Photo: AP/Greg Gorman
Bette Midler will perform approximately one hundred shows a year at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The show will be presented at 7:30 p.m. five nights a week and will be dark on Monday and Thursday. Tickets for performances from February 20 through March 9 are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 1-877-7BETTEM (723-8836) or on-line at www.ticketmaster.com, keyword “Caesars Palace”. Tickets may also be purchased in person at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace Box Office open daily from 10a.m. to 10p.m. For groups of 20 or more, call 702.731.7208.
Ticket prices are $95, $140, $175, and $250. Visit http://bette.aeglive.com for more information on Bette Midler at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
AEG Live
AEG Live, the live-entertainment division of Los Angeles based AEG is dedicated to all aspects of live contemporary music performance, touring for a variety of programming and multi-media production. One of the largest concert promotion and touring companies in the world, AEG Live is comprised of special event, broadcast and exhibition divisions, and operates and owns numerous state of the art venues nationwide. Current AEG Live tours and productions include Celine Dion A New Day… at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” an international tour of the artifacts of King Tut. Recent and current promoted concert tours include Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Prince, Bon Jovi, Usher, Nickelback, Kenny Chesney, Rod Stewart, and Paul McCartney. AEG Live also co-produces the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Goldenvoice, the company’s southern California-based regional promotion division, created and operates the award winning annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.
Caesars Palace
Reigning at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, Caesars Palace ranks among the world’s top luxury resorts known for their originality and beauty and features 3,340 hotel guest rooms and suites, 25 unique restaurants and cafes, 4.5-acre Garden of the Gods pools and gardens, the 50,000 square foot Qua Baths & Spa and 240,000 square feet of premium meeting and convention space. The 4,100-seat Colosseum spotlights world class entertainers such as Celine Dion, Elton John and Jerry Seinfeld, and sits just steps away from celebrity chef restaurants and the acclaimed Forum Shops at Caesars. Journalists can learn more at media.harrahs.com.
Many of you have been writing to ask when the next set of Bette shows will start. The answer to that is late June thru July 2008. As far as when tix go on sale…it’s a mystery to everyone I’m connected with. Ticketmaster is known for their secrecy and a lot of times even the artists don’t know when they go on sale. However, I have been able to get tips before….and I always send out an update as soon as I find out.
So there are several things you can do:
* Subscribe to BLB
* Subscribe to Ticketmaster alerts
* Subscribe to Bette updates on her site
* Keep your own eyes and ears open for the dates. Last go round it took everybody by surprise minutes before the tix went on sale…
Okay, that’s all….
Much love,
Mister D
And What About THE BAND???
Mister D: I’m delighted to be able to get this information. I’ll consider this my exclusive. I guess since I play piano and sing I have a special place in my heart for the musicians…and I will add that I feel that way about songwriters. Both groups kind of get pushed to the background when it comes to vocalists…no matter who it is. It’s not the vocalist or entertainer’s fault…let’s just blame it on the media. Just think hard about why these people are so important.
And don’t get me started on songwriters….all I’ll say is that if I go to any lyric site or see a You Tube video touting “From A Distance” or “The Rose,” etc was written by Bette Midler I will scream (she didn’t write either…Bette writes rarely any of the songs she sings) It’s not just Bette fans that do this, it happens with other vocalist’s fans, too. For the BetteHeads, at least go to Brian’s BetteLyrics.com or Darrell’s Bette on the Boards Song section to get the lowdown on who wrote what….can you imagine how the songwriter’s feel when they see this? Okay I’m off my soapbox – thanks to Marty Hom – Bette’s long time tour manager and all around great guy:
The Band:
- Bette Sussman ”“ Musical Director/Keyboards
- Tom Barney – Bass
- Sonny Emory ”“ Drums
- Taku Hirano – Percussion
- Wayne Johnson ”“ Guitar
- Mike Miller ”“ Guitar
- Darrell Smith ”“ Keyboards
- Shayna Steele ”“ Backing Vocals
- Danny Falcone – Trumpet
- Gil Kaupp ”“ Trumpet
- Robert Mader ”“ Saxophone
- Gerald Merra – Saxophone
- Nathan Tanouye ”“ Trombone
- Phil Wigfall – Saxophone
- Jordan Ballard
- Kyra Dacosta
- Kamilah Martin
- Toni Basil
- Eric Kornfeld
- Bette Midler
- Bruce Vilanch
- Mister D
The Harlettes:
Choreographer:
Writers:
Your Host (tee hee):
Enter Bette’s “Total Divas” Sweepstakes Now!
