Animated Seth MacFarlane puts on showstopper at Encore Theater

By John Katsilometes

Sunday, May 1, 2016 | 4:06 p.m.

During Seth MacFarlane’s orchestral spectacle at Encore Theater in Wynn Las Vegas on Friday night, a gentleman seated near the stage in the middle of the venue sang in duet with the star of the show.

Steve Wynn was that guy, holding a bucket of popcorn while singing along to a showstopper from yesteryear. The song was “Guys and Dolls,” from the great musical of the same name. The number recites how guys will do just about any nutty thing for the gals they covet.

MacFarlane, his eyes closed, expertly steered the tune: “What’s in the daily news? I’ll tell what’s in the daily news. Story about a guy who bought his wife a small ruby, with what otherwise would have been his union dues ...”

Wynn, naturally, knew all the words.

That musical debuted in 1950, showing that MacFarlane is an old soul with a classic, baritone voice. He mixed an eclectic, yet comfortable, setlist dating even decades before “Guys and Dolls” and unfurled the type of sense of humor that has made “Family Guy” a hit for 15 years on Fox.

“Las Vegas has changed over the years,” he said near the top of the show. “The Rat Pack used to rule this town. Tonight, I showed up with my father and my Asian stepmom.”

In introducing a song whose lyrics were written by Edgar Leslie, he informed, “This song is called “The Moon Was Yellow,’ which was followed by ‘The House was Yellow,’ ‘The Car Was Yellow’ and ‘The Tree Was Yellow’ — before Edgar was hospitalized with jaundice.”

In summoning his chilling rendition of “Old Man River,” MacFarlane reminded, “For those of you in Las Vegas, a river is like a long ditch that contains water.” When an audience member called out “I love you, Seth!” he fired back. “Good! And you do realize you’re not in your living room, right?”

More revealing was the joke that spoke to MacFarlane’s passion for this flavor of orchestral production. “This is an arrangement from Nelson Riddle, coming from a time when music was more than two Swedish guys (messing) around on a laptop.”

Vocally, MacFarlane’s baritone delivery is appreciably and effectively guttural. MacFarlane’s parents were singers, and he is vocally trained — as a singer, not just as a voice actor who voices Stewie, Peter Griffin and Quagmire. That education and environmental upbringing is always evident.

MacFarlane started the show with a slick outside-in testimonial about how much he loves Las Vegas, aptly titled, “I Love Vegas,” with a musical list of metaphors: “I love Las Vegas like Wahlberg loves his Teddy,” was one.

But the comedy was always complementary to the music. Music director Joel McNeely, an Emmy winner who has produced MacFarlane’s three albums and scored the MacFarlane film “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” piloted the 55-piece ensemble.

Credibility further abounded on the “Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers” stage: Bassist Chuck Berghofer recorded with Frank Sinatra (including “Strangers in the Night”) and Nancy Sinatra (“These Boots Were Made for Walking”) and played the famed bass line on the sitcom “Barney Miller.”

Also onstage were such great Las Vegas players as violinists Rebecca Sabine-Ramsey (who played with Sinatra at the Golden Nugget and Caesars Circus Maximus and his West Coast tours) and De Ann Letourneau (concert master of the Las Vegas Philharmonic). Violist Lisa Vazzana and trombonist Curt Miller, featured in solo for “What’s New,” were in Sinatra’s band back in the day.

Buoyed by this symphony, MacFarlane exhumed “Fabulous Places,” from “Dr. Doolittle,” another song that fired up Wynn, who turned around and reminded, “Bobby Darin did this! Isn’t he like Darin?” Darin with a barbed wit, certainly.

MacFarlane performed “Everything Is Rosie” from “Bye Bye Birdie,” “You’re Getting to Be a Habit With Me” (reaching to 1932 for the number form “42nd Street,” recorded in ’56 by Sinatra) and “The most famous song written by a guy named after a sandwich,” Hoagy Carmichael’s “I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes),” which was performed by Carmichael and Jane Russell in the ’52 film “Las Vegas Story.”

Throughout, MacFarlane was fine with sitting on a stool or remaining near the center of the stage while clutching a glass of whiskey or bottled water. He was dressed stately, in black, the show devoid of costume changes and choreography.

But MacFarlane’s face as he sings is, fittingly, very animated as his eyebrows dance as if to punctuate the words. During these moments, MacFarlane is very much an intuitive singer and showman.

But in his running conversation with the audience, MacFarlane remained self-deprecating and comfortably tossed around Las Vegas references. He recalled once dating a Cirque du Soleil acrobat who wound up breaking his heart.

“She crawled up a sheet toward the ceiling, and I never saw her again.” At one point, he spotted Wynn in his seat and said, “Steve, it’s not too late to fire me. I’ve got Donny Osmond waiting in the car.”

Not a concern. Wynn only wants more, especially after MacFarlane soared through “Luck Be a Lady Tonight” to close the night. After the show, in a close conversation with MacFarlane at the side of the stage, Wynn said that he would love to have MacFarlane return regularly — as long as the show could draw enough of an audience to support repeated visits.

MacFarlane responded that he’s game, as long as he could work it into his schedule of TV and film commitments. MacFarlane still produces, writes and animates “Family Guy” while voicing many of the characters (he threw out a “giggity” from Quagmire during the show).

But when the guy, who owns the room and hotel, and the star, who calls the shots in his own career, want this to return, an encore in that room can happen. And it should.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow Kats on Instagram at Instagram.com/JohnnyKats1.