Its superstar Cher’s fifth show at Caesars Palace’s The Colosseum tonight (TUES) and the Vegas press contingent is waiting for her!

Hopefully they’ll love her and the show as much as Luxe Life did exactly one week ago on opening night. I’ll personally be curious to see if she’s made any immediate changes from the premiere.

Seven days ago she got an incredible reception with wild applause, cheers and a standing ovation from fans. But showbiz veterans worried about a 30-minute late start and a two-hour running time because of her 17 complicated costume changes. Those Bob Mackie sequined wonders take her between three and five minutes to zip in and out of. Producers say that because Cher wanted a different dress for every song her dressers have to move at the speed of a NASCAR pit stop change to ready her for the next number. She has a quick-changing room right on the stage under the 65-feet-tall 10,000-pound steel center bridge suspended from two metal towers. One number with three different eye-popping outfits actually has a gypsy caravan that moves on stage for Cher’s rapid costume changes.

Cher’s show is already drawing celebrities galore and Sharon Osbourne was the latest in the sold out crowd of 4,300 fans. They all gasp at the start of the opening number when dare-devil Cher rides an open-cage, that she describes as her “Evil Kneivil-Flying Wallenda’s death-mobile,” down from the theater’s ceiling onto the stage. The 62-year-old star braves stunts that few celebrities would dare tackle in a live production. “She wanted nothing about the Vegas production to be ordinary,” I was told.

Instead of commuting back to her Malibu home she and the entire cast and crew have been fine tuning the show over the three dark nights before thisq evening. With long hours of dedication and discipline for perfection with the show, Cher, since arriving has only been seen out socially at Caesars once, opening night when she met with Siegfried & Roy at Wolfgang Puck’s nearby Spago restaurant.

Luxe Life will monitor tonight’s special performance for any changes and will report tomorrow accordingly.

Its now official that the fourth season of Criss Angel’s top-rated A&E cable Mindfreak TV series will start July 23 and he is promising another blockbuster set of shows.

Criss is currently in rehearsals for the new Believe show opening in the Luxor resort in September at Cirque’s “monster warehouse.” Costume fittings have already been completed and rehearsals for the ensemble of dancers being used in the story-telling segments of Believe are well underway.

It’s believed that Criss’ show could be the first Cirque production on the Strip not using acrobats and aerialists. Believe will use characters and dancers choreographed by Wade Robson who works on the So You Think You can Dance FOX TV series. That fourth season starts on Thursday of next week and then Wade will be commuting between Vegas and Hollywood with both projects.

One spywitness who sat in on some of the preliminary Believe rehearsals told me: “It is truly amazing and hard to believe what you are seeing with your own eyes. Criss is thrilled with the Cirque partnership and he and the Cirque producers are getting along so well with the incredible creative ideas and staging that they are all ready to move into the Luxor theater next month after all the final construction work is completed.”

Meantime Criss took a brief break from his grueling 18-hour work days for a little R&R at the LAX nightclub in the Luxor where he lives and wound up side-by-side at the VIP tables with former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.

National Hockey League star Jeremy Roenick from the San Jose Sharks sipped on Dom Perignon at the adjoining table.

Executives at the A&E cable channel have already given a green-light go-ahead for a fifth season of Mindfreak, which Criss will start simultaneous shooting here in Vegas once Believe is up and running well following its Sept. 12 grand opening.

It took 32 years for singing-ventriloquist Terry Fator to get recognition and become the $1 million winner of America’s Got Talent show on NBC-TV. Today (TUES) MGM Mirage executives will confirm our Friday exclusive that they’ve signed him to a five-year $100 million deal for him to take over from Danny Gans at his own Terry Fator Theater as of next Feb. 14. When Terry won a series of occasional Hilton appearances after his TV victory I got to chat with him about his plans to eventually buy a Vegas home and headquarter here.

RL: How was it toiling in the trenches unrecognized for 32 years, doing a TV show that was “talent questionable” by many people and then finding instant stardom on the top of marquees in Vegas? Your life turned around in 32 seconds after 32 years on the road.