Gay.com
Bette + Vegas = One hot ticket!
Nov 29, 2007
“Get ready Vegas, ’cause here I come! Caesars Palace will never be the same and to all those critics who have accused me of being ‘tacky,’ ‘too much’ and ‘over the top’ I say, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!”
Photo: Unknown
That’s Bette Midler, talking about her upcoming Vegas stint. The legendary sensation has signed on with entertainment promoter AEG Live for a minimum two-year deal as the new resident artist at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, starting in February 2008.
The show is being officially described as her “biggest, most imaginative production,” and promises “plenty of girls, gags and guffaws.” Midler will reportedly perform approximately one hundred shows a year at Caesars Palace, and the show will be presented at 7:30 p.m. every night except Monday and Thursday.
Seeing Bette Midler live in Vegas is a dream come true for all hardcore fans, but for those gay fans who want to travel to Vegas in true diva style, here’s your chance. AEG Live is offering up a great “Total Divas” Sweepstakes, and it’s a diva-doosey. The lucky winners will get tickets to the show, passes to the opening night party, roundtrip airfare, luxury accommodations at Caesars Palace, spa treatments and a lot more.
Enter now to win the Ultimate Diva experience!
As part of the Ultimate Diva Las Vegas Getaway, you will win:
– Two VIP seats to the opening night of Bette Midler at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace (Feb 20, 2008)
– Two passes to the opening night party
– Roundtrip airfare to Las Vegas for two
– Two night stay at Caesars Palace
– Limo transfer to and from McCarran (Las Vegas) Airport
– $250 Food Credit to restaurants at Caesars Palace
– $250 Forum Shop Gift Card
– $250 credit for Color… A salon by Michael Boychuck or Qua Baths & Spa
– Two Roman Rituals passes for Qua Baths & Spa
To Enter The “Total Divas” Sweepstakes: Click Here
Bay Area Reporter
Bruce Vilanch weighs in
‘Help is on the Way Goes to the Movies’ on Sunday
by Adam Sandel
Vilanch initially came to show biz prominence as a ghost writer to comics, and like Barry Manilow, Melissa Manchester, Katie Sagal and many others, his career began while working with Bette Midler.
“Bette was the first person I ever wrote for, and I’ve been working with her for 37 years now.” He’s currently collaborating with Midler on her Las Vegas show, which moves into Caesar’s Palace next February once Cirque du Celine finally un-pitches its tent.
BETTE PACKS HER BAGS
Photo: AP/Greg Gorman
Midler to follow Dion at Caesars
By MIKE WEATHERFORD
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Bette Midler says the show she is planning for Caesars Palace will be big but still funny.
“You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to make them laugh,” says the 61-year-old entertainer, who today plans to announce a two-year commitment to the Strip. “I think that’s key in Las Vegas, that I be funny.”
Midler and Cher long have been rumored as the probable replacements for the 4,100-seat Colosseum at Caesars once Celine Dion steps down in December. Cher remains unconfirmed, but Midler’s schedule of 100 shows per year, compared to about 150 for Dion, still leaves room in the rotation with Elton John.
Tickets will range from $95 to $250 and go on sale at noon today at the Colosseum box office and Ticketmaster outlets.
