Danny Gans, longtime headliner at the Mirage (and more recently, Encore) hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, passed away early this morning at the age of 52. Early news is reporting he was having trouble breathing and/or died in his sleep. Whatever the cause, this is shocking news that will have reverberations in Las Vegas for quite some time.
When I first went to Las Vegas in 2001, Danny was already an established name on the Strip with a showroom at the Mirage. I had no idea who he was, but it didn’t take long for me to learn. He was the “man of many voices,” an extremely talented performer who was part impersonator, part singer, part comedian. I saw his show in 2004 on one of my many solo trips to Vegas. It was one of those shows with theater-style seating, so it was perfectly comfortable to go by myself. I had originally had a ticket to see Celine Dion, but she had to cancel her show due to strep throat or something. So I wound up seeing Danny instead. While I thought the ticket price was about $20 too high at $100, I was seated in the fifth row and had a great view.
Danny was a very funny guy with a great voice and a great backup band, and was very dexterous at bouncing between characters quickly without getting mixed up. Some of his impressions were better than others. I was most impressed with his duets of Jimmy Stewart and Kermit the Frog, Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole singing “Unforgettable”, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. (He was a riot as Dean Martin!) He was also amazingly good with some of the more contemporary singers—he sang one of Creed’s songs, and I swear he sounded just like them. I also enjoyed his impersonation of Jeff Foxworthy doing “you might be a redneck if” routine.
I am so glad I was able to see his show. If you didn’t have the opportunity, here is a promo of his show from Encore (courtesy of leslu2 at Youtube.com). The last clip is downright spooky now.
My sympathies go to his family, friends, fans and the Las Vegas entertainment community.
