25 Random things about Vegas Headliners Donny and Marie Osmond

I stumbled along this interesting fun post on the Las Vegas Sun Website and thought it it would be fun to list it here

25 Random Things about Donny Osmond

Beginning with five things about Donny from Marie herself:

1. “Donny dances on the tabletops at the Flamingo. Hold on to your beverage.”

2. “Donny licks the salt off of pretzels before he eats them.”

3. “One of Donny’s favorite movies is ‘Waiting for Guffman.’ ”

4. “For Donny, a day without some state-of-the-art techie gadget is like a day without sunshine.”

5. “Of all the performers I’ve shared a stage with in my career, Donny has proved to be the most all-around gifted entertainer.”

6. One of Donny’s pet peeves is when people spell his name “Donnie.” So as a joke the backstage crew at the Flamingo spelled it that way on the gold star on his dressing room door.

7. Donny and his wife, Debra, have five sons, Donald, Jeremy, Brandon, Christopher and Joshua, and a grandson, Dylan, and granddaughter, Emery.

8. Donny has lost two inches off his waistline since the show opened in October. He says gets his cardio and leg workout on stage, but does a full workout at a nearby Las Vegas gym.

9. Whenever hometown friends visit Donny in Vegas, he takes them to the Bellagio bridge — for the best view of the gigantic Donny & Marie mural on the front of the Flamingo: Donny’s eyes alone are 6 feet high and 10 feet wide. “At home, I’m uncle Donny to all the kids and teenagers. But when they come here, I have to show them that — I’m a little more than Uncle Donny right now,” he laughs.

10. He commutes from Provo, Utah, after his days off, and stays in a suite upstairs at the Flamingo during the week. “I joke in the show about being behind Marie’s teeth, but I’m up a little higher than that. I’m in Marie’s hair.”

11. Indian actor Sanjeev Bhaskar recently gave his blessing for his wife to leave him for another man: Donny Osmond. “She planned to marry Donny when she was 12 and told everyone she was going to convert to Mormonism,” Bhaskar said. “She was so excited when he came on ‘The Kumars at No. 42’ as a guest. I told her ‘if you want to go off with him, it’s not a problem.’ ”

12. Donny was peeved when his nephew David was booted off “American Idol” last week, but mostly because the American public wasn’t told that David had laryngitis. The two recently shot a mini-concert for “Entertainment Tonight” on the Flamingo stage.

13. A typical Donny day: Drives his son to the airport at 6 a.m. after four hours of sleep, calls his business manager, sleeps for about an hour, records the voice of a farmer for a Disney cartoon series, works out, does interview with the Las Vegas Sun, does show with Marie.

14. Donny has been a cartoon character at least twice before, in Rankin-Bass’ Saturday morning series “The Osmonds” (1972) and as a recurring character in Hanna-Barbera’s “Johnny Bravo” (1997).

15. He has starred on Broadway three times, as the title characters in “Little Johnny Jones” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and as the villain Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast.”

16. In the early 2000s, Donny briefly considered teaming up for a show with fellow former teen idol David Cassidy, his rival for the cover of Tiger Beat magazine in the early ’70s. “We had one meeting, and it was like, OK, I don’t want to go there.”

17. Donny admits to being “a total nerd,” specifically, a Mac geek: He designed the secret backstage video control room at the Flamingo, as well as the audio and computer systems that run the show. He also put together all the video montages seen in the show, assembling long-lost videos and still photos in his basement. “It’s my little world in here.”

18. Donny bursts into full-on song mid-conversation, launching into “Remember When,” “It’s Your Thing” and the Osmond Brothers’ 1972 rock hit “Crazy Horses” within the span of a half-hour chat.

19. He confides that “Crazy Horses” is soon going to replace “It’s Your Thing” in the Donny & Marie act. “That whole song (“Horses”) is about ecology. Nobody knew at the time what it was about. Garage bands in England are still covering that song.”

20. Donny has a whole terabyte of songs stored on his iTunes, and he’s been transferring old vinyl albums to files using a USB turntable. His cassette collection is next.

