When we checked-in at the Golden Nugget, we noticed tons of advertisements for Gordie Brown, an impressionist and singer, who is the hotel's headline performer. We didn't have plans for Christmas Day and Brown was performing with tickets still available, so we decided to go for it.
This is the best deal that we have ever had in Vegas. The tickets, a drink at the show and a buffet dinner, were $34.99 each. We were even given the best seats at the show and we were able to use the buffet passes for the special Christmas champagne dinner. The buffet was actually pretty good and we were made to think that it had special holiday offerings that were not normally available. Our server was very liberal with pouring the bubbly!
We ate in the afternoon, hours before the evening performance. Each table at the buffet had a Gordie Brown placemat. The advertising for the show is impossible to escape.
We picked tickets for the early show and we made our way to The Gordie Brown Showroom, about half an hour prior to the start, so that we would have enough time to enjoy our drink before the show. The drinks here are strong and large, another way that they exceeded my expectations based on the low cost.
We were not seated in the front row. However, I think that we had the best seats in the house. We were in the exact center of the front row of the back section. The theatre is fairly small and this meant that we were approximately eight rows back, but that we had the aisle in front of us, so we had that extra leg room.
The set is simple, just Brown and his band on a blank stage. Brown does a few things with props, like a hat, but mostly, it's just him. The ninety-odd minute show is a mix of his impressions ( often done with singing) and him telling jokes. Admittedly, the jokes are hit and miss. Some of them were corny and some were in poor taste. By poor taste, I mean that he brought up stuff like the Bill Cosby scandal. The audience actually groaned with the Cosby joke, no laughs. A lot of the jokes were very modern, TMZ/Celebrity gossip, that went over the heads of many of the mostly older audience members. We are middle-aged and we were definitely among the youngest audience members. I did laugh a few times, but not as much as I should have for the effort that he was putting forth.
The jokes were really an unnecessary part of the show and unfortunately, they undermined Brown's talent. Seriously, this guy is very talented. His impressions were spot on and not only that, he has a fantastic singing voice. I was genuinely wowed by his talent. I think if he kept the show classy and skipped a majority of the jokes, the show would be first-rate. Outside of the realm of this particular show, I'd definitely pay to see him sing in a band with original music. If he isn't already, he should be pursuing a singing career. I left the show thinking that Brown is better than this show allows him to be.
That said, with the buffet/show package, the price is a steal and definitely worth doing if you're looking for shows in Las Vegas.