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Bill Acosta, who starred at Luxor and Flamingo, to be honored in Vegas

Updated March 20, 2022 - 4:35 pm

The master impressionist was the first Strip headliner I ever interviewed backstage. That night he said to me, “The stage is my safe place.”

It seemed so unbelievable. To be onstage, singing and telling jokes under bright lights in front of a packed crowd, appeared terrifying. But not to Bill Acosta. He was so comfortable there, a classic showman, telegenic and moving easily in his tux. His friends compared him to Cary Grant with a microphone, and they were right. Acosta was just born to do it, as we say. I smiled through his recitations of Jack Nicholson, Willlie Nelson, Frank Sinatra, Julio Iglesias, Jack Benny, George Burns and so many more stars.

The night we chatted, in the spring of 1999, Acosta had just opened at his “Lasting Impressions” at Pharaoh’s Theater at Luxor. We know that room today as Atrium Showroom, where Carrot Top and “Fantasy” perform. Built for Bill nearly a quarter-century ago, it is still home to hit shows.

We lost Acosta, the entertainer known as ‘The Man of 1,001 Voices,” on Jan. 26, after a long battle with Parkinson’s, in Las Vegas. He was 74. Acosta’s family, including his daughter, Angela Knudson, who is a dancer in “Legendary Divas” at the Tropicana, and her husband, Brett, were at his side. So was his ex-wife and longtime manager, Jeanne Bavaro, who wrote Acosta’s productions and worked with entertainment icon Joel Fischman to bring Acosta to his Luxor residency.

There will be the final show for Acosta. His celebration of life is set for noon-3 p.m. Saturday at Italian American Club Showroom. A program featuring singers, speeches, video montages, was put together by Acosta’s ex-wife and longtime manager, Jeanne Bavaro. Clint Holmes, Frankie Scinta and Frank Pizarro head up the performers who knew Acosta. Lounge great Joe Darro is also expected to perform.

Those who knew of Acosta mostly through Bavaro, including Maren Wade of “The Cocktail Cabaret,” and ex-“Jersey Boys” co-star Travis Cloer are also adding to the celebration. A final video, performed to “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” features more than 50 entertainers who worked with Acosta over the years.

Acosta had originally worked in Vegas in the early 1970s and was among the performers who opened Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace. He was first a great jazz singer, working the nightclub circuit in Florida. The young showman was discovered by Dorothy McGuire of the McGuire Sisters, who signed on as Acosta’s first manager.

Acosta started peppering his show with impressions. Acosta would open for the top touring headliners of the day, including Henny Youngman, Lola Falana, Ben Vereen, Frankie Valli and Rodney Dangerfield.

Acosta’s time as a Las Vegas headliner was impressive, though too brief. He headlined at Luxor for a little less than two years, then moved his expanded orchestral production to Flamingo Showroom (where he worked with legendary pianist Vince Falcone and the venerable Joey Singer). He went on to headline a few performances at Suncoast Showroom. But Acosta was forced to call it a career in June 2008, as his declining health began to strip him of his stage skills.

Acosta’s career was effectively over by the time he was 61.

“It was a shame that he could not go longer, because he was so great and did so many impressions,” his friend and contemporary Rich Little said. “But more even than a great showman, he was just a great guy. He was such a nice, nice man and a class act. Everybody loved Bill.”

Little invited a veritable Mount Rushmore-Plus of impressionists to his Las Vegas Walk of Stars ceremony on the Strip in December 2005. Scinta, Fred Travalena, Bob Anderson and Gordie Brown were all on hand. So was Acosta, no question belonging in that class.

I often reach back to that night in ‘99, when Acosta invited me to his Green Room to talk of his passion for live performance. He strode in, beaming, his bow tie loosened, carrying all that charisma. They call it star power, and Bill Acosta had it in spades.

‘Enigma’ TBD

Lady Gaga’s “Enigma” production is still on the shelf. There is no formal promise it will return to Dolby Live, though we expect that it will. Gaga has booked her fabulous “Jazz + Piano” production for nine shows April 1-May 1. But she has not performed her adventurous pop show since before the pandemic.

Gaga’s delayed “Chromatica Ball” world tour has been rescheduled from mid-July through its Sept. 10 closer at Dodger Stadium. It’s highly unlikely she would restart “Enigma” after three months on the road. We’d probably see “Jazz + Piano” back, even in November-December, before “Enigma” is reassembled. Look for the pop show’s return instead in 2023.

What to look for …

Celine Dion to be back onstage in November, at the Theatre at Resorts World. This is through a read of many tea leaves.

We can’t claim to be fully back when …

“Atomic Saloon Show” has sold fewer than 30 tickets at The Venetian’s Grand Canal Shoppes, and “Ka” has papered its crowd at MGM Grand with 300 comps. Both are recent midweek reports. The numbers outside of the weekends continue to be inconsistent and unpredictable. But the Silk Sonic return last week sold a massive number of tickets, day-of, on Wednesday to reach 90-percent at Dolby Theater.

Great Moments in Social Media

Adele tweeted for the first time in five weeks on Saturday. Twice. She plugged “An Audience With Adele,” her NBC concert special set to broadcast at 9 p.m. Sunday. Fans went wild. Scary Spice showed up “and it was just the best, knees up of a night.” Knees up is a party, folks, and it’s time to bring it to Caesars.

Cool Hang Alert

Jazz Outreach Initiative is playing a pair of shows March 27, both at Nicholas J. Horn Theater at CSN’s Cheyenne Campus. At 2 p.m. it’s “The Life And Music of Miles Davis,” featuring the JOI Jazz Sextet in a show licensed by Jazz at Lincoln Center. At 7 p.m., it’s the JOI Jazz Orchestra with Holmes as guest star. Both shows are free, but require separate tickets. Go to jazzoutreachinitiative.org for info.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.

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