Legendary sitcom star Roseanne Barr fell off the radar for a while but has re-emerged as a blonde with “All You Can Eat Comedy” and lots of cranky new observations. Part of the resurfacing includes a special stint (March 15 - June 15) in a showroom at New York-New York (3790 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 866-606-7111) that Rita Rudner vacated when she took her show to Harrah’s. When Roseanne finishes, the show room is slated to be turned into a new nightclub, which is all the more reason to catch her while you can. Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. Admission: $49.95.

Egg and I Dinner Theater (4533 W. Sahara Ave; 702-616-3322), a popular breakfast place two miles west of the Strip, is known both for large egg dishes at reasonable prices ($7-$8 a person) and for its unusual habit of turning into a dinner theater four nights a week. Marriage Can Be Murder, an audience-participation comedy murder mystery that changes every two months, is performed Wednesday-Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 6 p.m. Guests can choose from chicken, salmon and pasta entrees, which aren’t quite as good as breakfast, but the shows are always intriguing and often funny. It’s not cheap, but the $60 tickets include the show and dinner. Tip: Two-for-one coupons appear frequently in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Las Vegas CityLife and Las Vegas Weekly.

Most guests take cabs from the Strip, but it’s important to ask the restaurant to summon one back as it’s not easy to grab one on the streets in off-Strip areas of Vegas. Note: This is not affiliated with the Egg & I chain that has locations in Colorado and Utah.

The Producers, the latest Best Musical Tony winner to try its hand in Las Vegas, arrived to very low expectations, what with the recent Vegas flops of Hairspray and Avenue Q. So nobody was more surprised than we were when we walked out of  pleased by this tres campy 90-minute version of Mel Brooks’ classic.

That’s not to say it will be a big success in Vegas -- it’s still too reliant on its audience following the plot and lacks hit music (like Mamma Mia! and Phantom), two essential ingredients. And theater purists will be irked by the choppy cuts from the original which reduce Ula to a brief burst of blond silliness rather than a full-formed character.

Paris Las Vegas, 888-0727-4758. Thursday through Tuesday at 8 p.m. Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. Price: $75.50 and up.

Fans of country music won’t want to miss the ultimate awards show for the genre, the Academy of Country Music Awards, on May 15. Among those up for honors are George Strait, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood (pictured), Sarah Evans, Faith Hill. Reba McEntire is back for a ninth time as host and although the performance line-up has yet to be announced, in past years audiences have heard from the Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks and Randy Travis, among others. Even if you can’t get a ticket, a fan area will be set up outside the Grand Garden for folks who want to glimpse the country-music royalty arriving on an orange carpet starting around 3 p.m. Later, the stars tend to head to Tabu and Studio 54, two hot clubs at the hotel. The ACMAs start at 8 p.m. Tickets: $100, $150 and $300.

In addition to the show itself, there’s also an all-star motorcycle ride on May 13 that begins in Encino, Calif., and culminates with 36 country musicians arriving on Harley Davidson bikes at the Fremont Street Experience by about 9 p.m. to catch a free Gretchen Wilson concert under the Fremont Street canopy at 10 p.m.

Photo of Carrie Underwood by Peter Kramer, Getty Images.

The Palms and the N9Ne Group, purveyors of the original see-and-be-seen Vegas nightclub Rain, reclaim their recently-lost position at the head of the Sin City nightlife pack with the Playboy Club/Moon Nightclub (4321 W. Flamingo Road; 702-942-7777; cover $40), a unique two-in-one ultralounge and dance club  connected by escalators and a uniform cover charge on the 52nd and 53rd floors of the Palms’ new Fantasy Tower.

The lower level is the sleek Playboy Club, the Hefners’ first attempt at reviving and updating a franchise that went out of business in the late 1980s by greeting patrons -- who do not need membership keys for admission as they did in days of old -- with a tres-Vegas Playboy sign made of 10,000 diamond-shaped crystals and bunnies in new Roberto Cavalli-designed ears and cottontails. There’s also a casino, the only one in Nevada with a cover charge for entry, but this Playboy Club is a largely subdued, dim-lit affair with music soft enough to converse over and bottle service available at large, wide, plush leather banquettes along the floor-to-ceiling windows.

For a more energetic experience, there’s the upper-level 12,500-square-foot Moon Nightclub with the only retractable roof over a dance floor in North America. The otherworldly aesthetic of Moon isn’t just limited to being able to, weather permitting, shake it under the stars; the entire place is decked out in steel and glass with white and silver adornments and servers in Jetsons-era silver and black costumes. Moon is also rigged throughout with floodlights, lasers and lights embedded in the white octagonal-tiled floors to abruptly change color when the musical beat might call for it.

