Tin Pan Alley Cats on stage

Performer enhances Starbright Theater productions

Even though her brand of entertainment is far from the beloved hijinks of the Rat Pack, you could say Jeanne Brei is a lot like Frank Sinatra.

They've both played Vegas, and they've both done it their way.

Brei, a New York City transplant since she moved to Las Vegas in 1995, is the writer, producer, performer and the force behind Tin Pan Alley Cat Entertainment.

The Lakes-area resident is known in Summerlin and other Sun City and Anthem neighborhoods thanks to her popular cabaret-style shows, such as the "It's Make Believe Ballroom Time" show that drew a sizable audience to the Starbright Theatre in May.

Now Brei is keeping busy pitching a new idea to venues off the Strip and even downtown. She's keeping quiet on the details, but rest assured that the show is New York cabaret flavored.

"It's kind of like Vegas B.C., like who was there at the opening nights at some of the famous showrooms in town," she said. "I'd love to do something historical like that, and I think it's vintage Vegas."

Brei grew up in Colorado, tap dancing and singing to the music of the 1920s, '30s and '40s. After graduating from Northwestern University in the Chicago area, she headed off to New York and performed in several off-Broadway productions. She also wrote, produced, directed and starred in three cabaret productions, two of which featured her own band, the Tin Pan Alley Cats.

Brei has since sung and performed all over the country, and in Las Vegas with the Nevada Opera Theatre, Nevada Chamber Symphony and the Nevada Performing Arts Society at the Debbie Reynolds Hotel.

With that hotel out of commission, there are not a lot of venues available to the all-singing, all-dancing, sometimes naughty and always funny style of show Brei is good at. But that doesn't change the fact that there is a local audience for her particular entertainment niche, she said.

"People love this music but they don't always know they do until they hear it," she said. "The Sun Cities love these shows because its big live music with an orchestra, they can dance, and they know this stuff. But most of the time there's no place to do this kind of thing here.

"I tried doing the lounge thing at a hotel but it was totally different. The casinos only want you to sound good, like on the radio, so people don't get off the slot machines to come check it out. The audience is there for cabaret shows, but the venue is not yet."

Having a perfect place to play hasn't prevented Brei from going the extra mile in her Sun City productions. She frequently employs residents of those neighborhoods to perform as dancers in the shows.

"The last one we had a huge cast of Copa Girls, and we got some Sun City Summerlin residents for that," she said. "They had an absolute blast, and most of them were old pros that had been dancers or performers. It was great to feature them and kind of honor the community that way."

Between planning the next local show, shopping new ideas around town and performing in other cities, Brei stays pretty busy. Last year, she even made her first venture into the world of television, producing a PBS special on Maceo Anderson.

While Las Vegas and New York are vastly different entertainment cities, Brei said she will continue to focus on her specialty type of cabaret production.

"It might be easier to do something like this in New York, if you find the right people," she said. "It's tougher to sell this niche here, but the audience is there. And it's what I do."


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