Jimmy Kimmel celebrates on the Las Vegas Strip | Kats | Entertainment

Jimmy Kimmel once made a tour stop in Las Vegas and hardly anyone knew about it.

Kimmel, one of the city's most popular sons and a graduate of Clark High and Kenny Guinn Middle School (who also hosts a popular late-night talk show), visited the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in October 2019.

That day, an idea was born: to invite Kimmel to be honored at the annual Keep Memory Alive Power of Love gala. The stars and the constellation aligned for Kimmel to be honored at the February 22 event at the MGM Grand Garden.

Kimmel has announced that he will not return to host the Academy Awards, scheduled for March 22. Ruvo Center co-founder Larry Ruvo confirmed on Monday that Kimmel would be honored at the next Power of Love event.

Hosting the Oscars had been an obstacle for Kimmel to commit to being the honoree of the event (although he was present when Neil Diamond was honored in 2019 and introduced the pop legend).

Preparations for the Oscars have even disrupted Kimmel's main appearance as host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

The 56-year-old talk show icon said on the Politickin podcast this month: “When it comes to something like the Oscars, I'm all in. I think about it in the morning and at night, and when I have ideas, I want to work on them, and then my nightly show feels like a chore. You put everything off until after the Oscars, and you have to do everything you said you were going to do after the Oscars.”

During his first visit to the Ruvo Center in 2019, Kimmel spent over an hour learning about the facility's initiatives to combat a range of brain diseases. Cleveland Clinic Director Dr. Dylan Wint; Dr. Dietmar Cordes; Co-founder of the center Camille Ruvo; Board member Michael Severino; and Kimmel's longtime friend, a Las Vegas marketing veteran Jim Gentlemantook part.

Dr. Cordes' presentation was packed with medical data and focused on the center's many treatments and initiatives. “I know all this,” Kimmel said. “I went to UNLV.”

The introduction… @NeilDiamond @JimmyKimmelLive #LarryRuvo #PowerOfLove … great comment from Neil on his proclamation of Neil Diamond Day … @ReviewJournal pic.twitter.com/HimaOj2P1m

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) 8 March 2020

Strip Hit Preparations for 25

Quick quiz: Which Las Vegas production has performed more than 10,000 shows in front of over 2.5 million viewers and is soon celebrating its 25th anniversary?

If you said “Sydney After Dark” you would be completely missing the point.

“Fantasy” at the Luxor is this show. Anita Mann The production giant opened in 1999 under the name “Midnight Fantasy” and soon changed its show times and titles, but remained consistent on stage.

To mark the 25th anniversary in October this year, Mann hired the choreographer of “Eras Tour” and “La La Land”. Mandy MooreDancing With the Stars Champions Val Chmerkovskiy And Jennifer Lopez; famous choreographer Chris Judd (who worked on the show about a decade ago) and former cast member Yessi Burgess, who is now the house director at Voltaire at the Venetian and has worked with headliners such as Kylie Minogue And Jason Derulo.

Lorena Dangera great singer of the national anthem and avid 49ers fan, remains the main singer of the show.

Moore also received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Choreography for her work on the 2024 Academy Awards. This sort of thing can certainly happen in the world of a choreographer, especially if you're Moore, who has already won three Emmys.

“It's a little crazy and a little confusing,” Moore said at a recent rehearsal. “But it's television, not cinema.”

Moore was also honored in 2017 for “Dancing with the Stars,” in 2018 for “So You Think You Can Dance,” and in 2020 for “Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist.”

The veteran dance designer is a close friend of Mann's and is working on a new opening and closing act for the 25th anniversary. The new music will be composed by District 78, which has worked on “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Dancing with the Stars,” “The Masked Singer” and “America's Best Dance Crew.”

“Fantasy” began with a six-month contract. The contract with the host hotel remained intact despite changes in ownership and multiple presidents and general managers. Despite the original title, the clock never struck midnight on this show.

See you later for Nate

Standing Headliner Nate Bargatze has postponed its October performance at the Encore Theater due to a conflict with the television production. Bargatze is back on January 8th and 10/11th. He will perform six shows on those three dates (7:30pm and 10pm). We boldly predict that they will all be sold out.

Great moments on social media

Historic Vids (@historyinmmes), one of my favorite followers on X, posted a showdown clip from The Price Is Right from 1973. A blue AMC Gremlin (with luggage rack and AM radio), a trip to Las Vegas with a stop in the Sahara, $500 in silver dollars was worth $3,433.

Contestant “Silvia” bid $3,000 and won. Hopefully she had fun seeing (maybe) Sonny and Cher at the Congo Showroom.

Cool Hang Alarm

Bruce Harper Big Band with Naomi Mauro fills Myron's with powerful horn sounds on Tuesday at 7 p.m. It's an evening of jazz standards with Mauro leading Harper's 17-piece troupe. A wide range of music is on offer, from the Beatles to Steve Allen to Antônio Carlos Jobin. For more information, visit smithcenterlv.com.

John Katsilometes' column appears daily in Section A. His podcast, “PodKats!”, can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.