‘Dancing’ deja vu for Flamingo

Flamingo Las Vegas entertainers are becoming branded with "Dancing with the Stars," but in two out of three cases it's not an association the casino is bragging about.

Without doubt, Marie Osmond's stint on ABC's ballroom dance contest helped drive strong advance sales for her showroom duets with brother Donny, which begin Sept. 9.

But news that departed headliner Toni Braxton will be part of the next "Dancing" crop starting Sept. 22 brings deja vu of a headache with another "Dance" contestant, Wayne Newton.

Braxton, if you recall, bowed out of her "Revealed" show after a heart scare in April. The singer has pericarditis, an inflammation of tissue around the heart, so Flamingo management was sympathetic enough to put everything on hold for two months while waiting for the verdict.

Now, Flamingo President Don Marrandino is put in the same awkward position for commentary as he was after former Flamingo headliner Newton canceled a Christmas show at sister property Harrah's in November. The venerable crooner cited heart concerns, but then signed on to jet across the country hosting the "Dancing" arena tour.

"I'm glad she's well enough," Marrandino says. "I wish her luck."

At least Newton could claim a hosting gig was less strenuous than trying to sing. Braxton has no such defense. Penn Jillette lost 50 pounds during all-day rehearsals for "Dancing" last spring. "It seems like a very vigorous event," Marrandino notes.

Does this move suggest that Braxton -- or ticket buyers -- had simply lost interest in the Flamingo? "It was a profitable show and we're disappointed that it didn't continue," Marrandino says. The two-month wait for Braxton's decision proved the hotel's loyalty, even though "the last thing I wanted was an empty showroom and we could have ramped up quicker (for Donny and Marie)."

It probably won't make Marrandino feel any better to know that Newton apparently sold enough tickets at the MGM Grand this month to merit return bookings of one week each in October and November. ...

Sunday is the swan song of "Ooh La La," the topless cabaret revue produced by hypnotist Anthony Cools that ran in tandem with his own show at Paris Las Vegas.

Cools insists the year-old revue is "not dead," and that he is searching for a venue that would enable a larger production. The current room, once the casino's tour and travel lobby, is not designed for a production show, he says.

The hypnotist says his own show has a long future at Paris, thanks to a five-year contract extension. He will renovate the room to benefit the hypnosis act, but improvements such as a giant video screen will leave even less space for "Ooh La La." ...

Clint Holmes isn't playing the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., after all. But fans who turned up for recent shakedown performances did help him "find the core of the piece" he now plans to showcase in New York instead.

Tickets still weren't on sale for Kennedy Center dates Sept. 4-6 when Holmes staged a concert version of his autobiographical "Just Another Man" two weeks ago at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The producer eventually backed away from dates that stood little chance of being successful with such a short lead time for promotion.

Holmes says he is instead scouting two small theaters and two clubs in New York for performances that will have the same goal of attracting heavyweight presenters. ...

The return of "America's Got Talent" on Tuesday meant at least one more brush with national TV fame for two Las Vegas performers. Derrick Barry already has a steady job in "An Evening at La Cage" with his Britney Spears impression. Prime-time exposure might lead to a standing gig for the single-named magician Shimshi, who has been in "V -- The Ultimate Variety Show" and "The World's Greatest Magic Show."

This section's deadline fell before Wednesday's results show, so check out the Vegas Voice blog at lvrj.com for follow-up. ...

In 1969, a Las Vegas lounge act called Spiral Starecase released what would become a standard -- "More Today Than Yesterday" -- even though the group would go down as a one-hit wonder.

Friends of keyboardist Harvey Kaye knew him better in later years as a booking agent and manager. Kaye died Aug. 17, five days shy of his 70th birthday. Friends will hold a celebration of his life at 6 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Las Vegas Elks Lodge, 4100 W. Charleston Blvd.

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