Performer Ronn Lucas coming back to valley with new sidekicks

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By Jerry Fink (contact)

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009 | 2 a.m.

After headlining at various locations in Las Vegas for eight years ventriloquist Ronn Lucas decided it was time to get out of town for a while.

He found himself 6,500 miles away, in London, performing in a play.

“I played a ventriloquist,” says Lucas, who will perform Thursday at South Point.

The role was not a stretch for the 55-year-old entertainer who began his career performing at St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church in his native El Paso, Texas, before landing in Las Vegas.

Before flying a quarter of the way around the world last year, Lucas performed at the Excalibur, the Luxor, the Steve Wyrick Theater at Miracle Mile, and the Rio, his home for almost five years.

“Quite honestly, I had to leave Vegas when I did,” Lucas says. “I couldn’t get the deal I wanted. The Excalibur treated me well but the producer and I couldn’t come to terms. I’m glad it worked out the way it did. After being in Vegas for eight years working six days a week, I was worn out.”

In London he was in the cast of “Cinderella” at the Wimbledon Theatre. The play is part of the “pantomime” Christmas season, which includes several children’s stories performed in venues across the city. The plays are offbeat versions of the original — often with men and women changing roles.

Lucas spent three months in the spoof, which was held over.

“We’re negotiating to do it again,” he says. “I love acting. I’m thinking about a stage play in New York.”

He will do “panto” again if he can find the time.

When the play closed in January he came back to the United States and began working on television deals. He did a pilot for a network that isn’t up and running yet but says he doesn’t want to talk about the projects lest someone steal the ideas.

“You’d laugh if you just heard the title of one of them,” he says. “I’m shooting two more, hopefully one of them in Las Vegas.”

While he’s working on the TV shows he’s keeping up his chops with the occasional corporate show and other engagements, including the South Point show, which will repeat Sept. 24, Oct. 1 and Oct. 8. He has a couple of new characters, including a robot that is a research assistant for sex researchers Masters and Johnson.

“It’s a chance to come back to Vegas and experiment,” he says. “I have a lot of new material, plus a lot of old material people haven’t seen in a long time.”