Prepare for Michael showdown

Dueling Elvises? Old news in Vegas.

A double dose of Gaga? Well, this is Vegas.

A three-way Michael showdown? Now we’re talkin’ some Vegas entertainment madness.

As often happens on the Strip, we’re soon slated for three of the same type of show; in this case, the pop impersonator revue branded by “Legends in Concert” as Kleenex is to facial tissue.

“Legends” moves to the Flamingo on Feb. 28 and opens primarily as an afternoon show. Did other producers smell blood in the water?

“It really is a coincidence,” says Jim Huntley, co-producer of “Stars in Concert.” He and co-producer Bernhard Kurz already had closed the deal to play their German-based production evenings in the freestanding Boulevard Theater on March 1, before they knew about a third player, he says.

The third title would be “Tribute Royalty,” already up and running in the V Theater at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood.

But “Royalty” happened to land at the same 4 p.m. that “Legends” plans to play, which Lewis calls “a little bit of a bummer” for his previous theory that matinees would steer clear of “a lot of shows we don’t want to compete with.”

Both of the newcomers offer twists on the “Legends” format, which is to mix and match the tributes with mini-sets of identical length, allowing parent company On Stage Entertainment to rotate performers amid its “Legends” shows around the world.

“Stars” won’t drift too far from that concept, but will pair its impersonators in duets and have them interact in ways not seen in “Legends,” Huntley promises.

Anyone who might be enough of a “Legends” fan to follow the individual players — anyone? — might recognize a couple of names from the “Stars” opening lineup: Stephen Sorrentino as Elton John and Melissa Totten as Madonna. And Ice (Chris Gardner) played Jackson in last year’s little-seen “2 Kings” at the Rio.

Lewis says no “Legends” alumni are in “Tribute Royalty,” including himself. Lewis was a “Legends” Elvis for 18 years, 11 of them in Las Vegas. But he wills the jumpsuit to Travis Allen now.

“I have tried to do both (producing and performing) and it really is maddening,” Lewis says.

“Royalty” also shakes up the formula by offering just three tribute segments: Allen plus Erika Moul as Lady Gaga and Edward Moss — seen as a Michael look-alike in two of the “Scary Movie” flicks — as Jackson.

The expanded time for each segment “gives them more of what they want to see,” says Lewis, who produces with his wife, Janell, through their Simonwill Productions.

“Legends” promises competitive upgrades when it reopens, and enlists a veteran Elvis in Grahame Patrick, Katie Murdock as Britney Spears, Kate Steele as Gaga, John Anthony as Rod Stewart and Damian Brantley, who long played Michael Jackson in the Stratosphere’s bygone “American Superstars.” ...

Questions surrounding the Plaza’s showroom are starting to be answered after a winter of discontent.

At this writing, the only show that might return is “The Phat Pack,” which was mostly detached from a trio of titles whose producers were in talks to manage the showroom themselves.

Now both sides agree “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” “Bite” and Grand Ole Vegas Revue won’t be coming back. Producers of those titles had complained about the box office and stage crew as independently operated by Anthony Cools. That led to the Paris hypnotist and entrepreneur stepping down and removing his light and sound equipment.

Now the hotel is reoutfitting the room, allowing whatever titles eventually end up there to move in with a turn-key operation, says Jonathan Jossel, director of Las Vegas properties for the Plaza’s owner, the Tamares Group.

An outside vendor will be contracted to operate the box office, Jossel adds.

Matthew Resler was negotiating with “Whorehouse” producers Bob Sperling and William Freyd of SFS Entertainment before the deal collapsed this week. Resler says the basic terms changed between a handshake deal and the fine-print stage.

“We just have to move on,” Resler says.

Cools said “Whorehouse” and “Bite” were not performing well for reasons that weren’t his fault, and had predicted they would not return.

The hypnotist now says his reputation has been vindicated. He has been a successful producer so long that “if a community theater group wants to accuse me of not knowing what I’m doing, that’s a problem.” ...

“Legends” isn’t the only instance of someone leaving one show to eventually compete with it. Adam London worked for Mac King for six years and now has his own family-friendly afternoon comedy magic show at the D.

(Running at 4 p.m. to King at 1 and 3 p.m. does present the option of seeing both for comedy-magic diehards).

If you don’t recognize London from King’s essentially one-man show, would it help to tell you he played the bear? Not to spoil it for the few who might now have seen King at Harrah’s Las Vegas. But if you have, you don’t forget the bear.

London learned his bear skills as a theater performance major at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and says he splits the ratio of comedy to magic “right down the middle.”

He has often worked comedy clubs, and says he learned from the best — King and Nick Lewin (who just moved back to town) — that if the magic props won’t fit in one suitcase, there is too much magic.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at
mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.