21. Donny is engineering a new Donny & Marie album, which will be ready for release in May, followed by a solo Donny album in October. “I don’t think I can have a No. 1 record again, that’s not a goal of mine. But I think Donny & Marie can still sell a lot of records.”

22. Donny and Marie stopped singing together in the early ’80s to reestablish careers as individual artists. “We always knew that we’d come back together again, and when I saw this room at the Flamingo, with the booths, I called Marie and said, ‘This is it. This is the old Las Vegas that we grew up in.’ ”

23. Donny found it tough adjusting to working as a duo again. “I had to come to the conclusion that I’m not the dictator anymore. I can’t say ‘OK, Marie, you’re gonna do this and you’re gonna do that.’ I’m dealing with somebody who is in control of her own career now. That’s why we brought (director/choreographer) Barry Lather in as the mediator — or arbitrator,” he laughs. We both came up with ideas for the show, gave them to him, and he figured it all out for us. Because it would have been a disaster if he wasn’t there.”

24. Their dressing rooms are next door to each other, but Donny doesn’t see much of his sister until showtime. “Last week I went over to her house in Green Valley and hung out for a little while. It’s beautiful. But when I have time off, and I’m not doing anything, I’d rather go home and see my wife and kids.”

25. Donny says he and Marie are both grateful for their Vegas winning streak — the Flamingo show has been extended through 2010. “We’ve both been in situations when we wonder ‘Are we going to sell any seats?’ And so when we have a success like this …”

25 Random Things about Marie Osmond

The first six things about Marie come straight from Donny:

1. “Marie knows that if she ever sticks her thumb in my back, I’ll go crazy. She did it once on the Donny & Marie talk show: I asked someone a stupid question and she put her thumb in my back. See, when I was a little kid onstage, if I sang a sour note my brother Merrill or Alan would just poke me with a thumb, and it took me right back to those bad times. I threw it to commercial, we walked offstage, and we proceeded to rip each other’s head off. You could hear a pin drop in that audience — they heard everything. Dick Clark had to come backstage and said, ‘Now children,’ and that stopped it right there.”

2. “Every interview we do, Marie has to change the lighting.”

3. “She laughs all of the time.”

4. “Marie came up with the purple socks tradition I had in the ’70s.”

5. “She co-founded the Children’s Miracle Network.”

6. “Don’t ever expect Marie to be on time.”

7. There are three hotel rooms behind Marie’s teeth in the Donny & Marie mural wrapping the Flamingo; if we saw the rest of her in the mural, Marie would be 900 feet tall.

8. A single mom, Marie is 49 and has eight children from her two marriages. Her daughter Rachael, 19, helps manage her mom’s wardrobe and quick-changes during the Flamingo show.

9. Marie agreed to the Flamingo gig on the condition that she got the larger dressing room, which is sometimes packed with 15 or 20 people, kids and dogs, playing with Wiis and toy light sabers. “Hey, I have more children, and I live here. I need the space,” she says, defending her real estate grab. “But George Wallace’s is bigger than mine,” she says, and bursts into peals of loud laughter.

10. The only daughter in a family of eight brothers, she’s a big kidder, too. The audience loves when she takes Cher-like swipes at Donny, who can’t quite get her back. “My mom said to me, ‘You’re Marie Osmond: Your M.O. is to keep (the Osmond brothers) all humble.’ ”

11. She and the kids live in Henderson’s Green Valley neighborhood; Marie has a Nevada driver’s license and shops at the District. “When I was flying back last time, I saw the Strip, I thought, ‘It really feels like I’m home.’ And for me, that’s huge.”

12. She grew up onstage with her singing brothers, but got some real showbiz schooling at age 16 from Lucille Ball. “She was a tough lady,” Marie says, recalling a guest stint on Lucy’s show. “She waved me over and she said, ‘So. You learned a few things in the makeup room, huh? You wanna learn a few more?’ And I thought ‘Oh wow, I’m dead.’ But she goes, ‘OK. You’re worth my time. You’ll be in the business a while. Let me teach you a few things.’ She taught me about lighting, for one thing.” (See No. 3.)

