LEGENDS IN CONCERT
Muckleshoot Casino (Club Galaxy), Auburn, WA
Produced and Directed by OnStage Entertainment
Shows are seasonal and are on rotation

For my first review of the New Year I had originally planned to review LEGENDS IN CONCERT’S ‘mother’ show here in Las Vegas. However, in mid December, I was booked in Seattle performing for a corporate holiday event for Microsoft and a few of my co-workers and I decided to visit our “Legends” friends performing at a casino - about a 25 minute drive from our Seatac located hotel.

The casino is small but nice in the town of Auburn, WA. We caught the Saturday matinee show at 1pm. This is a compact version of “LEGENDS” that featured 2 male performers who represent the ‘new blood’ currently working for the “LEGENDS” family and one female veteran. The show, in a spacious open lounge called “Club Galaxy”, is free to attend and also features 2 female singer/dancers, performing and changing costumes intermittently throughout the show.

Matt Ryan opens the show as “Bruce Springsteen”. Ryan, who I had first worked with and befriended a few years back at a corporate booking for “LEGENDS” (his first), is a very close look-alike/sound-alike for the “Boss”.
Like so many others that begin to work on a steady basis, Ryan has refined his impersonation. He has the character down to a “T” - mannerisms and all. He is, without a doubt, the top “Springsteen” tribute artist in the country.
The only flaw that I saw in his segment is that he never plays any leads on the guitar as Bruce does. For that matter - I have never been able to hear his guitar above the other musicians.

Speaking of which, the 4-piece back-up band did a fine job of dynamically playing Springsteen’s rock music without sounding like a typical lounge band - a complaint I have always had about the larger “Legends” house band in Las Vegas.
The sound system also was much clearer and had more presence then the overly compressed sound in the Imperial Palace showroom.

Kimberly Goldtree appears next as “Madonna”. Goldtree, who has been working on and off now for LEGENDS for many years, has never really been a close look-alike for the “Material Girl”. As a matter of fact, these days she actually favors Melanie Griffith.

However, Goldtree has ALWAYS been an excellent performer and vocalist. She has so much stage personality and energy that one may wonder why she never attempted her own show (as herself). The more experienced Goldtree takes control of the stage and audience in a way that sets her apart from her other two cast mates. She involves the audience and they seem to love it, which is impressive since the average age of this audience was 60 and one would think that Madonna would not be at the top of their ‘favorites’ list. Well, the real Madonna may not be, but Goldtree has won them over by the time her first song is finished.

Goldtree brings forth her own personality into the character and even turns Madonna’s former back east accent into a parody - something the real Madonna has done recently with her newly acquired on again/off again ‘British’ accent.
I’d have to say that in this particular case, straying from the persona of the real performer works to Goldtree’s (and the show’s) advantage.
Ryan Pelton closes the show as “Elvis”. Co-incidentally, I also got to work alongside and befriend Ryan at his debut “LEGENDS” booking a few years ago as we performed aboard the now defunct Premiere Cruise line.

Pelton has always had an incredible resemblance to a young Elvis and has become one of the top 5 Elvis look-alikes in the country. He was even featured in an August 2002 article in TV Guide during all the media hoopla concerning the 25th anniversary of Elvis’ death.
When we first worked together it was obvious that his weaknesses were his vocal ability and stage presence/personality. However, while he still might be classified as average in these 2 departments, he has gotten stronger and, I’m guessing, will continue to do so as he is constantly booked.

As is traditional with LEGENDS ‘Elvi’, Pelton begins his show as the 50’s “King” and after a few numbers, departs the stage to reappear as the 70’s Vegas “King”. This was the first time I actually got to see him perform as the latter era “Elvis” and I feel he still needs to put some more mileage under his jumpsuit belt before he takes on the 70’s vocals which are more challenging.

Then again, for all I know, to the good people of Muckleshoot, he might have sounded EXACTLY like Presley.

For whatever reason, Pelton chooses to close his show with a song that he simply is not ready to handle …”If I Can Dream”. This was Elvis’ closing number in his historical 1968 TV “Comeback” Special and also one of the toughest songs for ANY Elvis tribute artist to replicate - not just vocally, but emotionally as well.

Pelton does seem like he is having a good time with the audience and at times even got ‘playful’ (although why he kept going into Boy George’s “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” seemed to be an inside joke that remained a mystery to all of us in audience land).

Pelton and his 2 cast mates close with the standard “Viva Las Vegas” finale and leave the stage only to reappear for some “Meet & Greet”, autograph signing, picture taking, and hawking.

I was glad we made the trip to see the show. One thing’s for sure… no one in the audience could ever debate that they didn’t get their money’s worth.

The FAB FOUR 11/03

TRENT CARLINI (The Dream King) 12/03

LEGENDS - MUCKLESHOOT 1/04

The REEL AWARDS 3/04

TJ TYLER'S KARAOKE PARTY 5/04

LEGENDS IN CONCERT 7/04

STARS IN CONCERT 8/04

DANNY GANS 9/04

PERFORMING AS 10/04