Las Vegas Spotlight: November 2009

Comedy legend Lily Tomlin makes her Vegas debut at MGM Grand’s Hollywood Theater, November 10-18. The versatile comedienne, actress, and writer brings her Not Playing With a Full Deck show for a special, limited engagement. The insightful Tomlin is sure to bring her unique humor and unforgettable characters for an all out tour-de-force. Should be “One Ringy Dingy” of a show. And that’s the truth.

Vegas’ got Talent! Yes, the hit NBC series continues its live stage show, America’s Got Talent Live! at Planet Hollywood (through December 13). Starring host Jerry Springer, country singer (and million dollar winner) Kevin Skinner, and top America’s Got Talent acts Acrodunk, bass singer Lawrence Beamen, breakdancer Hairo Torres, opera singer Barbara Padilla, The Texas Tenors, comedienne Grandma Lee, and Recycled Percussion. This exciting array of performers really puts the “variety” in “variety show.”

The one and only Bill Cosby will be performing at Treasure Island’s Mystere Theater on November 27. America’s favorite talk show host, Jay Leno, stops by the Terry Fator Theater at The Mirage on November 6-7, and on November 28-29. Also at The Mirage this month is the acerbic Lewis Black (November 20-21), letting loose with his inimitable rants. Better leave the kids at home.

And speaking of leaving the kids at home, a trio of comics with a decidedly “adult” edge shows up in Vegas. The always controversial, self-proclaimed “Undisputed Heavyweight Comedy King” Andrew Dice Clay continues his run at the Riviera, November 4-15. E! Entertainment’s go-to gal, the raunchy Chelsea Handler, brings her brand of comedy to Caesars Palace on November 14. And the cutting, sarcastic David Spade is stopping by the Venetian, on November 6-8, and November 27-29.

It wouldn’t be Vegas without some big name concerts. Kelly Clarkson, along with special guest Parachute, plays The Joint at Hard Rock on November 6. Legendary rockers KISS continue their “Alive 35 Tour” at The Pearl at the Palms Casino on November 28. No doubt that they will rock and roll all night. And for those of you who like your nostalgia on a mellower wavelength, The Smothers Brothers bring their folk music and sibling revelry to the Orleans Showroom from November 5-8.

The Las Vegas Little Theater presents David Ives’ adaptation of Mark Twain’s Is He Dead? (November 6-22), directed by Joseph Hammond. Taking place in 1860s France, starving artist Jean Francois Millet concocts a brazen, yet clever scheme to get out of debt: he stages his own death, in order to increase the value of his paintings. Still need more French satire? The College of Southern Nevada presents Maurice Valency’s adaptation of Jean Giraudoux’s The Madwoman of Chaillot (November 6-22), directed by Douglas H. Baker. In the play, an elderly, eccentric Parisian woman decides to concoct a unique revenge against society.

It’s New Play Festival Time at UNLV’s Nevada Conservatory Theater. First up is Pink Champagne (November 4-8), by Neil Haven, about an older gay man forced into an impromptu reunion with his estranged family. From November 11-15 is Jeremiah Munsey’s The Way It Has To Be, about a woman struggling to keep her family out of the cycle of violence following the disappearance of her brother after a fist fight. In Elizabeth Leavitt’s Whales, Save Us!, see what happens when a former rodeo queen, a has-been celebrity, a peg-legged paparazzo and an aging businessman collide on the shores of British Columbia — and are joined by a pod of whales and a troop of Girl Scouts.

And just in time for the holiday season is UNLV’s Nevada Conservatory Theater’s production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, adapted by David H. Bell (November 27-December 13). Find out if the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future can show the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge the error of his ways. Also, in the British panto tradition comes Jo Cattell & Richard Perkin’s adaptation of Snow White And The Seven Dwarves (November 17-25).