Kimmel to donate club profits to charities
Jdoes a lot of charity work, but doesn’t make such a big deal of it. But I will, with a personal story from a dozen years ago.
I first met Kimmel at a pretty unusual fundraiser in 2005, at Railhead music club at Boulder Station. It was a charity show, called “Hands Together,” for the Samaritan House men’s recovery home. It was a far-off-the-grid, Sunday afternoon show for a 40-bed, live-in recovery home on North Fourth Street hardly anyone had heard of. Yours truly was part of the house’s board of directors in those days, and we sought all variety of entertainers to help fill the bill.
Those who answered the bell included Clint Holmes and music director Bill Fayne, The Amazing Johnathan, the casts of “Midnight Fantasy” at Luxor and “Forever Plaid” at Gold Coast, then-bellagio headliner Jimmy Hopper and Trop magician Rick Thomas.
During a planning meeting, I offhandedly asked, “Who are we going to get to host this show?” I was told, “Jimmy Kimmel is already in.” I was stunned. But Kimmel — who had launched his ABC talk show two years earlier — was indeed on board because of his long relationship with the Rev. Bill Kenny, who volunteered at the house and was pastor of Christ the King, where Kimmel attended church as a kid.
So it wasn’t exactly a surprise to learn this week that Kimmel is donating whatever profits he would receive at his Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club at Linq Promenade to Las Vegas charities. Kimmel is in a licensing agreement with Caesars Entertainment at the club, and plans to promote the venue on his late-night show by airing comics who are headlining.
The club’s formal opening is Friday night, and Kimmel will be on hand for a marquee-lighting ceremony and loosely scheduled night of comedy. Kimmel’s philanthropic
plan from JKCC is still taking shape, but once more, his hometown is benefiting from his good works.
Dance with the devil
A pair of Vegas favorites and a stellar production team are currently delivering the U.S. premiere of the original musical “Satango,” Cockroach Theatre Company’s 2018-19 season finale at Art Square Theatre, 1025 First St. The production runs 10 p.m. Fridays, 2 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 and 8 p.m. Sundays, through June 23 (tickets are $20 and $35, available at cockroachtheatre.com).
Carrying the show onstage are Toby Allen, known in Vegasville as the bass voice of Human Nature; and the extensively talented Savannah Smith of “Vegas! The Show” at V Theater at Miracle Mile Shops, and also the Prohibition-styled swing band The Moonshiners.
Keith Thompson (co-founder of The Composers Showcase of Las Vegas and a music director of many Strip productions, including “Jersey Boys”) is music director; and Wayne Harrison, an original writer and director of “Absinthe” and the late “Vegas Nocturne,” among many other stage credits, directs.
Though we know Allen from his role with Human Nature, which has spent a decade on the Strip, he’s also a celebrated musical-theater actor. Among his long list of achievements, he won the Helpmann Award (Australia’s equivalent of the Tony Award) for his role as The Emcee in “Cabaret” in 2002-03.
Thompson actually worked on that show, and the two reconnected after moving to Vegas. He leads the show’s five-piece band.
“Satango” is loaded with original music, written by veteran Australian musical-theater vets Stewart D’arrietta and Justin Fleming . The staging is advanced, featuring some set pieces from Human Nature tours (including screens showing a trio of slot machines). It is rare, in Las Vegas or anywhere, that a production with this much talent and stage experience is staged in a small-scale venue (Cockroach seats about 85 per performance).
The story, not incidentally, pairs Allen as the devil (Luciano Satani) with a force for good named Sofia Satango (Smith), who accidentally meanders into hell. These counter forces meet on the dance floor, where Sofia teaches Luciano how to tango for the upcoming, once-in-amillennium All Souls Ball (which sounds like a different kind of ball if you say it fast).
The two develop a mutual attraction, as Sofia cuts a deal to teach Luciano the dance steps. Further details are being kept quiet, justifiably, not to spoil plot twists. The show is rife with Vegas references, including a pizza delivery from Evel Pie, and extensive singing and dancing from Allen and Smith, who are onstage pretty much the entire 1 hour, 20 minutes. Alejandro Domingo (the show’s choreographer), Cat Farrow and Socorro Jones fill out the ensemble.
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. A 30-day grace period for 24-hour-a-day high occupancy vehicle lanes on portions of Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 95 ends on
June 20. There are multiple ways for a motorist to violate the new HOV lane regulations and face a $250 fine.
Infractions include:
Vehicles that don’t enter or exit the carpool lane at one of the broken line enter/ exit points.
Vehicles with just one occupant.
Electric cars, unless with two occupants, as per Nevada law.
Trucks with more than two axles, even with two occupants. As of 9 p.m. Wednesday:
1. Las Vegas man gets 5 to 13 years for beating dog, posting video online
Along with a charge of cruelty to animals, Daman Holmes, 36, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to one count of aggravated stalking.
2. Scott Gragson sued by man injured in deadly Las Vegas crash
A passenger who was thrown from a vehicle in a crash that left a woman dead in one of Las Vegas’ wealthiest neighborhoods filed a lawsuit against the driver, a prominent valley real estate broker.
3. 99-cent shrimp cocktail returns to downtown
Vegas
A downtown restaurant has resurrected a Las Vegas favorite with the Golden Gate Original Shrimp Cocktail.
4. Secondary principals: No confidence in CCSD superintendent Jesus Jara
Secondary principals across the Clark County School District voted no confidence in their superintendent, just two days after he announced in a video that he would eliminate all 170 dean positions.
5. Suspect in deadly shove of man on Las Vegas bus stays on house arrest
District Court Judge Douglas Herndon determined that Cadesha Bishop’s bail was appropriate for her charges, and set her trial for April2020. As of 9 p.m. Wednesday:
1. Man who beat dog and made death threats gets 5 to 13 years
Daman Holmes, the man who filmed himself beating a dog, while saying he would do the same and worse to women, was sentenced to
5 to 13 years.
2. Trial begins for man with wire left in his body after medical procedure
Openingstatements began in a trial where a man says a physician left a wire in his body during a heart procedure in 2005.
3. Woman accused of pushing man off bus appears in court
Cadesha Bishop, 25, accused of shoving a 74-yearold man to his death off a bus in Las Vegas, appeared briefly before a judge on a murder charge.