The Return of Cher

SINGER’S CAESARS PALACE SHOW IS THE FITTING CRESCENDO OF A STORIED CAREER

With her larger-than-life persona, glittering barely there outfits and unabashed sense of theatrics, it was almost inevitable that Cher would return to Las Vegas. The statuesque singer/actress first performed on the Strip with her then-husband Sonny Bono in the early 1960s, and despite an epic “farewell” world tour that ended in 2005, Sin City’s lure proved sufficient for her to sign up for 200 shows spread over three years at Caesars Palace. Replacing Celine Dion’s successful “A New Day” extravaganza (and in tandem with Bette Midler’s “The Showgirl Must Go On”), Cher opened at the Colosseum last May.

“When we first started, we opened for Pat Boone,” Cher said, laughing as she remembered those early days in Vegas with Bono. “And there was nothing on the Strip. I mean there were the old clubs — you know, old hotels — and that was nice, and the town was still run by the mob, and that was kind of fun, too. But everything is different [now] ... you can go see entertainers, you can go see theater, you can go see Cirque du Soleil ... and fabulous entertainment is all there in one package.”

Yet even though she’s a fan of this bigger, bolder, brighter Las Vegas, Cher’s Caesars Palace show doesn’t aim to ape the competition.

“With her you don’t have to compete with anybody,” said Cher costume designer Bob Mackie, who’s worked with the star since the early 1970s. “She’s an original — there’s nobody quite like her, and people come to see what they’re used to seeing ... what they like, what they remember ... as well as what she’s doing now.

“[Cher] is ... a walk down memory lane, [and] people are upset if she doesn’t do her hits. So she sings those and then she sings some other things that are kind of unexpected, and with different costume looks as well — sometimes we do go back and do kind of updated versions of the ways she looked in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.”

But in terms of production, this new show is an utterly novel forum for familiar tunes and looks.

“Everything is new about it,” said Cher. “There’s nothing from the old show and we’re able to do things that we’ve never been able to do. ... We’re able to have technology that we’ve never had before. We’re able to put on a bigger show — more dancers, more aerialists, more costume changes. É If you can dream it, if you can think it up, we can do it.”

In addition to the extraordinary choreography, special effects and best-known tunes from a 45-year career — including “I Got You Babe,” “Love Is a Battlefield,” “Half Breed” and “Believe” (Cher’s latter-day epic encore) — the show leaves space for some of its namesake’s famous wit and audience rapport.

“There’s a charisma — people are fascinated by her and what she’s going to do, what she’s going to wear, what she’s going to say,” said Mackie, a native Angeleno who has also designed lavish outfits for superstars Diana Ross and Carol Burnett.

In the Caesars Palace show, Cher makes her grand entrance on a flying platform high above the audience before working her way through a dozen different costumes and pushing nostalgia’s buttons with the aid of a giant backdrop screen. Between the star and her 18 dancers there are more than 140 costume changes during the show.

Much of the show’s action happens on a 65-foot-wide steel bridge that spans the stage. Yet despite the extravagant production, the experience for the viewer is relatively intimate: No one in the 4,300-seat Colosseum is ever more than 120 feet from Cher during the performance.

Yes, far from fading away into retirement, the 62-year-old is more glamorous and grandiose than ever. And this Vegas headlining run, as opposed to a traditional tour, offers the new queen of the Colosseum plenty of time off and at home.

“It works out nicely, because then she can go off and have her own life for a while and then come back,” said Mackie. “I don’t know if she’ll ever stop! She’ll let us know! I just finished working with Tina Turner as well — these ladies are war horses!”

“Well, I like performing. It’s who I am, you know,” said Cher. “This is what I was meant to do. This is the only thing I know how to do. This [show] will give me a chance to work and do the thing that I love, and also be able to go off and hang with my friends and my kids.”

March 7-8, 10-11, 14-15, 17, 20-21;
April 25-26, 28-29

CHER
Colosseum at Caesars Palace
3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Tickets: 866.510.CHER, www.ticketmaster.com (keyword "Cher") or in person at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace box office, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
From $95