Maria S. Dias, Reno Gazette Journal-Greg London

Harrah's Reviews

Saturday, 01 September 2007 00:00

Greg London does impressions, and it would be accurate to call him an impressionist. But Greg London’s "Icons", which premiered in July at Harrah’s Reno , isn’t a typical string-of-impersonations show with each personality occupying a few minutes of stage time before making room for the next. It’s theater, and it’s what London said he always has wanted to do. London does much more than mimic celebrities during his act, which runs five nights per week in Sammy’s Showroom. He tells a story, the entertainer spins a tale of a young man who struggles to break into show business, but he constantly is drawn back to his true calling: celebrity impersonations. "I don’t call myself an impressionist," London said in an interview on the evening of his 11th Harrah’s performance. "But I do about 60 impressions (during the show), so I guess I am." London connects each impersonation to the plot. Then London steps back into his own skin, or rather the skin of the struggling performer trying to make a name for himself.

London’s real life story is a little different, however. Born in Northern California, London spent his early childhood in England , admiring both godfather, a professional trumpet player who performed the lead line to Coronation Street, and James Bond. But he didn’t begin to realize his own talent for creating different voices, until he moved back to the United States . "Well, it all started when I used to call my school to get out of class," London laughed. Then he paused. "Here’s when it really happened," he said. When London was 8 years old, he moved with his mother to Palo Alto , Calif., and enrolled at a mostly black school, he said. That first day of school was a rough one, he said, since his mother dressed him as a proper English schoolboy, a hat, shorts and blazer included. "I got beat up that day," London said. But he also made a new friend, Carl, who told him: "If you want to get by in this school, you’ll have to learn how to talk," London said. "And that’s when I learned how to speak like an American." Once he mastered the accent, the "Yeahs" and the "Whasssups" of American English, London said he realized he could bend his voice in different ways.

His impression of Sammy Davis Jr. probably holds the most special part of the 70-minute show, with London taking a seat on the floor of the stage. There he sits cross legged, imagining himself as a young boy listening to a scratchy Sammy Davis Jr. record, before rising to sing "Mr. Bojangles." As the performer sings the classic, the Sammy’s Showroom audience makes the connection. And after a decades-long career in show business inspired by such greats, London does, too.

Comments