TF: It did; It is the most amazing feeling. Imagine that you have had a craft for 32 years and then suddenly every dream that you have ever had, comes true. It only ever happens in movies. That emotion you get when the hero gets what he wants, that is exactly how it feels; it is surreal. To see myself on a billboard is amazing.

RL: When you were out slogging in the trenches you made a good living, but had you given up on elusive stardom and decided just to be a journeyman?

TF: I really had, I had come to the conclusion when I was 38, about four years ago, I looked at my life and I thought ‘you know what no one is ever going to care about a 40-year-old ventriloquist, so I guess that dream is over, but at least I get to do what I enjoy.’ I look forward to getting onstage. I was making a living; I was able to support my family, so I decided I wanted to be the best for myself and the people onstage. It is funny when they told me I was going to talk to you, I used to watch your show and I never dreamed I would be a rich and famous. I am so happy. I can’t put into words to get all the things I dreamed of since I was ten. I would not trade all those years for anything.

RL: Was it grim three decades struggling?

TF: It was; it was hard and frustrating. I would call my wife and say ‘honey I am so tired of this,’ they would put me out on a stage at 3 p.m. and there were a few times I almost had a heat stroke. I would call my wife and say ‘this is horrible,’ she would say, ‘do you want to get another job’ and I would say I like my job. But there were a few times I didn’t know how much longer I could do it.

RL: Was the act the same as you would do at 3 in the afternoon that you did on America’s Got Talent?

TF: Yes. I made the decision when I was 16 that if there was even one person in the audience I would give them every bit of myself. I said I would give them 100 percent of my energy and focus. I think it is that commitment to quality that I was able to get on AGT. It was the nerve racking experience of my life, and not look nervous because it was what I did every single day. I was able to put the preparation that I had done before hand get out there and do it, despite my knees shaking.

RL: Now you are a talented man in terms of being a singing impressionist. Why did you want to do it with the dolls? How do you overcome the fact that ventriloquism is thought of as the stepchild of show business?

TF: It was something that I grew to love as a child. I decided at 15 I wanted to be the best in the world and at 16 I would watch some that were way before my time like Paul WInchell and I decided that I wanted to be one of those people that when they talked about ventriloquism they would say Terry Fator. It was always something I loved to do. I started doing the impressions. I never knew I was an impressionist till my late 20’s. I just always thought if someone were to learn a song, they should learn it as the original. Someone had to tell me that. I was doing the impressions and I was doing the ventriloquism, but I wasn’t doing them together, and about three years ago my manager had said, “do you think you could do the two together and have the puppet do the impression?” So that night I had my puppet do “Friends in Low Places.” My manager came up and said that was so wild, we have to have every puppet doing impressions. So I put it in. I spent a lot of time writing new routines with puppets doing impressions.

RL: It is like talking to yourself; to you they must come alive sometimes.

TF: What is amazing about it is that I spent many years trying to make myself comfortable with this puppet that was across there and that was the hardest thing. It is a puppet and it was uncomfortable. I would spend hours and hours with these puppets and familiarize myself with talking to them I would say things and have them answer. I never crossed the line between reality and fantasy. They are always puppets. But if I can convince you that I think they are real, then within 2-3 seconds you will believe they are real. That is the trick. It is an illusion. I create life out of wood and felt. It is a great feeling; it is an illusion. We all know they are not really floating, but if they can convince you they believe they are floating, then you believe they are floating. It is a trick and doing the impressions, it is one thing to do them as a singer, it is another to have a gift to be able to do world-class ventriloquism and to be able to do the two, I don’t know if there is another person that can. It has been an amazing experience, and when I went on America’s Got Talent everyone liked it too. When I first went on I thought the way everyone felt about ventriloquism would override all I was doing and there was no way I could win the show. I said it from the beginning; there is no way I could win. America got it. I am so happy they got it.

