Las Vegas Spotlight: June 2009

Two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone debuts her new one-woman show, The Gypsy in My Soul at the Orleans Showroom, June 20 and 21. Funny man David Brenner is back on the road with a new national comedy tour, Leave ’em Laughing (A life’s journey from birth up to about five minutes ago), which stops off at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino, June 5-7. Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s Richard Lewis and Susie Essman are at the Venetian June 4-6, Bob Saget performs at the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms on June 6, Pauly Shore hits the House of Blues on June 13, and E! Entertainment talk show host Chelsea Handler entertains Hard Rock’s The Joint on June 20.

In the music department, there’s Julio Iglesias at the Hilton on June 5 and 6, Bobby Vinton serenading Cannery Casino & Hotel on June 13, Wilco at The Joint on June 19, and Hasidic reggae artist Matisyahu playing the House of Blues on June 20 while Loretta Lynn takes the Texas Station Casino on the same night.

What’s got four heads, thrilling harmonies, and hails from Oz? The Australian doo-wop quartet Human Nature! Presented by music legend Smokey Robinson, the chart-topping Aussies are now performing at the Imperial Palace in Human Nature — The Ultimate Celebration of Motown. Toby Allen, Phil Burton, Andrew Tierney and Michael Tierney, already stars in their native Outback, are bringing their cool moves and hot sound to Vegas, where they’ll be singing great Motown songs, including Robinson classics like “Ooh Baby Baby” and “Get Ready.”

The Super Summer Theatre gets off to a rockin’ start with P.S. Productions’ Buddy — The Buddy Holly Story (June 3-20), a bio-musical for audiences of all ages, playing at the beautiful Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. Buddy tells the story of bespectacled Buddy Holly’s rocket ride to fame and his too-brief career, tragically ended in a plane crash that also killed fellow rising stars Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. Over 20 classic tunes from the ’50s, including “That’ll Be the Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “La Bamba,” and “Chantilly Lace” are featured in Buddy, as it traces the journey of the young man from Lubbock, Texas, who goes from a struggling country music career in Nashville to becoming a pop sensation overnight.

Two new shows are at the Onyx Theatre in June: The nude musical revue Naked Boys Singing (June 11-27) will be letting it all hang out while inducing plenty of laughter with funny songs about everything from housecleaning in the buff to locker room anxiety. Meanwhile, Karnival, a celebration of the macabre (June 13 and 27) spooks audiences with its midnight showings, which will continue twice a month through August.

For family audiences, the Rainbow Company presents the charming tale of The Reluctant Dragon (June 5-14) at the Charleston Heights Arts Center. The play is set in Guildermere, a village where the people blame the local dragon for all their woes. However, the dragon in question is no fearsome foe, but rather a very civilized creature who would rather recite poetry than breathe fire. Also, there’s the kid-friendly Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus show Zing Zang Zoom at the Orleans from June 19-21. In this magical circus spectacular, a four-ton elephant disappears before your eyes, a trapeze artist performs a perilous, anatomically unimaginable one-arm speed-spin high atop the arena floor, and two formidable, female human cannonballs are blasted through the air.