Official Topic: Press reviews about the Final Night

[pol]

Great review thanks!!

 

Do we know about any presents and special packages from the Last A New Day... show??

Any fans who attended the show yesterday are back home again?

We're waiting for your detailed reviews full of passion and emotions!!

[kathy4]

thank you for posting the review.

[peo]

Thanks

[kathyc25]

Thanks for posting...its all so surreal

[nrcda88]

Getty Images website has quite a few pictures of the final show

[Feidhlimbrennan]

thanks guys for all the reviews they are great! has ny1 found ny video reports yet? none of the news channels seem to have anything

[lyn]

PHOTOS from perezhilton.com

 

http://perezhilton.com/?p=10608

[kathyc25]

BLOG: Celine Dion, Leaving Las Vegas

 

12/16/2007 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music

Lyndsey Parker

 

Las Vegas lore is littered with many end-of-an-era instances. The dissolution of the Rat Pack. The razing of the Sands Hotel. The annulment of Britney Spears and Jason Alexander's 57-hour quickie marriage. And on December 15, 2007, Sin City bid yet another bittersweet goodbye: to Celine Dion, who ended her historic five-year, 717-show, $400 million-grossing run at Caesar's Palace.

Yes, apparently not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, as Celine has finally decided to move on after five years. (After all, she does have a new pop album, Taking Chances, to promote.) But it seems like only yesterday that--in a bold move seemingly ripped straight from the pages of circa-Julius Caesar Roman folklore--the Colosseum Theater was erected to honor a bona fide goddess. (See, the $95 million, 4,000-seat venue was built in 2002 specifically for Celine's "A New Day" residency.) And although worthy successors like Bette Midler and Elton John will soon grace the Colosseum stage in early '08, Celine Dion will likely always be the great Caesar's ghost that haunts the Palace.

 

Of course, any of the previous 716 nights that Celine hit the Colosseum stage, accompanied by her 50 dancers/backup musicians and Fremont Street-eclipsing lightshow, was in and of itself a big event...but her December 15th grand finale was the grandest of all, attended by everyone from mindfreak Criss Angel to Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous emcee Robin Leach (who sauntered in carrying a flute of champagne, natch) to genius So You Think Can Dance choreographer Mia Michaels (who, by the way, also masterminded the moves for Celine's show).

 

And then, there were the megafans--the lady who'd seen the show more than 100 times, the couple who'd paid $15,000 for their front-row seats, the man who'd actually moved to Vegas from Uzbekistan just to be closer to his idol--all scooping up every last bit of Celine merchandise and posing for photos next to the uncannily lifelike Celine wax mannequin inside the lobby. Celine obviously owes a huge debt to these devotees; to loosely quote one of her many five-hanky power ballads, she's everything she is because they love her.

 

Anyway, the show-of-shows began about 45 minutes late, though her packed house of ardent admirers didn't seem to mind--Celine later joked onstage that she simply wanted to "elongate" her final Vegas evening. But first the audience was shown a behind-the-scenes documentary short, A New Day: The Secrets, about Celine's revue. (Incidentally, Celine's manager/husband, Renee Angelil, prominently entered the theater and walked to his seat amid thunderous applause just as his interview segment ran on the movie screen, which made for one synergistically surreal moment.)

 

Yes, Renee's entrance alone solicited a standing ovation. But that certainly wouldn't be the only time that audience members rose to their feet this evening.

 

No, Celine got her first of 11 (ELEVEN!) standing ovations before her first song was even over, pretty much for just showing up. And when she tried to speak between songs, her choked-up anecdotes were often drowned out by audience cries of "Don't go!," "Five more years!," and the ever-popular, "I love you!" But eventually everyone shut up and listened to Celine, who quite refreshingly hadn't rehearsed some tired old goodbye speech. No, it was clear that she was speaking from the heart, because she rambled rather aimlessly, babbling about being a mom, confessing that when her Vegas residency first started she had worried it would be like "the Titanic sinking again," etc. Not all of it made sense--English is her second language, after all--and just like her heart will go on, her speech went on and on and on. And on.

 

But bless her, at least she was being sincere. Like when she marveled, "It's amazing what believing in music and love and passion can do." Or when she said, "These people onstage are giving their soul every night." Or when she reflected on all the sacrifice over the past five years and summed it up with: "I assure you, it was worth it."

