In the last two weeks The Boss has asked me to review three different shows, and I’ve been having problem writing about them.   I can’t get a handle on it, they’re all different, yet the same.  To save myself a hassle, and anymore brain drain, I’m going to review all three shows in one column. 

My problem, in each of these shows, the performers are portraying famous comics or singers that are dead, or soon will be.   Why do I need to see Joan Rivers, or Michael Jackson performing his old stuff before he was white?

I didn’t realize it, it must be a Vegas thing, but there are tons of these shows around town.  Why do these people do it, is it just for Money?  Why do we go, is it because we were born too late and missed these acts?  Or cheap, and don’t want to pay for the real thing?  Many of these people are very talented in their own right, and very entertaining.  Why can’t they perform as themselves?  Maybe by the end of the column we can figure out why they do it.

You get the whole Mishpacha with The Scintas, and their Italian not Jewish

You meet the entire Scinta family with this show.  There’s Frankie & Joe, sister Chrissi, and their long time ‘adopted brother’ drummer Peter O’Donnell.  What could be better, perform your passion with the family, and make money…WOW, if only I could do it.   

Most of the show is the family doing their impersonations of Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Tom Jones, Louie Prima and others I can’t remember. 

I don’t understand why they call this show “Laugh Out Loud” it’s sometimes funny, but it’s their music that makes the show so good.  Although, I wish they would finish all the songs, and not change the words. 

They are all very talented, but Frankie is great.  Early in the show he tells about performing on the Merv Griffin show with pictures of him playing banjo at 10 or 12.  It could be the Frankie Scinta Show, with the family members as back up.  The show was good, these people are very professional, and you will enjoy meeting the entire Family.

Scintas at Las Vegas Hilton -Shimmer Cabaret Fridays - Wednesdays Time: 9:30PM Price: $49.99 and $64.99 (plus tax and service charge) $64.99 includes a "swag-bag" Phone: 800-222-5361 for tickets or book online.

Country Superstars Tribute

Only thing I know about country people, they put Salt and Butter on their Grits.

I know nothing about country music, but I very much enjoyed this show. The show is upstairs at Fitzgeralds Downtown, and if you didn’t know about it, you could easily miss it.  Fitzgerald’s is very bad about promoting their shows.  You would think they would be proud to tell everyone “Ya all come see this good show.”  That’s the best I can do talking country.

Once again, these guys and girls are impersonating famous people.  But since I know no

nothing about country music or singers, except for maybe Johnny Cash, this was all new to me.  Everyone one of these people were very good musicians and as far as I know they were better than the performers they were portraying.  Go see this show, I wanted more, and by the time it ended, I wanted a cowboy hat. 

It was a small show, in a small room, in a small hotel downtown,

but it was a very good, and I was very sorry to see it end.

Country Superstars At the Fitzgerald’s Casino Showroom 301 Fremont Street Las Vegas, NV 89101 Thursday through Monday at 7pm $39.95 plus taxes Phone: (702) 646-7499

Clockwork Orange or La Cage, at the Riv

I don’t know, for me this was the weirdest of all three shows.  The entire show is men impersonating famous females.  And I’m using the word Famous very loosely. 

Frank Marino stars as Joan Rivers, and the rest of the male cast impersonates many other female celebrities.  Here I’m using the word celebrity very loosely.  Besides, why can’t Frank upgrade, and impersonate Melissa? 

Along with Joan Rivers, you get Bette Midler, and a bunch of other aging females. This time extremely loosely, female.  One guy impersonated Michael Jackson, but not as a female, and one guy impersonated Brittany Spears. He was much prettier and danced better than the real thing. 

The girls or guys don’t sing, they lip-sync to tracks, but they all dance very well.  A high point in the show, Frank points out just how well the Cher impersonator was able to hide his package.

This is a very different show, and maybe only in Vegas could you get a chance to see it.  I must say the people in my group enjoyed the show. 

So did we figure it out, what is the reason these people impersonate other people?  I don’t know, do you?  As I said before, Frankie Scinta is great performer, and he could certainly sing Frank Sinatra songs without impersonating him.  Look at my experience with Country Superstars Tribute; I didn’t know any of the celebrities they were impersonating, but I enjoyed the show because they were good performers.

With La Cage I’m dumbfounded, young guys impersonating old “over the hill” women celebrities, Loosely. Why do they all of them do it, maybe because, “It’s Show Business”, and there’s NO business like SHOW BUSINESS……..NO business I know.