Luxe Life Blog
Photos: Barry Manilow the magnificent’s official debut at Paris
Barry Manilow at the Paris on March 6, 2010.
Photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage
Barry Manilow’s “official” arrival on the Las Vegas Strip gets underway tomorrow. His premiere at the Paris was set for March 5, but it was delayed by an unexpected and last-minute electrical fire and postponed by 24 hours, as we reported here at Vegas DeLuxe.
Then the ShoWest movie convention came to town, and Barry’s Theater des Arts was taken over for screenings of new summer releases and upcoming 3-D films. So tomorrow, in a sense, becomes Day 1 all over again, and that’s when media see the spectacular production for the first time to write reviews.
Photographer Denise Truscello received an advance look at the show, which we’re delighted to share for the first time today.
I attended Barry’s original first night and can tell you now that it’s a sensational production that soars with stupendous songs and magnificent music from start to finish. This truly is magical entertainment the way it’s supposed to be. One man, one superstar and one singer solo in the spotlight giving all his love, vocal creativity and musical genius to an audience.
Barry was born to be a musical star. Watch for the photos of when he was just 4 1/2 with his grandfather encouraging him to sing and play piano. Barry even has the 25-cent recording he made in a voice booth from back then. His grandfather and he walked over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, and although it’s scratchy after all these years, Barry has a DJ console onstage to play it while old-time family album photos are displayed in the five super-sized picture frame video screens.
He performs his hits and the sizzling “Copacabana” finale, but it’s a totally different show from his five-year run at the Las Vegas Hilton. This is incredibly intimate. Barry really means it when he sings “Come Into My Arms.” Backstage in his dressing room, he told me that he loves the intimacy of the new showroom.
“I’m with the audience, and they’re right there with me. We could talk to each other -- and we do. There’s nowhere for me to go hide. It’s all right there for everybody to see and hear. That’s pure music and entertainment at its best. It’s a legitimate theater for our music, and it has a perfect sound for our songs old and new.”
Barry has brought a lot of romance to the new show. While he’s onstage at the Paris, he talks about his own visit to the City of Lights. “Paris is the most romantic city, and this Paris hotel in Las Vegas is also all about love and romance,” he told me. It explains why Barry has included songs from his latest successful CD The Greatest Love Songs of All Time.
His voice is the best it’s ever been in his long career -- powerful and clear as crystal. It’s an ultimate near 90-minute songfest, which explains why he gets standing ovation after standing ovation. On the night I attended, some people stood from start to finish.
Barry’s energy is at peak power, which may have explained the initial electrical short! Check out the musical chairs number as Barry and other piano players in his great band run around the piano never missing one note as eight hands slide across the keys. A close-up camera shows the brilliance of this unique medley in an overhead screen. It’s a sequence I’ve never seen onstage before.
Director Jeff Hornaday, who staged arena tours for Mariah Carey, Madonna and Paul McCartney, excels here as much as he did for his hits Flashdance and the High School Musical movies.
I’ve known Barry for more than 40 years. We first met even before he became the backup player for Bette Midler’s early shows at the Continental Baths in New York. Back then, Barry was giving piano lessons, playing backup on demo discs of young wannabes and starting out on his advertising jingle career. Then just as suddenly as Bette exploded onto the music charts, so did Barry.
Barry Manilow at the Paris on March 6, 2010.
It launched an extraordinary 40-year career with major accomplishments and staggering sales of more than 75 million albums worldwide. Five of his albums were on the charts at the same time in 1978. When The Greatest Love Songs of the 1970s was released in 2007, it became not only his 33rd chart album, but also his 11th Top 10 record and his 10th Top 10 debut. It made him the only artist to have three top four debuts on the Billboard 200 chart in two years.
Barry, who celebrates his 67th birthday June 17, is ranked as the top Adult Contemporary artist of all time. Call him Manilow the Magnificent, the showman of our time. He’s produced more than 50 albums, 28 of which have gone platinum.
Not only did he write the songs, but he created them, recorded them, produced them and sang them at more than 3,000 concerts and still performs them live better than ever. It’s a remarkable show business achievement, and tomorrow night, as he officially launches his engagement of nearly 160 shows over the next two years, Barry is raring to go.
It’s an unofficial end to his road tours for One Night Live, One Last Time. But it’s the beginning of an entirely new home as a headliner on the Strip.
“The dreams have all come true,” he said proudly. “All I want now is to sing for my fans in my home here in Las Vegas.”
Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.
Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.
Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.
Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.
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