 

Another downright cute, from-the-heart moment was when she showed off one of her surprisingly non-blingy accessories--a loop of string around her wrist--explaining that it came from a "seven-feet-tall" congratulatory card that her son, Renee Charles, had given her the night before. Waving to the boy, who was sitting in the audience with her husband, mother, and sisters, she cried out, "Renee Charles, YOU are the new day!" Aw...

 

And with that, she was off and running, belting out crowd-pleasing hit after hit after hit: "Power Of Love," "It's All Coming Back To Me," "Because You Loved Me," "I Drove All Night," "Taking Chances," and covers like "River Deep Mountain High" and Frank Sinatra's "When Somebody Loves You" (the latter performed as a digital duet with archival Ol' Blue Eyes footage on the big screen behind her, bringing to mind her beyond-the-grave Elvis duet on American Idol earlier this year).

 

And of course, there was her Vegas jackpot song: "My Heart Will Go On," a fitting final number if there ever was one, performed as real rose-petal confetti rained from the theater's vaulted ceiling. By the end of that weepy number, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Even Celine buried her face in her hands and covered her own watery peepers with her dainty cupped palms as soon as she warbled that signature song's last note.

 

"If that wasn't a Kodak moment, I don't know what is," declared one moist-eyed, petal-strewn fan in the crowd.

 

But then, just when everyone thought it was all over, Celine announced: "Since it is the last show, I figure I can do whatever I want!" And what she wanted to do was sing another song! A holiday song! Yes, it was a Christmas miracle. And the mood in the Colosseum was festive indeed as Celine signed off with "The Christmas Song" (aka that chestnuts-roasting-on-an-open-fire carol), then "elongated" the evening another good 15 minutes or so as she took multiple bows, hugged seemingly all 50 dancers and crew members, hugged her son and husband when they hopped onstage...and then returned from the wings several times to take more bows and dole out yet more hugs. It seemed like she didn't want the night to end any more than did her fans.

 

But of course, it was the Celineheads whose hearts truly went on, as they lingered long after Celine had vanished--chatting for nearly a half-hour with Mia Michaels and the dancers, not to mention scooping up fistfuls of rose petals which they no doubt lovingly pressed in their Celine scrapbooks at the end of this titanically terrific night.

 

http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/54225337 <----check out two clips from the show!

[nico robin]

God, i can't belive it's over.....

i would have love to be n the final show...and i'm s happy for those who went there.....these reviews....

God i can just cry,

thank you for the reviwes

[marc-02]

guys head over to http://www.gmanews.tv Celine's final show's pic is in the main photo! hehehe... un lang naman.

[LasVegasCanadian]

There is also a photo of Celine crying as Rene Charles hands her rose petals but it won't copy. I am buying the paper today fir sure!! What a touching photo!!

Aline

 

 

 

 

Celine Dion looks forward to 'coffee time'

 

 

By MIKE WEATHERFORD

REVIEW-JOURNAL ON THE WEB

View the slideshow

 

 

 

 

Sunday was not to be "A New Day ... " for Celine Dion. But after being showered with accolades and 100,000 rose petals, the singer was looking forward to the rest of her weekend in nonsuperstar mode.

 

"For me tomorrow morning will be coffee time," the singer said, sitting on the front stage steps of the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

 

She was talking to reporters at 1 a.m. Sunday, two hours after bringing down the curtain on her final performance.

 

"I will stay in the house," making Christmas cookies with her 6-year-old son, she said. "It will be so wonderful to be able to appreciate that. Do the Christmas tree, some decorations and all that. ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it sounds very unreal right now, but tomorrow morning it will be back to reality and I will be back to Mommy."

 

The final performance -- No. 717 if you don't count previews and a couple of benefits -- started late, ran an extra half hour and had the star speaking to the audience for more than eight minutes during her first break.

 

"Tonight I was emotionally invaded," Dion later told reporters. "It was very important for me to pace myself."

 

The singer added that she was "very tired vocally," after three weeks of interviews and promotion for her new album. But she realized, "It's not about singing tonight. It's about embracing life, embracing that success."

 

The success of "A New Day ..." -- which grossed more than $400 million and was seen by nearly 3 million people since it opened in March 2003 -- was celebrated more by fans, family and producers than by celebrity patrons.

