A 62-year-old dynamo
Midler, who is 5-foot-1, fretted going in to the show that
she'd be swallowed by the Colosseum's 22,000-square-foot stage
and 30-by-110-foot LED screen that were built for statuesque
Celine Dion and her troupe of 80 dancers.
She shouldn't have worried. Midler and her 18 dancers and
trio of backup singers fill the stage for 90 minutes. She mocks
the stage's size with a clever quip about needing a defibrillator
and chuckles that there are to be "no seizures at Caesars."
Still, her intense rendition of When a Man Loves a Woman left
her so physically spent, she appeared near collapse.
The screen is used largely for atmospherics. Uproarious bits
involve American Idol judges and Cher, whose own 200-show gig
starts May 6 at the Colosseum. One of the show's most exciting
moments happens on the LED screen, an opening sequence that
blows Vegas away.
Vintage Midler
As with most of her live performances, Midler morphs into
her two characters: the mermaid Delores Delago and her blue-joke-telling
geezer Soph. In a key bit of nostalgia just before the Wings
Beneath My Wings finale, footage plays of a twentysome-thing
Midler bopping through Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy as she and her
crew re-enact the dance steps, wearing similar costumes and
hairstyles.
Sequins and set pieces
Each of Midler's outfits shimmied, whether it was the bright
silver pantsuit she appeared in for her first several numbers
or a relatively restrained black knee-length dress for the ballad
The Rose. To fill the stage for From a Distance, mammoth trees
made of ropes of gold coins descended. Later, a huge set piece
makes Midler's Soph appear to be wearing a 30-foot pink headdress.
Vegas in-jokes
From her new-for-the-show number The Showgirl Must Go On to
video cameos by Wayne Newton and Elvis, who encourage American
Idol reject Delores to go for broke in Sin City, rare is the
moment when you forget you're on the Strip.
There are a couple of digs at that Vegas-dominating entertainment
force Cirque du Soleil, including Delores appearing at the fictional
Sunque do Sollow and noting that none of her dancers, dubbed
Caesars Salad Girls, are "French-Canadian circus performers."
As Soph's jokes get ever dirtier, Midler pays homage to the
recent Colosseum era by bellowing, "Come back, Celine! All is
forgiven!"
Topical humor
Current events are a trademark of her shows. Here, she jokes
about the subprime mortgage mess and presidential campaign.
A discouraged Delores says she feels lower than "Giuliani in
Florida."
Midler also uses the screen to poke fun at scandal-sheet regulars
Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan (who played Midler's daughter
in the pilot of the short-lived 2000 sitcom Bette).
The screen flashes a photo of Paris Hilton's bare backside,
then a similar image of Midler from the '70s in her own tabloid
predicament.
"I was ahead of my time, as usual," she crows.
