Claire Voyant

Las Vegas Online - June 15, 2007

LATE BREAKING NEWS!!!

Attended the VIP preview for Clint Holmes' biographical musical, Just Another Man, last Thursday.

This is a project that Holmes has been working on for years. An earlier incarnation, titled Comfortable Shoes, was produced and performed some time ago, the last time in 2002 during a six-week run at the Royal George Theatre in Chicago. For a time, the work in progress was called Breathe. Presented by the Nevada Conservatory Theatre, Just Another Man takes an up-close look at Clint's life, both past and present, including his rocky relationship with his father, his battle with cancer, dealing with a troubled teenage son, and his divorce following a three decades long marriage.

Just Another Man is not the story of just another man, it's the very personal story of Holmes' family. Written by Clint, Larry Moss and Bill Fayne, Just Another Man tells of the struggles and accomplishments of singer/entertainer (and now actor) Clint Holmes.

The tale takes the audience from 1944 through today - from the meeting of Clint's parents - his father, a black American jazz singer and, his mother, a white British opera singer - to his success as a Las Vegas headliner. The theater-piece features Holmes playing himself (using the name Rei Coles). He is supported by a fine cast that includes the oh so talented Tina Walsh, as Holmes mother; Earl Turner as his father; Reva Rice as his former wife; Gayle Steele, his real-life sister, playing his sister; and Tezz Yancey as his son. Other members of the acting/singing/dancing ensemble include Bill Fayne, Karole Foreman, Regi Brown, Kyla Grogan and Celeste Lero. The band is made up of Fayne, Jimmy Lockett, Tommy Steele (Clint's brother-in-law), Dave Hart, Darryl Williams, Tony De Augustine and Idalberto Perdomo.

An impressive turnout of community members filled UNLV's Judy Bayley Theatre for the VIP/media event last Thursday. Among the folks that we recognized (not necessarily in order of importance, but alphabetically), Bill Acosta and wife Jeanne Bavaro, David Atwell, Jenevi Bakch and husband Joe Schenk, Norm Clarke, Colleen Custer, Anthony Del Valle, Blair Farrington, Danny Gans, Pieter Grove, former Lt. Governor Lorraine Hunt and her husband, Dennis Bono, Ray Jarvis, Robin Leach, Joe Leone, Jerry Mettelus (the photographer who took the picture of Clint used in this week's column), Martin Nievera, Jerry Ritholz, the Scintas and Mike Weatherford.

We were very surprised, and a bit disappointed, to see this "work in progress" receive a very poor rating from a local theater critic. There have been many successful, long-running productions that may not have done as well without previews and out-of-town tryouts. This is the time when shows are tweaked and have the wrinkles ironed out. Not that we are making excuses for Just Another Man, but this should certainly be considered by anyone who sees the show at this stage, whether it be an audience member OR a critic. What we can say, without question, is, if there had been a CD available, Cousin Claire would have happily spent the money to take the songs (written by Holmes and Fayne) home and listen to them again.

We think the majority of the enthusiastic audience members who saw this production the night that we did, would agree with us. Just Another Man is having its worldwide premier at UNLV through June 24th. For performance dates and times and to purchase tickets, call (702) 895-2787.

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