Donny Osmond eyes ’21 Vegas return
THE ampersand is gone. The sister is doing her own thing. The showroom is in a different hotel. But Donny Osmond, in the form of “Donny,” plans a return to the Strip.
Displaying his passion as a solo artist, Osmond is scheduled to open Aug. 31 at Harrah’s Showroom. The show is set to run at 8 p.m. on select dates through Nov. 20. Tickets start at $65, minus fees, on sale at 10 a.m. Tuesday at www.ticketmaster. com/donny.
As for the ripple effect on the existing Harrah’s Showroom tenants, the plan is for Osmond to alternate weeks with the Righteous Brothers, and he will not run into the Bronx Wanderers’ schedule in the room as Bronx moves into the Righteous Brothers’ 6 p.m. slot when Osmond headlines.
Produced by Raj Kapoor Productions, co-producer of the 90th Academy Awards telecast, among other projects, “Donny” will be the first production by an Osmond on the Strip since the “Donny & Marie” production closed last November. The show finally bowed out after a stellar 11year run at the Flamingo. The announcement of the new show follows almost a year to the day after the duo’s closure.
Osmond said he has forecast inevitable questions about his sister, Marie Osmond, with whom he built an enduring family entertainment partnership.
“Interestingly enough, we’ve talked about doing this kind of stuff before we closed at the Flamingo, and she was really excited even back then,” Osmond said during a phone chat Thursday afternoon. “But if I get a call from her, and I have to jump off real fast and talk to her, I’ll call you right back (laughs).”
Marie Osmond weighed in with her thoughts on her brother’s new gig later Thursday.
“Donny and I enjoyed performing together for 11 years on the Strip and now I wish him nothing but success and happiness in his new adventure.”
Even with its success, the “Donny & Marie” show in Las Vegas was a departure from the siblings’ passion for individual projects.
“Both she and I have had our individual solo careers, even from the beginning, when I was 12 years old and started recording on my own and Marie had her solo career, with ‘Paper Roses,’ until 1976, when we came together and formed the duo Donny & Marie,” Osmond said. “We did that for four seasons, then had our individual careers. We came together in 2000 for the talk show, then we split. Then we came back together in 2008 and did Vegas.”
Osmond understands the
power of the Donny & Marie brand, which graced the Flamingo as a building wrap for more than a decade. But the people behind the brand find independent fulfillment.
“What’s interesting is, we’ve had solo careers all throughout our lives,” Osmond said. “But because the ‘Donny & Marie’ show was so popular back in the ’70s, and the Vegas show did so well, everybody thinks that’s the only thing we hang our hat on. But it’s been individual ever since the beginning.”
The move into the classically appointed Harrah’s Showroom returns Osmond to his earliest era, with the Osmond Brothers. The family act opened Harrah’s Tahoe when Donny was a budding child star.
“I was 6 or 7 years old, and we opened for Phyllis Diller,” the 62-year-old Osmond said. “We watched Phyllis Diller every night. We loved Phyllis Diller.”
Osmond plans to sample his entire 60-year career in the “Donny” production. He’s a song-and-dance man at the core, so he will employ a full band and backing dancers.
“If you look at who will come to my shows, it’s really across the board,” Osmond says. “When people come to a concert, they say, ‘I want to hear the hits,’ so they will. Yes, there is a new album and a lot of new music in the show. But people will hear what they came to hear, too.”
Osmond continues to work on his 63rd album, which was in development even as he finished the “Donny & Marie” residency at Flamingo. Often, he would invite guests to the studio backstage to listen to one of its thumping dance tracks. He says the album will be done, “When it is finished!”
The yet-untitled release will be displayed on Harrah’s video screen during a segment of the show that Osmond has not yet titled.
“I’m going to put up all 63 of my albums and have an audience member, Suzie from Ohio or whoever, pick one song off one album,” Osmond said. “We’ll play the song, or about 20 or 30 seconds of it. The band will hate me (laughs), but it will be a great chance to connect with the crowd.”
Osmond’s stage skills harken back to the golden era of live performance. “I’m a song-and-dance man, at heart,” he says. He will star in a full-scale production, but he knows star power will bring audiences back.
“I’ve learned that it’s not how much money, not how much production, it’s the personality of the show,” Osmond said. “It’s how you connect with a show. People don’t leave the theater humming the lights. They are humming the songs, and they are remembering the experience.”