“I don’t want to say it’s a swan song,” Midler said of a commitment that begins Feb. 20 and will call for five shows a week, four weeks at a time. “I always say, ”˜I’m not retiring and you can’t make me.’
“But in a funny way, I’ve been working toward something this large my whole life. And I think when it’s over, I will probably go back to something very, very small.”
In a telephone interview, Midler said she was intrigued by the possibilities of both a nontouring production with a large cast and the Colosseum’s technical capabilities.
“I’m doing it because I’m completely enraptured with that theater. It has things in it I’ve never been able to use before. ”¦ I’ve always had the lowest tech humanly imaginable.”
Like the current Colosseum headliners, the show will be 90 minutes, but Midler won’t just reprise her last tour, “Kiss My Brass.”
“They told me there were things I could repeat, but they would prefer as much new as possible. That’s a real challenge,” she says.
It was after the “Brass” tour visited Australia in early 2005 that Midler began serious talks with Colosseum operator John Meglen, co-CEO and president of AEG Live/Concerts West.
Photo: AP/Greg Gorman
“I came in to see how it was going here in town. I haven’t spent that much time here” since a 1999 New Year’s performance at Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Coming back, “it just seemed the food is so great, and the energy in the town is really exciting. It just felt like it was the right time.”
Midler played Caesars Palace in 1976, four years after her debut album, “The Divine Miss M,” reinvented cabaret for the rock era. But she never became a Las Vegas regular because she always played big auditoriums.
“I didn’t really do the clubs (except for) early on,” she said. “I always toured because I was promoting records. That’s what the label liked me to do in those days.”
Her movie career began with “The Rose” in 1979 and kicked into high gear with “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” in 1986. Hits such as “Beaches,” “Outrageous Fortune” and “The First Wives Club” detoured her from concert work.
The singer says she hasn’t decided whether she will buy a Las Vegas house or condominium, but she is leaning against it.
“I will say I have two homes here (in New York), and that’s really plenty. ”¦ I’m gonna see. I’m taking it very slow. I don’t really know the town. I’m seeing certain areas of town I’ve never seen before.”
In an arrangement similar to Dion’s, AEG will produce the show and take the primary financial risk. Harrah’s Entertainment will share advertising costs and incremental revenue for on-site spending at restaurants and a potential Midler-themed gift shop.
Miss M Becomes Miss Mega-Star
Qt Magazine
Vegas Bets on Bette
The Divine Miss M to Replace Celine Dion in 2008
05.14.07
By Duane Wells
Photo: Ron Gallela
Status Alert: Caesar’s Palace is becoming the new gay mecca on the Las Vegas Strip.
For the past few years, gays from all over the world have made the pilgrimage to Las Vegas to take in Celine Dion’s astoundingly popular, Cirque de Soleil embellished Vegas spectacle with the same fervor with which religious zealots make a pilgrimage to Mecca. On any given night since Dion’s star-studded debut, the venerable Caesar’s Palace hotel and casino has been crawling with scads of gays done up to the nines, thumping their chests while crooning the lyrics to “My Heart Will Go On.”
Now Caesar’s is betting that the same audiences who sang along with Celine at show after show over the past few years, will now sing along to the tunes of the truly divine Miss Bette Midler who will be filling the mighty big pumps left behind when Celine Dion’s $500 million dollar grossing concert extravaganza A New Day finally goes dark at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on December 15, 2007.
Even though, Midler’s show doesn’t open for months and Celine hasn’t even warbled her last note, Vegas is crackling with the news of her arrival. Billboards and commercials showing a svelte Midler are already growing in prominence on the strip.
In actuality Midler is a good bet (all pun intended) for both Vegas and the gay community. After all, let’s not forget that the Divine Miss M began her career playing outrageous shows in gay bathhouses, with Barry Manilow as her musical director, Jenifer Lewis and Katie Segal as her backup singers (”˜The Harlettes’) and LaBelle (fronted by R&B diva and gay icon Patti Labelle) as her opening act. It really doesn’t get much gayer than that. And although Midler has evolved into a lauded singer’s singer with an expansive repertoire, an Oscar nomination or two and few Golden Globes to her name, she has always showered and supported her gay fan base with open love, a fact that should keep the seats at Caesar’s $95 million Colosseum warm and full through what is expected to be at least a two year run.
