Céline Dion returns to the Colosseum
Global music sensation Céline Dion returned to the Colosseum at Caesars Palace last night (Sept. 19) to resume her Las Vegas residency following a sold-out summer tour that played 25 sold-out shows in 15 cities across Europe.
With a new, shorter haircut Celine used the gold mic she had for the opening of the show 1,050 productions ago. Celine also wore a new, silver-fringed, mini-skirt outfit.
Celine dropped the “Immortality” number from her rundown of songs but added “Think Twice,” one of the songs from her 1993 “Color of My Love” album. In a duet with singer Barney Valsaint (they also do “Beauty and the Beast”) she also added “I’m Your Angel” to the set list. Here’s their YouTube duet from their Paris concert in 1999:
During her performance, Céline addressed the sold-out crowd about the ongoing hurricane Harvey, Irma and Maria devastation and announced relief and recovery donations to benefit the American Red Cross will be collected during her Las Vegas shows at the Colosseum. Céline, along with partners AEG Presents and Caesars Entertainment, will match the donated funds.
Tickets for Céline at the Colosseum are on sale for performances through Jan. 20. During her 30-year-career, Celine has now sold almost 250 million albums. She has earned five Grammy awards, two Academy awards, seven American Music awards, 20 Juno awards (Canada) and an astonishing 40 Felix awards (Quebec).
In 2004, Céline received the Diamond award at the World Music Awards recognizing her status as the best-selling female artist of all time. In 2016, the Billboard Music Awards presented her with the lifetime achievement Icon Award.
The March launch of her very first line of fashion accessories, The Céline Dion Collection comprising more than 200 articles, including handbags and luggage ensembles has just gone on sale at stores across America.
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TOUR DE FORCE
There are not sufficient superlatives in the Webster’s Dictionary to rain praise on the ensemble cast of the new Smith Center Broadway season launch for “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” — especially for young Adam Langdon who plays the overwhelming role of an autistic teen battling Aspergers. He is beyond brilliant and elicited laughter, tears, oohs and aahs from the thunderstruck audience.
The National Theater Company’s show that won five Tony Awards on Broadway opened last night (Sept. 19) at the downtown performance center. It was spellbinding. It was riveting. It was certainly powerful. Maybe the most of any production staged in the five years at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. It created stunning silence and also laughs that were truly moving and still elicited emotions 24 hours later!
The Smith Center patrons, who have long urged management to break up the season’s musical shows with extraordinary drama, saw their wish come true. “Curious Incident” is performed on an electronic grid of a circuit board to demonstrate the firing of the human brain at rest and in frustrated anger!
It is a masterpiece of theatrical design by Bunny Christie who said: “It’s a Rubik’s cube of equations and algebra. There’s LED lighting and projectors that celebrate technology and serve as a laboratory for the main character to solve his mystery.”
The show’s emotional and complex plot was taken from the 2003 book of the same name that sold more than 2 million copies. Intensely produced and directed “Curious Incident” is both thought-provoking and, yet fun to watch as an extraordinarily exciting and very different theater piece. There are poignant moments when the killer of the dog breaks down with a gift of another pet and when the police have to arrest hands-on the troubled teenager who cannot bear to be touched.
Bravo to The Smith Center officials for bringing in such an intriguing fascinating and unique production — especially to kick off the new Broadway season. Bravo to the cast for delivering a world-class masterpiece.
Make sure you stay after the standing ovation curtain call because Adam returns for a four-minute mathematical monologue that defies description and left the audience dumbfounded and taken aback. “Curious Dog” is at The Smith center nightly through the weekend with matinee performances also on Saturday and Sunday.
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TATTOO TITANS
Our two Vegas tattoo artists Christian Buckingham and Noelin Wheeler from Basilica Tattoo are into the “Ink Master” live season finale next Tuesday (Sept. 26) on Spike TV after last night’s (Sept. 19) victory.
The artists had to endure a marathon inking four different designs every 90 minutes on their “human canvases.” The judges felt that Unkindness Art of Richmond, Virginia, did not have what it takes to be the next “Ink Master Master Shop” and they were eliminated.
Here’s the two men on their journey and what they’ll face next week:
At stake is $200,000 plus the title of “Master Shop” making them the No. 1 salon in America. “It will be the best finale pieces America has ever seen,” Christian said.
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TONIGHT’S TIPS
• The multinational classical crossover vocal group Il Divo premiere its limited engagement at The Venetian through Sept. 30. The male quartet is made up of David Miller, Carlos Martin, Urs Buhler and Sebastien Izambard. They have been entertaining around the world since joining together in Britain back in December 2003.
• Former Creedence Clearwater Revival’s lead guitarist and lead singer John Fogarty brings his “Fortunate Song” in concert to Steve Wynn’s Encore Theater. The 72-year-old musician is expected to show his skills on a long lost 1969 Rickenbacker 325 Sunburst guitar!
• A new 10-piece band with three members of the Black Crowes form The Magpie Salute with other dynamic musicians and singers for a stop on their national tour at Brooklyn Bowl in the Linq.
• Soap opera star Jacob Young of the “Bold and the Beautiful” performs at the South Point showroom with glamorous singer songwriter Vanessa LeGrand.
• There’s intense bicycle racing at the Clif Bar CrossVegas being held for the 11th year at the Desert Breeze Park. Crowds from the Interbike trade show will attend what has become the largest cyclocross race outside of Europe. Riders from over 20 nations will compete.
• Thumbs up for Oookay who plays the music for the NightSwim party at Encore Beach Club and Surrender nightclub in Encore at the Wynn.
