Bette Midler: Official Topic

[lnnl]

Who else is excited???

 

Spoilers:

 

 

 

 

She is gonna open the show with a tornado hitting vegas and shes gonna appear riding a real live donkey on stage...how crazy is that!?!

[Black Kitten]

I'm more exited to seeing cher there.

[lnnl]

yeah cher should have a good show...but something is telling me that Bette's will be better...

[CelineAndRene]

yea, Cher would be better... Bette is funny though, i liked her since Hocus Pocus xD

[A New Day Has Come]

Yeah I am more excited to see cher than seeing Bhett Midler, and I'm not a cher fan either which is quit odd acturally. well I have to admit I like the song gypises, Tramps and thives.

[Célinefull]

people please! Bette will be so much better than Cher(e)

[Davey84]

no one can top Cher when it comes to a extravaganca show!!

 

I think Bette's show is totally different then Céline....cos Bette has comic acts aswell... I think it's more like a cabaret meets concert kinda show...

 

Bette Midler 'The Showgirl Must Go On' Now Playing at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace

 

Bette Midler performs "The Showgirl Must Go On". The show opened Feb. 20. (PRNewsFoto/AEG Live)

 

LAS VEGAS, NV UNITED STATES

 

The Divine Miss M. Unveils the Most Imaginative Show of Her Iconic Career

 

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Bette Midler "The Showgirl Must Go

On," created in partnership with AEG Live exclusively for The Colosseum at

Caesars Palace, premiered tonight to a sold-out crowd of VIPs and

celebrities.

 

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080221/LATH054 )

 

Flaunting plenty of girls and gags, "The Showgirl Must Go On" features

an enchanting repertoire complete with some of Midler's favorite

characters, from Delores Delago -- the wheelchair-bound mermaid -- to Soph,

the oldest living showgirl in Las Vegas. Amongst the backdrop of a

glittering Broadway-style theatre, Midler and her entourage of talented

performers light up the stage in an energetic, comical, and visually

stunning spectacle.

 

"I've been hoarding feathers and fans and sequins and rhinestones for

the last 50 years and, hey, I'm throwing 'em all on stage," said The Divine

Miss M.

 

"All of us at AEG Live are ecstatic about the debut of Bette's show,"

said John Meglen, Co-CEO and President of AEG Live/Concerts West. "The

production showcases Bette at her absolute best and her fans are going to

be blown away!"

 

Each witty number in "The Showgirl Must Go On" is peppered with

Midler's incomparable wit and brash sense of style. The Divine Miss M. is

joined on stage by the Harlettes (Jordan Ballard, Kyra Dacosta and Kamilah

Martin), a 13-piece band -- which includes a six-piece horn section from

the Las Vegas band "The Fat City Horns" -- and 20 female dancers, who

tackle the lively and energetic choreography created by the legendary Toni

Basil (of "Mickey" fame).

 

"Caesars audiences from all over the world will love this engaging new

spectacle, which uniquely showcases Bette's inimitable talents on a grand

scale," said Gary Selesner, president of Caesars Palace. "It takes a

Colosseum to showcase Bette Midler's colossal talents."

 

Tickets for "The Showgirl Must Go On" are on sale now and can be

purchased by calling 1-877-7BETTEM (723-8836) or logging on to

http://www.ticketmaster.com, keyword "Bette Midler". Tickets may also be

purchased in person at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace Box Office, which is

open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Ticket prices are $95, $140, $175, and

$250.

 

Bette Midler performs approximately 100 shows a year at the 4,300-seat

theatre. "The Showgirl Must Go On" hits the stage five nights per week at

7:30 p.m.; the show is dark on Mondays and Thursdays.

 

Visit http://bette.aeglive.com for more information on Bette Midler

"The Showgirl Must Go On" at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. For

additional information on The Divine Miss M., please visit her website

http://www.bettemidler.com.

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2272/2268107563_503aa2b6ac_o.jpg

[Krys]

its odd seeing the stage the way it is now

[SuperLove4Celine]

Well, Bette Midler's show, "The Showgirl Must Go On," debuted earlier this week at Celine's former home.

 

Anyway, I was browsing around a Cher message board (she's coming into Caesars in May) and found this link of a video of the show. The celebrities seemed impressed, I didn't, though. Maybe I'm just bitter. LOL

 

http://www.bootlegbetty.com/2008/02/21/good-for-robin/

 

What do you guys think?

 

- Joe

[Thomas]

Wow, it's practically unrecognisable as the Colosseum. I know the changed the stage and aren't really using the big screen that much but it looks very different. Looks like a good, all round cabaret-type show though.

[Krys]

i guess i must be bitter too cuz i didnt really like what i saw is it just me or does Bette just stay in the middle of the stage and doesnt move around? and did Bette steal a line from Celine? "Every night is gonna be different" imo, it looks just like any other cabaret show in Vegas.

