Friday, November 05, 2004 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

SHOW REVIEW: Taking on the big guys

The entrepreneurs behind 'Escape' and 'Spotlight' are keeping their dreams alive in small theaters

Dixie Dooley stars in "Escape" at the Riviera.

The big shows in Las Vegas keep getting bigger. The only way Cirque du Soleil could follow the $165 million "Ka," opening this month, is to team up with the Beatles for the next one.

It makes you wonder how long little joints like the Bourbon Street will hang around. It lies not a half-mile east of the Caesars Palace Colosseum, and in its enclosed lounge, a singer in a show called "Spotlight" makes reference to "the singer who appears in another casino" having written "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me."

That's the carnival democracy of the Strip. Little guys still scratch for a piece of the entertainment dollar, and they get to call themselves "a Las Vegas show," even if their environment is more like the Holiday Inn of Fargo.

Two guys who keep the entrepreneurial dream alive are magician Dixie Dooley and juggler Will Roya. Dooley has been a steady worker in town since 1984, and he has kept his latest show, "Escape," open at the Riviera since July.

Roya staged a respectable afternoon show at the New Frontier with magician David Darkstone back in 2001. Now Roya produces and hosts "Spotlight," which has been at the Bourbon Street since Memorial Day weekend.

Dooley finally realized it was time for a change. His past efforts have seemed labored and overly fixated on the escape artistry of Harry Houdini.

These arcane fixations haven't gone away, but Dooley has at least learned how to camouflage them with OutKast tunes and a lighter, more freewheeling touch.

His show in the Riviera's lounge-sized Le Bistro still dotes on turn-of-the-last-century thrills. But it also has a genuine rapper, who goes by the handle Famous Kid. Though I've seen plenty of dance numbers and magic tricks set to recorded hip-hop, I don't recall ever seeing live-mic rapping in any casino show of the last four years.

Throw in Shedini, a lithe cohort in thigh-high boots -- or rather, throw her into a black straitjacket and watch her writhe her way out of it -- and you have a show that's second only to "The Fashionistas" for kinky S&M thrills.

Dooley and his offbeat crew still don't have strong answers to the intrusive nonchalance of people who aren't as impressed by handcuff and straitjacket escapes as they were 100 years ago, particularly when the escapee isn't dunked in water or hanging upside down.

He pads the show with a few stock magic tricks, and about halfway through announces, "Now it's your turn" for a fun segment where two teams of audience members tie each other to chairs.

Straitjackets, off-the-shelf magic tricks and break dancing, if not rapping, figure into "Spotlight," a less-focused variety show that nonetheless one-ups Dooley on his own turf. Greg Steele's straitjacket escape adds a blindfold and snippets of music to make the process more exciting and comic.

"Spotlight" also has a potential advantage in keeping five acts coming at a crowd so small the same woman was recruited as a volunteer by two different performers. Talk about something for everyone; it might well be the only show in the world that includes acts along the lines of the break dancing Kold Karacters and a "Toby show"-style hillbilly comic who calls himself Harvey Barfenfloss.

But "Spotlight" feels longer than its 90 minutes, a sure sign that some segments -- including the Karacters and magician Mark Bennick -- could be tightened by a minute or three without losing impact.

Same goes for singer Michael Cagle, who comes out looking like a refugee from "Buckaroo Banzai" in his funky '80s wear. After a dramatic, big-voiced cover of Garth Brook's "On a Prayer," he quickly wears out his welcome with the bellowing, note-stretching Elton John cover.

Roya uses "Spotlight" to develop his own stage persona, and is very close to being onto something with the garishly dressed, creepy-Eddie Haskell routine that serves as a running joke to connect the segments.

Neither "Escape" nor "Spotlight" will help Las Vegas maintain its destination-resort status against the tribal casinos. But neither is a waste of time or money, provided patrons ignore the advertised price of both and look for two-for-one offers in the casino or in visitor publications (Nevadans get a two-for-one at "Spotlight" just by showing a driver's license).

You can respect these performers' hustle, but you don't want to get hustled.