Night Clubs Reviews

Feb 12, 2002 - The Gordie Brown Show Revisited Over Dinner at Harrah's Reno

By Jack Neal

Many good things in life get better with time. Such is the case with impressionist Gordie Brown, whose one-man show was attracting overflow crowds six months ago in Sammy's Showroom at Harrah's Hotel Casino in Reno when last I saw his show and still is.

And for good reason.

Brown, and the myriad of stars who visit his show through his impersonations, is an enormously gifted stage presence and is equally enormously entertaining. To make the Gordie Brown Show even more enticing, Harrah's is wrapping the star in a dinner-show package (Saturdays only) that is reminiscent of the glory days of star entertainment in this legendary venue. That the food is not quite up to glory-day standards is something that may also, like Mr. Brown, just get better with time.

What remains obvious from my third viewing (2/9/2002) of this dynamic entertainer is that he still packs lightning-rod energy into all he does and and all that electric energy continues to pay off.

Backed by a seven-piece band that really cooks, Brown sizzles his way through almost as many impressions as there are stars in the heaven. Jack Nicholson becomes a waiter at Planet Hollywood and he's as manic as ever. The faces of Robert De Niro and Clint Eastwood show up as craggy road maps on Brown's handsome, crunched up profile.

Tom Jones gets his due. "Ladies still throw their undies at Jones," Brown intones, "only now (with reference to aging, broadening posteriors) they look like flying tents in a wind storm." He does an extended Sammy Davis, Jr. with vibrant renditions of "Mr. Bojangles" and "What Kind of Fool Am I?". The tireless Brown also touches bases with Elvis, Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, Rod Stewart, Louis Armstrong (a nostalgic "What A Wonderful World") and Stevie Wonder to mention but a few bases that are touched in his power packed 75-minute show.

Glib, nimble and physically graceful, Brown pours on the charm and works an audience mercilously, delightfully and ever so engagingly. His penchant for the ad lib is virtuosic, opening up ringside spectators to having portions of their lives woven into the fabric of the show's dialog. Lines and new lyrics flow adroitly off Brown's tongue in a barrage of oneliners that are entertaining for all, fun for the objects of his attention and a bonding experience, star to audience and audience to star, that continues to boost Brown's popularity with the public to near cult status.

At the center of Brown's talent for mimcry is an excellent singing voice, a face as pliable as Jim Carrey's, a keen acting ability and a marvelous sense of timing. The show has set pieces, but much of it runs on Brown's ability to make things up as he goes along. Which of course makes playing in the band, running the follow spots and managing his sound an especially edge-of-one's-seat set of collaborations. Happily all are managed without a hitch.

About the only thing still missing from the Gordie Brown Show are any minutes away from playing someone else that would personalize the entertainer and anchor him as a personality with his own special persona. It's a minor omission unlikely to bother paying customers. It's an omission, however, that might make show-business longevity more fleeting than it should be for an exceptional performer who has so much talent and knock-'em-dead pizzazz.

The Gordie Brown Show plays Harrah's Sammy's Show Room, 219 North Center Street, Reno, Sundays through Tuesdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 (dinner available) and 9:30 p.m. For information call 775-788 2900 or 1-800-427-7247.