IF YOU GO
Who: Rick FaugnoÕs
ÒSongs My Idols Sang (and Danced)Ó
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: South Point
Tickets: $20 to $30; 797-8055, (866) 796-7111 or southpointcasino.com
See additional photos of
Rick Faugno at South Point
and watch a video report on
lasvegassun.com.
ItÕs the same old song and dance.
People ask: Where did real Las Vegas-style entertainment go? Why arenÕt there decent shows like we used to have with the likes of Frank Sinatra? Where are the good songs by Cole Porter or Irving Berlin?
No more griping. No more complaining about what used to be.
Broadway star Rick Faugno plans to give you what you say you want — good old song and dance, music from the Great American Songbook, Fred Astaire-like dance routines — in his show Sunday at South Point.
ÒThis kind of entertainment is lacking in todayÕs world,Ó Faugno says, Òespecially in Las Vegas, which was the Mecca for those legendary entertainers. I want to see a return to the old song and dance people, Astaire and Gene Kelly and Sammy Davis Jr.Ó
At 30, Faugno is a young man whose heart is in the past.
He made his Broadway debut at age 12, playing Will Rogers Jr. in Tommy TuneÕs Tony-winning ÒWill Rogers FolliesÓ starring Keith Carradine. His Broadway credits also include ÒConversations With My Father,Ó ÒChitty Chitty Bang Bang,Ó ÒWonderful TownÓ and ÒFosse.Ó
Local fans will recognize him from ÒJersey Boys.Ó Faugno plays Frankie Valli in the bio-musical about the Four Seasons, which debuted at the Palazzo in April 2008.
Sunday he plays himself in the debut of his first one-man show, the 80-minute ÒSongs My Idols Sang (and Danced),Ó a production that covers his life story and how he ended up as a devotee of great music.
ÒThis is totally different from anything IÕve ever done,Ó he says.
ÒIÕve never just been me. IÕm always somebody else. Playing Frankie Valli is a huge undertaking, but IÕm playing Valli, not me. IÕm almost naked onstage, vulnerable. IÕm not hiding behind anyone else.
ÒIÕm a little nervous. But at the same time this is very exciting.Ó
He will be accompanied by a seven-piece band featuring ÒJersey BoysÓ musical director Keith Thompson on piano.
ÒWeÕll have the piano, bass, guitar, drums and three horns,Ó Faugno says. ÒItÕll be a pretty rockinÕ band.Ó
Fans from the old school of entertainment will be treated to Faugno tapping and singing with a broom, a la Astaire.
There is a flow to the show, focusing on different entertainers form the past.
ÒAnd each segment is tied to somebody in my own life,Ó Faugno says.
Faugno learned his first tap dance moves from his father, who took lessons as a child from a vaudeville entertainer.
At age 8, his parents took him to his first Broadway show, ÒMe and My Girl,Ó which is set in the 1930s.
ÒLucky for me ÔStarlight ExpressÕ was sold out that night,Ó he says. ÒSubconsciously (ÔMe and My GirlÕ) influenced the rest of my life.Ó
He began taking dance lessons and when he had to decide between sports and dancing at age 10, he chose dancing.
Faugno hopes the show is not a one-time performance.
ÒIÕve put way too much time into it for a one-shot deal,Ó he says. ÒI want people to want it to come back.Ó
Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at jerry@lasvegassun.com.
Copyright 2009 Las Vegas Sun
