On stage at the Tropicana, Sideswipe is fresh, ‘Yesterday’ follows familiar road

The Tropicana's vintage showroom is back in business, starting its afternoons with a show that's fresh and promising, followed by one that's far too familiar.

Sideswipe

This one was hiding in plain site, or at least in the multiplex. Martial arts and their street-theater offspring "tricking" (a name unfortunately similar to another Nevada pastime) finally get their own Las Vegas show after saturating movies and video games.

What the Jabbawockeez did for hip-hop street dance, Sideswipe hopes to do for extreme martial arts: simulated fighting (more slapstick Jackie Chan than serious Bruce Lee) and gravity-defying displays of the more gymnastic disciplines, including Capoeira and wushu (also sampled in Cirque du Soleil's "Ka").

"We're the first ones to do this, and we want to be the ones who make it the biggest and the best," says Matt Mullins, who created the nine-person troupe born in a Chicago-area karate studio.

Mullins also acknowledges the show is still a work in progress after its mid-November debut, with some larger production numbers in the works. Right now, it's a quick explosion (not quite an hour) of energy and youth; the performers range from 19 to 22, and the "swings" can be even younger when the main cast is doing a corporate gig.

But, as the Jabbawockeez have shown, youth can be a double-edged sword when it comes to "funny" versus "silly."

And with all that youthful energy, the biggest issue is what to do with it. The easy path taken here is pop-culture pillaging: everything from "Pirates of the Caribbean" to "The Karate Kid."

Like the Jabbas, the humor rides mostly on lip-syncing to a mixtape of sound bytes and sometimes whole pieces by Tenacious D or the comedy troupe The Frantics. It gets very high school assembly-ish.

But it's exhilarating to see swords, nunchucks and even light sabers in motion, and the action sometimes goes to simulated "slo-mo" to better appreciate the choreography.

Now that the holidays are over and family access at 4 p.m. is limited, Sideswipe needs to find that balance between what's cool for younger viewers and dumb for older ones.

But this is clearly a diamond in the rough. Seems like there's good money to be made here when the person with the right theatrical background shows up to lead the troupe to its full potential.

'Yesterday'

There oughtta be a law, or at least an ethical responsibility (we have so many laws already): Don't open something that's the same as something already here.

This Beatles tribute only causes marketplace confusion with a similar title, without bringing anything new or better to the table.

As with Elvis impersonators, one might defend "Yesterday" as adhering to accepted format. (After all, the rival "Beatleshow!" is itself a knockoff/spinoff of another that used to be here.)

Said format always begins with the skinny-tie "mop tops" (seldom in convincing wigs), then uses some kind of video to cover a costume change into the trippy "Sgt. Pepper" era.

There's usually a third "Let It Be" round of costumes. But this one doesn't budget its time to squeeze that into a skimpy hour, so the "White Album" songs are done in Pepper colors.

Frank Mendonca has 10 years of playing Paul in Las Vegas, and he carries the show. Don Bellezzo looks and sounds a bit like John Lennon, but Jim Lett is a George who looks more like present-day Mick Jagger. And Gary Olds as Ringo doesn't look or sound like anyone but himself, apparently.

A couple of nice backdrops help fill the Trop's big stage, but musically the group is just adequate. Since they force the comparison, I'd say "Beatleshow!" is the tighter, more focused overall product (though it should be noted cast members from both have worked together in earlier shuffles of the Beatles tribute deck).

"Yesterday" would better fit the lowered expectations of a lounge. But even there it would be challenged by a non-look-alike group, The Fab, usually found working off the Strip.

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