"Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding," the second longest running show in Off-Broadway history, has finally made its way to Las Vegas after having played in more than 40 American cities. The show opened on Jan. 31, for an indefinite engagement at the Rio in the Calypso Room. Tickets are $65 for general seating and $75 for special VIP seating. Performances are at 7 p.m., Wednesday through Monday. Call 702-777-7776 for information.

The theatrical interactive dinner show satires an Italian-American wedding with the audience participating in all aspects of the fictitious event from the wedding ceremony to the reception. The colorful characters include members of the "Nunzio" and "Vitale" families, Vinnie Black, the pregnant maid of honor Connie, and the ever-tipsy Father Mark. The most imaginative aspect of the long running show is its unpredictability.

Rome is coming to Las Vegas in the form of the new Colosseum showroom at Caesars Palace. The 100-foot-high, 4,000-seat, $65 million showroom being built to resemble its Roman namesake recently celebrated its "topping off" ceremony. The venue will open in March 2003 and host a musical production spectacular starring Celine Dion.

Two of rock 'n' roll's creators, Chuck Berry and Little Richard are set to co-headline in the MGM Grand's EFX Theatre on Sunday, Feb. 17. They will perform two sets together. Tickets are $50 and $60 plus tax and a handling fee, call 1-800-929-1111.

Berry is a musical icon who essentially established rock 'n' roll as a musical form instead of a hybrid of R&B and country. His songs "Johnny B. Goode," "Maybellene" and "Memphis" are some of the most recognizable rock 'n' roll songs of the century.

Little Richard emerged into the American consciousness in the mid-50s and gave us songs like "Tutti Frutti," "Long Tall Sally," "Lucille," and "Good Golly Miss Molly."

Both Berry and Little Richard were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

Greg Thompson, the producer of Harrah's sexy "Skintight" show, will be opening another late-night revue at the Rio, which is a sister property. The new show called "Showgirls" will open in the 1,470-seat Samba Theatre. The show's theme will be showgirls from the Ziegfeld era through to Madonna.

Debbie Reynolds' old hotel / casino, which is now the Greek Isles, plans to host three completely different shows by mid-March thus putting two showrooms back into usage. The first show that reinstated entertainment at the Greek Isles back in December was "Country Heroes & Divas" and it lasted less than a month. When the World Wrestling Federation bought the property from Reynolds, they did so with full intentions to demolish it and stripped the interior leaving it in need of repair.

The lineup of new shows begins with hypnotist Dr. Naughty, who has relocated his show from a run at Bourbon Street, into a 10:15 p.m. slot in the main showroom.

The second show sharing the room will be Fernando Quevedo's new production show featuring a cast of 20. Quevedo staged the "Beats of Passion" show at The Venetian last summer. Now the hotel will package his new show as a 7 p.m. dinner deal that will debut on March 1.

Magician Dixie Dooley will reopen Reynolds' smaller theater and movie memorable gallery in March with his "That's Magic" show.

The MGM Grand recently opened its latest gastronomic offering called Pearl. The modern Chinese Restaurant, with Western flair features authentic Cantonese and Shanghainese specialties, is located along the resort's Studio Walk.

The menu features select items in five categories from each cooking method: steamed, braised, baked and fried. Pearl also offers four prix fixe menus. The tea trolley includes the finest Chinese Tea selection prepared tableside with select filtered water.

Pearl's Western flair is evident with a dedicated wine cellar, an aperitif trolley and a digestif selection along with a Sommelier. The restaurant is open for dinner nightly from 5:30 to 11 p.m. Entree items range from $20 to $45 and the fixed menus list from $38 to $78 per person.

Light, the new high-rolling nightclub at the Bellagio opened with a star-laden crowd including Sting, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr., Courteney Cox with husband David Arquette, David Spade, and newly engaged Charlie Sheen with fianc‚e Denise Richards.

Even though you may see billboards and taxi tops around town touting the comedy team Mario & Daniel as co-headliners with Charo in the show "Bravo" in the Showroom at The Venetian, the pairing is no longer. "Bravo" only boasts one star now and the remaining name is Charo.

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During February, "Papa" Joe Chevalier, one of the nation's most-listened to sports radio hosts, is broadcasting his national weekday program live from the radio booth in the Mandalay Bay's Rack and Sport's Book. Fans are invited to visit Papa Joe and watch him broadcast his show from 3 to 7 p.m. (PST), Monday through Friday.

