A few years ago, an entertainer who had performed in the early days of The Composers Showcase at the old Liberace Museum cabaret contacted event co-founder Keith Thompson about performing an original song at Myron’s at The Smith Center.
Thompson told the entertainer to send the song, adding, “I’ll talk to one of our sound guys.” Plural. “Sound guys?” the performer answered, stunned. The fact that TCS had any sound man was news to this entertainer, who had long left Las Vegas but was back on a visit.
The wonderful monthly showcase of Las Vegas original music has matured over two decades. Thompson leads the 20th-anniversary concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, the event’s first full performance at the 2,050-seat Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
The showcase was showcased once prior at Reynolds Hall, in 2019, featuring Las Vegas Philharmonic’s “A Very Vegas Showcase.” Thompson and then-Philharmonic Conductor Donato Cabrera co-directed the one-off production.
This concert is filled with composers, all from Las Vegas or with strong artistic ties to the city. Thompson arrived in town as music director of “We Will Rock You” at Paris Theater. He was happy to discover the city’s many talented, passionate composers.
“In my 40-plus years as a music professional in New York and living in Las Vegas since 2004, nothing has fed my soul or given me more fulfillment than producing and presenting The Composers Showcase,” Thompson says. “It has nurtured my own creative spirit, while giving me the opportunity to share the experience with countless other writers and creative artists.”
Wednesday’s performances will feature Grammy nominee and Dove Award winner Crystal Lewis, Grammy nominated singer/songwriter and Vegas favorite Clint Holmes, renowned pianist Philip Fortenberry, acclaimed vocalist and lyricist and Prince protege Elisa Fiorillo, popular Vegas singer-songwriter Chadwick Johnson, musical comedian Dennis Blair, Broadway veteran Mike Eldred (“Les Miserables,” “The Civil War,” “Jesus Christ Superstar”), Emmy nominee and indefatigable iTtunes chart topper Frankie Moreno, “Ka” music director and Broadway composer Richard Oberacker, “The Cocktail Cabaret” cast member and Broadway performer Niki Scalera (“Tarzan,” “Haispray”), California Music Hall of Famer and Billboard chart topping singer-songwriter Michael Peterson, and Vita Corimbi of “Menopause The Musical,” who performed the first TCS in in ‘06.
Many of these artists are recurring Myron’s headliners. Holmes, the first Las Vegas resident headliner in the cabaret room, celebrates his 80th birthday with a show on May 6. Oberacker showcased music for “Bandstand” at TSC. The project developed into the rare original Las Vegas production to run on Broadway, more than 200 shows total in 2017. Moreno once performed a series of 100 original compositions over a 10-show stretch in 2018.
TCS has played Myron’s (originally Cabaret Jazz) since The Smith Center opened in 2012. It opened at the since-closed Suede Restaurant, near Double Down Saloon, in April 2006. It crisscrossed the city, playing for a couple of years at Liberace Museum’s cabaret room, then Creative Studios, Garfield’s at the Lake at Desert Shore, and finally Cabaret Jazz.
Thompson is also honoring two individuals instrumental in TCS’s early development, the late co-founder Michael Brennan and the wonderful music director Wayne Green. These two artists gave the project its spirit when the idea of a monthly showcase of original music in Las Vegas was a hard sell even for supporters.
Today, it’s one of the great nights in music in Las Vegas, and the original Cool Hang Alert in this column.
Thompson says he is thrilled to celebrate the landmark. He is not finished, promising, “I’m hoping to carry on for many more.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.