Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

SATC’ deconstructed in a tidy 146 words; Burton talks of leaving his ‘home’ at Monte Carlo

<em>Sex and the City 2</em>

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Sex and the City 2.

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  • Magician Lance Burton
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Lance Burton and 2010 Miss America Pageant contestants at Pole Position Raceway on Jan. 24, 2010.

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Museum designer Dennis Barrie, left, speaks during a media tour of the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement (the "Mob Museum") in the former U.S. Post Office and Federal Courthouse building in downtown Las Vegas Tuesday, May 25, 2010. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, center, looks on. Dennis' wife and co-designer Kathleen Barrie is at far right.

I saw a preview screening of "Sex and the City 2" last week at Aria's Elvis Theater. Following is a 146-word synopsis, which is one word for every minute of this film:

"SATC 2" offends anybody: Karaoke artists. Aussie rugby players. Male attorneys. TV manufacturers. Abu Dhabian man-servants, street merchants and hoteliers. Camels.

The four-headed lead character hearkens to the Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, and Hope and Crosby during their "road to" period. This film was "The Road to Abu Dhabi," and there can be countless others. "Road to Vegas," anyone?

The Stooges are recalled in Charlotte's camel-drop scene, which in another era could have starred Curly Howard. Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk! The scram out of town square could have been in any Marx Brothers movie. Samantha's line, "He's Lawrence of my labia," rivals Groucho's, "We took some pictures of the native girls, but they weren't developed. But we're going back again in a couple of weeks!"

That was in "Animal Crackers," and it's all crackers for "SATC" anymore. I'm thankful for Liza Minnelli, and for the ability to appreciate farce.

A little more matter

• In a recent episode of "Our Metropolis," Magician Lance Burton said his leaving Monte Carlo was a simple disagreement regarding the direction of the show. He resisted when I asked if the disagreement was artistic or financial, and insists he has no plans other than to revive the show in his adopted home city of Las Vegas at some point.

"I explained to my cast and crew what was going on, because you work with them every day and they are like family," he said. "But I haven't spoken publicly about it. Let's just say it was irreconcilable differences. The hotel was going in one direction and I felt I couldn't go with them, so I gave them six-months notice." It's amicable, he said. The two sides are getting along better than ever and he wishes no ill will on the hotel or its staff. Class act.

Meanwhile, as Burton spends time pondering his options, he's expanding his entertainment horizons. "I'm getting good at TiVo," he said, laughing.

Burton ends his run at Monte Carlo, in the theater bearing his name, on Labor Day weekend. The last show is Sept. 4. He started there just after the hotel opened in 1996 and says, "It still feels like home when I am onstage here."

Burton spent nine years at Tropicana before the move, and reminds during the interview that the Luxor stands on what was once the Dunes golf course. Burton has become Las Vegas institution himself practically, and at 50 has a lot of entertainment left. He's a great performer, and a principled person who should find a suitable home soon enough.

• Yard House opens Friday night at Red Rock Resort, the best move this resort has made since high-maintenance crooner Brian Evans was swept out of Rocks Lounge in 2006. Already a hot spot at Town Square, Yard House can be counted on for great classic rock as house music and a demonically irresistible (Mac + Cheese)2 dish. Dumped into this treasure are chicken breast, applewood smoked bacon, wild mushrooms, cheddar and parmesan with campanelle pasta and white truffle oil. It's exciting to know this dish is on a menu less than five miles from my house.

• Mob Museum curator Kathy Barrie always checks the pouch in the seat back of any flight on which she is a passenger. Sometimes she finds the boarding-pass stub from the person seated in the seat prior to her arrival. You never know what sort of artifact you'll unearth.

Barrie recently was traveling from Washington D.C. to Cleveland, having conducted business at the Spy Museum in D.C. and headed for the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in Cleveland, both of which are projects designed by her and her husband, Dennis. She reached into the pouch, and pulled out a stub with the name, "Timothy Geithner" printed across the top. Her seat, first-class, on the flight into D.C. indeed had been occupied by Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner.

Barrie still carries the stub, and it's too bad she didn't find any loose change while fishing around in there.

• The most famous, and only, doggie not adopted at last month's "Best In Show" event at Orleans Arena has found a home. Doggie No. 50 to be adopted out, terrier mix Stormy, was snapped up Sunday. So in tennis parlance, the event served an ace.

• Have you heard about this "Real Housewives of Las Vegas" project that has been discussed in an under-the-radar manner for a few weeks? I have, and so has my man Ubiquitous Robin, who has written of this project, likely to land at Bravo, on Vegas DeLuxe. Those involved are not interested in publicizing details of the in-works project, but given that the crew was taped not long ago at a Summerlin eatery, this show is not wholly a secret. I'll give hint here: The surname of one of the central subjects is one that looms large over Vegas.

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Sammy Shore on the blue carpet for the Viva Elvis world premiere at Aria in CityCenter on Feb. 19, 2010.

• He's free at last! Free at last! We speak of Sammy Shore, of course. The Sam-Man's "Barking Mad Comedy Jam," scheduled for June 25-26 at Marilyn's Lounge at Eastside Cannery, is free. Usually it is something more than free, $15 a ticket. Dennis Blair and Dean Napolitano are the hired guns for what's promised as "two nights of madness and laughter." That's also how you'd describe a weekend at the Clown Motel in Tonopah, but I digress ...

• Last week Martin Scorsese granted an interview to Ranjan Das Gupta of The Hindu, India's national newspaper. During the phone chat, Scorsese revealed plans to direct a movie on the life of Frank Sinatra. "I've had it in mind for a long time. Even the initial script is ready," Scorsese said. "I'm yet to spot the actor who can bring back Frank Sinatra alive on screen. My choice is Al Pacino, and Robert De Niro as Dean Martin." Or, Scorsese might try to recruit a couple of "name" actors...

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.

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