Monday, March 20, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Singer Elyzabeth Diaga and producer and manager Gilles Beaulieu did the impossible during the most challenging time in Las Vegas entertainment. The Montreal-based collaborators brought “Queens of Rock,” a rousing live tribute to some of the greatest female performers in the history of music, to the Las Vegas Strip in 2020, when COVID restrictions were at their peak and Vegas shows were severely limited.
But Diaga and her high-powered band took the stage at the former Mosaic Theater and rallied for more than 200 shows at the small Strip venue, which eventually shuttered last July. But this against-all-odds success story didn’t write its final chapter last year; Diaga went home to Canada to continue to perform while hunting for a new venue in Las Vegas.
She found it at the Orleans Showroom, where “the stage is humongous and beautiful,” Diaga said. “The room has a different vibe from the Mosaic. It resembles more the venues where I perform here [in Canada].”
“Queens of Rock” will play it opening shows at the 850-seat room at the off-Strip Orleans Casino on March 20, 23 and 24 at 9 p.m., and March 25 at 7 p.m. Future dates for this residency-type fixture will be announced soon, and tickets, starting at $55, are available by calling the box office at 702-365-7111; more info is online at orleanscasino.com.
Diaga said the show had a few different offers after Mosaic closed but they weren’t the right fit. The connection to the Orleans came through Dean Coleman and Sophia Song, who operated the old venue, as their company was already working on bringing Michael Jackson tribute show “MJ: The Evolution” to a new venue. That show opens this week at the Orleans Showroom as well.
“The Strip was mostly tourists only … I don’t think locals go on the Strip to see shows much,” Diaga said. “This is so cool because the Orleans has both locals and tourists.”
“Queens of Rock” blasts through familiar hits by Heart, Blondie, Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Lady Gaga and more, with Diaga starring in different costumes and bending and flexing her powerful voice to suit the song. The production design will remain the same, with a two-story stage structure holding the band and massive LED walls adding some flash to the show, but the new space is a much larger and more flexible home.
After a series of sold-out shows in larger venues and festival appearances in her native country in recent months, Diaga is riding high and ready to return to Las Vegas, where she found incredible support despite the obstacles of performing during the pandemic.
“I loved having a chance to have crowds from all different places, and to be in the same place with those different crowds,” she said. “And I learned the artistic community in Vegas so helpful and so closely knit. There’s the audience and there’s the community, and they’ve both been so amazing. I made so many great friends there … and there’s just so much talent.”
