Santa Run will be Holly jolly again, by golly
Ibeen a bit since we caught up with our favorite Playboy model/strip production show star/bestselling author.
So it’s good to know Holly Madison — who is all that and more — is the grand marshal of the 13th annual Great Santa Run on Dec. 2 at the Fremont Street Experience. The event is $45 for general participation (fee includes a Santa suit) and is the holiday fundraiser for Opportunity Village.
Organizers are hoping for a turnout of 10,000 to give Las Vegas the edge in the yearly competition among international destinations (such as Liverpool) to have the most Santa-clad participants in a single event.
Madison, who also hosted the event in 2014, first sashayed into our hearts as Bo Peep in “Peepshow” in 2009, shortly after shedding “The Girls Next Door” reality series, where she, Kendra Wilkinson (now of “Sex Tips For Straight Women From a Gay Man” at Paris Las Vegas) and Bridget Marquardt were cast as Hugh Hefner’s trio of girlfriends.
Madison has also hit the New York Times’ best-seller list with 2015’s “Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny” and her 2016 release “The Vegas Diaries: Romance, Rolling the Dice, and the Road to Reinvention.”
Madison and her husband, Insomniac Events and Electric Daisy Carnival founder Pasquale Rotella, and their kids Rainbow (age 4) and Forest (15 months) live in Las Vegas.
Mayor Carolyn Goodman, members of “The Chippendales” at the Rio, Human Nature of the Sands Showroom at The Venetian, Jennifer Romas and Gabriella Versace of “Sexxy” at the Westgate Las Vegas and the Clauses are among the dignitaries scheduled to appear.
The OV Elvi, the world’s only all-elvis dance ensemble, is also set to perform. To which we say, top that, Liverpudlians.
Toasting ‘Cocktail Cabaret’
As the song insists, it’s 5 o’clock somewhere, a time to relax and imbibe. That’s the befitting starting time and vibe of “The Cocktail Cabaret,” the new show opening Nov. 30 at Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace.
The live music production taps into classic Vegas lounge presentations and is backed by music directors Keith Thompson and Philip Fortenberry. The show will run Wednesdays through Sundays (starting at 5 p.m., of course) , with tickets set at $55 (not including fees).
Thompson, a creative force on the Strip since arriving to help direct “We Will Rock You” at Paris more than a decade ago, is the former music director of “Jersey Boys” at Paris and the Palazzo and is co-founder and host of The Composers Showcase of Las Vegas.
Fortenberry, who will lead the four-piece band from the piano in “The Cocktail Cabaret,” worked with Thompson on “Jersey Boys,” performed at the cabaret room at the Liberace Museum in “Liberace & Me” and was the body double for Michael Douglas in his portrayal of the entertainment icon the HBO film “Behind the Candelabra.”
The show’s onstage host, Eric Jordan Young, is the new resident director at “Baz — A Musical Mash-up” at the Palazzo Theater and has several Broadway and touring productions on his resume (including “Starlight Express” at the Las Vegas Hilton, “Chicago” at Mandalay Bay and “Vegas! The Show” at the Planet Hollywood Resort.
The show’s cast also features Niki Scalera (“Hairspray ), Maren Wade (“50 Shades! The Parody” ) and Daniel Emmet, who has headlined at Myron’s Cabaret Jazz.
The singers will perform slickly staged contemporary songs and standards, including “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” “Diamonds are Forever,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “That’s Life” and “Viva Las Vegas,” in addition to a medley of cocktail-themed songs and blues favorites.
The show is the first ticketed residency in Cleopatra’s Barge since Matt Goss closed his show in September 2016, though David Perrico’s Pop String Orchestra continues to anchor the venue with no-cover shows at 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
“This is a smart and stylish show where we are re-imagining modern standards, songs that people want to hear, but do them in a slightly different way,” Thompson says. “We look at it as a great way to get the evening started, not to be seen as a lounge act or a tribute act, but something that reminds people of vintage Las Vegas.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @ Johnnykats1 on Instagram. As of 9 p.m. Wednesday:
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