Las Vegas Weekly

March 9, 2010 · 2:46 AM

Photos: Barry Manilow triumphs after $150,000 fire stops Paris premiere

By Robin Leach

Barry Manilow at the Clio Awards.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

Legendary singer-songwriter Barry Manilow turned a near tragedy into triumph during his premiere weekend on the Strip after a power surge caused $150,000 in damages to the computer program systems in the sound and lighting control boards. It wrecked plans for the Friday night premiere just hours later.

“You could smell the burnout,” one of the stage engineers told me. “One or two of the protectors failed or didn’t turn on, and the lot just went up. It brought the final rehearsals Friday afternoon to a complete halt.” It also forced Barry, the casino resort and the producers to cancel the premiere.

Coincidentally, Barry had a premonition a week earlier when he performed at the Keep Memory Alive: Power of Love gala benefit for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. “I don’t know if we will make it,” he told me. “There’s just a tremendous amount of brand new technology never been used before.” The producers had spent more than $300,000 on new lighting and sound for the theater.

Photo: Frances Galiardo

Barry Manilow.

Technicians worked Friday night and through Saturday repairing everything and reprogramming all the systems. But they ran out of time to move everything out of the theater to an upper technical area.

Marilyn Winn, president of Paris, Bally’s and The Rio, hosted a free cocktail party for 700 of the first-night audience who hadn’t heard about the last-minute postponement and showed up. Then she huddled with Barry to decide how to solve the problem. She asked Barry that if the repairs were made in time if he’d consider performing a second show Saturday night, which would become the new premiere. Surprisingly, he agreed!

The programming was restored by 2 p.m. Saturday, and Barry and the cast did a final run-through again. John Meglen, head of producers AEG, told me: “It worked so well you’d have to say it was flawless. We sure breathed giant sighs of relief.”

Afterward backstage, Barry told me: “This all turned out to be great. I felt so good, so energized, I’m ready to do a third show back-to-back.” People who saw his first show hung around the theater trying to scrounge tickets for the new premiere. The audience gave him standing ovations for every song, and some stayed standing for the 82-minute spectacular and extended Copacabana double finale.

Photo: TVT

Barry Manilow.

Even though I bought my tickets to the show, I promised not to review it until media night March 26 after the interval when ShoWest takes over the theater and Barry can resume performances. But you can check out my videos and descriptions at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

I’ll divulge a few highlights in this do-not-miss spectacular. Barry’s storytelling about his grandfather encouraging him to stay with music when he was not even 5 years old is superb. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Barry went to an old turntable to play his first recording of “Happy Birthday” in a booth just over the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s scratchy but keyed with photos of his grandfather and him walking to Manhattan from their Brooklyn home; it becomes one of the most emotional moments ever created onstage. I asked Barry backstage how long it had taken him to track it down: “I’ve had it with me my entire life. I knew exactly where to go to get it. It’s the most treasured of my own memorabilia collection.”

Barry’s race around the piano with three other pianists keeping the music going is simply extraordinary and never seen before. The speed of their running and playing is captured on a video screen, and the fancy finger work is so fast, it could become a new Olympic category! His top hat and tails entrance for the closing “Copacabana” is a smashing salute to old-time Las Vegas glamour.

Photo: TVT

Barry Manilow.

His voice and orchestra are sensational, the best he’s ever sounded. He jumps with ease from powerful commercial hits to sentimental love songs to emotional tearjerkers, and the audience is with him every step of the way. This is a show about the purity of music and lyrics. It’s about the great songs and scores without being hindered, distracted or interrupted by Tinseltown distractions. And the lighting onstage is a masterful setting in its own right.

The giant LED screen is replaced intermittently with five video frames as works of art complete with live mannequins in the salute to the French capital of l’amour. Everything works in brilliant synch -- the orchestra, Barry’s piano and the video visuals. That’s what was fried Friday five hours before curtain up. The show, totally different from his recent run at the Las Vegas Hilton, is intimate and exciting. I’ll also go on record as saying this may well be the tightest and best band that’s ever graced a Las Vegas stage. They are that great!

Barry will perform 78 shows each year for the next two years at Paris. Tickets for performances through July 18 are on sale.

“The audience in Las Vegas is always energized and electric, so I know that the Paris Las Vegas is going to be a special run,” Barry said. “I’d really planned something new for this show.”

Photo: TVT

Barry Manilow and Robin Leach.

Stage, film choreographer and director Jeffrey Hornaday (Flashdance, A Chorus Line, High School Musical) has cast Barry’s hits in a new light, including exhilarating new video elements and all the songs that have made him a pop culture icon the past 35 years. The show brings energy, sincerity and the melody of Manilow at his best to a spectacular and highly personal crescendo in a very emotional experience.

“This is a very special show,” Jeff told me backstage at Barry’s post-midnight champagne celebration with cast and crew. “Even after doing arena tours for Madonna and hit movies, this was the most technically challenging I’ve undertaken. Here, it’s so intimate, you can see, feel, touch everything. There’s nothing to hide behind or cover up any mistakes. Every night, we all have to be perfect because the audience is right there -- and not hundreds of yards away. Barry has handcrafted a production that is incredibly personal and nuanced. The result is an original, moving and thrilling theatrical experience. For me personally, it has been the most exciting creative process I’ve ever participated in.”

Barry, who has worldwide record sales exceeding 80 million as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, is particularly thrilled that he’s able to introduce audiences to The Greatest Love Songs of All Time, his new album that chronicles the most touching love songs ever written.

He’s excited that his dream of headlining on the Strip has finally come true with the new two-year run, and he’s already started contributing to his new adopted town. Las Vegas middle school and high school music programs will benefit from his Paris contract by sharing in the proceeds of the special, weekly Platinum Experience Tickets. Platinum Experience Tickets, which include a front-row seat, pre-show champagne reception, meet-and-greet and photo with Barry Manilow and an autographed show program are available now at ManilowParis.com. Proceeds from Platinum Experience Tickets go directly to his Manilow Music Project to provide instruments to middle and high school students in the Las Vegas School District.

Barry managed to reach his showbiz friends including Suzanne Somers and husband Alan Hamel and record mogul Clive Davis to notify them about the electrical burnout. They have rescheduled to attend later. However, two of Barry’s songwriters, Marty Panzer and Adrienne Anderson, still attended the premiere. Marty composed numerous hits, including “This One’s for You,” “Even Now” and “It’s a Miracle,” and Adrienne’s numerous credits include “Could It Be Magic” and “Some Kind of Magic.”

Photo: TVT

Barry Manilow performs at the Keep Memory Alive 14th Annual Power of Love Gala at the Bellagio on Feb. 27, 2010.

Barry summed up: “Did we have fun tonight? This was simply the best, the highlight of a blessed, long career. I couldn’t be happier about being in Vegas, entertaining fans and singing better than ever. I’m looking forward to every night of a fantastic two years.”

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.

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Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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