Jin Jin Reeves covers Gladys Knight with the help of Fair Play members Redd Williams, left, Kenny Walcott and Ron Stevenson in "Hitzville -- The Show." Photo by Ralph Fountain.

In 1970, you could see the Ike and Tina Turner Revue in the Las Vegas Hilton's lounge.

In 1987, you could see live lounge acts singing Tina Turner hits for free in casinos up and down the Strip.

In 2007, a "lounge" has become a place where you pay money to go in and dance, more money to sit down. If you want to see an old-school, pre-ultralounge tribute to Tina and Motown called "Hitzville -- The Show," you're going to have to buy a ticket because no one else is paying the performers.

But that doesn't mean you're off the hook for the $12 drinks.

Gotta love the new Vegas.

Which isn't to say "Hitzville" can't find an audience. Las Vegas' collective surge to saturate the young club market leaves many of its older customers underserved. This worthwhile experiment on Sunday and Monday nights, through Feb. 12 in the Hilton's Shimmer Cabaret, will find out if the old-school R&B demographic is bigger than what's already here: Platters/Coasters/Drifters offshoots at the Sahara and Earl Turner, who is said to be a short-timer at Palace Station.

The modest revue -- a quartet of men, a trio of women and a four-piece band -- was put together by local music veteran Ron Stevenson, whose quartet Fair Play has covered the Temptations and Four Tops in "Legends in Concert." All four guys project such instant likability, you know you're in good hands the moment they take the stage.

Top billing goes to Jin Jin Reeves, a Detroit native with film and theater credits now living in Henderson. Perhaps the difference between a "lounge revue" and a "show" is that the latter has an arc, and doesn't give away all its surprises in the first 10 minutes. "Hitzville" lands squarely in the former camp, with one exception.

The first time Reeves comes out for a Gladys Knight and the Pips medley, you assume her natural singing voice is in Knight's soulful, husky range. But later, Reeves comes out for the Supremes segment and sounds exactly like Diana Ross.

The rest of it's pretty standard. The guys do the Temps, Tops and Drifters. Rochelle Townsend solos on "Heat Wave" and Valerie Davis does "My Guy" and "Please Mr. Postman" before both spend the rest of the show backing up Reeves.

The band adds a live punch, even if it's not big enough to nail Motown's lushly rhythmic arrangements. There's a whole lotta costume changin' to compensate for the lack of visuals on the cramped stage in front of the "Menopause The Musical" set. When the guys launch into their Cholly Atkins-style choreography, they have to be careful not to bump the Plexiglas in front of the drums.

At 110 minutes, the show is a bargain, unless you're trying to summon the will power not to order another round of pricey drinks. "Hitzville" could tighten up merely by minimizing the rambling chatter that vamps for all the costume zipping backstage. (Good idea, though, to divide the hosting among three or four people.)

Reeves' climactic salute to Turner's 1980s hits, complete with obligatory wig, jumps 15 years ahead of the theme and comes so late, it would be better just to cut straight to the "Proud Mary" and call it a night. All the segments face an overfamiliarity with the Motown classics, and could tear a page from the Elvis Impersonator's Handbook: Remember to throw in a lesser-known song to reward the devout and surprise everyone else.

With some tweaks, tightening, a little direction and maybe even slide projections of Tina at the Hilton way back when, "Hitzville" could grow into its subtitle, "The Show," and be a fun one to have around full time.