Wayne Newton is back in 2 shows at new T-Mobile Arena, Bally’s

For Wayne Newton, it doesn’t get much bigger than opening the new T-Mobile Arena next Wednesday.

“The only thing could possibly be bigger was when I was asked to do the (White House’s) Fourth of July in 1982 at the National Mall,” said Newton.

“They had 450,000 people. This is big because it’s my home and The Killers are a hometown group,” he added.

He’ll probably do 20-25 minutes, he said. But he was meeting with The Killers on Thursday night and, “Who knows, we might come up with something that could be a surprise, doing something together.”

Newton is back in the news this week with a major announcement.

After a six-year absence as a local headliner, he’s returning to the stage, this time as a storyteller in a show called “Up Close and Personal.”

He’ll launch the 32-week engagement April 21 in the second-floor Windows Showroom at Bally’s.

It will be his first headliner gig since April 2010 when “Once Before I Go” closed at the Tropicana after a five-month run.

Newton said he wants it to be “an old throwback to what Vegas used to be,” when headliners popped in other shows for a few songs and laughs.

“I’m really excited about it,” he said. “Since it came out I’ve already gotten five emails from friends who want to sing or tell some stories,” he added. They included lounge icon Keely Smith, Robert Davi, Neil McCoy and Billy Ray Cyrus.

“The point is so many friends come to town, with our show we expect to have guest stars that will appeal to all demographics and all kinds of people,” he said.

Newton said the room can seat up to 375. It is currently the home of “50 Shades! The Parody.”

Tickets are priced at $75, with VIP seats going for $150, including a meet-and-greet. Tickets go on sale April 7. For details, call 702-777-2782 or visit TicketMaster.com.

REMEMBERING DUKE

Michael Tell, publisher of the Las Vegas Israelite since 1979, remembers actress Patty Duke as “an important part of my life.”

Tell married Duke at a Las Vegas wedding chapel in 1970. The short union produced a son who grew up to be actor Sean Astin, the star of “Rudy,” Samwise Gamgee in “Lord of the Rings” and Mikey in “The Goonies.”

Duke, who won an Academy Award at the age of 16 for her role in “The Miracle Worker,” died Tuesday of sepsis from a ruptured intestine. She was 69.

Tell, 71, received the news of Duke’s death from Astin, who called from Idaho where Duke lived.

Tell was a prominent Hollywood-based rock concert promoter when he met Duke. “I sublet her apartment in Beverly Hills,” said Tell, whose rock clients included Led Zeppelin, Jim Morrison of The Doors and Jimi Hendrix.

Tell and Duke got married in June 1970 at a wedding chapel next to the Riviera, Tell said.

Years after their split, “My niece went to the same college (Los Angeles City College) as Sean. She tapped him on the shoulder and said, ‘I know your father,’” Tell told the Review-Journal.

They agreed to do a DNA test. “He was on the set of ‘Rudy’ when he found out. I was at the post office.

“I was thrilled. I knew it because I watched him grow up, looking like me in the movies,” Tell said.

He never saw Astin until 1997, when Astin met Tell at Los Angeles International Airport to introduce his newborn daughter, Alexandra, to her grandfather. “She was my first grandchild,” Tell said. Alexandra is now a 19-year-old freshman at Harvard University.

Duke had told Astin his biological father was Desi Arnaz Jr., a teenager at the time, and she preferred to believe it even after blood tests proved Tell was the father, Astin told a magazine writer. Astin was given the surname of his adopted father, John Astin, who played Gomez Addams, the kooky patriarch in “The Addams Family” TV series.

Tell disputes reports that the marriage lasted 13 days and was annulled a year later, saying the marriage lasted two years.

SIGHTINGS

Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak, at the Vegas 16 basketball tournament at Mandalay Bay Events Center on Tuesday watching his son, Maxwell, play for UCSB. Also spotted: Wichita State University star Ron Baker, wearing Eastern Tennessee State University clothing in support of ETSU head coach Steve Forbes, a former assistant at Wichita State.

THE PUNCH LINE

“Jennifer Lopez recently performed at the $1 billion wedding of a Russian oligarch’s son. That’s right — she sang her new song, ‘So This Is What Things Have Come To.’” — Conan O’Brien

Norm Clarke’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find more online at www.normclarke.com. On Twitter: @Norm_Clarke