Bette Midler - The Showgirl Must Go On

Landing a 200-show run in Caesar Palace's 4,000 seat Colosseum is no small feat; then again Bette Midler has had no small career. In fact, in recent years the Colosseum was home to superstar Celine Dion, and is now shared between Bette Midler, Cher and Elton John, all legends in the entertainment realm. As Bette stated in her show, while flashing a picture of herself with Cher and Elton circa 30 years ago, "Here are the girls! Who knew we'd all end up to be this fantastic?!"

Although Bette is not at all new to this business, being an accomplished 62 years old now, she is definitely a new Bette and proudly acknowledges it in her show. Following her musical number, "Pretty legs and great big knockers," she mentions that of course she has had work done, and quite a bit might I add, appearing about 20 years younger, with legs worth being envious of, a tiny waist and tighter perkier breasts. Also making notice to her aging audience, she cracked, "Thirty years ago, my audiences used to be on drugs, now they're on medications!"

A truly elaborate show, Bette is accompanied by her new three singing "Harlettes," backed up by 18 showgirls and a 13-piece band. Her big bang entrance involved a short film on the largest LED screen in North America, Bette arriving on a pile of 2,200 pounds of Louis Vuitton luggage, the jazzy tune, "Big Noise from Winnetka" and a comedy bit forewarning the audience they should expect "glitz, hits, and tits." She also took a moment to say hello to the various demographics in the audience, asking for her Jews, Christians, and finally, "Where are my gays? Some things never change. The gays will always love me!"

Throughout Bette's show, in addition to her six costume changes, most of which covered in sparkles or sequins, feathered boas, and enormously elaborate headpieces, she continuously refers to herself as the greatest diva of all time. Humorous at first, but by the end of the show you realize she quite possibly could be.

Brilliant in the craft of entertaining, Bette is a master of timing from her fast-talking, often racy story jokes that are evenly dispersed throughout the 90 minute show to her highly anticipated chart-topping ballads, such as, "The Rose," "From a Distance," "Hello in There," "Wind Beneath My Wings," and "When a Man Loves a Woman." A foreign concept in today's over enhanced pop artist era, Bette positively sounds better live than recorded, a true rarity with a powerful, clear, soulful show voice.

Revisiting her classic bits, Bette brought back some of the favorite characters she created, including Dolores Delago and Crotchety Ole' Sophie. The younger audience, unfamiliar with the origin or relevance of Dolores, the aspiring showfish mermaid, found the middle twenty minutes to be a bit boring, largely because it was just misunderstood. Although the old school Vegas tunes were appreciated, they would have been better received by the youth if performed as Bette and not as a Mermaid. However, it was quite impressive how Bette and her "Caesar Salad girls" performed a few dance sequences in constraining feet flippers and powered wheelchairs. The older generation, however, were hooping and hollering the instant Dolores revealed herself on stage, clearly reminiscent of the beginning days.

The young folks greatly appreciated, as did most of the audience, the classic Sophie, or Soph as she often refers to her, the elderly, cranky, foul-mouthed character that Bette created decades ago so she could guiltlessly tell raunchy jokes on stage. In her typical fashion, Soph repeated some of her old shticks, mostly sexual and all laugh out loud funny. Bette revealed to the audience her creation's origin as she offered her goodbyes to Soph, officially retiring the character.

The true genius of Bette Midler is not her old-school story comedy, nor her majestic voice, nor her wonderful dancing-even at her ripe age, but the combination of them all that has created a specific niche of entertainment that is hers alone. Very few can get away with singing, "God is watching us," causing the audience to gasp in shared emotion from the powerfully belted song, "From a Distance," and not but a few moments later sit spread eagle on a red lip-shaped couch making a political joke that while watching the current election news interjected with Viagra commercials, she jokes, "Election, erection, election, erection...Either way we're getting screwed!"

A true gem of show history but also vibrantly present on the Vegas stage, Bette Midler still rightfully claims the title of the ultimate showgirl fabulously enjoyable for audiences of all demographics.