Pop, Jazz : Newton in a Disney-Deep Romp

The saucer-shaped room goes black. There is a blaring fanfare, a flurry of motion in the darkness. Something big is coming, something Wayne Newton . Suddenly a looming, black-garbed presence is illuminated in a stab of white. A shriek rises from 2,000 throats: Aaiiieeee! This man has no soul!

Just kidding. They were actually screams of love, as Newton brought Las Vegas to Anaheim’s Celebrity Theatre on Saturday. The two-hour-plus show showcased a highly likable entertainer, with a still-youthful tenor voice that’s serviceable, if not nearly on a par in character or ability with those of Vegas greats Sinatra, Elvis and Tom Jones. And even when Newton’s act seemed to be a self-parody, there was no mistaking his genuine affection for his audience.

But Newton must be a born celebrity, because it’s hard to see what he ever did to become one. Unlike Elvis and other talents whose originality was deep-fried by the Vegas showrooms, Newton never was that unique an artist. That showed in his shtick-stuffed performance, which--aside from his ‘60s potatoes “Danke Schoen” and “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast”--was a Disney-deep romp through the work of Presley, Sam Cooke and others. Included was a version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” so smarmy, slick and disco-ized that it could have put Paul Simon into his grave and made him spin.