The brass section in "Tropical Passions" is featured front and center of a revue devoted to re-creating the '50s big-band sound of Havana. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

"Tropical Passions" is a bicultural product mirroring the identity crisis that must be felt by many a Cuban exile.

The revue that originated in Miami doesn't quite have the courage to test the viability of a Las Vegas attraction aimed exclusively at Spanish-speaking or bilingual audiences. And who could blame its producer for not wanting to be the crash-test dummy to determine if the Strip is really there yet?

And so producer Recaredo Gutierrez has worked with Ron Garrett, the Sahara's marketing director, to add local performers and Americanize the Cuban music with standards such as Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable." And that's a fine idea, except the result is more shotgun wedding than seamless blend.

The show's one great strength is the exciting 22-piece stage band that serves as its real star. The dancers work around the band, not the other way around. When trumpeter/bandleader Alberto Lara smiles, the whole audience smiles too.

But for English-only patrons, the music devoted in great part to celebrating the late Cuban bandleader Benny Mor is a restrictive point of entry. Likewise, the repeated crooning of featured singer Israel Kantor -- whose microphone was greatly overamplified in the show's media night a couple of weeks ago -- doesn't generate any real excitement if you're not familiar with either the songs or Kantor's previous career with the Cuban dance band Los Van Van.

This could be balanced by a stronger showing from the English-singing side. But the renditions of "Fever" and "The Man I Love" by Olga Lidia are standard lounge-singer issue with overpowering arrangements. And the Elvis impersonator who opened the show, Jesse Garon, has since been fired for not showing up on time.

Former "Jubilee" host Jon Halbur knows what has to be done with the emcee role and works hard to be the conduit to the English-speaking crowd. But in this multimedia era, a lot of that work could be done more effectively with, say, film clips showing what Mor looked like and why we should care about him.

If you turn your head from the stage or close your eyes, you don't miss a lot. Most of the limited production value consists of couples doing repetitive dance adagios within the limited stage space in front of the bandstand.

"Tropical Passions" generates enough good will that you would like to see it survive, even if it evolves into a stock Las Vegas production show with Latin trimmings. What's now the lone (but welcome) variety segment with magician Dixie Dooley certainly points to that potential.

But with a little patience, "Tropical Passions" might get where it wants to be by taking a more virtuous musical path, as it does with Ley Alejandro's Latin fusion version of "Unchained Melody." Gutierrez says hybrid arrangements of "Only You" and "La Bamba" also are in the works. Such universal standards just might be the cultural bridge this show needs.