By Debbie Hall
Photos courtesy of Stephen Sorrentino
There are those performers who entertain on the iconic Las Vegas Strip until they retire, and then there are those like musical comedian Stephen Sorrentino. The road to Hollywood allowed him to display his talents in the medium of film. Stephen will return to Las Vegas to debut his self-written, self-produced, self-directed, self-starring, self-cast, and self-scored independent film, “Amends of the Father.” The movie is part of the Las Vegas Premier Film Festival and will be shown at the Galaxy Theater, 3680 S Maryland Parkway, on Aug. 9.
“In the beginning, my story is that I came to Las Vegas a long time ago to become a comedian and an Elton John tribute artist, and it changed my life,” he explains. Stephen portrayed Elton John in “Legends in Concert” and starred in his Riviera-based comedy show, “Voices in My Head,” for over 20 years. Stephen would wake up early in the morning and drive five hours to Hollywood for auditions and then five hours back to Las Vegas to perform two shows a night at the Imperial Palace.
“Then it becomes time to move on, change and evolve,” he said.” Las Vegas felt like it had given me everything it could give me, so I moved on. I moved to Los Angeles, where I worked for Debbie Reynolds for years. It just became more of an acting thing for me. He was also Debbie Reynolds’ opening act for five years, and that’s when he realized Hollywood was the place to go. Debbie told him he was an actor, not just a comedian and singer.
Although “Amends of the Father” is his first big movie, Stephen has won over 75 International film awards since 2021 worldwide as an actor, producer, director, and scores for films.
“My time in Las Vegas gave me the courage to believe I could do more. I got an opportunity to act in part of the Mafia guy for almost no money, and I suddenly won many awards,” he explained.
“My movie, ‘Amends of the Father’ is a very personal piece. It is not pretty; it is very emotional. It's based on my own story. I didn’t know I could write a script about or play an unlikeable character, which is not the norm for a comedian. Over the past few years, I have worn all the different hats of filmmaking, and I genuinely feel like I have become an artist.”
Sorrentino describes the movie as semi-autobiographical, noting that every character represents a different part of his personality, including his charitable, angry, vindictive, loving, and self-loathing traits. The film also delves into his darker side. Additionally, the movie features Academy Awards nominee Candy Clark ("American Graffiti") and Randy Jones, known for his role as the cowboy in the musical group The Village People.
The film also features Sorrentino’s music from the 1980s and 1990s, including an original piece written explicitly for this movie and recorded in Las Vegas in 2022.
“There’s concert footage of me in the 1980s when I was a struggling rock singer-songwriter trying to keep my head above water in a world filled with booze, drugs, and self-sabotage,” Sorrentino reveals. “Then, at 60 or so, he wants to come back. He gets sober and wants to return as a pop star. But you can’t become a pop star at 60.”
Everything he learned as a comedian, tribute artist, and musician is incorporated into the film, as is inspiration from his own life. Sorrentino is working on developing the movie into a series on Netflix.
There will be a Q&A and a cocktail reception following the viewing of the film.
Tickets are available for “Amends of the Father” as part of the Las Vegas Premier Film Festival by clicking here. For more info, visit stephensorrentino.com.
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