Bally’s brings back new and old music icons, including Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga with return of ‘Legends in Concert’
Click here to see the August cast of 'Legends in Concert' at Bally's Atlantic City.
ATLANTIC CITY — When John Stuart created the first Legends in Concert show, which opening in May 1983 in Las Vegas, it was a novel idea, having a group of performers who not only looked like the stars they portrayed, but did their own singing. Part of the fascination for fans of the show was to hear the music and the style of someone who had passed away.
Back in the early 1980s, there were plenty of Elvis impersonators and Beatles shows like Beatlemania, but Stuart expanded the concept to encompass a much wider group of rotating tribute artists, including living artists as well as those on longer with us. One rule was essential, however: a Legends performance always ended with Elvis.
Stuart helped create and nurture the tribute artist world to the point that today there is an annual Celebrity Impersonators Convention in Las Vegas. Locally, the wildly popular Fakefest, featuring tribute bands, once again took place at the Deck at the Golden Nugget in June.
John Stuart is no longer involved in Legends in Concert, but his concept has been passed down to On Stage Entertainment, which is keeping the Legends’ torch lit with shows in Las Vegas, Branson, Mo., Myrtle Beach, S.C., Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Conn. and Waikiki, H.I.
Atlantic City, which hosted its first Legends show in 1985 at Bally’s (a long run ended in Oct. 31, 2005), plus return stops at Resorts and the Hilton, is back in town at Bally’s Palace Theater with a run through Sept. 4.
As always, the cast was marvelous, in particular the amazing Brian Duprey as Frank Sinatra, Coty Alexander as Madonna and a topflight Elvis brought to life by Kevin Mills.
The cast has just changed for the August portion of the run with Katie Murdock as Britney Spears, William Hall as Michael Jackson, Marcel Forstierri as Jay Leno, Coty Alexander now back as Lady Gaga, Kelly Smith as Cher and Kevin Mills staying on as Elvis.
Murdock had quite a hectic day when she arrived in Atlantic City on Tuesday from a gig at Foxwoods. After a cancelled flight, she only had about an hour’s worth of sleep, but had to go from check-in at the hotel, to rehearsal, to a performance that night. Plus a few minutes for an Atlantic City Weekly interview.
Such is the life of a tribute artist — not exactly the pampered life of the celebrities they impersonate.
Murdock performed as Spears in Atlantic City in 2007, so this is a return engagement for her. If you visit the Legends in Concert Web site, you will see a lot of different Sinatras, Michael Jacksons, a trio of Madonna and a slew of Elvis impersonators, but there is only one Britney Spears. So Miss Murdock, is that a tribute to your talent? “Probably,” laughs Murdock. “All the Britneys I’ve ever known, they lip-synched and I sing live. I’m lucky that I’m the only Britney [in Legends] so far.”
Songs in her portion of the show range from earlier Spears’ hits like “Oops I Did it Again,” to the title track from a more recent album, Circus. While Murdock says that sometimes the audience is quiet. “I go [from song to song] so fast they’re not sure when to clap but after the show I talk to people and they tell me they love it.” Murdock added that she’s been a fan of Spears, “Since high school and since I was in high school I was told I looked like her.” Since the real Britney will be in town this Saturday, I wondered what Murdock thought about that. “It will be really weird but cool — I wish I could go to her show but I’ll be working.”
The ‘Legends’ Cast
• Britney Spears — Katie Murdock
Katie Murdock grew up in Draper, Utah and has been singing since she was a child. Her mother influenced Katie by playing piano, writing music and singing. Her family recorded Katie along with her brothers and sisters in their basement studio, and sold the tapes in Utah retail outlets. Katie’s professional career began when she met a producer who was putting together a Britney Spears show in New Hampshire. She auditioned for the show and got the part. She joined the Las Vegas Legends in Concert show in 2005.
Plus MBCA scholarships and upcoming events, Drew Toonz, and the Album of the Week.
“Jersey people wouldn’t go see an Elvis act in Vegas more than once or twice, but our people have followed us for 30 years."
“The Heartbreakers have had so many hits we could play five hours and everybody would know all the songs.”
About 30 minutes till the end of her set, which included one encore, Spears announced to the capacity crowd at Boardwalk Hall that a "special guest" was in the audience.
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1. Anonymous said... on Aug 13, 2011 at 09:14AM
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