Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

All by herself? Not Celine Dion, who soars in return to Colosseum

Celine Dion Returns to Caesars

Mikayla Whitmore

Celine Dion performs at the Colosseum on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, in Caesars Palace.

Celine Dion Returns to Caesars

Celine Dion performs at the Colosseum on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, in Caesars Palace. Launch slideshow »

Celine Dion Returns to Las Vegas

Celine Dion at the Colosseum on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, in Caesars Palace. Launch slideshow »

Celine Dion Returns to Colosseum

Celine Dion at the Colosseum on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, in Caesars Palace. Launch slideshow »

As she sat onstage Thursday night at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace, a couple of hours before her return to performance after a yearlong absence, Celine Dion talked about her family.

She mentioned that her oldest son, Rene-Charles, had taken up golf and recently shot a 40 and 36.

A 76 over 18 holes, in other words.

Without knowing what type of course R-C was playing, exactly, the first thought is, “That’s a really good score for a 14-year-old kid.”

And the next thought is, “I know how old R-C is without having to look it up.”

If you have followed Celine Dion’s 13-year career over her time spent in Las Vegas, being aware of such familial facts has become instinctive. We know about her kids, R-C the oldest who is a terrific golfer and great hockey player (maybe one day he’ll suit up for the Las Vegas NHL team); the fraternal twins, Nelson and Eddy, now 4.

Of course, we have followed Celine and her husband, Rene Angelil, as he has fallen prey to throat cancer that led to Celine’s long hiatus from performing. Rene could not make it to the performance, but the dashing young R-C was in the house and posed for photos after the show. Great kid, that R-C.

We are so fully aware of Celine’s family and life story because she has grown so naturally into our own Las Vegas community. She is willing to share her life’s triumphs and struggles, during performances onstage and away from the theater, as it reminds us that even mega-stars deal with the challenges of raising a family and acting as a caregiver for a suffering spouse.

She says of her return to the Colosseum, her Las Vegas performance home, “It is absolutely that, like being home, being back on this stage. It helps that I am familiar with this room, and the people of Caesars Palace and AEG (who have booked her performances in Las Vegas) and the people of Las Vegas.”

When Celine opened her performances at the Colosseum, built for her in 2002 for a March 2003 opening, she was one of the many superstar performers to arrive on the Strip to entertain for a time and move along. But she’s different.

“A New Day …” was of its time, replete with Cirque du Soleil-styled dancers and a tilted stage that was used, in part, as a video panel. It was a jaw-dropping spectacle, but it was an entertainment experience. This new show is that, too, but it’s also a life experience, and there is a vast chasm between the two.

Celine’s show feels more direct these days, more confident in her incredible voice and capacity to own the stage. It’s funny now to envision her surrounded by dozens of acrobats when she is so clearly able to hold your attention on her own.

She is afforded ample assistance, of course, as a half-dozen video screens are hung over the stage as she recalls her path to Las Vegas through footage that includes many home movies. We see the kids growing up, goofing off and playing in the water as Rene laughs at them and the camera.

The orchestra, which is teeming with Las Vegas players (including four members of Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns, trumpet player Danny Falcone, sax men Phil Wigfall and Eric Tewalt and trombone master and music arranger Nathan Tanouye), is set onstage. The use of musicians onstage has become a new-vintage trend on the Strip over the past year or so, with musicians similarly staged in Bob Anderson’s “Frank: The Man, The Music” at Palazzo and “Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers” at Encore Theater.

In this stage plot, Celine pulls from her own catalog of hits, now classics, bringing “The Power of Love” to the front early and closing, requisitely, with “My Heart Will Go On,” paired with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” a befitting sendoff.

Celine’s song choices beyond her own catalog provided many of the show’s high moments. Using her well-rested voice to great result, she sang with The Bee Gees, in video form, on “Immortality.” Understanding and owning her position among Las Vegas legends, Celine evoked the hologram image of Frank Sinatra in “All The Way” and also sang alongside a virtual Elvis in “If I Can Dream.” This was the Elvis clip from his ’68 comeback special, as he sang in a powerhouse voice and wore the famous western-cut white suit, and Celine seemed right at home while singing next to The King.

In a tantalizing concept of what it would be like to see Celine sing in a true Las Vegas haunt, like old Casbah Lounge, she stripped the band to a three-piece for “I’m Alive” and later delivered Prince’s “Kiss” and “Purple Rain” and a full-throated Queen anthem, “The Show Must Go On.” In a moment where Celine halted, her voice slightly wavering, she performed “All By Myself,” the Eric Carmen hit (and one parodied to great response a year ago by a traveler stranded at McCarran International Airport).

During Celine’s acoustic set, in which she performed a cooled-down version of “A New Day Has Come,” her guitarist’s instrument was out of tune and required attention offstage. As the musicians and she waited for this problem to be remedied, she improvised a quick number, singing, “We’re gonna tune-a guitar! We’re gonna tune-a guitar!” If nothing else, the moment was evidence that she was not lip syncing.

In the latter stages of her return show, Celine donned a short and shimmery green fringe dress and belted out Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High.” Celine really rocks that song, which prompted one of the show’s many standing ovations.

Sometimes you just need to sing and dance and cavort with your friends. As the peerless singer herself says, “Tonight was not a new day. Tonight was not really a new show. Tonight was a new beginning.”

That’s how it is today, on the Strip, for Las Vegas resident superstar Celine Dion. As always, her fans are with her, every step of the way.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

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