for Tuesday
March 9, 2010
The early reviews of Barry’s new show at PARIS Las Vegas are in!
Check them out!
Barry Manilow triumphs after $150,000 fire stops Paris premiere Legendary singer-songwriter Barry Manilow turned a near tragedy into triumph during his premiere weekend on the Strip after a power surge caused $150,000 in damages to the computer program systems in the sound and lighting control boards. It wrecked plans for the Friday night premiere just hours later. “You could smell the burnout,” one of the stage engineers told me. “One or two of the protectors failed or didn’t turn on, and the lot just went up. It brought the final rehearsals Friday afternoon to a complete halt.” It also forced Barry, the casino resort and the producers to cancel the premiere. Coincidentally, Barry had a premonition a week earlier when he performed at the Keep Memory Alive: Power of Love gala benefit for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. “I don’t know if we will make it,” he told me. “There’s just a tremendous amount of brand new technology never been used before.” The producers had spent more than $300,000 on new lighting and sound for the theater. Technicians worked Friday night and through Saturday repairing everything and reprogramming all the systems. But they ran out of time to move everything out of the theater to an upper technical area. Marilyn Winn, president of Paris, Bally’s and The Rio, hosted a free cocktail party for 700 of the first-night audience who hadn’t heard about the last-minute postponement and showed up. Then she huddled with Barry to decide how to solve the problem. She asked Barry that if the repairs were made in time if he’d consider performing a second show Saturday night, which would become the new premiere. Surprisingly, he agreed! The programming was restored by 2 p.m. Saturday, and Barry and the cast did a final run-through again. John Meglen, head of producers AEG, told me: “It worked so well you’d have to say it was flawless. We sure breathed giant sighs of relief.” Afterward backstage, Barry told me: “This all turned out to be great. I felt so good, so energized, I’m ready to do a third show back-to-back.” People who saw his first show hung around the theater trying to scrounge tickets for the new premiere. The audience gave him standing ovations for every song, and some stayed standing for the 82-minute spectacular and extended Copacabana double finale. Even though I bought my tickets to the show, I promised not to review it until media night March 26 after the interval when ShoWest takes over the theater and Barry can resume performances. But you can check out my videos and descriptions at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach. I’ll divulge a few highlights in this do-not-miss spectacular. Barry’s storytelling about his grandfather encouraging him to stay with music when he was not even 5 years old is superb. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Barry went to an old turntable to play his first recording of “Happy Birthday” in a booth just over the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s scratchy but keyed with photos of his grandfather and him walking to Manhattan from their Brooklyn home; it becomes one of the most emotional moments ever created onstage. I asked Barry backstage how long it had taken him to track it down: “I’ve had it with me my entire life. I knew exactly where to go to get it. It’s the most treasured of my own memorabilia collection.” Barry’s race around the piano with three other pianists keeping the music going is simply extraordinary and never seen before. The speed of their running and playing is captured on a video screen, and the fancy finger work is so fast, it could become a new Olympic category! His top hat and tails entrance for the closing “Copacabana” is a smashing salute to old-time Las Vegas glamour. His voice and orchestra are sensational, the best he’s ever sounded. He jumps with ease from powerful commercial hits to sentimental love songs to emotional tearjerkers, and the audience is with him every step of the way. This is a show about the purity of music and lyrics. It’s about the great songs and scores without being hindered, distracted or interrupted by Tinseltown distractions. And the lighting onstage is a masterful setting in its own right. The giant LED screen is replaced intermittently with five video frames as works of art complete with live mannequins in the salute to the French capital of l’amour. Everything works in brilliant synch -- the orchestra, Barry’s piano and the video visuals. That’s what was fried Friday five hours before curtain up. The show, totally different from his recent run at the Las Vegas Hilton, is intimate and exciting. I’ll also go on record as saying this may well be the tightest and best band that’s ever graced a Las Vegas stage. They are that great! Barry will perform 78 shows each year for the next two years at Paris. Tickets for performances through July 18 are on sale. “The audience in Las Vegas is always energized and electric, so I know that the Paris Las Vegas is going to be a special run,” Barry said. “I’d really planned something new for this show.” Stage, film choreographer and director Jeffrey Hornaday (Flashdance, A Chorus Line, High School Musical) has cast Barry’s hits in a new light, including exhilarating new video elements and all the songs that have made him a pop culture icon the past 35 years. The show brings energy, sincerity and the melody of Manilow at his best to a spectacular and highly personal crescendo in a very emotional experience. “This is a very special show,” Jeff told me backstage at Barry’s post-midnight champagne celebration with cast and crew. “Even after doing arena tours for Madonna and hit movies, this was the most technically challenging I’ve undertaken. Here, it’s so intimate, you can see, feel, touch everything. There’s nothing to hide behind or cover up any mistakes. Every night, we all have to be perfect because the audience is right there -- and not hundreds of yards away. Barry has handcrafted a production that is incredibly personal and nuanced. The result is an original, moving and thrilling theatrical experience. For me personally, it has been the most exciting creative process I’ve ever participated in.” Barry, who has worldwide record sales exceeding 80 million as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, is particularly thrilled that he’s able to introduce audiences to The Greatest Love Songs of All Time, his new album that chronicles the most touching love songs ever written.
Manilow gets to the heart of Vegas So far, Barry Manilow appears to be pretty happy in his new home at Paris Las Vegas in the heart of the Strip. After a successful five-year stint at the Hilton, he made it, as he said during Saturday night’s opening weekend performance, to the “other side of the monorail.” Designed specifically for the hotel’s relatively intimate 1,500-seat theater, this show is his most cozy and personal ever, pegging to a theme of romance (not to mention tying in with his most recent recording, “The Greatest Love Songs of All Time”). Always a consummate showman, Manilow (who co-created this new production with director Jeff Hornaday) again displays his excellent sensibilities in this seamlessly paced, crowd-pleasing act. It offers something for longtime admirers who have carefully followed his 35-year career and for casual casino-goers who know him as the guy who sings “Copacabana.” (He did, in the closing and most boisterous number, which had fewer ruffles than did previous incarnations). Early on, the gem he throws out for “Fanilows” is the up-tempo “I Want To Be Somebody’s Baby,” an obscure but terrific anti-love song off his second album. Another in that vein is the lively “New York City Rhythm,” featuring fun piano solos by Manilow and multiple keyboard players in his band. Those tunes provide a nice counterpoint to the ballads for which he’s best known: “Could It Be Magic,” “Somewhere in the Night,” “Weekend in New England” and “Mandy.” “This One’s For You,” he says, always reminds him of his grandfather, who coaxed his musical abilities when he was young boy. In a particularly touching moment, he plays a scratchy, old recording he made with his grandfather of himself singing “Nature Boy” when he was around 4, then sings a gorgeous adult version of the tune. Equally appealing are his covers of classics including “Our Love Is Here To Stay,” “Theme from Love Story” and “Love Me Tender.” Yes, Barry even pulls off an Elvis tune. Despite a power outage that apparently disrupted rehearsals before the opening, the technical aspects of the show — most notably the supercool high-definition video images of Impressionist masterpieces from Paris — serve as the perfect complement to the magic of the music. Of course, in the end, the show is truly about the music. And in typical fashion, Manilow surrounds himself with an impeccable 10-piece band and convivial quartet of backup vocalists/dancers.
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