The touring cast of “Wicked” will show its charitable side during its five-week run in Las Vegas.
A Sept. 24 benefit performance of “The Wicked Rocky Horror Show” was announced Friday. It will take place at the Tropicana.
Net proceeds of the charity performance will benefit Golden Rainbow, a local AIDS organization, and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Featured “Wicked” cast members Patti Murin, Nicole Parker and Justin Brill will join about 40 brethren for the benefit effort, one of many staged over seven years by the national touring company.
Some lucky fans will have the opportunity to join the “Wicked” cast backstage – even a walk-on role is being offered – through live and silent auctions held during “The Wicked Rocky Horror Show.”
The “Wicked” engagement at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts ends Oct. 7.
A cult classic, “The Rocky Horror Show” was a raging success in London during the mid-1970s and migrated to Los Angeles, where it lasted for nine months. Elvis Presley was among the celebrities drawn to the wildly raunchy musical.
One of cast members in the American version was a young singer named Meat Loaf, who had performed on Broadway in “Hair.”
The Tropicana benefit will be directed by company member Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald. Napoleon W. Gladley will choreograph the event, with musical direction by Andrew Graham.
ELAINE WYNN REAPPOINTED
Philanthropist Elaine Wynn has been reappointed by President Barack Obama as a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
The White House announcement came as welcome news, said Wynn, a board member of Wynn Resorts Ltd.
“For someone like me who cherishes the arts and the role they play in the lives of all of us, it is an honor to oversee our nation’s cultural center,” she said in an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“It is especially meaningful because of the commitment the Kennedy Center has made to Las Vegas in partnering with our schools with their ‘Any Given Child’ outreach program. This helps to support the same work of The Smith Center by exposing children to programs and performances they would not otherwise experience. I am thrilled to be able to continue this assignment.”
Her ex-husband, hotel developer Steve Wynn, was appointed to the board in 2006 by President George W. Bush. Wynn resigned in 2010, two years short of his six-year term.
THE SCENE AND HEARD
A Las Vegas fine dining treasure, Rosemary’s Cafe, is returning, a year after its demise during an economic storm. It will be part of the Las Vegas Shakespeare Company’s 35,000-square-foot renovation of the historic Reed Whipple Cultural Center, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North. The project, announced on Friday, will also include a state-of-the-art 499-seat theater and rehearsal space as well as the Bard Lounge and Gallery OV – Opportunity Village Fine Art gallery. …
Las Vegas-based restaurant consultant Elizabeth Blau and her husband, chef Kim Canteenwalla, are opening a new eatery in the space formerly occupied by Nora’s Wine Bar & Osteria, which closed a year ago at 1031 Rampart Blvd. Named Honey Salt and described as a “farm-to-table inspired comfort restaurant,” the new venture will open about Halloween. The executive chef will be Joseph Zanelli, formerly of Lakeside at Wynn. The operating partner will be Steven Jerome. Blau operates Simon at Palms Place, and Canteenwalla is executive chef and partner of Society Café at Encore.
SIGHTINGS
Joan Rivers, Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho, kicking off the Pride Parade downtown Friday.
THE PUNCH LINE
“One year Kid Rock and Tommy Lee got into a huge fistfight at the VMAs . I don’t remember what the fight was about. I think it was they differed over how the Pythagorean Theorem is the basis for major key scales.” – Craig Ferguson
Norm Clarke can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke.
Source:
http://halloween.firstorfast.com/2012/09/08/wicked-to-become-horror-for-charity/