To follow the local media, you’d think Jesus Christ was returning to Earth at Caesars Palace. Instead, it’s Céline Marie Claudette Dion, who owns a just slightly smaller fanbase. Back when her first Caesars residency was announced, at a time when Sin City was experiencing a 2002 mini-slump, I wrote a piece for Nevada Business Journal entitled, “Celine Saves Vegas.” (The deal was so generous to Dion that it prematurely cost Park Place Entertainment CEO Tom Gallagher his job and set off a 2003 bloodbath in the executive suite.) That’s nothing compared to the hopes pinned on her now: According to the Today show, Dion’s presence is expected to boost Strip visitation 3% — i.e., more than CityCenter did.
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Somebody needs to tell “journalist” Jenna Bush Hager that It’s Not About You. It looks like Dion’s got what Ed Sullivan used to call “a rrreally big shew” and won’t disappoint. Better still, there’s no trace of the inscrutable Dragonerie that made A New Day so aggravating … not least the mysterious mock-albino that my wife dubbed “Powder” (for all you Sean Patrick Flanery fans). Also, with Jabbawockeez and now Dion doing …
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… Michael Jackson-inspired shows, will the Jacko-in-Vegas jones be sated by the time Cirque du Soleil®‘s much-ballyhooed MJ show drops anchor in Mandalay Bay roughly two years hence? After the financial disappointment of Viva Elvis™, one hesitates to say that Jackson is money in the bank. (Ain’t nobody talking about why the big Aria wrap for the Presley show mentions neither Viva Elvis™ nor Cirque du Soleil®, by the way.)
It’s remarkably ungallant of Newsweek to slug fortysomethings Dion and fellow Canadian Shania Twain (left) “big-name talent of a certain age.” Dion isn’t Cher or Bette Midler emerging from semi-retirement and (in Cher’s case) doing the bare minimum necessary to collect a hefty paycheck. The article also dwells on the symptoms of Las Vegas‘ economic downfall but lets the villains of the scenario (over-optimistic homebuilders, spendthrift condo and casino developers, LBO-crazed gaming moguls, criminally irresponsible bank executives and other Wall Street enablers) completely off the hook. It’s not like all this desperation and privation came out of nowhere.
She’s baaaaack. Not Céline but the gift that keeps on giving. For local media, Christmas just came nine months early.
You know that I read your blog religiously when I saw the link “the gift that keeps on giving” and I knew you were referring to Sharron.
Nice pic of Shania by the way.
The question isn’t whether the public wants an MJ show, it’s whether Cirque is capable of giving the public the MJ show it wants! Just like Criss Angel fans wanted to see him do demonstrations from “Mindfreak” and not dancing bunnies, Michael Jackson fans want to see his videos recreated live with dancers, not trampoline artists! Although I have to say there are a lot more Michael Jackson fans visiting Vegas these days than Elvis fans, so it’s much more of a sure thing!
I thought booking Celine was great for Caesars? Don’t they pay her and then get it all back from her husband? If you look at it that way, it makes perfect sense. Although I would agree, the hype is absurd.
Dion is absolutely good for business at Caesars, as the Gallagher administration maintained at the time (and was subsequently borne out in the restaurants, on the casino floor, etc.). Putting this deal together was the single best accomplishment of Gary Loveman’s tenure as CEO. The Park Place board should have waited to see if the original Celine deal penciled out before sending Wallace Barr in to go all Leatherface on the executive team. (It was like a Stalinist purge, I tell ya.)
Gonna be tough for Sharron and Celine. If Angle could not ride the big wave last November she surely will struggle against a fired-up base in 2012. And Celine gets saddled with Messiah expectations. Ask Obama how easy that is to deal with. Someone needs to explain and outline Celines demographics to me. I’m 51, and I can honestly say I would rather see any show in Vegas more than her show. Maybe I am too young? Maybe I live too far West?
Sharron Angle alert! I want to find that lady and give her a big hug!!! Yesterday she broke with the new conservative meme that teachers are lazy, overpaid, and a drain on our society. And she did so with gusto. Of course Ms. Angle and I completely disagree on most everything, but how refreshing to see her stand up for the truth, children, and education. I hope her remarks get alot of ink. Not because I want her to win a seat in Congress, but I want others like myself to see that she is brave enough to break from the vindictive and wrong attack on teachers.
Regarding Celine Dion, Mike, I suspect you are insufficiently female to dig her. It’s “a girl thing,” I think, although her “power-screech” style of singing and physical mannerisms (like that collarbone-thwack thing she does) might qualify her as a gay icon, too. But I have a hunch that most men seen suffering through Celine Dion shows are there because their wife, mom, girlfriend or daughters dragged them. Just my guess.
Great post!