And, while continuing with the Halloween-theme, we got this follow-up to BOO!, the musical revue that played at the Starbright Theatre in Sun City Summerlin last weekend...
Audience reaction to BOO! was great - with lots of enthusiastic praise for the selection of music, the beautiful costumes and the elaborate (and spooky) sets. The show itself went off without a hitch. Not one of the hundreds of technical cues (lights, music, slides) went awry. Several audience members, who stayed after the show to meet the stars, sisters Lisa and Ina Jo Donovan, marveled at "the variety of music from eight different decades" contained in the show. Others said they were "flabbergasted" that the sisters portrayed five different characters in totally different costumes in the course of the show. Prior to her Saturday night performance at the Starbright, Lisa Donovan, who also wrote and directed BOO!, sang before a live audiences at Dennis Bono's nationally-syndicated radio show, broadcast from Michael Gaughan's South Point Casino & Hotel, and at Ed Matthews' weekly shows at the Gold Coast and Suncoast. Those appearances have resulted in talks about the possibility of Lisa cutting down on her guest star appearances on several different cruise lines and performing again on a regular basis at a Las Vegas venue. It will be recalled that some years back the late great Jack Eglash, then entertainment director of the Desert Inn, saw Lisa perform with George Burns at Caesars Palace. He and Burton Cohen, who ran the Desert Inn, offered Lisa a three-week gig. Lisa, alternating shows six nights a week in that great lounge with the legendary Keely Smith and other name performers, was so successful in filling the room with locals as well as visiting tourists, that her three-week booking turned into nine months. Local historians will remember that Lisa's run ended when Sheraton took over the DI and changed the entertainment policy in the lounge. Look for the talented Donovan sisters names on a marquee near you.
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