Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Mask mandate sends show into trance
MARC SAVARD is not all smiles over the return of face covers at his Strip hypnosis show. The veteran headliner has paused his production at V Theater at Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort as the state is requiring face covers for everyone indoors, regardless of whether they are vaccinated.
That directive, which took effect Friday, covers audience members at live-entertainment shows. The performers are exempt.
However, Savard’s show requires the star — Savard — to call 20 to 25 audience members to the stage. He keeps the eight or 10 (depending on the audience size) most likely to succumb to hypnosis.
“To perform the show right, I need to make eye contact, read body language and see if they are laughing or smiling,” Savard said Saturday afternoon. “Facial expressions are a big part of the show.”
Savard’s show is the first ticketed Las Vegas production to announce it is on hiatus because of the latest return to face covers. He said it was likely he would be back when that directive is relaxed but was not entirely sure how he’d proceed given the uncertainty the pandemic has created.
“I have to be careful in trying to predict what is going to happen,” Savard said. “This is changing weekly.”
Savard was back on the V Theater stage on June 24 and had performed 29 shows before hitting the brakes. He opened at the David Saxe Productions venue in February 2007. He is now the only headlining hypnotist on the Strip. Caesars Entertainment closed the Anthony Cools Experience and Cools’ own long-running comedy/hypnosis show in May.
“I want to be back, and had waited a long time to get back onstage,” Savard said. “But I do have a responsibility to do a show that’s safe, and to put on the best show possible.”
Burton sells mansion for $4M
The sale of Lance Burton’s castle on a hill marks the end of an era in Las Vegas real estate.
The purchase of Burton’s home in southeast Henderson was announced Thursday. The estate fetched $4 million from a buyer identified as Tarek Tabsh, according to property records, co-founder at Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies. The sale price is below the property’s $4.4 million price tag in April.
Burton, the famed master magician and Strip headliner for more than 30 years, put the home up for sale as he moved to his original farm home in Columbia, Kentucky, in November.
Burton recalled Saturday that he was inspired by the horror movies of his youth when imagining the estate’s design.
“I found this gorgeous site, you know, and wanted a castle on a hill, just like I’d seen in the movies,” Burton said. “From the outside, you’d see that castle, looking down at the town. I had a view of downtown Las Vegas, all the hotels, on one side. On the back side were these mountains, and in the winter they had snow on them. It was all BLM land, wildlife, and I fell in love with it.”
Burton had the custom home built in 2006. The three-story, six-bedroom estate covers 14,376 square feet and sits on 10 acres in the Black Mountains.
Burton hosted several events at the property for young magicians, whom he entertained alongside such stars as Johnny Thompson, Jeff McBride, Criss Angel and Fielding West.
“We’d have 50 or 60 young magicians out there,” Burton said. “They loved getting to talk to the magicians. It was a great setting for that development.”
The estate’s architect, Colin Summers, is known for design another magical manse in Vegas. He was the architect of “The Slammer,” Penn Jillette’s home on West Wigwam Avenue from 1994-2015 (“The Slammer” met a dubious demise in 2016, when Jillette attempted to take it down with a rented tank).
“Colin had a real sense of drama,” Burton said. “I wanted this horror-film look. He loved that idea, ran with it, and came up with the design on his own. He needed very little direction. It was a beautiful, interesting place to look at from the outside, very comfortable on the inside. I loved living there.”
Walker takes stride
Keep an eye on the wicked-talented Vegas vocalist Tymara Walker, a guest singer with David Tatlock’s Soul Juice Band at Notoriety Live at Neonopolis on July 20. Tatlock has set up a series of cool hangs Tuesday nights at Notoriety.
Walker announced from the stage the developing musical “The Rocking Chair,” for which she is composer and music director. The play is written and directed by Donte Miller, founder of Hearts Productions in Las Vegas.
The story follows the life of a grandmother who grew up in slavery, tracing back to her childhood.
“It is a period piece, but it is nothing like you have ever seen,” says Walker, whom we first saw as a take-it-over backing vocalist in “Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel in Concert” at Harrah’s. “It brings a new and unique perspective to this piece of American and African American history.”
Walker composes every piece of music, and the show will be presented with a live band. Look for it in the spring.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal. com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal. com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.