Billy Hufsey, shown here in Lifetime's "Raising Asia," says he had given up performing to coach young performers before the invitation to headline "Celebrity Idols." (Courtesy)

New show beckons Billy Hufsey back to the stage

"Celebrity Idols"

7 p.m. Thursdays-Tuesdays

Sin City Theatre, Planet Hollywood Resort

$74.45-$97.45 (702-777-7776)

By Mike Weatherford

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Billy Hufsey is getting back in the ring, only it’s good that this one is really a stage.

The former boxer and football player says he’s had nine surgeries on his legs, and his neck and knees also reflect the punishment of sports and dancing. “I have a few lives on my body,” he says.

The 55-year-old actor best remembered for the TV series “Fame” and the soap “Days of Our Lives” said he had given up performing to teach young students in performing arts classes, which he started after moving to the Las Vegas area 14 years ago.

The Lifetime reality show “Raising Asia” peeks in on the work Hufsey has done to get, by his count, more than 200 students placed in movies and TV shows.

But when show producer and friend Nannette Barbera asked him to star in “Celebrity Idols,” launching this week in the Sin City Theatre at Planet Hollywood Resort, he figured he could perform without giving up his teaching.

“The only thing I guess I really miss is being able to sing and being able to put smiles on people’s hearts,” he says. “Pardon the indigenous pun, but let’s roll the dice.”

The show pays homage to pop idols from Jerry Lee Lewis to John Travolta. “A lot of these celebrity idols that they’re talking about, I know,” he says. Singers Sina and Elisa Furr also share the vocal load in the new show from producer Barbera, whose last show was “iCandy Burlesque,” also at Planet Hollywood Resort.

Hufsey — who also has a new album, “The Lover in Me” — says he stretches his range to take on classics such as “When a Man Loves a Woman” or Journey’s “Open Arms.”

“At our age we have no ego. Ego’s stupid,” he says. “You just do the best you can with what you’ve got left in the tank.”

The show is now set to open Nov. 20, postponing its originally planned date of Nov. 13