Las Vegas Weekly

January 31, 2011 · 10:03 PM

Photos: Priscilla talks Viva Elvis changes; Lisa Marie her new album

By Robin Leach

Nevada Ballet Theatre's 27th Annual Black & White Ball honoring Priscilla Presley as Woman of the Year at Aria on Jan. 29, 2011.

Photo: Judy Eddy

Nevada Ballet Theatre Woman of the Year Priscilla Presley promises that more changes are coming to Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis at Aria at MGM’s CityCenter. Over the weekend when she was honored in NBT’s annual tribute, she saw the spectacular yet again.

Priscilla went with daughter Lisa Marie and son-in-law Michael, son Navarone Garibaldi, her mother Ann and her granddaughter Riley Keough, plus several Santa Barbara, Calif., friends, including my pal Tom Rollerson from The Dream Foundation, which Priscilla and I support.

“Every time I see the show, I take notes,” Priscilla told me in a one-on-one conversation before the gala. “It’s in the best shape it’s ever been since it’s started. I think it’s much tighter. They’ve added more Cirque elements. I think that the dance numbers are better and so smooth.

“We’re still working on some music. They promised to put a little more gospel in it. More gospel, that was really where his roots were. They’re going to add more of him right in the beginning. And we’re still working on the ‘Jail House Rock’ number and trying to get him in that, too. They need him in that. Even though you’re blown away by the guys walking upside down, Elvis should be there. They are working on that.

“It’s been a long journey, but it’s a wonderful tribute to him -- Cirque’s incredible celebration of Elvis. I’m thrilled a whole new generation of people, children who now come with their parents who were originally taken to see Elvis by their own parents -- that’s three generations -- are now being introduced to him. Obviously even as a young kid, there’s something that connects Elvis with children, too. We’re nurturing that generation now.”

I asked Priscilla about her night with NBT’s Black & White Ball.

“I feel very honored. I support the performing arts, and the work that the Nevada Ballet Theatre has done for the past 38 years is astounding. To achieve that success in Nevada competing with all the talent we have here loaded on The Strip is a major accomplishment. From the very beginning, there’s always been a lot of talent here and especially now with this company. It nurtures children and exposes them to theater art and productions. We need that so badly because it’s being taken out of our school systems.”

Priscilla said that although she studied ballet as a child, she couldn’t get Lisa Marie interested in it. “It’s the only thing I couldn’t teach her. I wanted her to go, but she didn’t. She’d have nothing to do with it. I loved it. I had little ballet classes. Then I took it up all over again in the late 1960s. Actually, after I had her, I started ballet to get in shape. I did a little jazz. I’ve always loved the performing arts; I’ve always been a part of it in some way. Whether it be supporting, or whether it be actually dancing, whether it be going to productions, whether it be going to musicals, going to Broadway. So the work of the Nevada Ballet Theatre is very close to my heart.

“You might not associate ballet and classical music with Vegas. It may sound strange to people who think they know the city. But as a child, or for children especially being exposed, the performing arts are so diverse. It can go from ballet to jazz to musicals. Ballet is like a vitamin B shot of dance. So in order to really be proficient, having ballet as your foundation is really the ultimate.”

Lisa Marie, whom Senior Editor John Katsilometes chatted with briefly at the gala, confirmed Mom’s story: “Ballet was the one thing she couldn’t make me do, to be honest! I think possibly she even dreamed of being in ballet. She was always very big on dancing, so I think it’s quite possible she could have become a ballerina if her life didn’t go in a different direction. You could see on Dancing With the Stars how she loved that. And this tribute makes me so proud of my mother. I’m very happy for her and honored to be here for this.”

The only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla and sole heir to the Presley fortunes said that she’s in the middle of her third album but doesn’t have a title yet. She told me that it was being mixed and mastered while she was in Las Vegas. She is staying stateside through tomorrow before returning to her estate outside London with her fourth husband, musician Michael Lockwood, who also is her producer and guitarist.

“I don’t know how to quite explain the new record yet. We haven’t decided on the title, and after it’s mixed, I should be able to tell you in a couple of weeks more about the sound and what we set out to achieve. We’re very happy with it so far.”

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.

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