Storm keeps performer from shoot, not benefit

Fans of "30 Rock" should blame Sandy, not AFAN, if Florence Henderson isn't at the TV funeral she was supposed to attend.

Henderson ducked much of the East Coast storm during a New York visit last week. But one of her reasons for being there was to film a recurring role on NBC's "30 Rock," which had to cancel location filming and reschedule it for this week.

But the performer who will always be "The Brady Bunch" mom already was booked for today's cabaret show at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, benefiting Aid for AIDS of Nevada.

"I'm sorry I won't get to do the last scene of '30 Rock' but that's the way it goes," she says. "It's a funeral, so they're shooting in a church," and the city shut down all location filming last week.

But she wouldn't cancel the benefit. "It's more important," she says. "I can't do it all."

The show is called "All the Lives of Me," and reviews from other cities note it's heavier on storytelling than on singing. Here, the stories could be localized to share Henderson's tales from a Vegas past, and one that might have been her future had it not been interrupted by auditions for a certain sitcom.

"I was always a singer and a performer, and then that show came along," she says with a laugh.

She started playing Las Vegas in early 1967, soon after she put together a nightclub show.

"I have stories to tell about that, no kidding," she says with a laugh. Some of them - such as comedian Alan King continually hitting on her - also are included in her autobiography, "Life Is Not a Stage."

Working the showrooms was an adjustment from her Broadway pedigree.

"You don't have a script to protect you, you don't have other actors. It's just you, sharing with an audience one on one," she says. "For me that was always a wonderful challenge."

The new challenge for the 78-year-old? "I call myself a 'BWITch,' a Betty White-in-training," she jokes. "She's a good friend and I adore her and I think she inspires everybody," Henderson says of her 90-year-old colleague. ...

Things have changed since 2008, when Station Casinos experimented with a "ring around the valley" of two-night bookings for headliner acts at Green Valley Ranch Resort and Aliante Station. Now both casinos are losing concert venues, at least in the short term.

Station announced last week the Ovation club/showroom will close Nov. 24 at Green Valley Ranch Resort, with entertainment to be redistributed around the property - larger concerts in its ballroom, and environmental music at the outdoor pool area or restaurants Hank's Fine Steaks and Quinn's Irish Pub.

Management hasn't said what will replace the 500-seat Ovation, which even by malleable Las Vegas standards was still pretty new; it opened in May 2007. But the room is cited as "a great piece of real estate," and one where a restaurant tenant could create an outside entrance.

In December, "Nashville Unplugged" and Michael Grimm will move to Red Rock Resort on Fridays and Saturdays, respectively, and Sam Riddle will move to Sunset Station.

Meanwhile, this is the first week of new management at Aliante Casino and Hotel after Station relinquished operational duties to the owner, Aliante Gaming.

An Aliante spokeswoman says club-level performers such as Grimm will continue in the 600-seat venue that opened with the casino in 2008. But no ticketed comedians or concert attractions are planned in the short term. ...

Sin City Comedy at Planet Hollywood Resort planned its media rollout Wednesday after two weeks of low-profile shows phasing in the new club on the second floor.

The 300-seat theater is a permanent home for the former tenant show of the nearby V Theater. Proprietor John Padon's twist on the comedy club was to mix burlesque numbers with the stand-ups. "I even put in a stripper pole," he says of the new space.

"I can't believe I pulled this off. Even I never thought it would be this nice," Padon says of the former "garage space full of buffet equipment." Locals can find out for themselves with $5 admission through the end of the year. And that includes box office fees and taxes; Padon says he's willing to absorb them because he operates the bar and hopes to sell some drinks.

Some roommate tenant productions should be announced soon, and Padon says he is close to the first booking in a series of autobiographical evenings with celebrities, similar to Mike Tyson's recent one-man show in Las Vegas and New York. ...

Hypnotist-producer Anthony Cools is testing another variation on the usual comedy formats. Cools was impressed by the longevity of Nicolas "Kopy" Kopatich's long-running improv show, Jest Serendipity, at Alexis Park, so he invited him to oversee "Strip Comedy" in the Palms lounge.

The show is now open Wednesdays through Sundays and combines improv with strip poker. Two trios of comedians will compete in improv "games" with each team represented by a dancer. Each time a team loses a round, "their girl loses an article of clothing," Cools explains.

Cools also oversees entertainment at the Plaza downtown, where he soon plans to have the vintage showroom hopping with four titles. Joining "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" at 7 p.m. are the topless "Bite" at 10:30 p.m. and a 5 p.m. variety show, "The Grand Ole Vegas Revue," helmed by former "Phantom" musician Jonathan Gorst.

That still leaves a vacancy at 9 p.m., Cools points out. He's working on it.

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