Revamped Newton show at the Trop?

By the time you read this, the ink could be dry on a contract to bring Wayne Newton back to the Strip as a resident headliner at the Tropicana.

Newton has left his "MacArthur Park" cake out in the rain at just about every classic showroom in his 50 years of Las Vegas stardom. But this time could be different. The show is described as a "theatrical extravaganza," a sign that it may finally recognize the Vegas icon has lost his singing voice, but not his charm.

Jack Wishna, the agent brokering the deal through his CP America, acknowledged a pending contract this week but said he couldn't discuss content until it is final. Others say Newton is finally ditching the bandstand crooner format he clung to with diminishing returns in this decade, and that his show will be reformatted to emphasize his strengths and not his weaknesses.

The entertainer has ranted to other interviewers about my past reviews, which felt the need to point out his singing voice is trashed, perhaps irreversibly.

But the reviews readily acknowledge the Wayner's fans don't come to see a singer as much as a personality, and I've long argued the trap he gets himself into is easily avoided.

A new format could go one of two directions or somehow combine them: A variety show in which Newton would introduce guest stars, or a "Joker Is Wild" shift (named after the Sinatra movie bio of Joe E. Lewis) that would have him maybe sing "Danke Schoen," but mostly tell jokes, play his banjo and serve up backstage yarns from his long career.

If he didn't listen to me, it sounds like he's listening to someone.

The Trop's previous owners closed "Follies Bergere" last March, but plans for a never-announced successor fell through before the hotel changed hands. The property is getting a $125 million face lift under a new investment group headed by Alex Yemenidjian. ...

Producer Bill Caron is moving his packaged oldies revue out of the Sahara after nearly seven years, and an earlier run prior to that.

The package featuring the Platters, Cornell Gunter's Coasters and the Marvelettes closes Oct. 11 at the Sahara and reopens the next day in magician Steve Wyrick's theater at the Miracle Mile Shops in Planet Hollywood.

The oldies show will get a 7 p.m. time slot in the theater that's seen a parade of Wyrick roommates. "I think the theater's got a bad rap," says Caron, who adds he "would be remiss not to at least give it a shot." ...

Charo is on hiatus from the Riviera for at least a month -- maybe as long as three -- after she injured her ankle and knee in a backstage fall as she was leaving the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon Sept. 7. No return date has been set. ...

Legal battles about who owns what could continue, but "The Rat Pack is Back" producer Dick Feeney says it's business as usual at his downtown Plaza show after the Sept. 9 departure of Sandy Hackett as Joey Bishop.

Feeney makes no secret of his dislike of Hackett's wife, entertainer Lisa Dawn Miller, who became the Yoko Ono in their Lennon-McCartney partnership.

In a letter from his attorney, Hackett maintains he is a producer, "creator and author of the play that forms the basis of the production" that opened with another name at the Greek Isles in 2002. Feeney says some of Hackett's jokes and transitional material have been removed. But Feeney maintains he doesn't have to purge everything, because Hackett created his material as an asset of the company before selling his interest in the show three years ago. ...

Discount ticket vendor Tix4Tonight is having a busy week, with a new, seventh location at the center-Strip Casino Royale and a protest yesterday of a competitor's Showcase Mall expansion plans in a Clark County zoning meeting.

As noted in a Vegas Voice blog entry last week, Tix4Tonight announced that it sells about 115,000 discount show tickets every month, and that it saw a 35 percent sales increase in the second quarter.

That could be used as evidence to argue two-for-one booths have fueled a "mark 'em up to mark 'em down" trend for the little shows, but the figures lack any real context. ...

The dust has settled from all that moonwalking by Las Vegas entertainers, and the Aug. 29 Michael Jackson tribute at the Palms raised at least $103,00 for the Public Education Foundation. A near-final report by co-producer Steve Friess lists expenses of $21,434 against total revenues of $124,685.

The producers paid $6,000 to have the event filmed, hoping it leads to a local TV broadcast with a call-to-action for the foundation. There's even talk of a DVD if clearances can be obtained for the songs.

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