Never shy and always just a touch blue in terms of her humor, Midler has already made it crystal clear that when she comes to Vegas she plans to make a very big splash.
“Get ready Vegas ’cause here I come!” Midler pronounced in a press release. “Caesars Palace will never be the same and to all those critics who have accused me of being ‘tacky,’ ‘too much’ and ‘over the top’ I say, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!”. Sounds more like a battle cry than an announcement, wouldn’t you agree?
Miss M’s show, which is being touted as the biggest, most imaginative production she has ever done, is scheduled to premiere on February 20, 2008, with lots of attendant girls, gags, guffaws, humor, the best of the American songbook and, of course, Midler’s signature “Kiss My Brass” section.
Unlike Dion who performed 160 shows per year under her contract, Midler will reportedly only perform about 100 shows a year, with Elton John continuing to perform his popular Red Piano show 50 nights a year while Miss M is on hiatus. Now, if that weren’t gay enough, there is also a widespread but unconfirmed rumor that Cher, who has said farewell time and time again, could also potentially return to the stage to alternate headlining with Miss Midler for the remainder of the year, which, if true, would officially make Caesar’s Palace the gayest address on the strip.
At this rate, Caesar’s might as well open the first major gay bar at a mainstream casino so they can capture all those pink dollars floating around before and after the shows, because one thing is for sure, with this new line up, the scene at The Colosseum at Caesar’s palace on show nights will be the gay place to see and be seen. My guess is that it might even look just about as gay as any hot spot in Palm Springs during The White Party”¦ and, for the record, that is very gay!
Mister D: There’s always going to be those that just have to compare apples to oranges. It just comes as natural as breath in the entertainment business. Believe me, the whole business is cut throat. So get ready for crap like this.
Mister D: You can also watch the guy reporting on this on video. I can’t figure out if he’s trying to act cool, or just disquising himself.
Photo: B Bank
Bette Midler is going to take over Celine Dion’s three year run at the Colosseum in Las Vegas this year but some Vegas critics are questioning the idea.
Entertainment Reporter Mike Weatherford is skeptical that the Divine Miss M will have the same appeal, citing the superstar as being away from the spotlight for way too long and long past her hit making peak.
Bette will perform 100 shows a year, 5 nights a week for 20 weeks from February 20, 2008.
Weatherford calls Midler “a singer whose Top 40 currency has expired”.
He says that Dion’s audience was rarely younger than 40 which could work in favour of the 61 year old Midler. However, her audience is mostly gay men.
Her last two albums had a lukewarm reception and her TV show was a flop.
Weatherford suggests Bette in Vegas is a risk, although Barry Manilow, her former musical director who captures pretty much the same audience, has been in residency at The Hilton in Vegas for more than a year.
Bette Midler’s last tour across the USA grossed an average of more than $1million per night.
Celine Dion will finish up at The Colosseum on December 15.
BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES”¦
BETTE MIDLER IS COMING TO CAESARS PALACE!
The Divine Miss M. signs on as resident artist at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace
To See Video: Click Here Then Look To Left
May 03, 2007 (LAS VEGAS) /PRNewswire/ – Thar she blows! Bette Midler today officially announced that she is headed for Las Vegas. The legendary sensation has signed on with entertainment promoter AEG Live for a minimum two year deal as the new resident artist at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace starting in February 2008. When asked about her upcoming run in Las Vegas – The Divine Miss M had this to say.
“Get ready Vegas ’cause here I come! Caesars Palace will never be the same and to all those critics who have accused me of being ‘tacky,’ ‘too much’ and ‘over the top’ I say, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!”
