Behind The Scenes Secrets From Cher’s New Caesars Show

Rich reviews are pouring in for Cher and they are calling her the “new Queen of Vegas” and “the cherished icon of pop reinvention.”

Theater critics, reviewers and members of the media were invited to see her fifth show at Caesars Palace and they walked away with the audience raving, showering compliments and applause. Admittedly, they groaned a little about the old videos and ageing acrobatic acts filling up time while she changed in and out of her many sparkling spangled “Sultan of Sequins” Bob Mackie costumes.

But fans want the outrageous over-the-top outfits so they are staying! In fact her fastest wardrobe switch is accomplished in just two minutes although it does take four costume assistants to undress her and dress her back up in the next wardrobe winner. In all, between Cher and her cast of 18 dancers there are more than 140 costumes during each performance.

The songs and in-between-change video footage covers five consecutive decades and Cher is the rare diva who has had a No.1 hit record in every one of them since the 1960’s! I will never forget meeting Sonny & Cher for the very first time when they recorded “I Got You Babe” in a Manhattan uptown Broadway studio in 1965. Since then Cher has released 25 albums and scored 34 Billboard Top 40 hits. Her previous “farewell tour” ran for a total of three years from 2002 to 2005. Her return now to Caesars marks the end of a three-year hiatus!.

The show is directed by choreographer Dorian Sanchez who previously staged Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana” in London, Peter Gabriel’s “Secret World Tour,” Jane’s Addictions’ “Jubilee Tour” and Cher’s farewell “Living Proof” tour, which received four Emmy Awards. Dorian, who now starts the fourth season of FOX TV’s So You Think You Can Dance says she was the first choreographer to work aerial acts and bungee jumpers into rock and roll back in 1989. Cher’s on-stage co-stars are cross-trained in dance, acrobatic and aerial acts.

“It’s a real fun show,” says Cher. “It would be a great show even if I wasn’t in it! – OK I’ll admit it would be crap if I wasn’t in it!” She joked that even on Media Night she still hadn’t had time to write a new comedy monolog but she explained why she’d started doing comedy standup with Sonny. “We owed the government about $270,000, we had no choice but to go out on the road. We were staying in cheap motels with trains roaring through every hour. All of us were eating food out of the same one pot. Nobody ever came to our second shows so we stood there making up jokes and that’s how the monologs began with us talking to each other!”

Cher’s current sold-out run goes through Sunday, June 1. Then she’ll complete her 2008 concerts with a return Aug. 12, continuing through Oct. 5. Her set with its 65-feet-wide steel bridge weighing slightly less than 20,000 pounds will take just four hours to disassemble, without the use of a single tool, and will be stored here in Vegas until her return each time over the next three years of 195 more shows!

Magic’s Superstars & Fans Turn Out In Force For New Strip Wizardry

It was a double celebration for new Flamingo headliner illusionist Nathan Burton. He celebrated his 35th birthday to coincide with the 8 p.m. premiere of his new high-speed magic show at the legendary casino resort.

A mob of magicians, a pack of prestidigitators, a wand of wizards and a crowd of conjurors showed up to lend their support and applause, and also proved Vegas is world headquarters for the abracadabra business.

Cirque du Soleil’s new $100 million man, Criss Angel attended with new closerthanthis gorgeous galpal Giselle Diaz and gave Luxe Life the OK for their first official posed photos that our Scott Doctor snapped.

Also on hand, but without tricks up their sleeves were Lance Burton from the Luxor, Teller from Penn & Teller at the Rio, Mac King from Harrah’s, former magician turned poker prince, Antonio “The Magician” Esfandari and Gerry McCambridge.

I sat with pint-sized TV star Emmanuel Lewis to watch the show and suddenly he’d vanished from our booth. I looked around but couldn’t spy him anywhere when suddenly with a show girl pushed into a cloth covered cage she rapidly vanished and was replaced by Emmanuel, almost wearing her skimpy outfit! It was a diuplicate of the trick Nathan had performed a week ago with CNN anchor Larry King at his Washington DC Cardiac charity fundraiser!

After an amazing array of tricks, illusions and floating stunts Nathan got a winning welcome from the first nighters in the Voga Bistro. He was served a belated birthday cake at the after party and the cast members of the resort’s “X” Burlesque show performed a special number. It was exactly a year ago to the week that Nathan performed a “trapped inside an ice block” stunt for 24-hours on the Strip to publicize his skills that won him America’s Got Talent appearances on NBC-TV.

“Its been a fast track year,” he told me.” I couldn’t be happier about celebrating a milestone birthday at the same time as my new contract run of shows in such a legendary hotel.” He’ll be joined there this September by new headliners Donny & Marie Osmond.