David Cassidy on the Web
Mr. Vegas? How about Mr. Cassidy?
August 1, 1999
By John Katsilometes
www.lasvegassun.com
It's an underlying, unspoken competition. But it's spirited, you bet.
It's the ongoing jockeying for the title: "Mr. Vegas."
Mirage-bound Danny Gans is in. He'll be a top contender for a decade, at least. Wayne Newton is still in, but might have to accept the label, "Mr. Vegas Emeritus." Siegfried and Roy are always in the hunt. Plenty of fringe players come and go, but only occasionally (see Gans) does a dark-horse entertainer ascend to the level of "Mr. Vegas."
Consider David Cassidy in the game.
A generation ago he was a hippie-lookin' kid starring in a sitcom about a rock 'n' roll family driving a multicolored bus. They played ersatz music that made The Archies appear cutting-edge by comparison. Even the tambourine player needed a stand-in. This crew would've been laughed off the Strip; Frank Sinatra would've taken one look at Danny Partridge/Bonaduce and slapped the kid.
But Cassidy turned out to be the real thing -- a wicked musician (he played a wailing guitar in the old days) with a fine voice and well-polished acting skills. He became a star on Broadway, dusting teeny-bopper contemporaries like Bobby Sherman.
A little less than three years ago, Cassidy replaced Michael Crawford in "EFX" at the MGM Grand. Detractors who remembered Cassidy from his Keith Partridge days were stunned that he could carry a high-energy, high-tech production show. Cassidy fulfilled his "EFX" contract, then left the show in January.
But Cassidy didn't leave Las Vegas.
Having performed all over the world, filling stadiums during his "Partridge Family" heyday, Cassidy found he liked it here. Any opportunity was, almost literally, in his back yard.
"I'm tired of moving around," Cassidy said Wednesday during a news conference announcing his affiliation with the Rio, where he'll replace Gans in the Copacabana Showroom beginning in January. "It's been two years here, three years there. Why should I keep doing that? Everything I've ever dreamed of is right here."
Besides, Cassidy's 8-year-old son, Beau, is attending public school and playing T-ball. His wife, Sue, is involved with the EAT'M music conference. Both Cassidys have taken a keen interest locally in raising money for the Special Olympics.
After leaving "EFX" Cassidy embarked on a project at the Desert Inn hotel-casino that is both shrewd and heartfelt, co-producing (with Don Reo) "The Rat Pack is Back." It can be cynically viewed as a pure money-making venture, tying Cassidy's name to a show that nostalgically resurrects the happiness and high times of old Vegas.
But Cassidy displayed his fondness for the Sinatra era, hopping onstage occasionally as Bobby Darin to sing "Mack the Knife."
Hello, Mr. Vegas.
Cassidy will be at the Rio for two years at least. There is talk of him producing an additional show for the Rio's new 1,500-seat showroom, which opens next spring. Or it's possible Cassidy's own $50-a-ticket show -- a musical loosely based on his own life -- will itself be moved to the big room.
In just a couple years Cassidy's local roots are deep. But deep enough to be Mr. Vegas? With a grin, he replied, "I'd take it as the ultimate compliment."
