Cher At Caesars Palace: Is Bigger The Best It Could Be?

Cher has joined the Elton John and Bette Midler rotation at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Her presence completes the bill for the venue and, interestingly, says a lot about the how the powers-that-be at the venue perceive the true Las Vegas audience. We're always reading how this is a hip, cool destination for people under 40. And, surely, it is. But this lineup — boasting an average age of 62 — makes it clear that Caesars (and AEG Live/Concerts West, the producer) is betting on the traditional Las Vegas boomer audience and the Bette and Cher core audience of gays.

Cher brings a huge show to the huge stage. And, like Céline Dion — for whom the stage was built — hers is a very busy show with lots of flash (in the costumes and "audience blinder" lights) and glitz. She sings all her hits from every decade and there are neat videos between songs — some going back to the "Sonny and Cher" days — to provide time for her to change her costumes between numbers. For the record, we counted 13 costume changes, but that could be wrong.

After descending onto the stage from an elaborately rigged 65-foot long steel bridge (that she refers to as the "Flying Wallenda, Evel Knievel Deathmobile") Cher informed the audience, "You're going to see a great show. Even if I weren't in it, it would be a great show. OK, if I weren't in it maybe it would be a good show. OK, it would be crap."

And that is how one might define an audience member's response to the show. Real die hard fans — who were singing along and dancing by their seats — would say it's a great show. More neutral audience members would say it's a good show. The rest? Who knows?

The biggest problem with Cher's show is that it's so big. There are so many costumes —the gorgeous, over-the-top Bob Mackie costumes we've come to expect on Cher — so many people onstage moving hither and yon, dancing and prancing. The stage in the Colosseum is so large that, like the other two who perform there now, Cher literally had to skip to cross it. With Céline gone, it is perhaps time to make the stage smaller and more easily navigated. It can be done.

In all this immensity, the factor that seems to get lost is Cher. She is very funny, very likeable. She can act (a terrific montage of film clips proves that), but we don't get enough of her being her. And, before you say that she is all those costumes, wigs and flashing lights, please consider that she is also this gifted woman whose brief bits of dialogue hint at better things than we see. It would have been nice to hear her tell a few more stories.

The band and back-up singers complimented Cher and are clearly gifted. It's great to revisit the fun music (and I must confess that I expected Jack McFarland to join her in "If I Could Turn Back Time") and, simply, to be in the presence of such a fabulous entertainer.

It could be truthfully said that the sparkle and the pace make Cher's a quintessential Las Vegas show. In this case, however, something got lost — and that was Cher.

Tickets for Cher at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace range in price from $95 to $250.

For performance dates and to order, go to www.caesarspalace.com or call 866-510-CHER

Photo Credit: James Glader

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