RL: That proves the point about the characters out of the trunk becoming real. Fellow Strip headliner Ronn Lucas has been a big friend and supporter.

TF: He is a friend and a huge supporter. He is an important part of my past. I saw him perform and thought okay that is how good a ventriloquist can be. That was how good I wanted to be. I don’t think you can be better than Ronn Lucas because he is as good as it gets but I made it my goal to be at least as good as he is. I feel like I have accomplished that goal and Ronn is a fan and I am a fan of his. We love to talk business and then just hang out. He is a great guy.

RL: So you have talked about moving to Vegas and using it as a base for your travels.

TF: It will happen. We have a house in the Dallas area, but a Vegas home is going to happen in the upcoming months. Within the year we will have a house here. I have always loved Vegas and it has been my dream to see my name up in lights. Six or seven years ago it intensified, I was telling my wife ‘you don’t know how much I want to go to Vegas and see my name on a billboard in Vegas,’ and four years ago I thought it is not going to happen, but I realize that happens when you give up the dream and start doing it for the real reason, a lot of times the dreams come true. Luck has a lot to do with preparation. By simply focusing on my art and craft I prepared myself for when the luck came. I wouldn’t trade those years for anything, without that I would not have been prepared.

RL: Have you shrugged off those years of toiling in the trenches? How has your life changed?

TF: That is one of the best questions I have ever been asked, and I will say a whole lot. Sometimes I would do shows ankle deep in mud at a rodeo arena and I would have mud everywhere and I would have to clean the puppets. The worst one, it’s a true story: Less than a year ago I did a show for just one 12-year-old boy. I was at a fair and it started to rain and they had said it is a 1,000-seat arena and we are going to have everyone come in. One kid came in. I did a show for one kid. He loved it; I did a good show. Fifteen minutes into the show the custodians come in and start folding the chairs up while I am on stage, they should have brought out the hook. I gave the kid a CD and a DVD and a picture and said thanks for being my audience and of course now 150 kids have said I was that kid. When I knew I was going to be on America’s Got Talent I said even if I become famous I am going to continue to do these crappy shows, once I don’t have to do the show I realize I can’t do it anymore.

RL: I think you deserve it. You are obviously enjoying your run of dates here in Vegas, more to come?

TF: I am looking for a permanent home in Vegas in a showroom where I play for years. I would love to get off the road and say Vegas is home. I get up, do the show, and go back home. I know it is going to happen. Right now I am having a good time. I am doing the one weekend a month thing at the Hilton and I am setting up shows all over the country but my dream is to be home in Vegas, get up and do the show and then go back home.

RL: Well may all your dreams come true after 32 years of not coming true.

TF: It is so strange that it has happened. When you work for it like I have you appreciate it more.

The gorgeous topless dancers of MGM Grand’s Crazy Horse Paris revue are celebrating their eye-popping June Playboy pictorial tonight (TUES).

To unveil the first look at the layout they’ll show up at midnight in the Moon nightclub at the Palms resort which also is headquarters for the Playboy Club. The next-to-nothing un-dressed ladies who also bare their beauty at playboydigital.com will perform a special dance routine and then sign autographs for fans at their two-hour appearance. During the 50-year history of the Crazy Horse in Paris the delicious dancers have entertained such celebrities as Madonna, Elvis Presley and even President John F. Kennedy!

Today (TUES) will be tougher on bike-champion Lance Armstrong than any marathon he’s ever run or any hill he’s ever climbed in the Tour de France!

He’s starting out with breakfast in New York, winding up with dinner with starchef Wolfgang Puck here in Vegas and in between time criss-crossing the country on a private jet to make stops in Ohio and Denver also. It’s all part of his fifth annual LIVESTRONG day to raise awareness for the cancer fight and to show support for people affected by cancer. It’s the first time the legendary athlete and cancer survivor himself will spend the longest portion of the special daylong initiative in Nevada. This afternoon (TUES) Lance will visit the Nevada Cancer Institute before the $1,000 per person dinner at the new Cut steakhouse in The Palazzo. Lance is good pals with Wolfgang Puck and his Vegas managing partner Tom Kaplan, a bike enthusiast who has ridden often with the world champion.

