How the Scintas are beating the odds in downtown Vegas

It is November 2016, and on a Saturday night in Las Vegas nearly 300 people paid to see a guy from Buffalo impersonate George Burns.

Then he played the spoons. Later, he welcomed his brother for a sendup of Neil Diamond.

And it was great.

The Scintas, remarkably, have worked out the magic formula of success in downtown Las Vegas. Family act that arrived from upstate New York in 2000, taking over Shimmer Cabaret at the Las Vegas Hilton filled the Plaza Showroom on Friday with a crowd exceeding 400. Saturday, nearly 300 paid turned out.

“This weekend was freakin’ amazing!” Frankie Scinta, he of the spoons and Burns satire, said with characteristic exuberance after Saturday’s show. “We are so blessed, so blessed.”

Since the spring, the Scintas have played two weekends a month at the Plaza Showroom. The rustic enclave is decorated with chandeliers and filled with round tables and burgundy booths that looks like a colorized version of Vegas postcard from the 1950s. The crew next headlines on New Year’s Eve, counting in the new year at 9 p.m. to celebrating with those on the East Coast, then resuming the revelry with a midnight party upstairs at Oscars Beef Booze & Broads. (Ticket for the show are $49 and available at the Plaza website or by calling 702-386-2507.)

The schedule resumes January, where we’ve just learned that the Scintas are set to play the final two weekend of every month through next April. The limited monthly schedule serves the act well. It relieves the ticket-selling pressure of performing nightly. It keeps the production fresh and energetic. And, important in a city where shows seem to be closing on a weekly basis, the healthy response speaks to success: Word-of-mouth accounts that the Scintas have managed to fill a downtown showroom are spreading across the Vegas entertainment community.

The act’s resurgence defies the trends in downtown Las Vegas, where ticketed shows of any ilk have particularly struggled to attract business. In the very showroom occupied by the Scintas, the variety show “One Epic Night,” closed last month. That production enjoyed impressive investment in its staging and cut checks for a proficient live band. “One Epic Night” was filled with very good singers form network contest shows (Megan Ruger of “The Voice” and “America’s Got Talent,” Will Champlin of “The Voice,” and James Durbin of “American Idol”), and was headed up by stage-savvy comic magicians Jarrett & Raja of “America’s Got Talent” fame.

Not so epic, the show lasted five weeks.

Challenges downtown are hardly restricted to newbies. Even a more experienced and entrenched performer, Gordie Brown, is timing out downtown as his show at Golden Nugget closes Nov. 27. He was a favorite downtown for seven years before hotel officials opted to steer their entertainment in another direction and focus — for now — on its “52 Fridays” series of classic-rock acts (Lou Gramm of Foreigner was onstage Friday night; up next Friday is Little River Band).

It is in this climate that the Scintas have persevered. Invaluably, they understand the city’s landscape well. Following their initial yearlong burst at the Shimmer, the Scintas have played the showrooms at the Rio and Sahara, one-off engagements at Suncoast and M Resort, and a brief run at the D Las Vegas. They were left without a gig for a time, patiently evaluating options at lounges and small showrooms on and off the Strip, before conferring with Plaza Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Jossel and taking a shot downtown.

Of course, this entire strategy unravels if the Scintas can’t produce onstage. They do. Frankie is an expert, self-taught musician who plays guitar, mandolin and piano. If you consider the spoons an instrument, and in his hands, they are, add that to the list. His funny/hokey lineup of impressions is highlighted by Burns, Ray Charles and Tom Jones. He qualifies his Burns impression with, “If you’re too young to remember George Burns, imagine that I am your grandfather.” On Saturday he chatted up some audience members from England, speaking in a British accent that was so bad it was funny.

Joey Scinta’s two great moments are as Diamond and Mick Jagger. Wearing a red-satin jacket, the older of the two Scinta brothers butchers the lyrics to “I Am … I said,” with, “No one heard at all, not even the chair … that empty chair! Right there!” As Jagger, he appears onstage with the aid of a walker (the second-best use of a walker onstage to Carrot Top’s impression of Hugh Hefner), and mumbles through, “Get Off My Cloud.”

The beautifully outfitted Janien Valentine, a member of the act since 2013, produces a bracing opera number alongside a snappy medley of Michael Jackson hits. Valentine joined the Scintas after sister Chrissi was forced to step away because of vocal troubles. Frankie still jokes that fans might be confused as Valentine takes the stage, saying, “Where is the blond girl?” But Valentine has been a part of the act long enough that the line is lost on most audience members.

All of this backed by a host of outstanding musicians, led by “honorary Scinta,” drummer and music director Peter O’Donnell. The night offered a lot of laughs, impressive stagecraft and two full-house standing ovations at the end. As Frankie Scinta says: “This show is all about how Las Vegas used to be. You want to hear great music, you want to laugh, you want to feel.” With Frankie (and sometimes George Burns) as your host, you can’t help but feel it.

John Katsilometes’ column runs Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in the A section, and Fridays in Neon. He also hosts“Kats! On The Radio” Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM and appears Wednesdays at 11 a.m. with Dayna Roselli on KTNVChannel 13. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.

Note: This version of the column clarifies the Scintas’ 2017 schedule at the Plaza.