ML - Vegas Magazine

2012 - Issue 5 - September

Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.

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Decadent costumes abound at Jubilee! " They know your most intimate habits." —JOAN RIVERS A change in a tiny space in minutes or less. They also oversee the costumes, from colorful Cirque-made unitards and reworked wrestlers' shoes, to the designer wear of the A-list headliners, such as the red-soled Christian Louboutins that are Holly Madison's shoe of choice in Peepshow, and the outlandishly stylish getups of Elton John. "Elton's costumes are awesome, and all of his band wears Dolce & Gabbana," says John Stone, the ward- robe head at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. dresser's schedule can be grueling. In many cases, only night owls need apply. "I get to work at seven and get all of the presets ready for the first show," says Duane Cosner (aka Shaun Wayne), assistant head of the wardrobe department at Jubilee! "Then there's a 'lunch' break before the second show starts at 10:30, and I stay until 2 AM." It wouldn't be theater without backstage drama, and even when produc- tions are mapped out to the finest detail, live theater is predictably unpredictable. Every dresser has a story or two of a backstage emergency, whether it's using thread to sew in loose cornrows, or jumping over a mono- rail wall to find black silk socks for a star minutes before the show is about to begin. "Something will always need to be fixed," Stone says. "That's the nature of the job. Just when you think you're about to walk into an ordinary day, it becomes unordinary very quickly." Unlike at the Cirque shows, the Colosseum has an ever-changing rota- tion of productions—starring A-listers who can be notoriously particular, and who often come with personal dressers who the Colosseum staff must then seamlessly work into their routine. "We're constantly focused on who's leaving and coming back and what the crews require," Stone says. "Elton's leaving, Celine's coming back. I'm like an air traffic controller." Dressers to the headliners, in particular, form a close connection to the star they are charged with outfitting night after night, often for years. "Some days at the end we all sit around and talk, like a girls' moment," says Denise Soteras (better known as Zorba), Celine Dion's personal dresser and costume production supervisor for all of Dion's performances. "We really have a lot of fun doing what we do. She's incredibly funny, always joking and laughing. After each show I'll talk about what worked 110 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT (INSET)

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