Occasionally, Wynn’s place is Lim Las Vegas; Bennett swings to No. 90 at ‘Power of Love’

By John Katsilometes

Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015 | 10:30 p.m.

We’ll open this multi-topic raking of the scene with a brainteaser: A person mentioned in this column attended the prom with actor Sam Rockwell.

Figure it out while reading along …

• Following that teasing of the brain is this tease of my upcoming column in The Sunday, the newsmagazine we publish every weekend on a specific day: Steve Wynn talks of the timeline for construction for his hotel on Macau’s Cotai Strip. That opening date was originally stated as March 25. Now it is June 25. Find out why … in the next edition of The Sunday.

In a segment of that interview not related in that column, Wynn also talked of Resorts World Las Vegas across the Strip from his Wynn/Encore. This was during a chat that preceded the launch of the slipper line developed by his daughter Kevyn at Wynn Collection.

Wynn said he has “no inside information” about Resorts World’s progress as it lurches toward an expected late 2018 opening. However …

“I know this: They need construction drawings to actually hit the dirt. That’s not something you can do just because you have a tent show and play music,” Wynn said referring to the thunderous, Taiko drum-fueled groundbreaking ceremony on the Resorts World property in May. “If you want to control a big job, you’d better have good drawings. You need construction documents, the little, nitty-gritty-detail stuff. … But I don’t know what K.T. Lim is thinking, what his attitude is at the moment."

Lim is CEO of Malaysia-based Genting Group, and as we’ve learned over the past year or so, he stays at Wynn’s resort just east of the Resorts World development.

“Oh, yeah. Sure, he stays with us,” Wynn said, smiling. “But I don’t discuss this with him. In fact, sometimes he’s here, and I don’t know he’s here. He comes in, plays and leaves.”

Sort of how I do it, actually, with the occasional confab with Johnny Avello …

• A pair of hepcats who are turning 90 next year: Tony Bennett and Jerry Lewis. The latter makes the date March 16, and we expect some sort of fantastic celebration, likely involving a TV show, around that time.

Bennett, who was just in town to take part in the “Sinatra 100: A Grammy Celebration” taped at Encore Theater and airing last Sunday on CBS, is to be honored at the next Keep Memory Alive “Power of Love” gala May 21 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Bennett’s actual birthday is Aug. 2.

The annual fundraiser reaches its 20-year milestone next year. Honoring Bennett at No. 90 follows the 70th birthday celebration for Muhammad Ali in 2012 and the twin 80th birthdays of Quincy Jones and Sir Michael Caine in 2013.

• As Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday approaches Saturday, Venetian officials have this to say about the closing of “Frank: The Man The Music” just two weeks before that celebration:

“We are going to decline to comment further about ‘Frank: The Man. The Music,’ ” is how a hotel spokesman responded to an email asking why the show couldn’t have made it to that particular tent post.

I might have gone with, “We did it our waaaaaay,” but maybe that’s why I’m on this end of the conversation.

Nonetheless, the production’s star, Bob Anderson, has told me that the show closed earlier than planned (it was expected to make it through December) so Palazzo Theater could be renovated to allow for a new production to be in place early next year.

As Anderson described, every other row of seats is being pulled out to allow for cast members to move freely through the audience, and the room’s capacity is going to be drawn down to 500 to 700 range. Also, the balcony level is to be closed off to the new production and apparently used for convention space or group massages or something.

This hasn’t been confirmed officially, but that renovation has long been expected out of that theater. I keep hearing about venues drawing down capacities, BTW. It’s just difficult to sell tickets and make money in some of these big rooms.

Anderson also said of Palazzo Theater, an 18-inch riser that was left over from the “Jersey Boys” residency in that room is going to need to be taken off the stage. Anderson said his show was going to have that piece of setting removed but didn’t have enough time.

Elsewhere, we do have confirmation that Bourbon Room at the Venetian is being closed, as it was connected, business-wise and vibe-wise, to “Rock of Ages,” which is moving to the Rio after closing at the Venetian on Jan. 3 (the show re-launches Jan. 25).

That room reportedly has done impressive business. I know that locals have hit that spot regularly and spent hours there relishing the ‘80s music, videos and design. One source tells me the place made a lot of money, too, from $5 million to $10 million a year.