13. Between “Dancing With the Stars” and the Flamingo show, Marie figures she’s lost about 47 pounds. “The show is hard work, but it was also intentional. I had to be healthy. Heart disease runs in my family. Mom died of it, and my grandmother died of it, my dad had two pacemakers. I’m like, ‘Hello, ticking time bomb.’ One day, my son came to me and said, ‘Mom, you’re all we have.’ ”

14. Marie says she wanted to quickly bring audiences up to date with her stylistic range in the current show. “I’ve played fairs and festivals, honky-tonks and symphony dates. I could play my guitar and cook. I don’t think people know I can do those git-down-with-your-bad-self kind of things.”

15. She has also studied opera for seven years, off and on, and during her solo segment sings Andrew Lloyd Webber’s aria “Pie Jesu,” surrounded by stage fog and twinkling stars. “I could be more operatic than ‘Pie Jesu,’ ” she says, “but I didn’t want to scare anyone to death.”

16. She is recording her next solo album in her Henderson home.

17. Marie often says “tragedy + time = humor.”

18. She has a new book coming out in April called “You Might As Well Laugh About It Now,” which got its start when her house burned down in 2005. “I lost more than 30 years of journals, and my mother’s things. I was afraid I would forget it all, so I started putting them down. (The publisher) said it felt very Erma Bombeck-ish.”

19. Marie also likes to say, “My job is to be an entertainer, not a celebrity.”

20. She drives herself to work every night.

21. She and Donny have had many fights over the years. “Oooh, if anybody could hate each other … are you kidding? Working together and going home to the same house? We probably would have killed each other.”

22. She can’t think of many successful precedents for brother-sister acts. “I mean, you had Karen and Richard (Carpenter), but Richard never talked. (She whispers) Which would have been a nice thing for Donny to do… No! I’m so teasing.” She laughs.

23. The No. 1 reason for their appeal: “We have the same work ethic. I don’t know if it’s blood or what, but we know we’ll always show up for the other.”

24. No. 2: “Almost everyone has a brother or sister, and I say things to Donny that everyone can relate to.”

25. Marie says she stuck her thumb in Donny’s back that one time because “he was being a butt.”

Donnie and Marie Opening review, Las Vegas Nevada

“Donny & Marie” opened last night and was exactly what anyone familiar with the duo would expect. So predictable is the tour through their career that much of the show is aided by archive footage projected behind them so Donny and Marie can perform along with everyone from Stevie Wonder to duets with their younger selves. After coming out together at the opening, each is given a solo showcase that reaches absurd levels of indulgence, as when Marie sings opera and Donny plays piano. While the solo sections are composed mostly of songs made famous by others (including the Andrew Sisters and Andrew Lloyd  Webber) this is followed by Donny and Marie coming out together for a run-through of their own nearly forgotten hits.

Donny and Marie are professionals who effortlessly toss off their lame dialogue. Almost everything –choreography, song selection, costumes — could have been called cliche by the early ’80s. The most current event mentioned: a request for a song from Bob Hope dating back to Desert Storm.

Yet, Donny and Marie are able to earnestly peddle all of this staleness with total competence and sincerity; Donny can laugh on stage when Marie jokes about being 29 like this was the first time someone her age thought to make such a crack. And Marie is able to rise to the challenge from her brother to a dance contest when he is ostensibly jealous of her television appearance. The back-up dancers prove by far the most talented performers. But this sort of scripted sibling rivalry is what fans of the duo want to see, and they are fully rewarded by this show.

This is also a show you can bring the kids to. The show offers the most covered showgirls on the Strip. In fact, I am told they are not showgirls but dancers. Making this distinction to me must be important because these days the word “showgirl” is generally used to mean the women who dance in shows on the Strip.

The only real surprise is how very successful this all is turning out to be during one of the worst economic periods the Strip has ever seen. I hear pre-sale has been amazingly strong. And the fans’ dedication was obvious. Many brought dolls and old records. Whatever I think of “Donny & Marie,” every indication is that the Flamingo is going to be rewarded for playing it safe with this show.

