New impersonator show will have a ‘La Cage’ feel

By Jerry Fink (contact)

Monday, Aug. 31, 2009 | 2 a.m.

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First the good news.

Frank Marino, the preeminent portrayer of Joan Rivers, says he is showcasing his new female impersonators show at the Imperial Palace this week and if president Don Marrandino likes the production, it may be there for a long time.

Now the bad news.

Marrandino is leaving town. Marrandino, the regional head of Harrah’s Las Vegas, Flamingo, Imperial Palace, Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and O’Sheas, is packing up and heading east to become president of Harrah’s Entertainment’s Eastern Division, with oversight of four Atlantic City properties and Harrah’s in Chester, Pa.

“Nevertheless,” Marino says, “Don Marrandino had the vision, the brilliance and the foresight to bring us to the Imperial Palace. He has been such a great help in saying this is a show that must be on the Strip.”

Marrandino is leaving, so Marino has nothing to gain by the comments. He just is truly grateful for the opportunity.

Marino starred in “La Cage” at the Riviera for almost 25 years. But producer Norbert Aleman suddenly dropped the curtain on the show in February.

Ever since, Marino has been searching for a way back into the limelight. He found it with the help of Adam Steck, head of SPI Entertainment, which will co-produce the new show with Marino.

“Divas Las Vegas” will run Labor Day weekend.

“We’re making it more modern than ‘La Cage,’ ” Marino says. “Rather than a cabaret show, this will be more MTV and VH1. We’ll be mixing the old with the new.”

Impersonators of Lady Gaga and Beyonce will share the stage with impersonators of Cher and Diana Ross. It’s mostly a new show — with new costumes and new choreography by Gary Thomas and Brad Barnes — but the same format as “La Cage.”

“It’s a formula that works, so why change it?” Marino says.

Marino — who will have 18 costume changes — will host in his Joan Rivers persona, introducing the various acts as he did in “La Cage.”

Some of the “La Cage” cast will join the new show, but there will be several new performers as well. The cast includes six dancers and nine impersonators portraying 17 characters in the 80-minute production.

Marino says he thought of retiring after “La Cage” closed.

“But the e-mails kept coming in,” he says. “Because of that and SPI, Don Marrandino and Harrah’s, we pulled it together so I could perform in Vegas again, hopefully for another 25 years.”

Coincidentally, the real Joan Rivers will perform at the Venetian the weekend the faux Rivers debuts his show at the Imperial Palace.

“If I had known she was going to be here I would have called the show ‘Keeping up with the Joans.’ ”