Photo of Playboy Bunny by Denise Truscello.

Among the latest in the Las Vegas zeitgeist sweepstakes is Pure (3570 Las Vegas Blvd S.; 702-212-8806) in Caesars Palace, a 36,000-square-foot club co-owned by Celine Dion, Shaquille O’Neal, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. It has been named the hottest club in America by E! Entertainment Television.

The main attraction of this white-on-white hotspot is its expansive 14,000-square-foot outside deck that allows you to dance the night away under the glow of the Vegas neon as well as with a backdrop of waterfalls. Try the $12 Puretini, a martini with blue Curacao. Open Friday-Sunday and Tuesday from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Cover: $20.

A sleek, lavish club that mimics its parent hotel, Light (3600 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; 702-693-8300) at Bellagio offers elegance and controlled taste. Ascend an escalator, wander down a candlelit corridor and finally enter an intimate -- only 7,000 square feet -- room softly lit and decked with wood and blood-red drapes. Because this is Bellagio, of course, the place is a magnet for high-rollers and celebrities, although there are private rooms where they can lurk without being spotted. Open from 10:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursday through Sunday, although prepare to wait a while if you arrive after 11 p.m. Cover: $35.

Before heading to Rain or Moon for a night of dancing, have a less frenetic drink and enjoy the exquisite sidelong view of the Strip from ghostbar (4321 W. Flamingo Rd.; 702-938-2666), a durable favorite on the 55th floor of the original tower of the Palms.

The clever gimmick here is the window in the floor on the balcony, which is freaky for even those who love heights. People jump up and down on it to tempt fate, but nobody has fallen through (yet). This, too, is another celebrity magnet -- Eminem recently guest-bartended. Try the signature drink, the Ghostini, a Midori-tinged martini. One caveat: the open-air deck can be so windy that no amount of gel will protect your hair.

The venerable New York City club where Andy Warhol hung out has a popular outpost in Vegas. Unlike that one, this Studio 54 (3799 Las Vegas Blvd S.; 702-891-7254) at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino hardly defines pop culture for its era or its city, but it is still an attractive place to dance the Vegas night away to early 1980s hip-hop on either the main dance floor or one of two raised platforms. The décor pays homage to its NYC forbearer -- the original Studio 54 moon hangs here -- but also is brought up-to-date with 45 video screens showing guests dancing. Open Tuesday-Saturday at 10 p.m. Cover varies.

OK, so this is just about the coolest thing you’ll find in a Vegas club -- the tabletops actually respond to human motion. Huh? The images project down from the ceiling onto two huge grey slabs, and they actually do stuff. If it looks like there are paperclips on the table and you wave your hand over it, they’ll scurry to one side of the table. Wave over a black-and-white image of a woman and the part you waved over turns to color.

The rest of Tabú (3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; 702-891-7245) at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino is similarly futuristic, too, a calm spot to mingle with a background of European-influenced vocals. Open Tuesday-Sunday from 10 p.m. to dawn. Cover for men: $15 Tuesday-Thursday, and $20 on weekend nights. Women get in free.

Photo of Tabu by John Locher, AP.

In its effort to spruce up and grow up the Treasure Island’s stodgy and seemingly kid-friendly image, the property has rebranded itself as the TI, sexed up its signature pirate show in Buccaneer Bay and opened Tangerine Lounge & Nightclub (3300 S. Las Vegas Blvd S.; 800-944-7444), a lovely speakeasy-style nightspot.

The outdoor patio offers the best views of the insipid but sexy “Sirens of T.I.” show on the Bay as well as of the desert sunsets, and when the sun is gone the 15-minute burlesque performances come on at 10:45 p.m., 11:45 p.m., 12:45 a.m. and 1:45 a.m. While watching, try the signature $12 Tangerine Mojito. The deck is open daily 5:30 p.m. to midnight, while the lounge is open Tuesday-Saturday from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. Cover: $20 for men, $10 for women.

The Strip’s first self-proclaimed “omnisexual” club (read: marketed aggressively to gays and lesbians) is a warehouse-style room in which beefy male dancers and well-defined bartenders in black tanktops are de rigeur. That, however, doesn’t seem to keep away lots of straight partiers from Krave (3663 Las Vegas Blvd S.; 702-836-0830). They’re drawn to some of Vegas’ most consistently excellent dance music and an almost-anything-goes atmosphere. Krave is attached to the Planet Hollywood Hotel-Casino. The club opens at 11 p.m. Cover: $20.

