Saturday, April 3, 2004 | 7:04 a.m.
Who: Marlene Ricci.
When: 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Where: Riviera's Le Bistro Theatre.
Tickets: $24.95.
Information: (702) 794-9433.
Frank Sinatra protege Marlene Ricci is more than an accomplished vocalist; she may be one of Las Vegas' best jugglers.
The petite entertainer performs in her own showroom at the Riviera four nights a week, oversees the room that is home to five other acts, sometimes holds concerts at Indian casinos and still manages to be a wife to her husband, Jim Burgett, and a mother to their 13-year-old son, James.
Ricci, who was Sinatra's opening act in the late '70s and early '80s, recently began her third year as the leaseholder of Le Bistro Theatre.
In addition to her own show, the subleasing tenants include Jay White and his "America's Tribute to Neil Diamond" (7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays); Kevin Cavenagh's "Tribute to Sinatra" (8:30 p.m. Mondays); Dr. Scott Lewis' "Outrageous Comedy Hypnotist" (10 p.m. Mondays); "They Hypnosis Zone" (10 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays) and "The Exotic Hypnotics" (11:30 p.m Tuesdays through Sundays).
The 49-year-old Ricci recently discussed the many hats she wears and the changes to her own production:
Las Vegas Sun: You recently unveiled your new show at Le Bistro Theatre. How is it different?
Marlene Ricci: The whole show is totally changed. Basically, I made the show more hip, musically. I had great musicians before, but there is now more novelty stuff. I have a sax player who plays keyboard and wails on the saxophone; a guitarist who plays harmonica.
I added a new background vocalist, a beautiful female singer. I still have Sheila Arnold, my violinist, who also is beautiful. There are just some new elements to the show.
Sun: Do you still do several Sinatra numbers?
MR: I'm doing one Sinatra song, as a tribute, "All the Way."
I still do some oldies, but more from the '70s featuring music by artists like Fleetwood Mac and Carole King. I'm doing some new things by the Eagles, and to close the show, I'm doing a new Josh Groban tune, "You Raise Me Up."
Sun: Has the overall tone of the show changed?
MR: I think it's more fun now, with more high-energy stuff. I took out a lot of the ballads -- I wanted to keep the energy level up there.
Sun: Why did you revamp the show?
MR: I'm gearing it toward the much younger audiences, which all the hotels are getting now.
Sun: What about the other productions in your showroom? Do you have a hand in them?
MR: Most of the shows were produced already. Basically, they find us. We get calls from all kinds of shows. Not all of them are professionally put together. For me to book them into my showroom, they have to be of a certain caliber.
Sun: During the past two years, a lot of acts have come and gone at Le Bistro. Why?
MR: Things have pretty much stabilized now. Most of the acts who have come in haven't been able to make it because of the expense of backup musicians, and because of advertising.
Advertising is the most difficult problem -- getting people to know about you without spending $10,000 a week on promotions. That's the dilemma. It's very difficult for all the acts. But to get the tourists in, you have to have visibility, which is why I took out a billboard ad promoting my show.
Sun: Overseeing the room plus performing must be very time consuming and tiring.
MR: It is. When I first started I performed six nights a week, then four and then three. I was getting burned out. Now I'm back to four, which is a good balance. I won't do more than five. I want my voice to stay strong for every performance.
On the business side, I now have two people working with me -- my husband has always been involved, since Day 1, and we recently took on a new partner to help us spread the workload. Now I can focus more on my show, which was part of the dilemma, handling all the issues that came up with all these acts at the same time I was trying to do a show.
Sun: Why did you decide to have your own room?
MR: To be able to stay at home and raise my son.
When he was younger I was doing corporate events all over the country, as well as stuff in Europe, cruises, those kinds of things. I was gone so much, I felt my son was going to suffer if I didn't have input on a daily basis.
I was in the Rockettes' "The Great Radio City Spectacular" at the Flamingo for two years, and I thought, "Wow. This is so nice to be able to come home, kiss my son good night and get him off to school in the morning."
Sun: How did the arrangement with the Riviera come about?
MR: (Riviera President) Robert Vannucci remembered me from the Dunes. He said, "What about this room?" I didn't want to work an open lounge, so he agreed to enclose the space and give me control of the room.
He wanted me to do two shows nightly in the beginning, which was more than I wanted to do. But I promised him that I would bring in other acts. As it turned out, one turned into two, which turned into three. It kind of dominoed.
Sun: What are you going to do when your contract runs out?
MR: We have a three-year contract, which is up at the end of this year. We've already talked about renegotiating at the end of summer. I have first option, but they don't know what they're going to do. They may decide to change the room into a nightclub. You never know.
Sun: What drives you?
MR: The love of entertaining. I love pleasing the audience, getting that reaction. As long as I get the reaction, I will keep doing it. As long as I'm appreciated, that is motivation enough.
archive