Interesting news, Tropicana-owner Aztar has announced that it plans to purchase the remaining 50 percent of Tropicana Enterprises for $117.5 million.

This deal includes the site where the south Strip mega-resort sits. The purchase would potentially lead to a redevelopment of the property that was built in the 1950s.

Aztar executives want to create two separate but linked 17-acre developments at the site, both of which would sit along the Strip. The two properties could each consist of 2,000 to 3,000 rooms and cost between $600 to $700 million. If these plans come about, it won't be for a long time. Meanwhile, the Tropicana will continue its current operations.

Another note on the Tropicana, the table games that were prominently displayed under the magnificent stained glass coffered ceiling when you entered the front door have been relocated so that slots could take over the area.

Frank Marino, star of the Riviera's "An Evening at La Cage," is celebrating his 20th anniversary in show business by producing and selling a four-color poster featuring his many looks through the years. From an early Joan Rivers to his current Rivers, from a Lana Turner look-a-like to a Ru Paul impression, the poster reflects it all.

The photo sessions, according to Marino who has a ten million-dollar contract, cost over $20,000. The posters can be purchased through his Web site at www.frankmarino.com and soon they will be available in all the Riviera gift shops.

Park Place Entertainment, the parent company for Caesars Palace, Flamingo Las Vegas, Bally's, Paris, the Las Vegas Hilton, and 23 more properties worldwide, has unified all its casino player loyalty clubs under a single umbrella program - Park Place Connection.

To launch the new program, Caesars Palace is offering daily drawings at 7 p.m. through March 29. Daily drawing prizes include $500 cash, gourmet dinner for two valued at $200, two tickets to Caesars Magical Empire, dinner for two at Cafe Lago and dinner for two at The Palatium buffet. Entrants must be present to win.

The five daily drawing winners each day will be entered in the Fantasy Sweepstakes drawing. The grand prize in the sweepstakes is a fantasy vacation for up to eight persons at Caesars Palace. The winner will stay in the "Rain Man" suite and enjoy a private dinner party catered by a celebrity chef, golfing at the Cascata course, complimentary transportation, a $1,000 shopping spree, and more.

There are other ways to earn entries into the sweepstakes drawing. You receive one free entry by enrolling in the Park Place Connection players club. For every 20 points earned playing slots, a cardholder earns an additional entry into the drawing. There is a limit of 50 total entries a member may receive per day and per property.

You'd have to be sleeping under a rock not to know that the proposed April 6 heavyweight championship bout between Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis at the MGM Grand Garden Arena is off since the Nevada Athletic Commission denied Tyson the right to box in the state. The MGM is rallying by trying to book a Paul McCartney concert on April 6.

The newest wax lifelike figure to join the cast at Madame Tussaud's Celebrity Encounter at The Venetian is Princess Diana. The 30,000-square-foot attraction features more than 100 wax figures.

Looking for a great cigar room, try Havana Dee's Cigar Lounge and Piano Bar at Del Frisco's on Paradise Road. The intimate room features dark woods, dimly lit chandeliers and overstuffed leather chairs and couches. The lounge has private humidors, as well as, a built-in humidor containing over 50 varieties of premium cigars.

It's truly amazing, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for the first time in its history is hosting eight shows simultaneously during the nine-day period from Feb. 6-14. The shows are attracting 67,000 attendees and occupying more than 1.7 million gross square feet. This mile marker occasion wasn't possible until the recently completed expansion added an additional 1.3 million square feet of space to the convention center, bringing the venue's total square footage to 3.2 million.

Local entertainer Tony Sacca was recently presented the Key to the City from Mayor Oscar Goodman. As producer and host of the weekly syndicated television show "Entertainment Las Vegas Style," Sacca has been promoting the entertainment capitol locally and nationally for over 16 years. His song "Las Vegas The Greatest Town Around" has been included in the Las Vegas Time Capsule and it is the theme song for his weekly television show.

The Las Vegas Arabian Horse Association will hold its 37th annual Class A horse show March 8-10 at Horseman's park, 5800 E. Flamingo Road. The horse show begins at 8 a.m. each day and is free and open to the public. For information, call 702-655-3475.

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