Bar none, Mix (3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; 877-632-7800) atop THEhotel at Mandalay Bay offers the best view of Vegas -- a shot straight up the center of the Strip from the bottom tip of it. But the interior of this lounge-nightclub is equally sumptuous, with wall-to-wall black leather decor with red lighting to provide a post-modern minimalist feel. What’s more, the view is free from 5-10 p.m., when a cover charge of $20 Sunday-Thursday and $25 on weekend nights starts.

Don’t forget to use the bathrooms; the men’s urinals and ladies toilets both offer views of the Strip and surroundings, too. And, if you’re hungry for more than the light fare on the menu, eat at the adjacent Alain Ducasse restaurant by the same name, which is notable for its sensational $500,000, 13,000-glass bulb chandelier.

One of the cutest, most clever lounges in Las Vegas is the Seahorse Lounge (3570 Las Vegas Blvd S.; 702-731-7110) at Caesars Palace, which the hotel makes little fuss over but should promote better. They have a 1,700-gallon tank that contains about 100 potbellied seahorses and a waitstaff trained to answer complicated questions about the seahorses and their biology.

The Seahorse Lounge is also a lot more low-key than the other lounges and clubs. It’s free to get in, and it’s open 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, children aren't allowed to get up close to the seahorses. It is, after all, a bar.

One of the Rio’s smartest moves was opening the VooDoo Lounge (3700 W. Flamingo Rd.; 702-777-7777), an intimate and colorful New Orleans-style lounge on the 51st floor that allows you to dance the night away outside amid another amazing sidelong view of the Strip. 

The other notable feature here is a creative drink menu, particularly the house specialty Witch Doctor, made with four kinds of rum and various fruit juices. It’s huge -- and built for sharing. Dinner is also available at the VooDoo Cafe one level below, largely a Southern menu befitting its theme. Open daily from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. Cover: $20 Sunday-Wednesday, $30 Thursday-Saturday.

After wowing New York with the Whiskey Ranch and Los Angeles with the Sky Bar, nightlife impresario (and husband of Cindy Crawford) Rande Gerber created Whiskey Bar (2300 Paseo Verde Drive, Henderson; 702-617-7777) at Green Valley Ranch.

Located 20 minutes southeast of the Strip, the Whiskey looks like a Swiss ski lodge. The lounge with a small dance room has captured the sweaty weekend crowd that often includes celebs like George Clooney, but you can visit during the week, land a seat, and actually enjoy the modernist environment. During warm weather, doors open to Whiskey Beach, around the resort's pool. No cover, except during the occasional live music show.

Once considered the hottest nightspot in the city, the cavernous 28,000-square-foot Rain (4321 W. Flamingo; 702-940-RAIN) in the Palms holds up well as a foggy, mysterious circular room with its fountains spewing mist into the air on a bamboo dance floor. Everyone from Macy Gray to Britney Spears to Ozzy Osbourne has played or hung out here. Upper level members-only cabanas actually have windows that peer out at the Strip. Open Thursday-Sunday. Cover: Thursday, $10; weekends, $25.

Ice (200 E. Harmon Ave.; 702-699-9888), a 17,000-square-foot club with 40-foot ceilings a mile east of the Strip, is another ultra-hot spot with six "micro-environments” and a mezzanine balcony to overlook it all. The club gets its name from the liquid ice that shoots over the Brazilian walnut dance floor at various points in the night to cool down a crowd pushing and shaking it to techno tunes. Cover: $20.

Famed L.A. nightlife promoter Brent Bolthouse has tucked this sensational club -- complete with mirrored walls, Baccarat crystal chandeliers and plush leather booths -- beneath The Joint, the Hard Rock's hip concert venue. Thus, at Body English (4455 Paradise Rd.; 702-693-4000) go down an ordinary staircase and into a two-story haven that feels, well, underground. All second-floor booths, which require a $300 minimum bottle service, overlook the action on the dance floor where hip hop, house, and rock are spun. Open Friday-Sunday, 10:30 p.m.–4 a.m. Cover: $30 for men, $20 for women

Paymon’s Hookah Lounge (4147 S. Maryland Parkway; 702-731-6030) is a dimly lit lounge decked with Middle Eastern lamps and velvet, low-slung seats where those Persian water pipes known as hookahs are served up along with some of the finest Mediterranean food in the city. A "hookah man" will fire up your selected blend of flavored tobacco, giving you a social smoking experience so smooth that even non-smokers have been known to partake. 

