Night Clubs Reviews

Jan 19, 2005 - The talents of Darren Romeo can't cover his much too thin show at Reno's Eldorado Hotel

By Jack Neal

As a protégé of one-time Las Vegas stars Siegfried and Roy, Darren Romeo has the talent to be a nightclub headliner, he just doesn't have the kind of production show that makes what he does first-rate entertainment.

With Siegfried and Roy's backing, money shouldn't be a problem and yet that's exactly the missing link Darren Romeo's "The Voice of Magic" now playing at Reno's Eldorado Hotel Casino. With Romeo, three female assistants and no more than one prop at any given moment, the stage in this lovely showroom looks pretty empty most of the time.

The gimmick, and it should be a good one, is that Romeo is every bit as good a singer as he is a magician (better even), hence the show's "Voice of Magic" moniker. That the entertainer is goodlooking, works hard to please and has a pleasing personality only makes one wish even more that someone had spent the time and money to give his show the chutzpah and class it needs.

Save for the Harry Blackstone, Jr. floating lightbulb illusion (used with permission from the magician's widow), the show's illusions of levitation, and a myriad of now-you-see it, now-you-don't stunts, most of Romeo's magic has been seen endlessly in these parts for years. So much for the jaded among us. Not all Reno visitors are as jaded as those of us who've been going to shows here for years. Meaning, of course, that Romeo's tried-and-true magic works best for the uninitiated.

It's his voice and his musical theater moves that could make the "Darren Romeo Show" something really special. The show's finale from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" is the evening's best moment. Singing "Music of the Night," and singing it well, Romeo has the dramatic intensity, voice and presence to become a nightclub stage personality of considerable note.

Good direction from someone who can avoid the contemporary cliches that menace so much of today's pop entertainment would be a major plus. Please, please don't ask an audience to stand so that they can bat a bouncing ball in the air. What's entertaining about that? And please, oh please don't turn up the house lights after "Music of the Night" as a prompt for the audience to give the show's star a standing ovation.

Audiences stand for most everything today. Cheap prompting isn't needed. With the right kind of show, Darren Romeo can - and will - earn his ovations.

Darren Romeo's "The Voice of Magic" can be seen at the Eldorado Hotel Casino, 44 North Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada, through February. For information call 775-348-9413.