Haven't blogged for some time as we've been busy. So for a change of pace, wife Mari and I decided to take advantage of an offer from Bellagio which I'll blog about later. I'm not a big fan of the Strip unless we are showing guests the sites. But this offer included 2-for-1 tickets at any of the shows at the Mirage. The choice was easy.
Friend Kevin had raved about Terry Fator, the singer/impersonator/ventriloquist who after 25 years in the business had become an overnight success by winning America's Got Talent. Now he is the headliner in a major Las Vegas showroom named for him. Mari wasn't keen on seeing Terry because she thought "silly puppets just make her feel creepy". I promised there would lots of good music. I was right.
First, let me say that Terry Fator can really sing. He won the talent show when his 'Winston the Turtle' did a dead-on impersonation of Roy Orbison's 'Blue Bayou'. There aren't many singers who would try singing Roy let alone without moving their lips and emoting through a puppet's gestures. Of course, Winston takes all the credit!
Terry brings out lots of other puppets including the 'Crash Test Dummy', 'Duggie, the Most Annoying Next Door Neighbor', 'Vicki, the Cougar', and 'Maynard, The Worst Elvis Impersonator' to impersonate many, many singers that Boomers immediately identify. The crowd of 2,000 fans get into each of them so I can't fault the critic who claimed that although his 'guests' sang up a storm, Terry himself could not really sing.
For a touching finale, Terry and Winston sang a duet of 'It's a Wonderful World' with Winston doing Kermit the Frog and Terry doing Louis Armstrong. Instant standing ovation. Laugh, cry, chuckle, think, amaze.
I'm high on Terry for a few other reasons. First, it was obvious that he was laboring under at least hay fever if not a full out-and-out cold and made no excuses. Second, after he performed for almost a full two exhausting hours he was soaking in sweat from the effort. And third, at the start he and Winston announced that (unlike all the other shows I've been to) it is OK to take pictures with flashes and even videotape a song or two! You don't have to go to Vegas to see Terry. There are dozens of amateur videos of him performing on YouTube. Or you can go to http://www.terryfator.com/ for better quality videos.
Friend Kevin had raved about Terry Fator, the singer/impersonator/ventriloquist who after 25 years in the business had become an overnight success by winning America's Got Talent. Now he is the headliner in a major Las Vegas showroom named for him. Mari wasn't keen on seeing Terry because she thought "silly puppets just make her feel creepy". I promised there would lots of good music. I was right.
First, let me say that Terry Fator can really sing. He won the talent show when his 'Winston the Turtle' did a dead-on impersonation of Roy Orbison's 'Blue Bayou'. There aren't many singers who would try singing Roy let alone without moving their lips and emoting through a puppet's gestures. Of course, Winston takes all the credit!
Terry brings out lots of other puppets including the 'Crash Test Dummy', 'Duggie, the Most Annoying Next Door Neighbor', 'Vicki, the Cougar', and 'Maynard, The Worst Elvis Impersonator' to impersonate many, many singers that Boomers immediately identify. The crowd of 2,000 fans get into each of them so I can't fault the critic who claimed that although his 'guests' sang up a storm, Terry himself could not really sing.
For a touching finale, Terry and Winston sang a duet of 'It's a Wonderful World' with Winston doing Kermit the Frog and Terry doing Louis Armstrong. Instant standing ovation. Laugh, cry, chuckle, think, amaze.
I'm high on Terry for a few other reasons. First, it was obvious that he was laboring under at least hay fever if not a full out-and-out cold and made no excuses. Second, after he performed for almost a full two exhausting hours he was soaking in sweat from the effort. And third, at the start he and Winston announced that (unlike all the other shows I've been to) it is OK to take pictures with flashes and even videotape a song or two! You don't have to go to Vegas to see Terry. There are dozens of amateur videos of him performing on YouTube. Or you can go to http://www.terryfator.com/ for better quality videos.