[Bellamy]

It's even worse than I thought. I don't like it at all. And who are all the D-list celebrities except 1 or 2 real ones on her premiere?

[Davey84]

LOL!!! Well first of all I like the fact that Joey Fatone mentioned CELINE... the only one who did!!

 

I think it's more for the 'older' people! LOL it's a real shame they aren't using the LED Screen that much! But I'm sure Cher will bring a big change to that

[ByuSmurf]

I love Bette - her comedic timing is impeccable.

Always campy fun when you go to her show!

She also has some great songs -

Boogie, Woogie Bugle Boy has always been one of my faves!

[Davey84]

I love Bette - her comedic timing is impeccable.

Always campy fun when you go to her show!

She also has some great songs -

Boogie, Woogie Bugle Boy has always been one of my faves!

 

see?? just like I said... older people!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just joking Brenda!!

[denise]

Eh, it was alright. I can't believe she has From A Distance in her show. That song really needs to go away forever. Thank goodness it was a really short clip or a might of

[CelineAndRene]

i would like to see her show

[kathy4]

i don't think i would see her show because i only like a few of her songs. and i wouldn't travel to vegas.

[Nmj]

I Dont like Her at all she's annoying

-Nmj

Edited February 24, 2008 at 05:50 PM by Nmj

[Elaine]

Yeah, it is really weird... It's the same feeling I had when I was still in vegas but Céline's signs and all the stuff weren't there anymore... I need to learn to let go!

 

But I guess Bette will do a great show. I prefer Cher, though.

[mazceline]

love the women watched her in Beaches the other day and then firstwives club she is great

[RojoLuvsCeline]

love the women watched her in Beaches the other day and then firstwives club she is great

 

I watched the First Wives Club yesterday

 

Yes Bette would be reaching an older audience of course. But I would still love to go see her show I didn't the clip was that bad

[KimboCosmo]

Actually, I have been thinking about going to see Bette AND Cher both. I love them both, really. Yes, its sad Celine is gone, but I saw Cher on her farewell tour, and that woman can really put on an awesome show! I like Bette too, for her humor and classic songs from back in the day. I really want to see them both.

[Davey84]

Bette Midler Takes Vegas, Leaves Bathhouse

Friday, Feb. 29, 2008 By RICHARD CORLISS

Bette Midler's backup singers are the wind beneath her... oh, so that's what she meant by "wings."

PRNewsFoto / AEG Live

 

The huge screen on the Caesars Palace stage reveals a Nevada billboard bearing a poster of Bette Midler. She's posed in a cute blue dress with a short skirt that shows off her indestructibly fabulous gams; her smile is so electric it could light every casino on the Strip. A donkey wanders past, seemingly unimpressed, as, in the distance, a storm gathers strength. It morphs into a tornado, sending croupiers and chorines whizzing across the skyscape like Miss Gulch over Kansas. The door to an airborne Port-A-Potty swings open and an Elvis impersonator falls out. Now the video images give way to a crowd of real people on stage: three backup singers (the Staggering Harlettes) and 18 dancers. This is Vegas, baby. And riding in on that donkey, live and in person, all 5'1" of her, is the Divine Miss M. "Boy," she exclaims, in full twinkle, "is my #ss tired!"

 

She will be by the end of The Showgirl Must Go On, a 90-min. workout session that officially opens tonight and will play five times a week, 20 weeks a year. The other two headliners who will sport on the Coliseum stage when Bette's resting will be Elton John and Cher. "Me, Elton and Cher," she says of Caesar's year-round headliners, as a 1975 photo of the three flashes on the rear screen. "Does it get any gayer?"

 

Midler has come a long way since she was the gay guys' pin-up girl at the Continental Baths in Manhattan. She's 62 now, and her fans have matured with her. "Thirty years ago my audiences were on drugs," she confides. "Now they're on medication." Frequently she complains that she hasn't got the old energy. "Omigod I'm exhausted!" she apostrophizes after her very first number — adding, in re certain pop-star lip-synchers who've played the Strip, "That's what happens when you do your own songs."

 

Bette's show follows the five-year run of Celine Dion's A New Day. That elephantine extravaganza, staged by ex-Cirque du Soleil director Franco Dragone, submerged the singer in gigantic sets and CGI effusions: rolling clouds, meteor showers, shooting stars. Midler jokes that she has come to "the only city that could teach Kraft about cheese" because of "the sh-tload of money they're payin' me." There's plenty of money lavished on the production too: $10 million (as she mentions three or four times during the evening), and it boasts some luscious videographic effects. Oh, and Midler does make an appearance wreathed in a 3200-lb. headdress of pink feathers. But Showgirl, written by Eric Korngold and Bruce Vilanch, and choreographed by Toni Basil, keeps its focus on the star. It's a big satin pillow for her outsize talents to cuddle up in.

