entertainer, seven days a week, I was able to get the kind of car I needed in Las Vegas - a newer Toyota Corolla." With air conditioning.

NoteMart

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