Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

REVIEW:

It’s like Elvis himself tracing the arc of his career

0427Carlini

Publicity Photos

Trent Carlini stars as Elvis in stages of his career including, from left. “Early Elvis,” “Blue Hawaii Elvis,” “Army Elvis” and “Early ‘70s Elvis.”

If You Go

  • What: Trent Carlini in “Elvolution”
  • When: 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 7 and 9 p.m. Friday, dark Saturday
  • Where: Steve Wyrick Theatre in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood
  • Admission: $70, $95, $150; 777-9974, stevewyricktheatre.com
  • Running time: About 75 minutes
  • Audience advisory: Elvis poses for photos after the show.

Trent Carlini

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How do you praise an Elvis impersonator?

Say he’s especially, essentially Elvish? Elvian? Elvisesque? Elvilicious?

Trent Carlini deserves all those descriptives and more for his new Elvis revue, “Elvolution,” which takes us song by song through the Stages of Elvis.

Most visitors don’t consider a Vegas visit complete without an Elvis sighting, and Carlini is a remarkable sound- and look-alike, offering a vividly virile and vital Elvis, slicked-back black hair forever falling over his forehead. His evocation is neither rigidly referential or parodically camp. And when he flashes a cocky smile at someone in the audience, you can see why the King was (and still is) considered sex on a stick.

We first encounter him in 1956, a human electric shock singing “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Don’t Be Cruel,” dragging the pedestal mike around with him, circled by bulky TV cameras, impudently wriggling and gyrating and introducing the nation to the notion of the movable pelvis.

We see him developing his signature moves and poses and vocal mannerisms as he transitions from Army Elvis, twisting in crisp khakis to “G.I. Blues,” to movie star Elvis, bestowing leis and kisses during “Blue Hawaii” and the preposterous “Rock-a-Hula.”

Carlini is most effective as the catlike comeback Elvis of the “ ’68 Comeback Special,” vrooming onstage on a motorcycle, sleek in black leather. He pulls up two fellas from the audience to add percussion for “Little Sister.”

“Have you guys ever performed live in Las Vegas before?” Carlini says. “Have you ever performed dead in Vegas before? I have — a few times.”

Staged with Spartan minimalism, “Elvolution” is essentially a one-man show. Carlini sings to recorded tracks, but the music is loud, live-sounding and on the money.

In other hands, this could easily come off like a series of animated wax museum tableaus, but Carlini’s Elvis is self-aware, with a sly sense of humor. There are some clunky elements: During costume changes, a screen descends for video interludes that range from witty to annoying, the latter rehashing Carlini’s success on a TV competition called “The Next Best Thing” in 2007.

Carlini’s act depends more than most on the makeup and mood of his audience — he needs a big, boisterous boost of Elvis idolators.

The crowd was small, meek and predominantly cotton-topped on the night I saw it, until a pair of happy cougars showed up late and hooted their appreciation.

“Easy, baby,” Carlini snarled with a perfect lip curl, and everyone perked up visibly. Soon he had ladies lining up at the lip of the stage for a sweaty souvenir scarf.

You don’t need to be an Elvis fan to enjoy “Elvolution” — Carlini’s enlivening spark made me appreciate the King more than I ever have.

“I’ll bet you’ll recognize at least five songs, maybe more,” said an Aussie dad to his two skeptical tween daughters as they fidgeted before the show. And he was right — they happily sang along and got a special kick out of Carlini’s karate moves.

“Elvolution” culminates with the Vegas Elvis of the white bell-bottom jumpsuit and pinkie rings, all bombast and maudlin sentiment. But when Carlini sings “Viva Las Vegas” with a techno pulse and a video backdrop of the Strip as it looks today, Elvis gets a happy ending: Forever young, forever relevant, forever synonymous with Vegas.

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