The Who rocks Dolby Live with 30-plus Vegas musicians

It takes a special artist to cross the chasm between The Composers Showcase of Las Vegas to The Who concert at Dolby Live.

Philip Fortenberry is such an artist.

The master pianist and composer who also recruits musicians to fill major touring productions Fortenberry has contracted the orchestra for The Who’s performances Friday and Saturday night at Park MGM.

Some 31 players, almost all of them Las Vegas professionals, boost founding members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend along with longtime drummer Zak Starkey and Townshend’s younger brother, Simon,on the band’s Strip tour stop.

Fortenberry is a well-known and immensely respected Vegas musician. He was performed “Liberace & Me” at Liberace Museum and was the hand double for Michael Douglas in the biopic “Behind the Candelabra.”

From last night @TheWho hits back.#rogerdaltrey calls it out … @reviewjournal #RJNow #Vegas pic.twitter.com/ZRuYILpizT

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) November 5, 2022

Fortenberry has also played for 10 Broadway shows and eight national tours, “Cats,” “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “The Lion King” among them. He also performed in “Cleavage,” which ran for exactly one performance before, as Fortenberry says, “It went bust.”

In Vegas, Fortenberry is a regular performer and composer at The Composers Showcase, which runs monthly on Wednesday nights at Myron’s at the Smith Center. For more than 15 years, Fortenberry has backed, and performed alongside, myriad singers and musicians. He takes mental notes of who might fill for, say The Who, in Las Vegas.

“Beyond just playing the music of current composers who are present at the show,” Fortenberry says. “It’s kind of an audition for everyone onstage.”

We’re all was-ted! @TheWho in their penultimate show. #RJNow @reviewjournal #Vegas pic.twitter.com/RizAwcdTgJ

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) November 5, 2022

The Who orchestra is lined with several familiar, veteran Vegas players of impressive achievement.

First trumpet Danny Falcone and first trombone Nathan Tanouye are members of Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns who have backed Lady Gaga and Celine Dion, among many other headliners in Vegas and on tour. First violin De Ann Letourneau, first viola Crystal Yuan and first cello Lindsey Springer have all performed for Dion in Vegas and on the road.

This is a mere scratch of the surface of the experience aptitude of this Vegas orchestra.

“You know, it’s amazing, I look at this list and I have star players here, every one of them,” says Fortenberry, who is not playing this particular show. “They are all so much better at what they do than what I do.”

The process can feed off itself. Touring or resident headliners track the results of The Who show, and find see they can fill musician spots with Vegas players.

Maybe we know this one … @TheWho #RJNow @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/EYc8nT4PaB

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) November 5, 2022

Local musicians and vocalists also populated Michael Bublé’s extended engagement at The Theatre at Resorts World Las Vegas. Vegas players were prominent in Journey’s shows in July, also at Resorts World. Michelle Johnson’s Desert Angles choir backed the Eagles at MGM Grand Garden. Gaga has pulled the Santa Fe horn section for her “Jazz + Piano” show at Dolby Live.

The Who conductor and music director Keith Levenson hadn’t even heard the musicians play until sound check Friday afternoon. “But I presume they’ll be great,” he says, a couple of hours before attending that section. Levenson promised orchestra will get a righteous workout.

“They’ll play a ton of songs,” says Levenson, a 40-year industry vet whose range includes Broadway’s “Annie” to world tours with Meat Loaf. “We do about a 20-minute set from ‘Tommy,’ ‘Who Are You,’ ‘Eminence Front,’ a new song called ‘Ball and Chain’ (from the 2019 album “Who”), then the band plays a 20-minute set while the orchestra takes a break, and then we come back with a big chunk of ‘Quadrophenia.’”

Pics from @TheWho last night @parkmgm … Classics spanning multiple generations. Still rocking with a serious attitude … #RJNow @reviewjournal #Vegas pic.twitter.com/wGB9MMJLbY

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) November 5, 2022

The Who performed those songs, and also “Behind Blue Eyes” and “We Won’t Get Fooled Again.” The who ended with a roaring “Love, Reign O’er Me,” and “Baba O’Riley.”

The crowd was jammed with Baby Boomers, with NBA legend Bill Walton just two seats away and MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle in the VIP section.

Daltrey spun the mic with characteristic flair. Townshend displayed his characteristically unvarnished oratory. He blasted the theater’s new Dolby Atmos sound system, installed during the venue’s Dolby Live rebrand. “It sounds dreadful up here. I don’t know what it sounds like out there.”

Later, he Townshend asked, “Does it sound OK out there?” The crowd shouted back, “Yes!” He added, “All I can hear is it bouncing off the back wall … It’s very hard to to tell from up here … As long as you’re all happy, we’re happy.”

From our seat, a little more slapback (or, an echo from what is played and what you hear in the house) than in previous shows by Silk Sonic and Usher. In that same theater. The orchestra performed a single rehearsal and sound check Friday afternoon. But the sound wasn’t so far off to distract from the ambition of bringing a full orchestra into the venue.

The Who show is a musicians’ union production, meaning the musicians are paid a set union scale. Their medical benefits covered for what is, in this instance, a two-show run. It’s a choice, if short, gig for Vegas players.

“For me, this is the only thing I like about contracting, is hearing musicians tell me, ‘Thanks so much for even thinking of me for this,’ ” Fortenberry says. “A lot of what I do is figuring out Covid protocols for Park MGM, or how to park, how to get people there, putting together payroll, that kind of stuff. But I have been praying all through Covid to be able to put together this type of orchestra. I love being able to put people to work.”

On the street where he lived …

Levenson actually started his career in Las Vegas, with Eddie Fisher’s band at the Sahara in the late-1970s. “I was 19, but part of that Vegas era,” Levenson says. “I used to get kicked out of the casino on my way to my dressing room, because I was underage.”

JKCC and SHR

Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club reopened Thursday night, full-circle style. Gina Brillon is headlining through Sunday. She opened the club in June 2019. Column fave Sarah Hester Ross is the feature comic, a choice spot and a deserved opportunity. John Hilder hosts.

Cool Hang Alert

Keith Thompson was hinted at in this post, as he’s the co-founder of The Composers Showcase. He’s also heading up “This Next Song” at 2 p.m. Sunday at Clark County Library Theater at 1401 E. Flamingo Road. A high complement of Vegas artists (all of whom should be complimented) are in this show, which features Thompson’s original music. Fortenberry, who opted not to play The Who shows, is in this one. Admission is … what? Free? It’s free. Get there.

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.