Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Sarah Guillot-Guyard benefit show scheduled; no ‘Showbiz Roast’ for Vinnie Favorito

Leila Navidi

Sarah Guyard-Guillot, left, and Sami Tiaumassi perform as “Forest People” during Cirque du Soleil’s “Ka” at MGM Grand on Friday, Nov. 28, 2008.

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Sarah Guillot-Guyard

At this writing, The Kats Report Bureau is The Beat Coffeehouse at Emergency Arts. And you know what? There are quite a lot of bureaus around here. Everyone seems to work in a bureau at The Beat Coffeehouse, where the coffee is far stronger than the WiFi.

We’ll take that trade-off.

Time to rake and also brush the oatmeal-raisin cookie crumbs off the lapels of my Clark Kent-ian suit jacket:

• The first show benefiting the late “Ka” artist Sarah Guillot-Guyard’s family is set for midnight July 18 at Baobab Stage at Town Square. The event is a cabaret-style performance featuring several Cirque performers. Tickets are $20 and available at the Baobab Stage website or by calling (702) 369-7749.

The director of Baobab Stage is Wassa Coulibaly, also performer in Cirque’s “Zumanity” at New York-New York (characteristic of Cirque’s worldwide reach, Coulibaly is from Dakar, Senegal). All money raised at the event will be sent to Guillot-Guyard’s family.

Meantime, the return of performances of “Ka” appears to be Tuesday. At least that is the preliminary indication if you are confident in the process of ordering tickets to production shows. The MGM box office is taking ticket orders to Tuesday night’s shows, marking the first performances since June 29, when Guillot-Guyard fell from the vertical stage to her death during the show’s Final Battle scene.

That act is not expected to return, though Cirque spokeswoman Renee-Claude Menard has stopped short of saying the scene has formally been cut from the production. “Highly unlikely” is the term she’s been using to address that probability. If the Final Battle scene is ever to return, it would be in the far-off future. In the interim, OSHA’s investigation into the incident will take months to complete (the government safety agency has up to six months to issue citations, if any are merited, in such investigations). Cirque shut down the show, not OSHA, and can bring it back without having to clear its decision with the occupational safety inspectors.

“We are pursuing our ongoing collaboration with OSHA, and their findings will not be available for a few months down the line. We completely respect their process and will offer our continued collaboration all through the process,” Menard said in an email. “What Cirque du Soleil is doing this week is our own evaluation of when the performances will resume and making the necessary artistic adjustments for when the performances will resume.”

Yet to be answered is a follow-up email to Menard asking if tickets being sold for Tuesday’s shows meant the show would be indeed be back that night. I know one thing: My ticket order has been processed.

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Vinnie Favorito

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Producer Andy Walmsley thanks the packed house at "The Showbiz Roast" at the Stratosphere.

• The “Showbiz Roast” of Oscar Goodman on July 23 at the Stratosphere is coming off without the city’s foremost roaster, Vinnie Favorito. This looks unpleasant, at first blush: Favorito and show producer Andy Walmsley are butting heads over some yet-unspecified issues stemming from Favorito’s searing and soaring appearance at the first “Showbiz Roast” roast, of Zowie Bowie's Chris Phillips, in April. Walmsley says only it is a “legal dispute,” while Favorito is not yet saying anything about what “went down,” to use some Old Vegas parlance. Walmsley had originally announced Favorito as the roastmaster for the Goodman event, but then shifted afield and recruited Laugh Factory at the Trop comic magician Murray Sawchuck as the roastmaster.

The current lineup of roasters or those appearing onstage for the July 23 show, which is a benefit for the Miracle League of Las Vegas: Harrah’s magician Mac King, chef Carla Pellegrino, Smith Center headliner Clint Holmes, Rick Dale of the reality TV show “Rick’s Restorations,” The Amazing Johnathan, Zowie Bowie, 790 Now AM-radio show host Heidi Harris, KLUC 98.5-FM personality Chet Buchanan, Plaza headliners The Phat Pack, Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke and actress/stage performer Pia Zadora. (There are roast-like comments that could be made at various points along that list, but this ain’t no roast, mon.)

A full house in a showroom that seated 415 for the first roast is expected for Goodman. If you are wondering how this show is to come in anywhere shorter than the three-hour flaying that Zowie Bowie withstood, here’s how: Walmsley outfitted the podium with a smoke machine, a bubble machine, a police siren and flashing lights. Some roasters will be given four minutes; others, two minutes. If anyone goes over their allotted time, the mic cuts off, Lon Bronson and the boys in the band start playing, the podium explodes and general mayhem is unleashed.

All for a good cause, of course …

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Joey Lawrence and Louie Anderson on the premiere of ABC's "Splash" on Tuesday, March 19, 2013.

• Louie Anderson is embarking on his new headlining gig at the Plaza Showroom. His first performance in an open-ended engagement has opened (as of Wednesday night) after a break to appear in “Splash” on ABC and tour a bit after Palace Station closed his comedy enclave a few months ago. Anderson has performed in Vegas since 1986, when he headlined at the Comedy Store at the Dunes. He has performed at 13 Vegas hotels (and that list will be specified in an upcoming column, all about Louie) and has toured as a support act with some genuine entertainment legends. The ones to which he most readily refers: Glen Campbell and Ray Charles.

“It was right after Ray Charles released his big country album (“Friendship,” 1984) and Glen would come out and sing, introduce me, I would do 15 minutes, then hand it over to Ray Charles,” Anderson says. “It was really unbelievable, and a great place for a comedian, because the crowd was in such a good mood.”

• The Gossy Crossing sign is up at Caesars Palace, as Matt Goss is in The Gossy Room at least through the end of September. Dates were formally and finally announced this week. The shows are set for select, or most, weekends through Sept. 21. Eighteen dates in all, so get on it. During this stretch, we might well see the release of “Life You Imagine,” the new Goss release produced by the bubbly and brilliant Ron Fair.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

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