Skating duo to leave relocated ‘Absinthe’

It has been a while since Las Vegas had a variety act worth fighting for, and the married roller skating duo at the center of a tug of war is starting to fight back.

Vittorio and Jenny Aratas were the act in "Absinthe" that generated the most water-cooler talk -- and a front-page Review-Journal feature in August -- for their nightly feats: Vittorio twirling Jenny on skates at such speed and velocity that surrounding audience members went from passive observers to stake-holders in the danger.

The couple agreed to join "V -- The Ultimate Variety Show" during a time of uncertainty over the future of "Absinthe," which eventually reopened at Caesars Palace. Producer David Saxe said the couple arrived from Russia Tuesday night, and should be in the show by Saturday. A stage extension and a scissor lift will put the couple again in the middle of the audience.

Saxe says the "Absinthe" producers are "embarrassed that they lost them," and claims that after failing to lure them back by doubling their salary offer, they have turned to threatening letters.

In a long email from Russia, Vittorio Aratas says "Absinthe" producers have "bullied us ever since we told them we are leaving." He said he is prepared to fight any claims that they created any content for the act, including the Muse song "Hurricanes and Butterflies."

"We all know the only ones who own Muse's music is Muse," he writes.

Aratas says the majority of the "Absinthe" talent came from a European show called "Palazzo." That production's website (www.palazzo.org) reveals it to be at least visually similar, and also staged in a European Spiegeltent.

"And the truth is 'Absinthe' is purely that! A collective group of individual acts already created, with thrown-in, stand-up adult humor," Aratas writes. "It's not a creation which took months/years of dedicated time from both parties.

"I was there in the 'Absinthe' rehearsals (and) it took five days in a (space) behind the Rio hotel and one day in the tent to put the whole thing together.

"So if they are willing to throw around (to) the press all these claims of creation ownership, firstly I think the producers should 'create' ... something! Just opening an LLC of a show name doesn't quite do it for me."

Aratas also confides, "Truth be told I took the 'Absinthe' offer purely with the motive of entering the American market" and that "we very soon realized that it wasn't the show for us."

"Absinthe" has hired a new skating couple, due to join the show next month. Aratas believes them to be, as reported elsewhere but not officially announced, a brother-sister team who happen to be longtime friends of the Aratas family. (Hopefully, the act will not try to include the erotic tension of the Aratas, lest they stray too close to the old vaudeville incest joke that is the subject of the documentary "The Aristocrats.")

But when it comes to who is best on skates? "We have always been and always are called and booked first," Aratas writes. "Why do you think that is? Because we are the best and we love what we do.

"With an updated and improved act, we will exhibit some of the fastest and most dangerous tricks in roller-skating history. ... Are we changing it from what we did in 'Absinthe'? Of course we are! What we did in 'Absinthe' wasn't even 20 percent of what we have up our sleeves!"

Fightin' words indeed. ...

What was intended to be two low-key press nights for the reopening of "Absinthe" last week resulted in a "Full Monty" wardrobe malfunction the first night and an audience injury the second.

The first night, performer Voki Kalfayan exposed himself -- via the toe of partner Anais Thomassian pulling down his G-string -- in their nightly spoof of Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics. Female breasts are a cottage industry in Las Vegas, but exposed genitalia for either sex is not allowed under county liquor licensing. A spokeswoman for the show says it was "purely unintentional" and "a lone incident."

On the second media night, the show's climactic high-wire act was temporarily removed after a performer slipped and struck an audience member with his balance pole. The act has been missing all week, but is set to be reinstated Friday. ...

If you ask why there aren't more Christmas and holiday shows on the Strip, producers will point to the low hotel occupancy rate in December. But this year brings three contenders, two of them in the Flamingo theater left vacant by Donny and Marie Osmond choosing to spread their Christmas cheer in other cities.

"Battle of the Dance" follows the previously announced Michael Grimm at the Flamingo, running Dec. 13-Jan. 15 after Grimm's show Nov. 29 through Dec. 11. It's a second company of a resident production with the same name on the outskirts of Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. The showcase of various ethnic dance styles, from tango to Celtic, culminates with the dancers facing off in a showdown.

And earlier this week, veteran magician Rick Thomas was on the verge of announcing the move of his family-friendly show from the Saxe Theater at the Miracle Mile Shops in Planet Hollywood to new digs for a holiday show. However, he didn't want to publicize it until the ink was dry on the contract. ...

Tix4Tonight has made a profound impact on local show business, no matter whether you believe that effect is ultimately for better (increasing the overall volume of tickets sold) or for worse (price inflation, as producers "mark 'em up to mark 'em down").

The same-day discounter, with locations all over town, showed its strength last year when it raised $30,000 within 10 days of its "Double Down for Animals" drive. This year, the company hopes to raise $50,000 for the Nevada SPCA by again matching dollar-for-dollar donations from patrons of its kiosks. The campaign runs Tuesday through Nov. 30. ...

Finally, when does a sad show become something to remember? If you were one of those who caught Joe Frazier singing at the Las Vegas Hilton's Shimmer Cabaret last summer.

News reports about the champ losing "a brief battle with liver cancer" did not put a timeline on his diagnosis. And cancer wasn't mentioned in a phone interview Frazier did late last May. He did sing into the phone, and remind us that he sang in the lounge of Caesars Palace in 1970, before any of his epic fights with Muhammad Ali.

However, the Hilton show proved him not really up to the task, leaning on the shoulder of an assistant as he tried to sing. It was, in hindsight, as brave an effort as any in the ring.

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