 

"We're gonna take you where you've never been," the star announces. Is that a promise or a threat? Actually, she's gonna take you back to all the old familiar places: to clips of early Bette singing "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" as current Bette performs the same steps; to the mermaid chanteuse Dolores Delago, flapping her fin tail as she zips across the stage in a motorized wheelchair; to the '70s anthem "Pretty Legs and Great Big Knockers," its brass and sass intact; to reprises of the signature ballads "The Rose," "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and (the unnecessary but apparently mandatory) "From a Distance." These are signposts of the part of the country her fans call home: Midler America. That's what keeps 'em comin' back for more.

 

The songs, the nonstop snazz and of course the bawdry — or, as she puts it, "hits, glitz and tremendous tits." Innuendo goes out the window when Miss M. comes to town. The clerk at the ticket desk offers the friendly warning that this is "adult entertainment," and inside you'll hear Midler caution the crowd, "Please don't call the Pope if you see a tit or two." You won't have to phone Rome; skinwise, the show is pretty chaste. Bette relies on one of her longtime characters — Soph (for Sophie Tucker), the oldest babe in show business — to supply the raunch dressing. "My tits have fallen so far South they're speakin' Spanish," Soph confesses before telling a few ribald classics. Since this is a family website, I'll withhold the punch lines and tease you with a couple of the setups: "If I'd know you were a virgin I would've been gentler." And "Have you ever been picked up by the fuzz?" (Cappers and rim shots available upon written request.)

 

The big set piece has Dolores Delago dreaming that she is getting career counsel from the American Idol judges (their faces rendered in increasingly distorted funhouse images). "You should be in Vegas," Simon says. But when she gets there, ready to star in her classy aquatic revue, she finds she's not booked at Cirque du Soleil but at a Daze Inn motel where the water attraction is called Sunque du So Low. Ever the trouper, Dolores dons Elvis cape and shades and belts out "Viva Las Vegas," "It's Now or Never"and "My Way." So she's performing in the motel pool; so lightning strikes her. The lady is fulfilling her destiny: she's in the business she calls show.

 

The real Bette Midler, chantootsie extraordinaire, got the crowd to sing along with "The Rose" while waving their cell phones like cigarette lighters at a '60s concert. Still, she's at her best not so much in the pop ballads that gave her mid-career a Top 40 lift, as in a plaintive ballad like John Prine's "Hello in There," or her rave-up of "When a Man Loves a Woman." They're terrific songs, and prove the lady's still got the lung power. (Does she take requests? Please, then, an encore of her late-70s gut-destroyer "Stay With Me.")

 

As Soph, Midler passes along some folk wisdom for the business that we call show: "Find your light. They can't love you if they don't see you." Bette has been radiating that light for nearly four decades; you'd think she'd be worn out by now. But The Showgirl Must Go On displays the sexy sexagenarian at the top of her form. There's simply no one who can match Midler as a full-service mesmerizer — all-singing, all-talking, all heart and soul. Here's a sure thing for high rollers: Go to Vegas, and bet on Bette.

[Edwin]

I love Bette - her comedic timing is impeccable.

Always campy fun when you go to her show!

She also has some great songs -

Boogie, Woogie Bugle Boy has always been one of my faves!

 

see?? just like I said... older people!!!

 

 

 

Just joking Brenda!!

 

I beg your pardon! I think Bette is amazing too! And I am not that much older than you Kimba, I'll go see Bette and Cher with ya

[Davey84]

well I like The Rose and To Deserve You and I luuuurve Hocus Pocus... and some other films, which I can't remember the title of....but those 'american classics/ jazz music that is nothing for me... and I wouldn't pay 220 dollars to sit Orch level Cher on the other hand

[celbabs]

LOL!!! Well first of all I like the fact that Joey Fatone mentioned CELINE... the only one who did!!

 

I think it's more for the 'older' people! LOL it's a real shame they aren't using the LED Screen that much! But I'm sure Cher will bring a big change to that

 

Older people? And who do you think Celine's audience is? I went to see the IMAX showing of A New Day... and we were the youngest people there. EVERYONE ELSE was over 50. I'm not kidding.

 

When I told a new aquaintance in her 20's that I was a Celine fan, her comment was "Why? You're not over 50?" I'm not kidding.

[Thomas]

You're kidding!

[CelineAndRene]

LOL anybody who seen it... is it good????

[Lawna]

Well I kinda like Bette, I guess if I had extra money to see her I might, but of course, I will probably cry during the show, only because I miss Celine....it's bitter sweet I always get a lump on my throat when I see footage of Celine's final show in Las Vegas