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Paris Las Vegas - March 7, 2010(View photo gallery here)
BB-34
Could It Be Magic is actually a great opening song for the show, especially since it's the upbeat version. So, yeah - I miss It's A Miracle. But this is very, very nice. He does start the song off slowly, at the center of the stage with a mic stand. Barry stretches his arms toward us. It's a great effect - the audience is all standing and cheering and there's so much excitement and anticipation in the air at that moment. Okay, got it wrong in last night's review. The It's A Miracle choreography is during Everything's Gonna Be Alright, not the upbeat Could It Be Magic. At least I was close... :-) And the high kicking line dance is in that song, too.
Really, Everything's Gonna Be Alright is such a happy song. Someone asked if I remembered any of the lyrics. Not really... He says he can see the future and he likes what he sees. There's a line about "you stay with me and everything's gonna be alright". There's a line about "joy is gonna find ya". That's really all I can remember, specifically. It's just a very upbeat song - and as you're listening to it, you can definitely make it apply to all of our fears about leaving the Hilton and moving to this new show. You could also make it apply to a lot of things. I'm really afraid that I'm not going to be seeing this show much anymore - but it feels better when I hear the song. It's one of those songs that can give you hope, ya know? Barry, please record this, please record this, please record. Oh, and before I forget - PLEASE RECORD THIS!!! :-) Something else that got deleted from the other two reviews was my statement concerning the songs in the show - we're getting the entire song, whereas at the Hilton most of the hits were only portions of the songs that had been woven into a medley. So, we're getting to hear the entire version of Somewhere in the Night <sigh> - and a couple of others. We may not hear as many different songs, but I think this is better. I know when I first reviewed Ultimate Manilow, I said that I didn't think the show flowed smoothly - I guess I just got used to it. But from the very first show at the Paris, I noticed the difference - and at least to me, it's a huge difference in the flow of the show. My personal opinion is that this is a huge improvement. The lighting at this show is extremely bright - it's beautiful, but bright enough at times to hurt your eyes (only briefly). When that "Manilow" sign in lights comes on, you have to close your eyes if you're up close - it's really bright! There are also many times during the show that the spotlights really envelope Barry and/or the backups. There is so much light reflecting that your photos are totally washed out. The only way you could successfully take photos from the audience is if you know the show well enough to anticipate the lighting changes so that you can quickly make adjustments to your camera settings. Obviously, I don't and so a lot of my photos are washed out. But the lighting is still incredibly beautiful - after all, it wasn't created so fans could take photos!
I've got to comment on the backups since I failed to do so in the first two reviews. They're awesome, of course! The choreography is fantastic - very polished. The new Melanie seems like she's been with the group for years! Muffy stepped into Monica's shoes perfectly. And of course, Kye and Keely are just as fabulous as ever. They each play their parts so well. They know how to work the audience, how to stand out or blend into the background as required. Obviously, we're there to see Barry - but you have to take notice of their talents, too. So, in my mind's eye I remembered purple as the primary color during Somewhere in the Night. But my photos from the Sunday night show clearly show it to be a beautiful shade of blue. But then, I thought at the Saturday shows that Our Love Is Here to Stay was red - I don't remember any dominant color at all from the Sunday show! So maybe I'd better stay away from colors! Let's just say there are lots of pretty colors in the show!
Weekend in New England was fantastic! I think it was the best performance of the 3 shows. Barry put a lot of feeling into it, especially the end. The music was so beautiful, too. At the Hilton you could see waves crashing on the video screen behind him. There are similar effects at this new show. There are 4 picture frames suspended from the ceiling with black and white photos in them (there I go with colors again - I'm probably wrong about that, too, and the photos are actually purple and orange!). And then at the end of the song a much large frame is lowered - it has video of waves crashing in it - also black and white (or purple and orange, whatever...) A couple of funny moments, one from the night before... No one yelled out during WINE during the first show - I didn't even realize they hadn't until they did at the second show. And really, I kind of hope they don't yell out at every show because it momentarily detracts from the song itself - Barry is always cute the way he handles it - but I still like to see the song through without interruption occasionally. Anyway, they *really* yelled out at the second show. Barry stopped, got the cute expression on his face, then announced, "Still got it!", turned toward the audience and nodded his head, and then grinned the most adorable grin you've ever seen. That grin alone was worth the interruption!