The show, which is scheduled to premiere on February 20, 2008, will be the biggest, most imaginative production Bette Midler has ever done. With plenty of girls, gags and guffaws, her incomparable humor, the best song catalogue in American music and her fabulous “Kiss My Brass” section, audiences will be treated to an experience that can only be referred to as “divine”.
“All of us at AEG Live are ecstatic about working with Bette and look forward to the fun and success we are going to have together on this project,” said John Meglen, Co-CEO and President of AEG Live/Concerts West. “The show is going to be Bette at her absolute best and her fans are going to be blown away!”
For over 40 years, Caesars Palace has set the standard in entertainment by offering its guests world-class performers and musicians. In keeping with that standard, Caesars Palace President, Gary Selesner couldn’t be happier that Bette Midler will be coming aboard and calling The Colosseum home for the next two years.
“Caesars Palace has set the standard for entertainment in Las Vegas by continually booking the biggest and best acts the city has ever seen including Celine Dion and Elton John,” said Caesars Palace President Gary Selesner. “Adding the inimitable Bette Midler to The Colosseum’s family of entertainers adds yet another jewel to our crown.”
Tickets on-sale today Thursday, May 3
Bette Midler will perform approximately one hundred shows a year at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The show will be presented at 7:30 p.m. five nights a week and will be dark on Monday and Thursday. Tickets for performances from February 20 through March 9 are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 1-877-7BETTEM (723-8836) or on-line at www.ticketmaster.com, keyword “Caesars Palace”. Tickets may also be purchased in person at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace Box Office open daily from 10a.m. to 10p.m. For groups of 20 or more, call 702.731.7208.
Ticket prices are $95, $140, $175, and $250. Visit bette.aeglive.com for more information on Bette Midler at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
AEG Live
AEG Live, the live-entertainment division of Los Angeles based AEG is dedicated to all aspects of live contemporary music performance, touring for a variety of programming and multi-media production. One of the largest concert promotion and touring companies in the world, AEG Live is comprised of special event, broadcast and exhibition divisions, and operates and owns numerous state of the art venues nationwide. Current AEG Live tours and productions include Celine Dion A New Day”¦ at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” an international tour of the artifacts of King Tut. Recent and current promoted concert tours include Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Prince, Bon Jovi, Usher, Nickelback, Kenny Chesney, Rod Stewart, and Paul McCartney. AEG Live also co-produces the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Goldenvoice, the company’s southern California-based regional promotion division, created and operates the award winning annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.
Caesars Palace
Reigning at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, Caesars Palace ranks among the world’s top luxury resorts known for their originality and beauty and features 3,340 hotel guest rooms and suites, 25 unique restaurants and cafes, 4.5-acre Garden of the Gods pools and gardens, the 50,000 square foot Qua Baths & Spa and 240,000 square feet of premium meeting and convention space. The 4,100-seat Colosseum spotlights world class entertainers such as Celine Dion, Elton John and Jerry Seinfeld, and sits just steps away from celebrity chef restaurants and the acclaimed Forum Shops at Caesars. Journalists can learn more at media.harrahs.com.
Media contacts:AEG Live, Las Vegas
Kris Lingle
702.866.1485
klingle@concertswest.com
Caesars Palace
Ken Langdon
702.731.7506
klangdon@caesarspalace.com
Bette Midler Publicity contacts:Ken Sunshine Consultants, Inc.
Ken Sunshine/Jessica Berger
212.691.2800
berger@kensunshineconsultants.com
Related Linksbette.aeglive.com
CaesarsPalace.com
AP Press Agency
Midler makes comic ‘oops’ ahead of show
5th May 2007, 14:05 WST
Showing the comedic touch Bette Midler hopes to bring to her new show at Caesars Palace, the entertainer has poked fun at the panty-less photos of Britney Spears circulating on the internet. Midler, wearing a skirt, was about to sit on a pile of Louis Vuitton luggage, signifying her move to the desert, when she nearly slipped backward in front of a horde of photographers and onlookers. “Oh! I almost pulled a Britney,” she said. “I’ll sit over there, it’s a little safer.”