Of course, nothing of the licentious world of drinking, gambling and other adult entertainments that keep Vegas going is to be found in “Donny & Marrie.” Yet, Vegas apparently has enough tourists passing through to keep a showroom full out of nostalgia or a desire for predictable entertainment from this warhorse duo who prove able to pull off a blandly competent show of innocuous entertainment that has nothing special to recommend it outside the fame of the stars.

Article from LA Times

Las Vegas funny lady – Rita Rudner releases book

Las Vegas funny lady Rita Rudner has released a book as with anything else to do with the brilliant woman it’s hilariously funny.

When celebrated comedian and New York Times bestselling author Rita Rudner turned fifty, she couldn’t even utter the dirty word. “It was more comfortable getting a laugh and telling people I was filthy than having to say the word fffiffffty,” she still stutters a bit, even in print. As the years stack up, some people will do almost anything to reverse aging: Lasik surgery, hair dye, face cream, and “accidentally” celebrating the same birthday three years in a row. Always brilliantly funny as she directs her darts at our human shenanigans, Rita Rudner can’t help seeing the humor in the events that make up life in her ‘filthies.’ In the hilariously accurate I STILL HAVE IT… I JUST CAN’T REMEMBER WHERE I PUT IT: Confessions of a Fiftysomething, she relates and retells the absurd adventures of a woman navigating the world of ‘near-sighted insights.’ From reminiscing about her mother’s cooking (‘Most turkeys taste better the day after. My mother’s tasted better the day before’) to raising her own daughter (‘I worry about being an older mother, but I guess we’ll just connect in different ways. We’ll both be losing our teeth at around the same time’); the absurdity of reality shows (‘Future reality show: Who Wants to Eat a Cow Dung Sandwich?’); the foibles of driving (‘I’d like to point out the fact that honking doesn’t make cars disappear’) or taking up golf (‘How far am I away from the hole?’ I asked; ‘Twenty minutes,’ he replied), and her love of shopping (‘I buy a dress because I need change for gum’), Rudner shares her uproarious vision of modern life as a fiftysomething. Hardcover, 272 pages, published by Harmony. Order online here

Rita is currently headlining at Harrah’s, Las Vegas in their main showroom tickets at $54 + taxes and can be bought drectly from Harrah’s ticket office.

Donnie and Marie Tickets now on Sale, Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas

Donnie and Marie Osmond Tickets are now on sale for dates from the 9th September when they will be headlining at the Flamingo Las Vegas

Donny and Marie bring their distinctive talents and undeniable charm to Flamingo Las Vegas, starting September 9. These icons of music and television are set to dazzle and delight audiences of all ages.

Presented by Vegas superstar Danny Gans and Chip Lightman of GansLight Entertainment, the 90-minute extravaganza will showcase Donny and Marie’s greatest hits in a multimedia spectacle presented on a custom-designed stage with multiple video screens and a sizeable cast of electrifying dancers.

Donny and Marie’s timeless hits (some of which topped the charts as duets, while others were performed solo), include “Paper Roses,” “Make the World Go Away,” “I’m Leaving It (All) Up to You,” “Morning Side of the Mountain,” “Puppy Love,” “Soldier of Love,” “Deep Purple” and others.

This will mark the first time in 29 years that the dynamic pair has performed an extended residency engagement in Las Vegas.

“What Las Vegas has been missing is a true variety show that conveys the real essence of America and the country’s love of homegrown talent,” said Danny Gans, winner of numerous “Entertainer of the Year” accolades. “When you couple that element with the current Las Vegas entertainment landscape, we felt Donny and Marie provided the perfect combination and something no one else was making available.”

The “a little bit country, a little bit rock n’ roll” duo took the country by storm with the debut of the “Donny & Marie” variety show in 1976, becoming the youngest primetime hosts in television history. This universally popular series solidified their worldwide fan base which still numbers in the millions.

After multiple solo successes, the pair teamed up once again in 1998, hosting the successful, nationally-syndicated daytime talk show “Donny & Marie.” They recently hosted the “Miss USA” pageant.

Price: $250; $115; $99; $85 (plus taxes and fees)
Venue: The Flamingo Showroom
Reservations: 702-733-3333
Online Reservations: Purchase Tickets Now!

