Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Celine has become Diva Las Vegas

It is becoming all Celine , all the time, here in Gossipland. And does "Diva Las Vegas" really need a last name anymore?

So be it. Her Caesars Palace show, which opens in exactly one week, promises to have a tremendous impact on Las Vegas on a variety of levels, from corporate boardrooms to casino showrooms.

Today's installment of the Celine Chronicles stars Oprah Winfrey and Larry King.

Winfrey had to do a double take when she was driving down the Strip before taping a show with Celine on Saturday afternoon.

She told the audience during the taping at The Colosseum that she saw a giant billboard with what she first thought was the name of her magazine -- O -- on it.

Of course, Winfrey joked, it was an ad for the Cirque du Soleil show at Bellagio.

The taping started at about 2:15 p.m., with Celine belting out "The Power of Love."

Over the next two hours she also performed "Seduces Me" from her 1996 album "Falling Into You," the Barbra Streisand song "If I Could" and "I Drove All Night" from her upcoming "One Heart" album.

The first song -- "Seduces Me" -- she did from a lounge chair surrounded by topless male dancers.

During the Babs number, the dancers portrayed children on swings and dropped while hanging from wires as a tree "grew" behind them. It was a taste of the elaborate "A New Day" stage production.

At one point two male dancers walked above the stage -- they were suspended in midair -- pretending to push a piano into place.

The interview and audience Q-and-A weren't that long. Much of the televised hour will be taped segments; Oprah's cameras are following Celine around her house and around Las Vegas this week.

Don't know if they taped her getting her new, shorter and blonder hairstyle.

The Celine and Oprah show airs next week, when Dion's Caesars show debuts.

Celine was supposed to do it all over again today with King in the interviewer's chair. King staffers have been in Vegas for some time preparing for the interview.

But it was called off. Everyone has a different story why.

"It was a mutual cancellation," insisted "Larry King Live" spokeswoman Erin Sermeus. "Larry was very much looking forward to interviewing her, but with the escalating situation in Iraq everyone thought it best to reschedule."

However, a source close to the King show told VegasBeat that Celine chose to cancel; the source said Oprah makes guests adhere to a version of a noncompete clause. In the competitive television landscape, shows often do not book a guest who is out on the publicity circuit if their competitor gets them first.

And since Oprah's audience -- primarily female -- is more in step with Celine's than King's, the source suggested, Celine dumped her King appearance less than 24 hours before she was supposed to go on.

A Celine spokeswoman did not return a call Monday seeking comment or an explanation.

Also, Thursday's Celine preview performance is being taped by CBS for its Celine special on opening night. A full-page ad touting the show appears in this week's People magazine, and elsewhere.

Finally, VegasBeat's item Monday that Robin Leach coaxed bidders to ante up $250,000 for four Celine tickets at a Muhammad Ali Parkinson's Foundation fundraiser was featured on Matt Drudge's website.

Drudge sent so much traffic our way that the Sun website nearly came to a standstill.

Star grab

The rich continue to get richer.

Over 120 Academy Award presenters, show performers and nominees are going to get a goodie bag stuffed with at least $25,000 worth of trinkets -- including a trip to Las Vegas.

Among the gifts are a pair of tickets to the Sept. 20 opening of "Zumanity" -- the new Cirque du Soleil show coming to New York-New York.

So maybe we'll see Julia Roberts, Dustin Hoffman, Halle Berry, Michael Douglas, Jim Carrey, Jennifer Garner, Adrien Brody, Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford or Ben Affleck in town that weekend.

Also in the bag (it'll probably be more like a crate, actually): a portable satellite radio, a dinner party for 10 at a Morton's steakhouse and scads of cosmetics and fashion accessories.

The Oscars take place Sunday starting at 5:30 p.m. It will be broadacst locally on KTNV Channel 13, the ABC affiliate.

John boy

After hearing that Paul McCartney performed at a private birthday party last month, a New York lawyer tried to book Elton John for his wife's 40th.

But when he learned that John's price tag was half a million bucks, he did the next best thing -- and booked the world's leading Elton John impersonator, Las Vegas resident Stephen Sorrentino.

"I prefer to dress as myself and do my own act, but this will pay the rent for a few months," Sorrentino said.

He is also about to be offered a deal to do his "Voices In My Head" act at Fitzgeralds downtown, as he continues meetings with some Strip venues.

VegasBits

Look for lots of James Caan sightings in the coming weeks. He is starring in a new NBC show tentatively titled "Las Vegas" about a casino security crew. On Monday it began a three-week filming schedule around town, starting at Mandalay Bay ...

From the Beach to BiKiNiS: marketing man Branden Powers has left the former for the latter ...

The hot new band 88 featuring Adam Merrin headlines at the House of Blues in Los Angeles on April 7. Proud papa Bruce Merrin runs the Las Vegas-based Celebrity Speakers Bureau. Their debut CD "Kind of Light" is now out ...

Callback, the respected local show busines trade journal, celebrates its 14th anniversary with the April issue ...

Grammy winner Skip Martin (Kool & The Gang) plays the next two Saturday nights at the exclusive Stirling Club ...

Three-time Kentucky Derby winner Gary Stevens will be at the Gold Coast Wednesday morning. He'll autograph copies of his new book "The Perfect Ride" ...

When Vince Vaughn was sitting with ghostbar VIP host Marko Greisen Sunday night, people kept yelling, "Vegas, baby, VEGAS," at the actor -- that's his popular catchphrase from the film "Swingers."

From Sun wires

Actor Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman) is appealing a judge's refusal to throw out a misdemeanor child pornography possession charge.

Reubens' attorneys argued Monday that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carol H. Rehm's February ruling was flawed because a 1989 statute does not apply to material produced before the law was enacted. Lawyers Blair Berk and Benjamin L. Coleman said Reubens' collection of vintage erotica predates 1989.

It was not immediately known when the appeals court would rule.

Reubens, 50, has pleaded innocent to one misdemeanor count of possessing material depicting children under 18 engaging in sexual conduct. He is free on $20,000 bail.

The show will go on: Organizers of the 75th annual Academy Awards say the impending war in Iraq won't derail Hollywood's biggest event on Sunday.

President Bush's 48-hour ultimatum for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or be forced out by military action increased the likelihood that news coverage could supersede the live awards telecast.

Show producer Gil Cates has acknowledged that war would change the tone of the production, but as of late Monday the glitzy red-carpet ceremony was still scheduled to proceed.

If the country is at war, he has said ABC might break away from the ceremony for updates or even run a news crawl across the bottom of the screen.

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