Again, in a statement from the hotel, “… With the announced closing of ‘Rock of Ages,’ the Bourbon Room will be closed, and the space will be renovated. A new concept for the space will be announced soon.” No timeline for this, but I’d expect the lights to go dim in February if not sooner.

Until then, it is the, um, final countdown (cue the synth solo).

• On the topic of Sands Tower that is the Venetian, don’t expect any formal announcement on the future of Human Nature until after their current run of holiday shows closes Dec. 23, and probably not until the early days of 2016. The guys have already said they are changing the format of their show to move away from the Motown-exclusive setlist they have played since arriving on the Strip, at Imperial Palace, in 2009.

What has remained in question is where they are to perform next year. My gut feeling since closing their Motown revival Nov. 18 is they are staying at Sands Showroom. The departure from a pure Motown-themed production should come naturally.

As member Phil Burton said during a taping of “Kats With the Dish” on KUNV 91.5-FM on the day the group performed its final Motown show, performing to any theme was not the group’s forte until arriving moving into I.P.

“The funny thing is, until we came to Las Vegas, we never put on a specific show,” Burton said. “It had always been Human Nature. We did Motown, our own songs and some other hits, but it was always Human Nature as the act, and now that we’re closing out the Motown show, it’ll be interesting to go back to that.”

The new production has been called, in shorthand, “Jukebox,” after the group’s October 2014 release of that title (some of that CD was recorded in Las Vegas). A sampling of songs from that release: “Twist and Shout,” “Runaround Sue,” “Only Have Eyes for You” and “Under the Boardwalk.” Sounds like a good place from which to build a show …

• Jennifer Romas is performing some fleet footwork, and not just onstage. The creator and star of “Sexxy” at Westgate Las Vegas is building a single showcase production at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay for 8 p.m. Friday. This effort is akin to the one-off delivered in that theater a couple of years ago by Jeff Timmons and his Men of the Strip male revue. That show roared behind impressive stage technology and drew a rowdy, full-house crowd, but its future in Las Vegas is still uncertain.

Romas hopes to tour a version of “Sexxy” — and one day develop an entire retail and production empire under that brand. But first, she must bring this one show to life. She is expanding with a live band — this is a music hall, remember — and hiring four dancers for a total of 12 roaming the venue.

Romas also is bringing column fave Shayma Tash, late of “Fantasy” at the Luxor, as the middle-of-the-show comic. Along with eliciting laughs, it is Tash’s charge to help generate booze sales. I have long said she can drive a person to drink (hah), so this is a great fit …

• Wassa Coulibaly (who is my hero) has another of her all-star burlesque shows happening Friday at 9 p.m. at Baobab Stage at Town Square. The theater is just across from Yard House, identifiable for all the groovy clothing designed by Coulibaly displayed in the window.

Billed “Holiday Burlesque,” the show features performances by Baawo Bee, Kishema Pendu, Buttercup Delight, Aya Fontaine, Kalani Kokonuts, Ilissa Mayrose, Kerri Friedman, Charlotte Sodolinskaya, Deneen Farasha Millner, Pony Winterhart, Stephanie Castellone and The Baron (get to know him). Tickets are $20 and available at BaobabStage.com, (702) 369-6649 and the door.

• Guess how many bicycles “Morning Zoo” personality and generally affable guy Chet Buchanan has collected in his 17th annual KLUC Toy Drive?

Wrong.

The number is 2,288. The goal is 5,147, one more bicycle to be given to a needy kid than Buchanan raised a year ago. We’re to visit the Chet-ster on Friday morning, when assuredly the goal will be a smidge higher. He’s on the 30-foot scaffold at NV Energy, just west of Jones on West Sahara Avenue, until 10 a.m. Monday.

• The answer to that Sam Rockwell question: Tash. She was a freshman and he a senior at San Francisco School of the Arts. Other notable classmates: Margaret Cho and Aisha Tyler.

Tash remembers Rockwell as “the most popular guy in the school” and SOTA, as it was called, standing across the street from Juvenile Hall. “It was next to the place where I shop-lifted my lunch on a regular basis. For the record, I was legitimately hungry.”

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