New venue pursuing ambitious agenda

Brace yourself for Mini-Britney, dancing dogs and life lessons from Janice Dickinson in a place that won't be called Krave nightclub.

New partners have signed an operating agreement for the troubled club at the corner of Harmon Avenue and the Strip, which is attached to the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort.

Los Angeles-based producer Brian Howie and Jocelyne Uy are primary partners in the Theatre Management Group, which will operate the building and oversee everything but late-night club programming.

"The naming rights are pretty much for bid," Howie says. "It won't be Krave." The name that branded a gay-friendly nightclub will "go from being the venue to being the party once or twice a week."

The first show to hit the boards will be Aug. 16 with a 5 p.m. epic called "Little Legends," featuring little people performing tributes to Britney Spears, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Tina Turner, Milli Vanilli and Sonny & Cher.

The concept is close to the "Tiny Legends" segment of the "Beacher's Madhouse" comedy revue at the Hard Rock Hotel, but producer Jeff Beacher says he won't "waste the energy" of a legal challenge. "The thing will come and go," he said earlier this week.

That show will be followed on Aug. 29 by veteran producer Breck Wall's longtime burlesque revue "Bottom's Up," with this edition titled "Bottom's Up II: Burlesque Strikes Back" in a 1 p.m. time slot.

On Sept. 12, the venue will unveil its first evening show, "America's Headliners," an interactive competitive variety revue hosted by comedy magician Jeff Hobson at 7.

Oct. 5 is scheduled to bring "Doggone Silly" with J.R. Johns' trained dogs in a 3 p.m. slot.

Howie is trying to lock down a limited run of "What Would Janice Do?" It's a late-evening comic monologue by the model who runs the Hollywood agency featured in the Oxygen reality series "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency."

It's an ambitious agenda for a location that has struggled since opening as the Blue Note jazz club in 2000. More recently, the building was anchored by the production shows "Fashionistas" and "The Soprano's Last Supper," both of which moved to the Empire Ballroom last winter.

The club does not connect to the mall from the inside, and outside visibility has been hampered by Planet Hollywood's ongoing makeover. On the plus side, Howie says the venue is unique in its direct outside access. And the arrival of CityCenter will make the intersection "the highest-profile corner on the Strip."

The new operation goes head to head with four shows at the V Theater and magician Steve Wyrick, both at the same mall. Uy formerly worked at the V Theater and was part of what was reported as a hostile takeover attempt in September 2006. She left after failing to oust theater operator and show producer David Saxe.

"I hope she gets what she deserves," Saxe said this week. The new operation "doesn't affect me at all. I keep doing my thing."

Howie says he hopes to build the theater into a brand name akin to the House of Blues. The new operators also plan to exploit a layout that's more club than formal theater. "When you fight the show versus nightclub battle, I think you have to incorporate some of the elements (of the club)," Howie says. ...

The departure of all tenant productions left magician Steve Wyrick to entertain all by himself in his Miracle Mile theater. But hypnotist Thom Kaz plans to perform free shows in the Triq lounge portion of the venue. Late shows billed as "Hyp-Naughty," will be on Tuesdays and Fridays starting next week.

"I'm trying to get my name back out there," says the hypnotist who performed locals-oriented shows at Palace Station in 2004 and 2005. ...

Clint Holmes is back on the Strip for a limited run Monday through Aug. 29 at the Excalibur while comedian Louie Anderson is on vacation.

But don't expect the same show you saw at Harrah's Las Vegas. The singer will perform in an "unplugged" trio format, backed only by longtime musical director Bill Fayne on piano and multi-instrumentalist Domenick Allen (he is married to Leigh Zimmerman, who plays Ulla in "The Producers" at Paris Las Vegas).

"The idea of it is that it will be casual and unscripted, in the sense that it's going to be really free-form," Holmes said last week. "I'm sure we'll do some things from the (Harrah's) act but in a different way. And then a bunch of other things. I want to do some John Mayer and some originals."

Audiences also may hear selections from "Just Another Man," the autobiographical musical that debuted in June at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The musical is getting some script-doctoring by playwright Eddie Sanchez, with the results to be made public again in a streamlined "black box" version this fall.

Holmes says that if everyone is satisfied, the producers will accept an offer to open in England by year's end, in a suburban theater that would be a run-up to a West End production.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 383-0288 or e-mail him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.