Frank Sinatra’s daughter Tina will be center-stage at a noon Bellagio resort-casino ceremony today (TUES) to mark the introductory launch of a new postage stamp honoring the singer. Frank’s other children Frank Jr. and Nancy will be at similar ceremonies in New York City and his birthplace of Hoboken, New Jersey. To mark the 10th anniversary of Sinatra’s death tomorrow (WED) the US Post Office is selling copies of a new “Blue Eyes” compilation Nothing but the Best along with the cancelled collectible first-day stamp. The artist who created the stamp, Kazuhiko Sano will join Tina at the Bellagio’s fountain alcove for the ceremony. It’s all part of a concerted effort to re-birth Sinatra into an ongoing viable commercial brand for a movie, a show, new albums and merchandising.

Former Miss USA beauty, Ali Landry, became even better known as the Doritos chips TV commercial girl and she went onto play Rita Lefleur in the Eve sitcom.

But her proudest role is that of mom and she celebrated her first Mothers Day by hosting the first ever “Hot Moms” party at the super-hot Tao nightclub in The Venetian.

She brought her husband, famed director Alejandro Monteverde and her sister, Gena along with her in the group of seven friends. Resident DJ MOS gave a welcome shout out to the actress congratulating her on the upcoming first birthday of her first daughter in July.

Ali and Alejandro are still very much in love and danced and kissed each other all night long!

*Paris Hilton’s romance with Good Charlotte rocker Benji Madden that began right here in Vegas at Valentine’s continues to grow. She just told friends at FOX TV in New York: “I love family. I love kids and I want my own with my boyfriend!” Sure looks like marriage might be coming sooner rather than later!

*From the Gossip grab bag: Was that LA soccer star hunk David Beckham relaxing poolside in a cabana at the Hard Rock’s Rehab party? There was no sign of his wife Posh Spice Victoria but he was on best behavior according to a spywitness. … Hotel tycoon George Maloof has decided that Michael Boychuck’s new boutique salon at the Palms Place condo-tel will be known as Primp! … Fellow Brit Piers Morgan, a judge on America’s Got Talent, dined at Koi, the Japanese-themed celebrity restaurant at Planet Hollywood Resort with executives Amy Sadowsky and Dean Dililo and Colorado radio host Robbyn Hart. … Tickets have just gone on sale for all of Wayne Brady’s Making It Up shows at The Venetian through to October and the one-man variety production has been renewed through August of 2009!

*Today’s the day (TUES) that Strip comedienne Rita Rudner’s newest book I Still Have It, I Just Can’t Remember Where I Put It goes on sale at bookstores across the country. The Harrah’s headliner has written a collection of comedic essays about getting older.

*Here’s an advance tip for something special tomorrow night (WED): Teenage Jamaican raised rap, reggae, doo-wop, pop singer-songwriter Sean Kingston who was discovered on MySpace launching his self-titled debut album last July has had three consecutive top-10 singles with “Beautiful Girl” going No. 1 in 21 different countries. Tomorrow at the Empire Ballroom on the Strip, Samsung Sound Check and MetroPCS present him in a one-night only private music event Samsung puts on the one-hour shows to provide consumers an opportunity to experience the latest in music-centric mobile phones. You can log on for free tickets at samsungsoundcheck.com/vegas/access.html.

World champion athlete Lance Armstrong is guest of honor at a LIVESTRONG fundraiser dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s new Cut restaurant in The Palazzo. … The Army Navy and Weather Underground perform live at The Beatles Revolution Lounge in The Mirage.

Michael Jackson gets a last minute reprieve over the Neverland foreclosure and hometown R&B star Ne-Yo gets ready to celebrate his third album and all the super starchefs invade for the ultimate epicurean extravaganza.

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