Ned Mills, aka Lionardo, performs in the debut of “Piano Follies” on March 20 at the Suncoast. Mills has a few rare talents: He can play two songs at once on the piano and play two instruments at the same time.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 | 2 a.m.
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Starring in "Piano Follies," Mills sings, plays drums, tells jokes and demonstrates his genius with the piano and trumpet. Mills worked 18-hour days for three months getting the production ready.
The show was 14 years in the making and Ned Mills pulled out all the stops in producing his heart-pumping revue.
“Piano Follies” is filled with talented musicians, dancing girls and a George Burns tribute artist. But at its heart, it’s a one-man show as eclectic as its star — who does everything but pole-dance to excite the audience.
Mills unveiled his baby recently before 500 guests at the Suncoast during one of the weekly showcases of local talent. He also unveiled a new one-word stage name — Lionardo — taken from his middle name, Leon. “I didn’t want to be confused with Leonardo DiCaprio, so I spelled it differently,” he says.
A version of “Piano Follies” first hit the stage in 1994 in Wilmington, N.C., moved on to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and then lay dormant until now. Mills moved to Las Vegas in 2000 to work and hopefully find a home for his production.
“I’m not a known entity, so ‘Piano Follies’ is a way to get people in the door so they will get to know who I am, know my family history and hopefully leave as a fan of Lionardo,” he says.
Family history is an integral part of the show. Mills says he is distantly related to the brothers Joseph Eastburn Winner, who composed “The Little Brown Jug,” and Septimus “Sep” Winner, who composed such songs as “Listen to the Mocking Bird” and “Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?”
Mills was a musical prodigy who began playing piano and trumpet as a child in Watha, N.C.
He sings, plays drums, tells jokes and stories and of course demonstrates his genius with the piano and trumpet as he pays tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Gershwin and Louis Armstrong, among others.
As he talks about studying piano as a child, he plays two songs at once — one with his right hand and one with his left. Then he plays the trumpet with one hand and the piano with the other.
One of the show’s hooks is a cast of five grand pianos — one black, one white, one red, one covered in mirrors and one set in the rear end of a pink Cadillac.
His flesh-and-blood backups are Carlene San-Filippo and Jen Ericksson on violin; Rob Mader on sax, flute and clarinet; Steve Meyer, trombone; Bill King, trumpet; Dick Jones, bass; George Bryant, drums; Dennis Mellen, synthesizer; and dancers Jen Gilliam and Clare Holmes, who also is the choreographer. Special guest Danny Ward portrays George Burns.
“Everyone was handpicked,” Mills says. “There were no auditions. I wanted the best Las Vegas had to offer.”
Mills worked 18-hour days for three months getting the production ready for its local debut. He produced the show with $25,000, which he earned performing for over a year in a restaurant lounge at the Luxor.
“It was a very expensive showcase but I wanted to give all the bells and whistles,” he says.
Now that he has shown Vegas what he can do, Mills is waiting to see what happens. He wants to find a home here for the extravagant production, but wouldn’t mind taking it on the road.
“The pianos can break down into touring cases. Everything in the show can be put in suitcases,” Mills says. “So if I get a call to go to Palm Springs or to Tokyo, that’s not a problem — I can take the pianos, the showgirls, the musicians, everything, on the road.”
The hooks are in the water, Mills says.
Now he’s waiting for a nibble.
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