Midler's middling show
March 3, 2008 | 3:25
pm
On December 31, 1999, I was at the Mandalay Bay Events Center watching Bette Midler welcome in the new millennium. It was a show that was simply extraordinary for its old school, over-the-top Vegas entertainment value that has always been Midler's calling card among divas. Midler calls herself "the people's diva," and by that she means that she offers a knowing and ironic wink to her audience in stalwart characters like Delores Delago alongside her larger-than-life, manically self-centered "Divine Miss M" stage presence. So, the possibilities of what Midler could create here as a permanent Vegas show with a reported budget of $10 million was legitimately exciting. But "The Showgirl Must Go On" is not Midler exploding her palette with a show whose outrageousness marks a culmination of her career efforts. Rather, "The Showgirl Must Go On" turns out to be a perfect title for an obligatory and mindlessly predictable super-sized version of a Bette Midler touring concert: a pastiche of the ballads and scripted routines that have worked for her in the past, with some Vegas touches added, including overlong shtick bits on Elvis and Wayne Newton. "The Showgirl Must Go On" offers nothing that will surprise longtime Midler fans, and, with the cheap seats going for $95, it is hard to imagine the appeal for the casual fan.
Be careful of the cheaper seats at the Colosseum for Midler's show too. If you are going to see Midler, get good seats. Unlike Celine Dion, Midler does not have her image up on the massive screen behind her on stage; and so the diva, in the words of one longtime fan in the nosebleed seats, was merely speck-tacular from there.
Also, unlike the immaculate Celine Dion, Midler's voice flattens out on a few notes; but to me, anyway, there was something wonderfully human about that. The more serious problem was Midler's choreography, though it was far more demanding than her predecessor's act; the effort is just not rewarded. Toni Basil's choreography for Midler is one of the most noticeably average aspects of the show. Basil features lots of chorus lines and big finishes that are thoroughly predictable long before they reach the BIG finish.
Fortunately, Midler is confident enough to ratchet down the visual circus on the big ballads, offering "The Rose" and "Hello in There" with all of the spotlight attention focused on her voice. The contrast creates goose-bump moments for fans, greater than a stage full of showgirls with $-sign headdresses (or Midler's own attempt at the world's largest headdress). Midler is still capable of seeming moved by her old hits, and she projects that emotion and feeling into the audience.
"The Showgirl Must Go On" is not a failure or unenjoyable. The grab-bag approach of this show is disappointing only if you expected something truly original and breathtaking and fun, not to mention fresh -- which may be unreasonable for an artist working through her fourth decade as an entertainer. But that is what I expected from Midler, based on her amazing 1999 show in Vegas. Instead, "The Showgirl Must Go On" is a familiar but inferior version of that earlier evening.
(Courtesy photo by Ethan Miller)
I am torn apart by this act. While as an enlightened, self-acclaimed, feminist lady, who acted alone to be a single parent and corporation head, I am glad to see a girl make a buck. I am no "Murphy Brown", but I withstood adverse circumstances in the interest of being a quality parent and a self-made industrial developer. Bette is a survivor and a winner to be admired and studied by women.
On the other side of my sentiment, I am cringing as a fellow parent of a graduating Yale intellectual. My neophyte daughter would solidly rip that cheap satin rosette costume hat off my fat head and cover my crepe-paper decolletage' before another camera bulb flashed! She would die a thousand desperate deaths and chide me for playing the fool of a royal court throughout my life, and I would suffer for feeling a part of her dignity die over my zest for bafoonery. I would wonder what scale I had given the Yale tradition among parents.
Bette's act made a sneer toward the French-Canadian circus, which has employed a certain female Yale undergraduate in summer, whom I understand to be very graceful as a trapeze artist. Enchantingly refreshing... the sheer whimsy and athletic nimbleness of youth. Surely Bette's attack was incidental. Surely her act did not engage in a cannibalistic attack upon one of our own daughters, and surely she knows such a barb would be impotent for her act...a cheap shot at best...and behavior unacceptable to other parents at Yale.
I love the fact that Bette has a two year stint in Vegas, for her sake. I despise what her act says to our so intelligent daughters. But...I'll just quietly wear a gray suit to graduation, give my newly-minted neophyte the customary cultured pearls, and keep my mouth shut.
Posted by: ~Angelica | March 03, 2008 at 06:57 PM
in terms of choreography you have to remember that when celine was performing there, her stage was extremely slanted, many times moreso than even an opera stage and that countless of her dancers had to quit because of the injury it brought to their joints
when bette joined she had the stage flattened
Posted by: hoilastodiro | March 03, 2008 at 09:38 PM
I saw Bette last night in Vegas... this being the 5th time i've seen her, I still marvel at her talent, joie d'vivre, and ability to make us all feel HAPPY!!! and this is something so missing in our country today!!! all of us, gay and straight- jew, gentile, muslim, atheist- republican and democrat- from all parts of the country, gathered together at the caesars palace to watch an american icon make us laugh and cry.... god knows we need bette at this moment in time... she is wonderful and at 62 has given and continues to give us, a feeling of hope and joy... and anyone who has something negative to say about "the showgirl must go on" should just shut up and go away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Linda | March 05, 2008 at 08:31 PM