Friday, October 01, 2004 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

SHOW REVIEW: As Dion feels more comfortable, her show improves

Singer seems to be enjoying her job as 'A New Day' makes adjustments in costumes and pacing

A change in hairstyle along with softer gowns and a more relaxed stage presence make Celine Dion's "A New Day" at Caesars Palace more accessible. COURTESY PHOTO

There's very little in Celine Dion's "A New Day" opus that could be called "old Las Vegas."

But there is a kind of silly moment, when the singer rolls her trouser legs up to her knees and demonstrates some goofy soft-shoe moves, that suggests a little personality can still do things millions of dollars worth of technology can't.

The show hasn't changed in huge ways since it opened in March of last year. The song list is almost the same, and the changes are more subtractions -- pruning away segments such as the well-publicized "flying" of the star -- rather than anything new.

But the Canadian superstar definitely feels more at home on her 120-foot-wide stage, and more in charge of it.

When "A New Day" dawned, much of the interest focused on the "Cirque du Celine" elements created by Cirque du Soleil expatriate Franco Dragone. It was a bold mismatch that at times resulted in sheer genius, such as the stunningly unique visuals that sidestep "Titanic" cliches for Dion's signature song, "My Heart Will Go On."

Yet it sometimes became a "Where's Waldo" game to find the star amid the 50 dancers in front of the 39-foot-tall video screen. And her role in the huge pop opera often was relegated to providing the soundtrack for the lavish visuals.

But to some extent, Dragone was only playing the cards he was dealt. By this point in Dion's career, the Belgian director faced a big disconnection between the singer's melodramatic, oh-so earnest songbook and the chatty, slightly awkward demeanor she projects when she isn't singing.

That contrast may be a big part of why fans love her. But Dragone never found a way to make it work in his favor and mostly avoided trying to personalize the showcase.

Now the star herself has warmed the edges, while the costumers have enhanced her stage appearance with softer gowns. A hairstyle that aged the 36-year-old singer at least 10 years also has grown out into a softer, simpler look.

Likewise, there are design flaws in the way-too-wide 4,100-seat Colosseum that just can't be fixed. For many of the seats, particularly on the far sides and top balconies, "A New Day" remains basically a big-screen TV show.

Again, the creators have changed what they can. It must have sounded cool in the beginning to dress the dance company only in black and white. But adding color and costume changes brightens the overall impact considerably.

Seeing the show for the third time, it seems, well, less weird. Granted, this is a luxury most people will not have at these ticket prices. But some of the head-shaking numbers, such as shirtless dudes flopping around Dion as she croons "Seduce Me" from a Barcalounger, just seem to work better when you're not taking it all in the first time.

The sheer busyness of the 90 minutes can't really be faulted either, given the ticket prices. But except for the opening "Nature Boy" and closing "What a Wonderful World," every number is stuffed to the point of distraction for older patrons -- and that's most everyone down front, judging from the camera crowd shots at the end -- who grew up in the pre-MTV video era.

(In my second viewing a year ago, Dion included "Je T'Aime Encore (I Love You Still)" in French with English lyrics on the rear screen. It not only provided a needed rest for the eyes, but proved Dion saves her best, least-formulaic singing for markets outside the United States.)

The show gets the worst out of the way early. "The Power of Love" combines the excesses of Dragone's take on Vegas showgirls with the showboating and note-stretching histrionics that characterized the whole Whitney/Mariah/Celine pop era of the early '90s.

But the 3-D effect of the rear screen is quickly put to more powerful use on "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" and "I'm Alive." The child's ballad "If I Could" unfolds with the poetic surrealism Dragone does best. And musicians have been pulled from their cage beneath the stage to join the whimsical production on a trio of classics -- "At Last," "Fever" and "I've Got the World on a String" -- that wisely expand the show's appeal beyond Dion's hits.

Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" doesn't fare as well as the type of song that fits her voice, but does provide a vehicle for the soft-shoe clowning. That and other little asides to the audience make it seem like the singer is enjoying herself, something we weren't sure of in the beginning.

A trouper whose dedication is never questioned, Harrah's headliner Clint Holmes, told the Review-Journal's Norm Clarke when the show opened: "To do it week in and week out for 40 weeks is an adjustment we've all had to make, the dry air and singing so many nights in a row. She may enjoy the heck out of it or it may be a grind."

Now that the answer is convincingly the former, "A New Day" should see even better days ahead.