‘Trent Carlini’s Elvolution’

He's a "Lonely Man." He's lonesome tonight. He's down at the end of Lonely Street.

He's Trent Carlini and, well, you get the idea.

Carlini is the one Elvis impersonator to sustain a name presence on the Strip. "Trent Carlini's Elvolution," at Steve Wyrick's theater in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood, is the latest sign of resilience for a guy who has seen both the heights of winning a network TV talent show, "The Next Best Thing," and lean times at the former Boardwalk casino.

But Carlini soon will find out if he has generated enough goodwill to support this new venture, which comes off like a glorified karaoke show.

Wyrick's stage, well-designed for a magic show, is proportionately huge for the cozy 400-seat theater. But it leaves Carlini looking stranded when there is no one standing on it but him.

"He needs girls," former "Evening at La Cage" star Frank Marino commented a few minutes into Carlini's grand opening. This was an odd truth not just because a female impersonator pointed it out, but because Elvis always was such a chick magnet.

Carlini's athletic moves and self-deprecating sexiness still can pull the audience gals to the front when it's time to pass out the scarves. But he needs some go-go dancers or backing musicians to help him do the "Rock-A-Hula Baby."

Oh, he tries. Carlini revs across the stage in his chopper, and sings "Heartbreak Hotel" on a lighted box he claims is "an exact replica of the '68 Comeback stage." And he pulls off a lot of quick changes -- from "G.I. Blues" uniform to the requisite white jumpsuit -- even though most of them require the audience to sit through several films on a drop-down screen while he's changing.

One video involves Carlini rehearsing with his band. And that makes you wonder, where are these guys now? You see only occasional glimpses of lone keyboard player Bob Ashman for the first 50 minutes, before the curtain pulls back on the Vegas-jumpsuit era to reveal players at the shadowy rear of the stage. But the sound is suspect, suggesting that all but the drummer might be "band-syncing."

If the band is real, they should be out there from the get-go, when prop TV cameras frame the rockabilly '50s Elvis, wiggling like a captured alien in a specimen jar. The credibility of Carlini's past ventures at the Sahara and Las Vegas Hilton came in large measure from trying to do Elvis Presley musical justice.

Carlini still looks amazingly like the real Elvis from certain angles, and his chronological overview of the King's career remembers some of the nonessential hits, such as "Don't Cry Daddy." But context is everything. When Carlini sang to tape in the little Boardwalk lounge, fans within sweating distance applauded the sheer effort of phone booth-like costume changes. But now, on a recession-wracked Strip, when even the big shows are discounting?

A compromised act with a $70 bottom ticket -- even one meant to be sold at the two-for-one booths -- is likely to leave this one back on Lonely Street long before Cirque du Soleil's big Elvis show spells "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" later this year.

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