Las Vegas headliners Tony Orlando and Wayne Newton have many shared showbiz stories and entertainment achievements to rank them as superstars for their fans of both yesterday and today.
But Orlando, 79, admits he and pal Newton, 81, haven’t shared the stage together for a double-bill live performance.
“I’ve known Wayne since 1962, and in fact, we even share the same April 3rd birthday, so I get to kid him that he’ll always be older than me,” said Orlando, speaking by telephone.
“Years ago, it was Andy Williams and Kenny Rogers who had their own theaters in Branson, and they persuaded me to come to Missouri and start my own theater, which I did in 1993 as the Yellow Ribbon Theater, and continued it until I sold it in 2013. I was the one who convinced Wayne, as well as Bobby Vinton, to both come to Branson and open his own theater.”
Orlando said he’s celebrating his 62nd year in show business and his 54th year performing in Las Vegas, with his current flagship showroom home playing the South Point Casino and Hotel just off the famed Sin City Strip.
At 6 p.m. May 13, Orlando and Newton are both sharing the spotlight for their duo concert at Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana in Gary, with both promising a blend of all their most famous hits and plenty of banter with the audience from stage.
Newton’s signature songs include “Danke Schoen,” “Daddy, Don’t You Walk So Fast” and “Red Roses for a Blue Lady,” while Orlando timeless tunes include “Tie a Yellow Ribbon,” “Knock Three Times” and “Sweet Gypsy Rose.”
Besides his concert touring, Orlando recalls he also had his first experience starring in a Broadway show in 1980 at the St. James Theatre playing the title role of circus legend PT Barnum in the musical “Barnum.”
But it was Orlando’s popular CBS TV variety show backed by Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent as the singing duo billed as Dawn which helped catapult the trio as household names.
“There was one episode when we had the great Phyllis Diller as our guest star and at the opening of the show, I’m introducing the guests, and I surprised her with a big hug, which ended up with my cuff link getting caught in her wig and I pulled her wig off by accident in front of the audience as we were taping the show,” Orlando said.
“I promised her I’d never air that part and she told me to definitely air it, because it would be the biggest laugh we’d ever get. And now, I see that clip is up on YouTube and people from new generations love seeing it.”
Orlando promises to share favorite show business behind the scenes banter with the audiences at Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana during the May 13 concert.
“One of the popular reoccurring sketches we would do on our variety show was Telma and Joyce playing a couple gals named Lou Effy and Moreen and they were based of the real aunts of Telma and Joyce,” Orlando said.
“When the three of us were first playing our show years ago at the Copacabana nightclub, Telma and Joyce would do those two characters as part of the act, and when the producers for the TV variety show were in the audience at the Copa, they decided to make it a reoccurring sketch for the TV variety show.
“And just like in the skit, these aunts in real life really would use beer or soda cans to curl their hair. When CBS President of Programming Fred Silverman caught that skit on our show, he loved it so much, he used it as the inspiration to create his own pair of characters called Laverne and Shirley for his ‘Happy Days’ spin off series when he went to ABC.”
Orlando describes his 2023 concert pairing with Newton as “an honor,” because of what he explains as “a similarity of careers.”
“Bobby Darin was a big influence early on for the careers of both myself and Wayne,” Orlando said.
“When I was starting out as this 16-year-old kid looking to get into this career, Bobby was the one who was my manager, and helped me get my first hit song, which I recorded with Carole King. Bobby also had so much to do with Wayne’s early success.
“I believe it was Bobby who produced Wayne’s hit ‘Red Roses for a Blue Lady.’ So when we are both up on that stage on May 13 in Indiana, we will both be looking up above and saying a ‘thank you’ to Bobby Darin.”
Tony Orlando and Wayne Newton
When: 6 p.m. May 13
Where: Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, 5400 W. 29th Ave., Gary
Cost: $69.50
Information: 219-228-2383; hardrockcasinonorthernindiana.com/entertainment
Philip Potempa is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