I still heard distinctive sounds from some of the instruments. I could clearly hear Mike's guitar and the individual chords and sometimes even individual notes. There were a couple of times that I could clearly hear one of the instruments that David was playing - I couldn't see it well, maybe xylophone? The thing is, these are the instruments that you don't hear as a rule - they tend to just blend in with the music overall. Yet, I could distinctly hear them. Don't know if it was deliberate, but I enjoyed hearing them. One of the things that got deleted in a previous review was a funny moment when Kye is bringing a new jacket for Barry to put on - this happens between the New York City Rhythm segment and the segment focusing on the songs from the new CD. And, I have a photo of it in my Saturday late show review. Anyway, the "band" is moved back during this part of the show. Barry needed to blow his nose (he's human!) - and the band was pulling away from him as he was trying to get to the box of tissues. He was running a little to try to catch up - and Kye was running over to him - because they normally do the jacket exchange at the front of the stage on the right side. Barry said, "This is a damn big stage!" Kye finally caught up to him, and then Barry started playing it up - with Kye playing right along. Barry started pretending that he couldn't find the front of the stage - he asked Kye where it was - that's the moment that photo is from. It was all very funny. Barry scared me! He asked for requests at the point in the show where he's been doing I Wanna Be Somebody's Baby. A lot of people were yelling out Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed - and I can't believe I'm saying this, but... I was thinking NO! It has to be I Wanna Be Somebody's Baby! Can you believe that? I love what he's doing with this song. This was the best performance of the 3 - Barry really got into it. After the song was over, even Ron W was applauding Barry.
Another thing that got deleted from my other reviews is what I'm calling the grandfather segment. That term doesn't make a lot of sense unless you know what I'm talking about - and that description got deleted. So, we'll try this again. Barry has put a section in the show that plays tribute to his grandfather - in past years it's always been done with I Made It Through the Rain. But now the segment has been extended a little - it actually is almost like a small skit where one thing leads to another. The grandfather segment is kind of neat - we get a double dose of baby Barry. First we get the scratchy record of baby Barry NOT singing to his cousin - complete with the adorable facial expressions as he listens to it. Then we get to here baby Barry singing Nature Boy, complete with additional adorable facial expressions from our current Barry. And I noticed at all 3 shows that when it came to the lyrics "the greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return", Barry was mouthing the words along with the recording. After the recording, Barry starts playing his keyboard and then sings a portion of the song - the sound from the keyboard is so rich and full - I just love it. And again, I love the way Barry sings that song - his voice is just as rich and full as the sound from the keyboard. Honestly, that would be a fantastic song for him to record for us.
The visual effects during the grandfather segment are very nice. The photo of Barry that they display is priceless - not the usual one that we see - although that one is shown, too. I posted a photo of that one in one of my Saturday reviews. Got something else wrong in my last review - during This One's For You, he says "Can't you see this one's for you..." - not "can't you tell". Still a fabulous performance of the song. It's the New York City Rhythm segment where Kye is pretending to be a photographer taking photos of the girls - not what I said last night. That's what's going on while we're waiting for Barry to change into his gorgeous leather jacket.
The solo for the keyboard players are definitely expanded. Well, I think they are - in light of all the mistakes I made in my previous reviews, I'm not certain of anything! That's what I get for trying to write 2 reviews at the same time when I had less than an hour to do it! Let this be a lesson to me! Ha! Anyway, the solos certainly seem longer. Even though the solos are various points around the stage, all 4 of the guys still converge at center stage at the end of the song for the ending we've become accustomed to seeing with all 4 playing the ending chords of the song together along with the hi-five.
Oh, and another thing I was totally wrong on - the little bit of It's A Miracle that's embedded in NYCR... They actually sing "It's a miracle, a true blue spectacle, it's a miracle". So, perhaps you should totally disregard my two previous reviews because I obviously didn't know what I was talking about! At any rate, I'm still happy that I get this little bit of It's A Miracle - and I still think it's ingenious the way Barry has managed to weave it into NYCR. I noticed in one of last night's photos that it looks like Barry is seeing "Look at my beautiful paintings!" Ha! No, Barry did some more of that marvelous conducting. I just forgot to mention it. This time it definitely was as an intro to Even Now. Not sure if that's where it was the previous nights. But I still love to see him do that. Actually, there were many places throughout the night (both nights) where you could see Barry be taken away by the music. Even for those of us who aren't musicians, the music in this show is gorgeous and you can't help but be moved by it. Even Now was again very emotional and beautiful - maybe not quite as much as the late show Saturday - but still a fantastic performance of the song. And again, that long note at the end was just incredible. I didn't take any photos of it this time - I just sat there and watched. I made a comment in a review years ago, when Barry first started with Music & Passion, that his voice was so strong that his entire being seemed to reverberate on the stage. That's exactly what has been happening at these shows. There's so much power in the projection of his voice - and if you're close enough to see his throat muscles - wow! It's awe-inspiring, truly. As I said earlier, I see no signs of red in the photos I have from Our Love Is Here to Stay, other than the red curtains - and those go away quickly. The curtains are closed only long enough for the girls to get into their "statue" positions. I still don't see how they remain that motionless! Barry "changed" the pictures perfectly tonight - then turned to the audience and raised his eyebrows up and down a few times, kind of Groucho Marx style - but with a facial expression that said, "It worked! Am I awesome or what?" Made the audience laugh. But none of that detracted from the performance of the song - and Barry was back into his song mode within a split second. Barry sings all of these love songs so well.
