You Can’t Refuse
A Mob Story at the Plaza is the first new, original production show to hit Fremont Street in a while, but it’s also a completely fresh take on the conventional variety show, and one that wisely takes advantage of the public’s ongoing fascination with organized crime in America.
Set in a beautifully renovated casino showroom with vintage Vegas vibes, A Mob Story has two secret weapons. The first is Michael Franzese, a real-life former mobster and former leader of the Colombo crime family whose presence and fascinating, authentic stories lend some serious gravitas to the stage. The second secret weapon is a powerhouse dance troupe that harnesses a relevant, rollicking soundtrack to add sex appeal and impressive energy to this unique new entertainment offering.
A Night of Sizzling Soul
It wasn’t long ago that the hottest concert ticket in the Vegas Valley could be found at the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV. This site has focused on specialty events in recent years, but every now and then another night of memorable music makes its way back to the Mack. That’s definitely the case on Nov. 17 when the Las Vegas Soul Festival brings a knockout lineup including pop princess Ashanti (“Foolish,” “Always on Time”), R&B chanteuse Keyshia Cole (“Love,” “Heaven Sent”), creative crooners Donnell Jones and Carl Thomas and hip-hop heavyweights O.T. Genasis (“Coco”) and Yung Joc (“It’s Goin’ Down”).
Around the Strip
Aria’s new restaurant Catch made quite the entrance with two nights of parties before Halloween. The grand opening celebration hooked The Chainsmokers, Floyd Mayweather, Jermaine Dupri, Tyson Beckford and Vegas Golden Knights William Karlsson, Alex Tuch and Malcolm Subban. The Casamigos tequila costume party on night two starred the brand’s co-founders George Clooney and Rande Gerber dressed as airline pilots and iconic supermodel (and Gerber’s wife) Cindy Crawford as a flight attendant, with celeb guests including Kendall Jenner, Joey Fatone, Gelila Bekele and Wolfgang Puck, Karolína Kurková, Marlon Wayans, Steve Aoki and his sister Devon Aoki and Nas.
The grand opening of Salt-N-Pepa’s I Love the ’90s—The Vegas Show at Paris Theater featured the quartet All-4-One and rousing rapper Rob Base along with the titular hip-hop superheroes. Their musical pals SWV, Al B. Sure and Mark McGrath danced along from their seldom-used seats.
Backstreet Boys Nick Carter, AJ McLean and Howie Dorough were among the guests of honor at the Grant a Gift Autism Foundation’s ninth annual Fashion for Autism Gala, the first-ever charity event held on the ice at T-Mobile Arena.
Absinthe celebrated its 4,000th show at Caesars Palace recently, culminating in a parade of the “stars of the Strip”—those questionably costumed buskers you know so well from Las Vegas Boulevard—through the aisles of the big white Spiegeltent.
Brock Radke is an award-winning entertainment reporter who has been covering the city since 2000, and interviews key movers and shakers on his All The Vegas podcast, available at allthevegas.com
