BETTE MIDLER LIFTS THE VEIL ON HER NEW SHOW AND CHER READIES HER ANNOUNCEMENT
Vegas gave a warm welcome to its newest superstar, Bette Midler as she arrived to begin her on-stage final three-weeks of rehearsals at the Caesars Palace Coloseum. She admitted to working 12-hour days to get back into shape for the spectacular.
“I was a total porker. I had stopped working about three years ago, and steadily I’d gained 15 pounds or so.” On her tiny 5′2″ frame, Bette says the weight gain showed. “So I started jumping and running and dancing, which is total cardio, and it’s fantastic—and look, I dropped 7-8 pounds and I feel fantastic.”
Her new glitzy production, The Showgirl Must Go On begins there in less than one-month—on Feb. 20—after weeks of pre-production in both New York and Los Angeles. Already her debut run is running at the same box-office breakneck speed as former resident Celine Dion—and tickets went on sale yesterday for her follow up 24 summer shows running June 24 through July 27.
You are guaranteed her incomparable humor, captivating charisma and over-the-top imagination—and tons of new material!
“They preferred as much new as possible,” said Bette, “which is a real challenge.”
Bette has revealed for the first time details of the surprises she has in store for us: “Plenty of girls and gags, plus some of my favorite colorful characters—including Delores Delago, the wheelchair bound mermaid and the oldest living showgirl in Vegas.”
A backup entourage of talented performers includes the incredible Harlettes—Jordan Ballard, Hyra Dacosta and Kamilah Martin. In addition there will be a 13-piece band, including a six-piece horn section from Vegas’ own Fat City Horns with Danny Falcone and Gil Kaupp on trumpet, Robert Mader, Gerald Merra and Phil Wigfall on sax and Nathan Tanouye on trombone. Her musical director on the keyboards is longtime friend, Bette Sussman. Just wait till you hear “Big Noise from Winnetka!”
The 20 gorgeous female dancers, choreographed by award winning Toni Basil, who will also wear mermaid-like fishtails for one number, I am told, are knock-outs! Bette helps write her own material—updated daily to stay topical—with funnymen Bruce Vilanch and Eric Kornfeld.
“It’s key in Vegas that I be funny, and I am going to make them laugh,” she added.
Over her 40-year extraordinary career she’s had memorable movie roles and major-song successes with “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Now the feathers, fans and sequins are being unpacked here in Vegas as she readies for the more than 200 live performances at Caesars.
“I had never seen the theater, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” she told talk show host Oprah Winfrey in a taped program that broadcast yesterday. Once she arrived, Bette says she thought it was gorgeous—and added sarcastically, “tiny!”
“After 15,000 people a night, 4,500 seems quite intimate,” she joked. Bette took Oprah’s cameras on a backstage tour of rehearsals for The Showgirl Must Go On, and the singer confirmed her Vegas show would have over-the-top grandeur and outrageous costumes.
“I think America’s going to think we’re fairly peculiar,” Bette told Oprah. “We try to do as many strange and wonderful things in these costumes as we possibly can. People do somersaults in them, they do flips, they do back flips, we do synchronized swimming, we dive, and we break dance.”
“I hope I am redefining what life can be for women in their 60’s,” she continued. “This is not a swan song. I’ve been working toward something this large my entire life. 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 been as low-tech as possible before this. At 62 years of age I have no intention of slowing down. When I turned 60 I wasn’t so nervous. But as 61 crept up and 62, I was like, ‘Oh my God, the clock really is ticking, isn’t it? I better get cracking here.’”
She admits she’ll be edging in on 65 by the time her Caesars contract comes to an end.
“I had a list of what I wanted to accomplish in my lifetime, but I was realistic about it. You have that list your whole life and you’re always like, ‘One of these days, I’m going to take that French class.’ You never do. You pick as much up as you can as you go along.”
Married to Martin von Haselberg since 1984, Bette says they made a conscious effort to keep their relationship strong.
“He taught me flexibility; he taught me a certain kind of generosity of spirit that I actually did not have before I met him.”
Bette says her biggest passion in life isn’t just singing, dancing or performing—it’s cleaning up the environment.
“It’s almost become an obsession,” she told Oprah.
The last time I chatted with Bette she told me she wanted to expand her tree-planting program that she started in New York to Vegas, also. She also promised: “Caesar’s Palace will never be the same. To all those who have accused me of being tacky, too much and over the top—you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Next up is the long-awaited official announcement from Cher herself that she’ll join the Caesars lineup as the third member of the trio of resident entertainer headliners alongside Sir Elton John and Bette. Luxe Life has previously reported she’ll make that right after the Super Bowl while on a New York TV broadcast next week—and we’re still sticking to our prediction. The Caesars box office has already indicated that they are expecting tickets to go on sale immediately afterwards for her engagement due to start the first full week of May.