Donny and Marie: A look back at their Las Vegas residency
Donny and Marie: A look back at their Las Vegas residency (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Updated November 12, 2019 - 10:44 am

Marie and Donny Osmond perform at the Flamingo Sept. 25, 2008. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file photo)

Marie Osmond and her brother, Donny, perform at the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas Sept. 25, 2008. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file photo)

Donny and Marie Osmond receive a Key to The Las Vegas Strip as Caesars Entertainment CEO Tony Rodio and Clark County Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick look on during a ceremony at the Flamingo Las Vegas Aug. 23, 2019. Signed for six weeks in September 2008, the siblings have extended their stay again and again. Their residency comes to an end Nov. 16. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto

Donny Osmond hugs Lucie Hanna of Canoga Park, Calif., after receiving a Key to The Las Vegas Strip with sister Marie during a ceremony at the Flamingo Las Vegas on Aug. 23, 2019. Their residency there ends Nov. 16. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto

Marie and Donny Osmond perform at the Flamingo Sept. 25, 2008. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file photo)

Donny and Marie Osmond are pictured on a building-sized banner on the Flamingo Oct. 20, 2008. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file photo)

Donny Osmond reaches out to fan Lucie Hanna of Canoga Park, Calif. after receiving a Key to The Las Vegas Strip during a ceremony at the Flamingo Las Vegas Aug. 23, 2019. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto

Marie Osmond performs a solo set of Broadway show tunes during a May 25, 2011 show at the Flamingo. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Marie Osmond performs a solo set of Broadway show tunes during the Donny & Marie show at the Flamingo May 25, 2011. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Donny and Marie Osmond visit children at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas during a 1980 visit on behalf of Candlelighters of Clark County. (Las Vegas Review-Journal File Photo)

Donny and Marie Osmond visit children at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas during a 1980 visit on behalf of Candlelighters of Clark County. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file photo)

Donny and Marie Osmond visit children at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas during a 1980 visit on behalf of Candlelighters of Clark County. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file photo)

Marie and Donny Osmond pose for a photo during a 1980 visit to Sunrise Hospital. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file photo)

Donny and Marie Osmond sign autographs during a 1980 visit to Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file photo)

Jimmy, from left, Jay, Donny, Marie, Merrill, Wayne and Alan Osmond stand on stage during a meet-and-greet with fans at The Orleans showroom, Aug. 13, 2007. The Osmonds were taping a 50th anniversary reunion show for PBS. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file photo)

Marie Osmond delivers food to Mary Boyer, 65, at Louise Shell Senior Apartments, 2121 N. Martin Luther King Blvd., Dec. 12, 2009. Osmond and her brother Donny delivered food through City Mission.
(K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Donny Osmond does a dance move with Barbara Wilson, 74, as Marie looks on at Louise Shell Senior Apartments, 2121 N. Martin Luther King Blvd., Dec. 12, 2009. The Strip headliners were at the complex to deliver food through City Mission. (K.M Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Donny and Marie Osmond deliver food at Louise Shell Senior Apartments, 2121 N. Martin Luther King Blvd., Dec. 12, 2009. The Las Vegas Strip headliners delivered food through City Mission. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Donny and Marie Osmond deliver food to Randolph Foley, 56, at Louise Shell Senior Apartments, 2121 N. Martin Luther King Blvd., Dec. 12, 2009. The Las Vegas Strip headliners delivered food through City Mission. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Donny and Marie Osmond deliver food at Louise Shell Senior Apartments, 2121 N. Martin Luther King Blvd., on Dec. 12, 2009. The Las Vegas Strip headliners delivered food through City Mission. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Donny and Marie Osmond were famous long before they opened at the Flamingo.
Still, Las Vegas can take a measure of paternal pride in having hosted the singing siblings in an 11-year residency here that comes ends Saturday.
They were hardly Las Vegas newcomers when they kicked off their residency on Sept. 9, 2008. Marie had headlined Las Vegas in 1973, when she was 13, and her rendition of “Paper Roses” was a national No. 1 country hit. Donny had performed here with his brothers when he was a kid, and they even shared the marquee of the International (later the Las Vegas Hilton and now the Westgate) with Elvis Presley during the ’70s.
In a pre-opening interview with the Review-Journal, Donny recalled how he’d seen “many different incarnations of Las Vegas” since the mid-’60s, when he and his brothers opened for singer Shirley Bassey at the Sahara.
By 1974, Donny and Marie — amazing how all anybody needs to hear is their first names — had performed together at the Tropicana and had a hit, “I’m Leaving It (All) Up to You,” from their debut duo album. Two years later, they premiered in their own ABC variety show, which ran from 1976 to 1979, where they perfected their teasing onstage personas.
So when Donny and Marie opened at the Flamingo in 2008, they and their fans were ready. What was supposed to be a short-term engagement was renewed repeatedly over the years, and their show continued to be a consistent Strip draw even as Las Vegas waited to outlast a recession.
Theirs was a true variety show. Donny, in an R-J interview, once described the siblings’ goal as “getting out there and giving the audience the spectrum, from soup to nuts, so to speak.”
In an odd measure of fandom, the R-J reported in October 2008 that a 67,500-square-foot building wrap that featured the pair’s faces became a popular Strip photo op, and hotel guests even asked for rooms that matched the spaces left for their teeth and eyes.
Their final performance at Flamingo is Saturday, and the Review-Journal’s John Katsilometes has reported that front-row tickets have been going for $4,000 and up, and balcony seats for a more affordable but still impressive $600.
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