VIP: $250 plus taxes and fees
Includes front-of-stage seating an after-show photo with the stars

Golden Circle: $115 plus taxes and fees
Main Floor: $99 plus taxes and fees
Balcony: $85 plus taxes and fees

Get Paid For Shopping And Eating Out. How You Can Get Paid $10 To $125 Or More Just To Go To Your Favorite Mall To Shop, Eat At Your Favorite Restaurant

Stay in luxury at the Mirage acrross from the Flamingo from $72 per night a real bargain

Flamingo Hilton, Las Vegas – my review

Flamingo Hilton
3555 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas
NV 89109
+1 (702) 733 3111
www.lv-flamingo.com

Location Dead centre of the Strip facing Caesars Palace – no moving pavements needed here as the Flamingo’s doors open straight onto the Strips sidewalk in this respect it feels like a hotel Downtown.

Theme If it has one it’s lost on me. There are lots of bright colours particularly pink but a fair amount of orange and yellow too. There is neon, stacks and stacks of neon, so bright you can see it for miles away and so intense that it makes a difference to the air temperature underneath it. If it is meant to have a theme I guess its theme is Vegas. This is the oldest surviving Strip resort originally opened by gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel in 1946 with other mobster’s money. Bugsy went well over budget and made losses in the first year thus having to close the unfinished resort from January until March 1947. He was repaid for his great vision with two bullets to the head in June that year. Without his vision and his guts it is doubtful that the Strip or Las Vegas would be what it is today.

Attractions The 15-acre “Garden of Eden” has lush palm trees; pools and jungle vegetation there is also a wildlife sanctuary featuring African Penguins – yes AFRICAN, and you guessed it Flamingos. There is also a video arcade for those who have more frantic pleasure needs.

Pool The pool is one of the best in town its a lagoon with palm trees and other tropical plants and waterslides, it has an area for “European” sunbathing.

Shows and Entertainment . Donnie and Marie Osmond of The Osmond fame have are now the super headliners at the Flamingo. George Wallace a comedian currently performs at the Flamingo as doe’s funny magician Nathan Blake. The Flamingo has an adult’s only sexy review called X Burlesque. There is talk that Harrahs will shortly be signing some huge names so watch this space. If you like Cirque de Soleil shows you are of course only over the road from The Mirage where LOVE is showing and TI where the amazing Mystere is playing or whatever headline is running at the time at Caesars Palace.

Dining The Paradise Garden buffet (Brunch £13.99, Dinner $18.99, Sunday Brunch $15.95 with champagne) has a lovely setting looking over Flamingo Island. Friday offers the Seafood Dinner Buffet for $19.95 which is pretty good if you like seafood, if not avoid. It is good value, when we visited the selection was not enormous though we have heard that this has improved. Bugsy’s Delhi for sandwiches. Conrad’s – for steak and seafood, one of the best in town but expensive. There is also Chinese that is not bad but there are better ones on the Strip. Margaritaville is one of the best value, fun restaurants on the Strip, it has a Caribbean flavor and possibly the best nachos in the World, only get them to share or your wont eat your main course.

Gaming 77,000 sq ft of gaming space, so yes big but it does not feel big, the low ceilings make it feel smaller and more cramped than it really is. It is noisy and appears to have some parts quite crowded and others very empty. Because the doors open straight onto the Strip you quite often get natural light flashing on for a second and real air moving near the doors. There are nearly 2000 slots here, about 70 tables and 4 roulette wheels. At times the table minimums are as low as $5 but that is not too often, maybe the credit crunch will change this who knows ?

Drinks service Fair, Not good, not bad just enough to keep you here but not good enough to get loaded

Overall Loud and bright is the statement that this casino throws out but it all ends at the doors. Once inside, yes it is noisy but does not seem as frantic as some and appears to be very safe and, well, sort of middle of the road.

Good points The feeling that this is one of the firsts, that you are in Las Vegas history and that you don’t have to stray far from the Strip to visit.

Bad points The casino can be hellishly noisy; up to headache levels and it feels on a par with many cheaper policies.

Top Tip I know I have mentioned it but get Nachos at Margaritaville just make sure you share them.

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