Disney stars, Celine Dion turn the Colosseum at Caesars Palace into Vegas’ new hot ticket

Leslie Navarro

14 years ago

There were plenty of stars to be found onstage at the Colosseum
at Caesars
Palace earlier this week, as Walt Disney Studios took over this venerable Las Vegas venue on Tuesday night to talk
up their 2011 & 2012 slates.

What kind of stars are we talking about? Well, Amy Adams
from Disney’s “Enchanted” and “How I Met Your Mother” ‘s Jason Segal …

Amy Adams and Jason Segal onstage
at the Coliseum.
Photo by Eric Charbonneau
/ WireImage. Copyright
Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

… were on hand to hype “The Muppets,” which Disney hopes
will do very well over the 2011 holiday season.

While producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Larry the Cable Guy …

Jerry Bruckheimer and Larry the
Cable Guy smile for the camera. Photo by
Eric
Charbonneau / WireImage. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights
reserved

… were there to talk up Disney’s big summer release for
2011, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and “Cars 2.” Meanwhile,
the crew from Pixar were in Vegas to promote “Brave …

… which will be that animation studio’s first-ever fairy
tale.

And speaking of brave … Let’s now talk about the other
occupant of the Colosseum at Caesars
Palace. Which is 5 time Grammy Award-winner Celine Dion.

From March 2003 to December 2007, Celine performed in this
4000-seat arena. 40 weeks a year, 5 shows a week for a total of 700 shows. More
importantly (at least from Las Vegas’s bottom-line-obsessed point of view), Ms.
Dion managed to sell out each and every one of those shows.

On the heels of that huge success, Celine went off on a world
tour. Spending February
2008 ’til January 30, 2009 circling the globe, performing in 85 cities on 5
different continents.

And if that wasn’t enough, just five months ago, Ms. Dion
gave birth to twins, Nelson and Eddy.

Celine Dion with her twins, Nelson and Eddy

Given everything that she’s done over the past 8 years,
you’d think that this now-mother of three would opt to take a break. Put her
feet up. Rest for a while. But no, in a move that some might call brave and
others would probably call foolhardy, earlier this month (on March 15^th,
to be exact), Celine began another three year stint performing in Las Vegas.

Of course, what makes things somewhat easier Ms.
Dion
is back in the $95 million theater that Caesars
Palace built just for her (which is complete with a custom
humidifying system that’s designed to protect this singer’s voice from the
dreaded Desert Throat). But she’s doing a whole new show this time around. Gone
are the 50+ dancers that who used to share the stage with Celine.
Not to mention that man who flew his bicycle across the sky as well as the
floating piano.

No, in place of the Cirque de Soleil-inspired “A New Day,” Dion
is now performing in “Celine.” Which is
this elegant tribute to Old Hollywood. Where this acclaimed vocalist stands in front
of a 31-person orchestra all clad in black tuxedos & gowns and then sings
not-so-old standards like “Beauty and the Beast,” Nobody Does It Better” and
“Goldfinger.”

Which isn’t to say that “Celine” (the show, not the singer)
doesn’t have a few high-tech tricks up its sleeve. Take – for example – that
duet which Ms. Dion sings with a hologram of herself. Or better yet, that
sequence where Celine is paired with a hi-def projected Stevie Wonder and these
two Grammy Award-winners then perform “Overjoyed” together.

And given how quickly tickets are selling for “Celine,” Las
Vegas is obviously overjoyed with this new, sleek and sophisticated show at
Caesars Palace. Where — over the course of a tightly packed 90-minute revue – Ms.
Dion performs 24 songs and changes her outfit 8 times.

So if you’re upset that you missed out on seeing all of
those Disney stars while they were onstage at the Colosseum earlier this week
for CinemaCon … Not to worry. I know a few folks who can get
you great seats at Caesars
Palace. So that you can then see the performer who’s rapidly becoming a
legend in Las Vegas circles, Ms. Celine Dion.

Your thoughts?