Flavors available include fruity ones like cherry or apple and exotic ones like pistachio or jasmine; the hookah man can suggest combinations similar to how they come up with interesting concoctions at Cold Stone. Expect to see lots of college kids and local artsy types since it’s nearby the University of Nevada at Las Vegas campus. A second location of Paymon’s Hookah Lounge (8380 W Sahara Ave.; 702-731-6030) lies about 10 miles northwest.

Our resident author made USATODAY.com's picks for Las Vegas nightlife, but if your favorites aren't mentioned in this section, please share them with your fellow travelers by posting a comment below.

The University of Nevada-Las Vegas hosts events in intercollegiate sports, including football and men's and women's basketball. The Runnin' Rebels (4505 S. Maryland Parkway; 702-895-3900) play basketball at the Thomas & Mack Center. The season runs November through March. Football games take place 20 minutes southeast of the Strip at Sam Boyd Stadium in Henderson; the gridiron season starts in August and ends in January.

The Pacific Coast League's Las Vegas 51s play minor-league baseball just north of downtown at Cashman Field (850 Las Vegas Blvd. North; 702-386-7200). The club is the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Single-game tickets start at $8. The regular season runs from April to August.

Mamma Mia!, the most successful Broadway musical import in Vegas history, succeeds because its score -- ABBA classics -- is simply irresistible and internationally understood. There's a story in here somewhere -- something about a young girl trying to figure out who her father is -- but it’s pretty much besides the point from the outstanding singing and upbeat sensibility.

Mandalay Bay, 702-632-7580; Sunday-Thursday 7:30 p.m., Saturday 6 and 10 p.m. Price: $49.50 and up.

Original Beatles producer George Martin and his son, Giles, digitized and remixed the actual Fab Four recordings to create a score that tells the story of pop music history’s most successful band in Cirque-style allegories. The Mirage built a $120 million theater with splendorous acoustics that make you feel like the defunct band has reunited just for your Vegas audience. Many of the favorites are in here in Love –- “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “Yesterday,” “Help,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and more -- and another 100 or so are “represented” by a chord here or a drumbeat there.

Cirque has traded in its over-the-top acrobatics for some very clever theater tricks, such as the piano filled with pink bubbles for “Strawberry Fields Forever” and an exploding Volkswagon in “A Day in the Life.” As always, the costumes are vibrant, the performers are amazingly fit and the theater itself is a stunning work of art. The one drawback is that, if you aren’t familiar with some of the minutae of the Beatles legacy, you won’t understand the significance of some of what you see. But then again, when did anyone understand the significance of what happens in a Cirque show?

The Mirage, 702-963-9634; Thursday-Monday, 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.; Price: $69 and up.

Photo of Love cast by Michael Buckner, Getty Images.

This is the drag show that made drag safe for the mainstream. You’d expect An Evening at La Cage to be a big gay draw -- and sure, many gays go -- but what’s intriguing is that middle America fills the seats most nights. This is as wholesome as drag gets, what with Frank Marino doing his Joan Rivers bit and other men doing Diana Ross, Britney Spears and Celine Dion. Jimmy Emerson, the courtly fellow who sends up Anna Nicole Smith and Madonna, is very clever.

The Riviera, 702-794-9433. Wednesday-Monday at 7:30 p.m.; Price: $60.50 and up.

The minute the titillating video of Pamela Anderson pole-dancing to "The Bitch is Back" gives way to a mammoth inflatable banana and suggestively placed cherries, you know Sir Elton John has ushered in a new era for Las Vegas Strip entertainment.  He and director Dave LaChappelle have taken Celine’s theater and used that space in a way that Ms. Dion just isn’t capable of, no matter how earnest. And he hardly even rises off his piano bench! The atmospherics are enough along with John’s classic music -- he offers both salacious carnal imagery and some seriousness, as in the sad video for “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.” It's both old and new, thoughtful and funny, irreverent and genuine, all in a 90-minute span.

Caesars Palace, 888-435-8665; Friday-Sunday, Tuesday-Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. when in town. Price: $100 and up.

Photo of Elton John and Celine Dion by Ethan Miller, Getty Images.

Here’s the one example in Las Vegas of technology and art coming together in a comfortable complementary way. The stage at Cirque du Soleil’s fourth (of five) concurrent shows is the star, able to perform stunning feats of hydraulic magic, such as transforming from a three-dimensional boat to the side of a mountain before your eyes. Ka uses this to change scenes in a way at least as amazing as the acrobatics that tell the story of twins being separated by evil forces.