 

Husband-manager Rene Angelil sat next to the couple's son, Rene-Charles, and Dion's mother. After the show, Angelil told reporters, the star's dressing room was crowded with 10 siblings (she is the youngest of 14 children).

 

"A New Day ..." normally began with a roaming camera that put audience close-ups on a giant video screen. But the final substituted comments from Harrah's Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman, and the screening of a documentary included on a new DVD version of the revue.

 

At the end, the singer typically presented a single rose to an audience member. But Saturday, after giving the rose to her son, he returned to the stage and gave it back to her. Later, another rose surprise: Show director Franco Dragone presenting more than 700 white blooms, one for each performance.

 

"I wonder if I can keep them and dry them?" she asked.

 

The thousands of red rose petals that showered the stage for the show's finale were a carefully guarded surprise to the singer and 50 dancers, said producer John Meglen. Many of the dancers loitered onstage long after the show ended, hugging and snapping photos as the patrons filed out.

 

The singer almost made good on her goal: "Try not to cry," she later told reporters. But in her long speech to the audience, she recounted how an "undreamable" idea surmounted its challenges. "At one point, it was feeling like the Titanic was about to sink again."

 

"But we believed and we went on with it, even though the vibe was not that positive," she added. But for those who persevered, "It was worth it."

 

"Today is not an end," she told the crowd. "Today is a beginning, the beginning of the rest of our lives."

 

Bette Midler opens a new production, "The Showgirl Must Go On," in the Colosseum on Feb. 20. Cher is expected to be announced soon as Midler's main co-tenant.

 

Dion said her only advice to Midler was, "Have them fix the stage."

 

The steeply raked stage, designed to enhance the views from the upper balcony, will be removed in favor of a smaller, conventionally flat stage, and about 150 new seats will be added in the front rows of the 4,100-seat venue.

 

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0288.

 

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[peo]

Wow!!! Thanks for the article. Can't wait for the picture.

[LasVegasCanadian]

PS: I didn't post the readers comments on purpose....yikes!! Some people!!

Aline

[kathyc25]

The picture can be found here: http://www.lvrj.com/news/12557461.html

[peo]

The picture can be found here: http://www.lvrj.com/news/12557461.html

 

Awwww what a sad picture. Thanks

[LasVegasCanadian]

OK, I do need to be more internet savvy..LOL!!

Thanks!

Aline

[kathyc25]

The picture can be found here: http://www.lvrj.com/news/12557461.html

 

Awwww what a sad picture. Thanks

 

no prob bob

[peo]

The picture can be found here: http://www.lvrj.com/news/12557461.html

 

Awwww what a sad picture. Thanks

 

no prob bob

 

[LVCeline]

Wow, the stage is part of what makes the Colliseum unique! I can't believe they're making it smaller. And quite honestly I think Bette filling 4,100 seats will be a problem, let alone adding even more! It's probably just going to mean 150 extra empty seats, heh. I just can't see her packing in the people like Celine did, and DEFINITELY don't see fans flying from overseas to catch her show, like so many of you guys did for Celine. It will be interesting to see the numbers after the show starts.

 

That was a great article though, it sounds like it's definitely time for Celine to be done with the show. She sure didn't sound vocally tired on Saturday though, she was fantastic!

[krazy_kool_dude]

Celine Dion has completed her five-year residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

 

Fans stood up and cheered throughout the singer's 717th performance on Saturday night, during which she made a number of emotional speeches.

 

Referring to the show's initial negative reviews, she said: "At one point, it was like feeling like the Titanic was about to sink again. But we believed and we went on with it. Even though the vibe was not that positive for us."

 

She became pregnant prior to the start of the run and told husband Rene Angelil, who is also her manager, that she wanted to concentrate on being a mother. However, he persuaded her to go ahead and she went on to sell out the 4,100-seat arena for five years.

 

After her last song, Dion called Angelil and her seven-year-old son Rene-Charles to join her on the stage, where she was showered with rose petals. She told the audience: "Most of us have left our families behind to give ourselves every night. I can assure you it was worth it."

 

Her show 'A New Day... ' has grossed more than $400 million and been seen by nearly 3 million fans since it opened in March 2003. The star's initial three-year contract broke records for her $100 million salary.

 

Dion sang the title song from new album Taking Chances during the final performance, tickets for which sold on eBay for up to $1,899.

 

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a81879/d...vegas-show.html