Home / The Shows
four decades of The Shows
Four productions, five showrooms and one performer who kept the marquee lit while the hotels around him changed their names.
1985 – 2009 · Riviera
An Eveningat La Cage
The show that started everything. Marino was the star and mistress of ceremonies, playing Joan Rivers, in a revue that had been given three months to prove itself.
It ran for nearly twenty-four years in the same Riviera showroom — through the rise and fall of half the Strip — before playing its final performance on February 9, 2009. The cast learned it was over after the nine o’clock show.
- Room
- Riviera
- Run
- ~24 years
- Role
- Joan Rivers
2010 – 2018 · Imperial Palace / The Quad / The LINQ
Frank Marino’s Divas Las Vegas
Seventy-five minutes. His name above the title. An all-star company of female impersonators and a host who changed gowns between every single act.
The audition he paid for
When the Riviera went dark, no hotel was offering. So he and his co-producers financed their own showcase at the Imperial Palace over Labor Day weekend 2009 — with no commitment from the property — and let the room make the argument.
Officially open
Previews ran from that October. The show was declared officially open on February 25, 2010 — and that night he collected a second star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars.
One room, three marquees
The Imperial Palace became The Quad in 2012, and The Quad became The LINQ in 2014 after a $223 million renovation. He played all three without ever changing dressing rooms.
2022 · Westgate
The Red Carpet Brunch
A 125-seat cabaret built for him at the Westgate, where the audience walked a red carpet past mock paparazzi on the way to their table.
Bottomless mimosas, a full revue and the closest thing Las Vegas had to a private audience with the Queen. He called it his last hurrah at the time — which turned out to be premature by four years.
2024 – 2026 · 24 Oxford, Virgin Hotels
Divas, Drag & Drinks
Off the Strip and deliberately younger. The seventy-five-minute revue opened at 24 Oxford on April 7, 2024 and traded Joan Rivers for the divas of right now.
Beyoncé. Rihanna. Lizzo. Cher. P!nk. Britney. Same producer, same standards, a new century of playlist — and a room close enough to see the beadwork.
Closed. Final Las Vegas performances ran May 29–31, 2026, followed by closing dates at Don’s Celebrity Theatre, Riverside Resort in Laughlin that June.
The rooms