Promoters officially announced Thursday that Midler, 61, signed a two-year contract to perform 100 shows a year at the Caesars Palace venue that now showcases Celine Dion, starting February 20 (sic 2008).
Dion announced in January that she would end her run at the end of the year in the $US95 million ($A115 million), 4,100-seat Colosseum. Midler also said she looked forward to coming to Las Vegas – for the food.
“I’m looking forward to it, there are so many places to eat in Las Vegas. It’s going to take me two years to get through half of them,” she said.
Quote of the day
From contactmusic.com
“We’re definitely going to have skimpily clad humans of some kind, some gender or another. We’re not really sure which one.” Showgirl BETTE MIDLER on her upcoming Las Vegas show, which will replace Celine Dion’s long-running A New Day at Caesar’s Palace.
Q+A: Bette Midler
Get ready for laughs, maybe tears
By Jerry Fink, Las Vegas Sun
Las Vegas Sun
Photo: Truscello (Say What?)
Sometimes the rumors are true.
Bette Midler will replace Celine Dion at the Colosseum, it will be (well, already was…)announced at a news conference today at Caesars Palace.
Dion’s reign ends in December.
Midler debuts Feb. 20. She has signed a two-year contract to perform one 90-minute show per night, five nights a week. It has long been rumored that Midler and Cher would alternate dates at the 4,100-seat Colosseum to replace Dion, who has performed 200 shows a year since March 2003. That is still a possibility – Midler’s contract is for 100 shows annually, leaving another 100 engagements to be filled.
Rock legend Elton John continues to headline 75 dates a year at the Colosseum, at least through the early part of next year. Other entertainers, including Jerry Seinfeld, headline at the venue when Dion and John are away.
One of the questions when Dion’s tenure began was whether she could fill the gargantuan, $95 million theater every night. Usually she did, and she has done it with some consistency for four years.
Now the question is whether the 5-foot-1 performer with the dynamite personality can fill Celine’s shoes.
The 61-year-old Midler, born in New Jersey and raised in Hawaii, has been entertaining fans with her high-energy performances for more than 40 years. In 1970 she and piano accompanist Barry Manilow performed in the bath houses in New York City. Manilow produced her first major album, “The Divine Miss M,” in 1972.
Midler recently discussed her upcoming engagement by phone from her home in New York City.
Q. Have you gotten any taller since your “Divine Miss Millennium” performance at Mandalay Bay on Dec. 31, 1999?
A: No, but I haven’t gotten any shorter.
Q: The Colosseum has a huge stage. Are you concerned about being dwarfed by the size?
A: No. I’m going to wear high heels.
Q: Your old friend and accompanist Barry Manilow is just down the street, at the Las Vegas Hilton. Have you talked to him about his show?
Q: Yes. He’s really having a great time. He’s really enjoying himself. He told me he loves it there.
Q: Did he influence your decision to accept the deal with Caesars?
A: He did tell me how much fun he was having. He did say it was the most fun he’d ever had, and that’s a good recommendation.
Q: vWhat motivated you to make the deal?
A: I love my show. I’ve been doing this show on and off for 35 years and every year they get a little bit bigger and harder to haul around. You go from one truck to two trucks, from two trucks to five trucks and five to 10 and once you get to 14 trucks you really feel bad. I really wanted to just sit in one place and see what I could come up with if I only sat in one place and didn’t have to pack up every night. So, this is an opportunity to do it. The Colosseum is an absolutely world-class theater. I thought I would die when I saw it. My God it’s uncanny. It’s just unbelievable. It’s like an opera house. When the opportunity came up and I saw what other people were doing in it I thought, “I think I can do it.” I had some confidence that I wasn’t going to drown in the experience. But I’ve been wrong before. Who knows what’s going to happen. It’s a kind of a challenge. What can I do imaginatively? How can I use this theater in the most imaginative way that would serve me and my group the most?
