ML - Vegas Magazine

2012 - Issue 8 - December 2012/January 2013

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.

Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/94837

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 113 of 155

Over I Come on AS THE COLOSSEUM'S FIRST HEADLINING COUNTRY ACT, SHANIA TWAIN IS BACK IN THE SADDLE AFTER A SEVEN-YEAR HIATUS, READY TO PROVE WHY SHE'S STILL THE ONE. BY EMMA TROTTER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK ABRAHAMS f any superstar ever deserved a comeback tour, it's country sensation Shania Twain. After a rocky childhood and swift ascent to country-pop stardom, she took a career hiatus, during which she suffered a devastatingly painful public divorce amid swirling reports of her ex-husband's infideli- ties (with her close friend). The singer, most known for Less than two months away from her splashy debut, Twain is eager to dish the details. She pauses when asked about the last time she performed onstage and guesses it could have been seven years ago. But despite her hiatus, Twain's momentum to perform for her fans again is now boiling over, and she'll be ready to rock her country-sized comeback when she hits that famous stage in the footsteps of Celine Dion, Elton John, Cher, Bette holding the title of best-selling female artist in country Midler, and Rod Stewart. music history, then suffered an unthinkable loss: her voice. But this unstoppable woman known for empowering lyrics (spiced with teases such as "Let's go!" and "Kick it!") is gear- ing up for the mother of all comebacks: being the very first country star to headline at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The "now-Shania," as she calls herself, is currently in a peaceful place. Now married to the ex-husband of the friend who stole her first one, she has come back from despair and into the spotlight in Still the One, her two-year residency that opens December 1. In yet another career milestone, she pro- duced this show from start to finish, the first time she has ever done so. "It's so exciting," she says. "My husband always reminds me that it's a huge part of my pleasure that I get to be so involved in the show. It has taken courage, but the achievement of getting back up onstage again and singing is rewarding. Still the One forced me into not only singing again, but producing and directing, which isn't new to me, but on this scale it's entirely new. So it's opening this whole other world to me." 112 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM Caesars scored a huge coup with Twain, the renowned showroom's first country act, an offer she calls "humbling." That she got to design the show top to bottom is icing on the cake: Every single detail that makes up the 90-minute production—lighting, staging, the song list, costumes—has her fingerprints on it. Twain also handpicked every staff member and enlisted one of the best in the biz, Raj Kapoor, to direct Still the One, one of the big- gest projects of his career. In true Strip fashion, he took the best moments of her career and Vegas-ized them. "The show is a catalog of her work," Kapoor says, "but we have framed it in a much bigger, more theatrical framework. It pays homage to the looks from her videos and other moments you remember her by, or certain per- formances. Iconic costumes are reinterpreted. It satisfies her fan base who loved her years ago, but now it's done in a totally different way." For someone who hasn't toured since 2004, Twain had a huge undertak- ing in conceptualizing and designing each piece of the puzzle. "I have written this show from the very first draft of its existence," Twain

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of ML - Vegas Magazine - 2012 - Issue 8 - December 2012/January 2013