The King reclaims his kingdom

We aren't going to say it.

Come on, you know: "Elvis has entered the building," or "The King has been sighted" or even "He's baaaack!"

You won't read any of those all-too-predictable cliches here in describing "Elvis - The Concert," Presley's posthumous return to the Las Vegas Hilton's stage 21 years to the week after his death on Aug. 16, 1977.

The rock 'n' roll legend again headlines his own performances - via painstakingly orchestrated video footage projected onto a Jumbotron screen. He's flanked by members of the original band - live and in person - who toured with him throughout the 1970s. This includes the much-maligned "Vegas Years" when a portly Presley settled in for extended runs at the Hilton's (formerly the International Hotel) showroom.

The tour played a handful of cities, including Cleveland, Philadelphia and Hershey, Pa., earlier this year, and sold out a three-night engagement at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Following a brief hiatus, it opens here Tuesday and runs through Aug. 16, before traveling again to New York, then Connecticut, Tennessee, Illinois and Indiana, where it wraps up later this month. An overseas tour - a first for Presley, who never toured outside North America - is under consideration for next year.

The idea for "Elvis - The Concert" was born following a performance last year sponsored by Graceland, Presley's former Memphis, Tenn., mansion-turned-tourist attraction. The performance was in honor of the 20th anniversary celebration of his passing (dubbed "Elvis Week").

The estate reunited a number of Presley's former players for "Elvis in Concert '97," during which they performed live, with Presley on video. The show sold out the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis.

Joe Guercio led the 28-piece orchestra, just as he had done for Presley for six years.

The longtime Las Vegan was picked for the job of Presley's personal music conductor in the early '70s by the King's men - including his manager, Col. Tom Parker - while working as the Las Vegas Hilton's music director.

Guercio had a sizable hand in devising the original concert. But then, he is experienced at bringing dead musicians back to life, having conceived the "Unforgettable" reunion of the late Nat "King" Cole and his daughter, songstress Natalie Cole, when she performed at the Hilton in 1978.

With that chart-topping marriage of sound and video, he says, "everybody was hip to how to do it."

To create the illusion that Presley - and not just his video image - is actually onstage, the footage in "Elvis - The Concert" shows him making entrances and exits, calling for house lights to be turned up and down, and bantering with band members.

"He'll (sing) 'Johnny Be Good,' " Guercio - who this time around leads a 16-piece orchestra - explains, "and he'll say, 'Take it, James (Burton, lead guitarist).' " Then, Burton appears on one of two other giant on-stage screens circa 1973, as well as in the flesh on stage.

Memories

All of the footage featured on the tour was purged from the 1970 and '72 concert films "Elvis, That's the Way It Is" (filmed at the International Hotel) and "Elvis on Tour"; there are also scenes from the video "Elvis, The Lost Performances" and the 1968 and '73 television specials "Elvis" and "Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii, via Satellite."

The trick was finding footage for which there existed a multitrack sound recording - separate recordings of the music and what was sung into Presley's microphone.

Those recordings made it easier to isolate Presley's voice and replace old music with live performances, Todd Morgan, Graceland's director of creative resources and the tour's co-producer, explains.

The song selection includes "young" and "old" Elvis hits - a mix of pop, rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll and gospel.

"It's a good cross-section of everything," Morgan says of the two-hour concert, which features a brief intermission.

Guercio, who is "Elvis - The Concert's" music producer, says he, Morgan; Randy Johnson, the tour's director; and producer Stig Edgren created a program "that we thought would be the best," he says. "The vibe is really weird because it really happens; it's not an imitator, it's the original cast."

Weird, indeed.

Guercio recalls the first rehearsal session attended by the musicians, including Burton, pianist Glen D. Hardin, bassist Jerry Scheff, drummer Ronnie Tutt and members of the singing groups The Imperials and The Sweet Inspirations.

"We started to do 'Bridge Over Troubled Water,' where (Presley) sings along with the piano, and once the orchestra entered, the girls (The Sweet Inspirations) had to stop, they were breaking up," he says. "So, we had to take a 15-minute intermission; everybody got on a downer. But then we came back ... and went straight up the hill.

Before last year's concert, Guercio doubted that the same Fellini-like energy of Presley's legendary live stage shows could ever be re-created. Today, he stands corrected. "It really smokes; it's hot.

"It's amazing that there are so many kids in the audience, people that are in their early 20s that only knew (Prelsey) from TV, and how involved they get."

Love him tender

Even if it takes them a while to cuddle up to the idea of an 18-foot-tall, 16-foot-wide, jumpsuit-wearing Elvis, Morgan says.

"In the first few songs, the audience is trying to get acclimated to this concept," he says. "They're trying to figure out how it all works because you've got these live singers and musicians ... on stage and you've got Elvis on the screen," as well the other pair of screens. "So, you're just bombarded with all of this stuff," he says.

"It was just a complete blast to get caught up and pretend that Elvis is up there," Jeffrey Lee Puckett, pop music writer for the Lousiville, Ky., Courier-Journal, says. He reviewed "Elvis - The Concert" when it played there in March.

"It was real easy to get lost in the idea" Puckett says, "and after a few minutes, you just feel like you're watching an Elvis concert," he says. "The whole spirit of it was pretty neat, and to see all of those performers up there, some of those guys were pretty legendary players."

Morgan says of the cast and crew: "Even we have moments when we look for that physical Elvis at center stage. It's kind of weird in the most wonderful way."

In the old days, he explains, Tutt kept an eye on Presley's back to catch his musical cues. "He had to ... anticipate where he was going because Elvis was very spontaneous on stage and every song was different every time he did it."

Now, Tutt and Guercio use video monitors and follow the footage. "But neither one of them is used to seeing Elvis from the front ... and they're looking at this footage going, 'Oh, that's what he was doing,' " Morgan explains.

Guercio's former view of Presley came courtesy of a reflection that bounced off a light booth in the Hilton showroom. "I'd always see that glare from the top of the balcony," he says. "That's gonna be deja vu."

Or, at the very least, a little eerie. Which begs a question: Was Presley's return to Las Vegas intentionally planned to coincide with the anniversary of his death, and in the showroom he played from 1969-76?

Morgan chalks it up to scheduling coincidences. "That's a time when the media is focused on Elvis anyway each year, and it also happened to be a period of time when performers are available," he says.

Timing aside, he says the real challenge of the tour has been in getting the public to understand its premise.

"It's not some schmaltzy tribute, it's not some tacky exploitation ... it's not a digitally created Elvis who says, does and sings things Elvis never did," he says. "It's his work in its pure form."

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