Baby, she’s a ‘stah’
BY NIZ PROSKOCIL
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
She’s a sassy singer, acclaimed actress and engaging entertainer.
11-04-2004
Bette Midler prides herself on a rock ’em, sock ’em show that is more than a concert.
In a word, she’s not just a star. She’s a stah!
Bette Midler – the Divine Miss M – is on the second leg of her popular “Kiss My Brass” tour, which lands at Qwest Center Omaha on Wednesday.
In a 10-minute phone interview from a tour stop in Miami, Midler said fans in Omaha have one spectacular show in store for them. The performance will include not only music but drama and comedy routines.
Bette Midler
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When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Qwest Center Omaha, 455 N. 10th St.
How much: $37.50 to $135. Available at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets by phone at 422-1212 or online at www.ticketmaster.com
Information: 341-1500 or www.qwestcenter.com
“People can come and feel like it’s a whole experience. It’s a great time. They get a little bit of everything, not just terrific music,” Midler, 58, said. “Hardly anybody does this kind of work anymore. The show is very lively, very beautiful. It’s the prettiest show I’ve ever done.”
The set design, she said, will resemble Coney Island at the turn of the 19th century.
This will be the diva’s first visit to Nebraska, and one she’s very much looking forward to.
Midler said she requested that the concert promoter route the tour through the Midwest.
“There’s so many states in the middle that I haven’t been to,” she said. “I’m looking forward to it. I know it’s flat, but I’m not.”
The two-hour concert will feature classic Midler material such as “The Rose,” “From a Distance,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Wind Beneath My Wings.”
The show also will include tunes from her most recent album, “Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook” and, of course, her trademark zany zingers.
“I try my best to engage my audiences,” she said. “We tell terrible jokes. I don’t pull any punches. I’m not filthy, but I am bawdy.”
During her lengthy career, Midler has sold more than 14 million albums and won four Grammy awards.
She earned an Oscar nomination for her leading role in the 1979 film “The Rose” and has starred in several other movies, including “Ruthless People,” “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” “Scenes from a Mall,” “Beaches” and the recent remake of “The Stepford Wives.”
Midler’s first “Kiss My Brass” tour was in late 2003-early 2004 with average gross ticket sales of nearly $1 million per night.
Not surprising, since she’s charging $135 for some seats.
For many fans, though, the concert will be worth the pricey ticket.
A critic from the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch wrote of Midler’s recent performance: “There are singers, and then there is Bette Midler. She’s that evaporating breed of entertainer, the rare performer capable not only of blowing the roof off a venue with a hefty set of pipes, but one who cracks smart jokes at whiplash speed, hoofs alongside her dancers and makes a crowd feel as if she still cares – even after 30-plus years in the biz.”
Divine, indeed.