Q: Compare what you are going to do with what Celine has done at the Colosseum.
A: I thought what she did was very brave and I thought she was fabulous. I thought her dancing has gotten so brilliant. She didn’t have any trouble holding the stage. She had a lot of kids on the stage. I probably won’t have that many. I think I talk 15 times more than
she does. I talk and I tell jokes and I run around in a fish tail. And I have nudes. She doesn’t have nudes.
Q: So you like her show?
A: I thought her show was fabulous. Really, truly fabulous.
After I saw it I thought, “Holy cow. What am I going to do? How can I top that?” Everybody tried to calm me down and said : “Well, you know you’re not Celine. She has one of the most beautiful voices on Earth and you know that’s not what you do.” And I realized what I mainly do is I mainly make people laugh. Sometimes I make them cry. I have a peculiar take on life, which is somewhat irreverent. We’re not too high-tech and we’re not too low-tech and we like to have a good time. I think it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be great fun.
Q: What will you be doing in the show?
A: We’re going to sing as many hits as we can scrounge up. Some old songs. Some brand – new songs. Do some production numbers with nudes and some surprises. I think it’s going to be fun. It’s only an hour and a half. I’m used to doing two hours, so I don’t think it’s going to be too hard.
Q: Celine’s show was created by Franco Dragone, who worked with Cirque du Soleil for many years (“O,” “Mystere”). Her show has a kind of a Cirque feel to it, very artistic. What will your s be like?
A: We’re certainly going to be artful, too. Everybody wants to be artful. Nobody wants to be hack. So we’re going to be as artful as we can in revealing our low-rent self.
Q: Showgirls?
A: We’re definitely going for the showgirls. We’re definitely going to have feathers. We’re definitely going to have lots of things that sparkle because people love things that sparkle, and I do , too. It’s going to be a very feminine show and I think it’s going to be very lively and colorful, but more than anything else it’s going to be funny . And that’s the key because there’s not that much funny going on and that’s what people like the most.
Q: How far along are you in creating the show?
A: As a matter of fact we’re all sitting around the kitchen table right now and we’re poring through our research and talking about what works and doesn’t work and schedules and all that. It’s very, very preliminary because it starts in 2008.
Q: Might you move to Vegas?
A: I don’t expect to buy a big mansion. I’m very modest in some ways and very flamboyant in other ways. I’m trying very hard to be a good citizen and have a small carbon foot print and all that crap. I’m not sure what we’re going to do because I don’t know the town well enough. I came in a couple of days and drove around and tried to assess what life is like there on a day-to-day basis, not just sitting in a penthouse in a hotel, which can also be very nice, but I also want to be in a place that has windows that I can open. That’s very important to me. I like to be near certain amenities. I don’t know. I don’t know what the town has to offer. Someone will take me in hand, I’m sure, and help me out.
Q: How did the deal with Caesars come about?
A: I have no idea. All I know is one day something came over the fax machine and it sounded interesting and I started taking these meetings, and lo and behold, they were pretty decent people and they had a good idea and they bent over backward to make me feel comfortable and that was it. I liked all the people I met and I thought they were going to treat me fairly and it was going to give all the people I work with a lot of work and that’s key, too, because you tend to lose people when you don’t work. There’s a lot of practicality involved in it. Also, a lot of daydreams, and I think that’s what Vegas is like in a way – it’s a practical town and it also sells daydreams and I think I can be part of that.
Q: Is there anything else you can say about the show?
A: We’re just starting to put it together now. I don’t know what any of the numbers are or what any of it means. I’ve never worked with a cast as big as Celine’s. It’s kind of intimidating to have that many people on a stage with you. We’re just putting it together now. It’s very, very preliminary. There’s so much you could do. The possibilities are limitless. The stage, the theater. It was built so you could do whatever you can think of.