Greg London

In The Shimmer Cabaret at the Las Vegas Hilton, Greg London performs a seventy-minute show imitating many musical artists throughout the last fifty years. His show is performed concert style complete with band and backup dancers. What is impressive is he is onstage ninety-five percent of the time, making only quick hat or wig changes from suitcases he has around the stage to become his intended performer. Initially it was difficult to determine if he was lip syncing or truly singing, but after a rendition of Tina Turner's "Private Dancer" it was obvious he was singing all of the songs.

The show opens with Greg discussing voices he hears in his head with a therapist, further leading him to believe he will become a professional impersonator. He then discusses his audition for Capitol Records. Throughout the audition, he sings songs by several artists, each time receiving a rejection. This is the premise of his show, both the voices in his head that lead him to his impressionist career and his audition, which he seems to summarize as not having as successful of a career as he would like.

Perhaps the impression that summarizes his career is a parody of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," which he sings as "stuck on a bad cruise ship." During this number he discusses all the terrible things about working on a cruise ship.

A trio of female dancers that were always dressed in a costume to suit the artist he was impersonating backs Greg. Often they were dressed in a risqué manner like all backup dancers, but they did wear the long beards for the ZZ Top impression, which is performed in front of a music video containing Greg. The dancers with the ZZ Top beards ride in a convertible along Paradise showing lots of footage of the Hilton; perhaps this is a new promotional piece for them.

Unfortunately, I was seated under a speaker and left with a nasty headache from the loud music. The Shimmer Cabaret is the perfect venue for a small show, and perhaps the small shows will become the backbone of Las Vegas entertainment since many people do not want to spend hundreds of dollars to see French Canadian artists contort their bodies into unnatural shapes. Greg spends several minutes discussing all the items he has for sale that are available after the show. Greg also greets the audience, poses for pictures and signs autographs after the show. Upon greeting him I discovered a man wearing a thick pancake of makeup, which up close gave his face a strong orange texture.

The show was very entertaining. The mixture of all different genres of music made something available for everyone. One of the great things was, since the songs were not performed in their entirety, if one impression was unfavorable another would be performed no less than two minutes later. The show is very family friendly, no foul language is used in any of the songs and there is even a duet Greg performs with Kermit the Frog that would appeal to children. Other than the artists already mentioned, Ozzy Osborne, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Ray Charles, Billy Joel, The Bee Gees, Rod Stewart and David Cassidy can also be seen impersonated during the show. Although the great Danny Gans is no longer with him, Greg London is perhaps the best impressionist show in town and is a great alternative to the mega circus shows in town.

Greg London
Nightly 8:30 PM
Imperial Palace
Phone: 800-222-5361
$39.99 (plus tax and service fees) and up.