The Who moves Las Vegas Strip dates to fall
The Who’s out of their upcoming Las Vegas Strip dates, but the legendary rock band says the party will resume this year.
The Who’s six-show series at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in May has been scrubbed. The band issued a statement on its official website that the April and May stops on its “Moving On!” tour “are proactively being rescheduled to the fall/autumn out of an abundance of caution.
“As soon as we have the dates finalized we’ll share the updated schedule, and all tickets will be honoured accordingly. Thank you for your understanding. Both Pete and Roger — and the rest of The Who band — cannot wait to get out there and be with you all and share in some great music. Long live rock.”
The dates taken off the schedule are May 5, 7, 9, 12, 14 and 16. Led as always by vocalist Roger Daltrey and guitar great Pete Townshend, The Who played six shows at the Colossuem in July and August 2017.
Virtual Vegas room
A few moons ago — OK, almost 14 years of moons — I took a flyer from Broadway star Brent Barrett and PR ace Michael Caprio to see a newly launched night of music called The Composers Showcase. It was June 2006, Barrett had been cast in “Phantom — The Las Vegas Spectacular,” which had just opened at The Venetian. The performance of original compositions took place at Suede Lounge and Restaurant in the loop of alternative-flavored clubs on Paradise Road just south of Harmon Avenue.
Suede closed a long time ago, but TCS has grown into one of the city’s inspired nights of entertainment, performing since 2012 at Myron’s Cabaret Jazz at the Smith Center. Barrett continues to reside in Vegas, performing occasionally in the Thompson-produced Cocktail Cabaret.
Thompson and Barrett are reunited at 5 p.m. Saturday on the Stageit.com performance website for “The Vegas Room Virtual Cabaret.” The show is an online adaptation of Barrett’s performances this month at the actual Vegas Room jewel-box event space on East Sahara Avenue.
Money raised online goes to Golden Rainbow, which since 1987 has provided housing and financial assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS in Southern Nevada. The presentation is simple: Barrett singing, with Thompson at the piano.
“We’re doing all Broadway stuff, Gershwin, ‘West Side Story,’ ‘Brigadoon,’ a whole potpourri,” Barrett says. “It’ll be fun, and it’ll be something for someone to look forward to.”
As for the near-term future of The Composers Showcase, Thompson actually had planned to table the series after the April performance — which has been canceled — through July. He was enlisted as music director for Cathy Rigby’s production of “Mamma Mia!” at La Mirada Theatre in California. Those dates have been rescheduled for June through July.
Thompson is planning, at least, to bring back TCS in July. He wants to add Sunday matinees in August and September, with maybe a half-dozen composers playing more than one piece rather than the 15 or so who perform single songs in the current format.
“We expect a lot of songs about the current crisis we are in,” Thompson said. “I know a lot of composers are writing specifically about coronavirus.”
TCS is also establishing music scholarships for high school and college students in Southern Nevada.
“At the point in which people are able to gather in public, we will be back,” Thompson says. “We want to continue to grow, and show there is a vision to The Composers Showcase beyond just putting on a show. I am committed to that.”
Jewel of a show
Jewel raised a half a million bucks and crashed her Facebook page with her “Live From San Quarantine” live-stream performance last Saturday. The folk-rock artist drew more than 2 million visitors to Facebook, frequently stalling the feed. But she also posted on Instagram Live, which is where I found the show. The in-time donations for her Marty Hennessy Inspiring Children foundation topped $550,000, and the campaign continues to accept support at inspiringchildren.net.
Inspiring Children is a mentoring program that helps children and families, in Southern Nevada and beyond, overcome mental-health disorders. As Jewel said in the run-up to her web show, coronavirus scare has only increased the need for these services.
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.