Liberace Museum celebrates, contemplates move; Human Nature gets two years at I.P.

By John Katsilometes

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 | 1:05 a.m.

This week Liberace Museum is celebrating what would have been the entertainer's 91st birthday had he not died in 1987 of AIDS, or subsequently of anything else. Liberace at 91 is a curious concept. What would he be doing if he were still around, still able to perform? Serving as Betty White's musical guest on "SNL" last weekend?

Ninety-one is a random birthday to be celebrating with such grandiosity. What's planned on the corner of East Trop and Spencer are a week of events and a special ticket price for admission to the Museum, in this case $3.50. That was the ticket price Liberace set when the attraction opened in 1979. Hours have been extended to 8 p.m. (doors usually close at 5 o'clock).

Special events and performances have been set for each day this week, the highlights being a show by blues band Lady "J" Houston and the fireballs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, a one-woman show by the increasingly pregnant Ali Spuck at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, followed at 5:30 p.m. by a birthday finale featuring Christopher Joel Carter IV with Phyllis Bell, John Kaye, Domenick Allen, Leigh Zimmerman and Cayleigh Capaldi. Capaldi is the daughter of Allen and Zimmerman, and the three are planning a familial version of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Teach Your Children." Hors d' ourves, cupcakes and champagne are also in the offing; call 798-5595 or go to the Liberace Foundation and Museum website for information.

Liberace Museum and Foundation officials are organizing this revelry as part of an important get-the-word-out campaign. The wonderful monthly Composers' Showcase performances and recurring shows by such high-caliber entertainers as Spuck, Travis Cloer of "Jersey Boys" and (soon, I'm told) Kissy Simmons of "Lion King" have bolstered goodwill among museum devotees, but nonetheless attendance numbers have dipped precipitously since the peak years when 450,000 visitors ambled through the attraction annually. These days it's more like 50,000, and officials are doing all they can to inform the general public that a person named Liberace once ruled the Strip, and a museum filled with his wild collection of pianos, vehicles, wardrobe and jewelry is in place on East Tropicana Avenue.

That location will change, sooner or later, as Liberace Foundation President Jack Rappaport reiterated Monday afternoon during a taping of "Our Metropolis," which airs today at 6 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM. Joined on the program by Museum Director Tanya Combs, Rappaport said if he could reasonably control the museum's geographic destiny, the attraction and it's $12 million worth of artifacts left behind by "Mr. Showmanship" would be moved by this time next year at the new locale on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Rappaport declined to say just where the new, expanded Liberace Museum might be located, but did say it would not be a partnership with a resort or casino and would be a spot where a high volume of locals visit. To me, that leaves two logical locations — Fashion Show mall and Town Square. I'd bet on the latter, but the economic climate in the commercial real-estate industry is still really volatile. During the show, when I said to Rappaport, referring to the likely new Liberace Museum home, "I know where it is," Combs cut in with, "Maybe not, maybe not."

The future of the Museum remains unsettled. It is one of the city's great attractions, yet has eluded locals and tourists over the past several years. Sadly, the age demographic that remembers Liberace in his heyday is dwindling. Michael Douglas has said he is going to star as Liberace in a feature film directed by Stephen Soderberg, with Matt Damon playing the pianist's longtime romantic partner and chauffeur, Scott Thorson. (People magazine reported online in September that Douglas and Damon would star in a film about Liberace, with Soderbergh confirming his involvement in the film.)

That project would seem to be the ideal vehicle to introduce Liberace to a wide, new audience. That project also is largely foreign to Rappaport, who has never been contacted by a major film company regarding a Liberace movie. Months ago Rappaport sent letters to Soderbergh and United Artists CEO Jerry Weintraub offering Liberace artifacts, as the Museum holds all licensing rights to Liberace's memorabilia and image.

Rappaport never heard back. It was just another maddening instance of Liberace, a man who commanded any venue he graced during his life, trying to get noticed long after his passing.

Two more years for Human Nature

At least one report specifies what was referred to here Sunday, that Human Nature is receiving a contract extension at Imperial Palace. It's two years, according to freelance blogger Steve Friess. The IP showroom is to be renamed the Human Nature Theatre. All of this will be announced tonight as Smokey Robinson, who "presents" the group, appears at IP. The Australian Motown tribute act debuted at the hotel in May 2009.

Update: A release was issued this morning by the Harrah's PR department confirming Human Nature's contract has been extended through May 2012.

Darkness on the edge of town

At this writing, and it is very late Monday or very early Tuesday, no act, show or performer is officially scheduled to perform at Tropicana's Tiffany Theatre. The only listed ticketed show at the Trop, at the moment, is Terry Stokes' and Michael Johns' "Hypnosis Unleashed" in The Cellar (also known as The Hypnosis Theater). Expect that to change soon. Or one would think.

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