Where Do I Begin was better again - it just keeps getting more passionate. I think maybe at the late show on Saturday the ending was a tad more emotional and strong than at Sunday's show, but only a little. Barry does an excellent job of making us believe.
Speaking of making us believe, Love Me Tender did just that. Again, Barry's performances of this song just keep getting better. It was soft, tender, sweet, emotional - very emotional at the end. You can see how immersed Barry is into the song in the photos. Barry was very much into it and it seemed to take him a few seconds to break out of the mood before he moved on to the next song. I still can't believe he's made me love this song, but he has. It has an entirely different feel to it than Elvis' version - you know what it is? *That's* what it is! Feel! When I listen to Elvis' version, I feel nothing - I hear no emotion in the song - it's left up to the listener to make the song fit into their world. Maybe because I've never experienced those feelings myself, I just didn't get it.
But Barry doesn't leave it up to us - on any of his songs. He's able to direct us, to take us to where he is. He can make us feel what he's feeling, even if we have nothing in our life currently that can compare. As I said before, he makes us believe. That's his magic.
We need a name for the skit with the 50's/60's music in it. It's more than just one decade. Already used the term "decades medley". Maybe we should call it the "sock hop medley". Yeah, that's it! It's like they're at a sock hop! Bandstand Boogie is definitely in that skit - it opens and closes the skit, actually. Then we have the na-na-na song, which someone told me is called Land of a Thousand Dances, or something like that - yup, that's it - I just looked it up. And we have the Twist - I know exactly what time period that's from, because my very first record album that I got for my 5th birthday was Chubby Checker's "Let's Twist Again". The backups and Barry do all of the dances that were popular during the sock hop period. Barry, the backups do all the dances. Barry mainly stands there trying to figure out how to do the dances with cute mannerisms and facial expressions! It's a very cute segment of the show.
Kye and Keely have resumed their dance routine that was in the original 50's skit - it's not quite as long, but just as much fun to watch. I was disappointed to see that I missed the shot of Keely sliding through Barry's legs. Hopefully I'll have another opportunity at that. Muffy and Melanie both dance with Barry briefly - but my photos washed out. There's a very cute moment where Barry plays with the ruffles of Melanie's skirt as she twirls. Kye does a solo dance and then the splits - and actually manages to stand back up again - amazing! Ha! And then they all join at center to stage to wave, as they did at the Hilton. But again, the lighting washes my photos out completely.
Wistful. That's how I would describe Barry's Sunday night performance of Mandy. He just seemed kind of wistful. Very nice - again, seems to have new life from what hew as doing at the Hilton for the last several shows. The video has changed slightly. Before when Barry stood up at the end of the medley and stretched his arms out, the baby Barry in the background was doing the same. And while that's still true, the video has a very long shot of that now - so honestly, it's hard to even tell that's what baby Barry is doing. And the bottom half of the video is dark with no image at all, at least not that you can see from the audience. So that final moment loses a lot of its effect.
I Write the Songs is another place where the photos just wash up - but I love the way Barry's hair is falling over his forehead in this shot. He nailed that final note again - the power! Just awesome! And I officially now love this new white jacket! :-)
More cute expressions and mannerisms during Copacabana. I especially like this one when he sings, "We fell in love". The last two shows Barry has been saying, "Ah, love - ah, romance - SEX!". But tonight there was a little girl in the front row with her mother (I guess). He looked at her and said, "Ah, love", then paused - kind of pointed and smiled and softly said, "Love..."
So, the cane is black and so is the top hat. And Barry still looks fabulous in his tux - a white tie with polka dots, if I'm recalling correctly. Just so handsome! And as someone said, what's going on in the background on the video screen is kind of psychedelic colors. But it starts with a big red heart composed of red roses. And goes from there - and Barry plays with it the entire time. It's very cute. This is another spot in the show where the colors just wash out the photos. At the very end, a bright, starry background is behind Barry - I really hope I can catch a photo of that some day because it's gorgeous. I'll put one up when I put up all my photos from the show, but it's very washed out.
Barry did remain standing at center stage (although far back) as the final curtain came down this time. He's just looking at us, and we're looking at him. He's honestly too far back for us to see his facial expression, or even if he's smiling. But his body language makes it appear that he's drinking it all in. And by the way, I don't think I mentioned that this final curtain is actually in the form of huge picture frame with a painting in it. So, that was the end of opening weekend. Don't know when I'll be back - but I'm looking forward to that day whenever it is.
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