Entertainer moves on after risky venture

Stephen Sorrentino says some of his friends were worried about him.

"A lot of people e-mailed, 'Are you OK?' " he recalls. Others rallied and said, "Somebody understands what it's like to be us."

Last summer, the Las Vegas-based entertainer used the blogosphere to violate one of the gospel rules of show business: Never use any communications medium for anything but upbeat self-promotion.

Instead, Sorrentino crafted a lengthy two-part memoir called "Broken Spirit (The Show Business Promise)." (The Web address is so long it's easier to Google "Sorrentino broken spirit").

"I can cook but have no ingredients, I can sew but have no thread, I can build a home but have no tools or lumber," he wrote. "I believe that no matter who you are, there are only so many rejections one can endure over a lifetime."

The versatile singer-impressionist was frank in recounting pay-to-play ventures I'd seen only from the audience. At the time, for instance, I wrote that his self-financed 2002 show at the Riviera was probably doomed.

I didn't know the numbers, usually shielded from the likes of me. "All I have to do is pay $2,500 per week, pay my own dancers, band and all press, advertisement and media," he wrote. Once he was $82,000 in the hole, Sorrentino gave a 30-day notice to his musicians and dancers, who agreed to take half their original pay. On the night the red ink hit $100,000, "That was the last night of the show. We went, we had a bottle of wine, and said, 'That's that,' " he recalls.

"The promise when we grow up as kids is if you work hard and you stick with it, then you get it. But how long is that? How long does it take?"

Sorrentino admits that, like many working pros, he makes it tough on himself by pursuing a particular version of the dream: a Las Vegas residency where you sleep at home, drive to work and sell tickets to the public.

The safety net for him and others comes in cruise ship gigs or corporate parties that can pay as much as $25,000.

"I'm a good businessman on the other side of the coin," Sorrentino says, with good luck flipping houses. "But there's no glory in that. The real stuff comes from a lady saying, 'Hey, I've had cancer for a year and this is the first time I've laughed.' "

The best news for Sorrentino of late is a Suncoast booking Friday through Dec. 16. It's a shared-risk venture, but one where the casino can help through player's club promotions if sales lag.

The showman says it was cathartic to vent, but claims his spirit is broken no more. "I think I'll do whatever I can to keep myself doing what I love, which is being onstage, making people laugh."

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