Oprah comes to Vegas

...and so it came to pass, the beloved corporate Gods smiled benevolently my way. The word went from Oprah's company, Harpo Productions, to the Harrah's corporation to the people at Caesars, who reached out to local public relations behemoth Kirvin-Doak, who had an account executive to call upon me late Friday night with the news that I would be granted a single ticket to see Saturday afternoon's "Oprah Winfrey Show" taping with guests Cher and Tina Turner at Caesars Palace. I had totally failed in earlier attempts to get a ticket. But I was also not the only media present. Also there was Steve Friess (USA Today and The New York Times), Doug Elfman (Review-Journal) and fellow blogger Robin Leach. Some were contacted as late as Saturday morning.

I won't bore you, the television-savvy audience of Los Angeles, with too many of the details from a television taping. I am sure you know them far better than I do. But to me many of them were so un-Vegas I was in awe.

For example, there was no attempt to sell people stuff by Oprah's people! I don't just mean that all the tickets were free -- with the huge caveat that you had to be connected in Vegas or Oprah-land to get one. (And on Harrah's side, the biggest caveat being, of course, one way to a precious ticket was to be a person who gambled a good sum at a Harrah's property.)

Still, this audience was in hero mode. And on the Oprah side this was the first time I saw the Caesars Colosseum's ample souvenir stand empty  Just imagine how many Oprah shirts, magazines or coffee mugs with inflated prices the worshipful audience would have snapped up. When the usher confused Steve Friess' ticket with mine, one lady begged us to let me sit in front of her like her life depended on it. Why? I am shorter. But instead the crowd of potential shoppers was left only with the nearby Bette Midler souvenir store. The other totally empty spot in the packed arena was the men's restroom: vacant enough for Buddhist meditation.

I also now know why five hours are required for taping a television show. There was an exhausting more than 40 minutes of preparation in which we had to react from "golf clap" to seeing "something cute." And we were told wear lots of lip gloss and to practice being excited before Oprah came out. Lots of stuff had to be shot twice.

The big moment was one such instance. Tina Turner was meant to break the news that she was ending retirement and going on tour. Instead, she wandered about the issue in an answer so convoluted that Oprah finally blurted out the applause moment. They reshot that so Turner could tell people succinctly she was returning to the road. No Vegas show announced.

I was most interested in Cher. She has a show opening next month in the room, and I was hoping for some preview of that show. We got that with Cher debuting a fully produced "Take Me Home" with live vocals. Cher is 61 only in the possible way you could look during your best dream. 

There will be plenty of showgirls in sequins and Bob Mackie gowns. It is going to be a quintessential Vegas show.

I think I earlier expressed reservations about Cher being able to move tickets and hold the spotlight in 2008 Vegas. Let me take my foot out of my mouth right now while I still have time before the show opens. Cher is going to be the biggest hit in Vegas since "LOVE." Tickets are going to be impossible to get, and she is going to cause as big a sensation as Celine Dion.