MGM Grand, 702-891-7777. Tuesday-Saturday 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. Price: $69 and up. 

Even when Siegfried and Roy were around, Lance Burton was the best magician in Vegas. He’s not as campy or flashy and doesn’t profit off of exotic animals. He just puts in an honest night’s work making stuff disappear and reappear, with a great deal of square humor.

The Monte Carlo, 702-730-7160. Wednesday-Saturday, 7 p.m.; Saturday 10 p.m. Price: $66.50 and up.

Las Vegas’ first –- and to my mind still the best –- permanent Cirque du Soleil show, this dream-like production offers eye-popping acrobatics, clever humor, and a catchy soaring score. Mystère is, in other words, Cirque at its original best, sort of like the goodness of the original, simple Hershey bar.

Treasure Island, 702-894-7722. Wednesday- Saturday, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m., Sunday 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.; Price: $60 and up.

You already know how this goes: Young Christine sings with melancholy about her lust for both a handsome aristocrat and an opera-house squatter. Oh, and a big light fixture will crash. Ah, but this is the Vegas edition of Phantom and, unlike every other Broadway attempt here, that means they throw in an over-the-top, thrill-ride element that befits this razzle-dazzle town. The $40 million theater is designed to give you the feel of being inside that Parisian opera house and the special effects -- including the 1-ton chandelier that hurtles down and stops 10 feet over the audience –- startle from beginning to end. Purists may bemoan the shorter, 95-minute running time, but Andrew Lloyd Webber himself chopped it down, so get over it. Two Phantoms, Christines and Carlottas divide the work with five performances apiece in this edition, but everyone is excellent.

The Venetian, 866-641-7469. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 7 and 10 p.m.; Sunday and Thursday at 7 p.m. Price: $75 and up.

Photo of Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular by Jae C. Hong, AP.

In a city built on bombast and boobs, Rita Rudner is what you might call successful counter-programming. Rudner’s shtick is her brilliant observations on couples and their foibles, delivered with that cutesy lilt of a voice. Without a doubt, she’s a scream. But she’s nothing cutting edge or shocking. And that’s her charm.

Harrah’s Las Vegas, 702-369-5222. Monday-Saturday at 8 p.m. when in town. Price: $49 and up.

Photo of Rita Rudner by Ethan Miller, Getty Images.

A megaclub this is not. The Paris resort's Risqué (3655 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; 702-946-4589) follows the nightlife trends: provocatively named, a small dance floor and plenty of intimate spaces that include a row of bed-like lounges along the west wall. Deceptively spacious yet manageable, Risqué feels like a Manhattan nightspot, with small balconies that overlook the bustling Strip below. The focus here is on drinking in the sights, the sounds and the selections from the three bars. The most interesting aspect of Risqué is the dessert menu, which offers late-night selections from the talented pastry chefs of the Ah Sin eatery on the ground floor. Cover is $20.

The Peppermill Fireside Lounge (2985 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; 702-735-7635) is an authentic 1970s lounge — not a re-creation — so it attracts young courting couples as much as older folks who remember it from previous visits. Located at the back of the Peppermill Restaurant on the Strip, it's replete with plastic ferns and a gas-lit fire pit with flames escaping a watery pool. This is a place for romance, not a meeting or a first date, and cozy pairings lay off one another barely long enough to order mai tais and mojitos in the retro-chic environment. When waitresses balancing your drink order appear in long, steeply slit black dresses, you'll feel as if you've stumbled into the Playboy mansion. No cover.

The city's most consistent sporting draw for more than a decade, the National Finals Rodeo (4505 S. Maryland Parkway; 702-895-3900) transforms Las Vegas into the cow town it once was every December. The 2006 championship takes place Nov. 30-Dec. 9. Cowboys from across the nation vie for big purses while the city books cowboy-friendly acts in the showrooms. The rodeo, at the Thomas & Mack Center on the University of Nevada-Las Vegas campus just east of the Strip, is a consistent sellout — usually for months in advance.

After 30 years of performing on the road, crooner Barry Manilow has a home at the Las Vegas Hilton (3000 Paradise Rd; 702-732-5755), where he will be performing through 2008. He performs Wednesdays, Thursdays and Friday at 9 p.m. On Saturdays, he sings at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Stage seat tickets are $225 (plus tax and service fee). Main orchestra tickets are $145. Rear orchestra costs $115 and balcony costs $85 (tax and service charge will be additional).

Photo of Barry Manilow by Ethan Miller, Getty