Cher a sure thing for Caesars

The easy groaner about "the sure Bette" will have to wait. Cher is the safest money for Caesars Palace.

Bringing the star back for a multiyear commitment must feel not only familiar -- Cher's name adorned the Caesars marquee in the early 1980s -- but also the closest to a sure thing these uncertain times allow.

Other greats from Cher's first Caesars run are still around -- Willie Nelson, Tom Jones, Ann-Margret -- but none do the consistent volume Cher's three years of arena touring posted from 2002 through 2005.

To appreciate the rarity of a sure thing, picture yourself across the street, as the person who chooses what will replace "The Producers" at Paris Las Vegas.

I've been using Mel Brooks' new Broadway hit "Young Frankenstein" as a running hypothetical in this column. A few people, including Brooks, seem willing to play along. Would diverting "Frankenstein" to Las Vegas, pre-empting a national tour, be a slam-dunk of Cher proportions?

"I'm not sure about playing Las Vegas. I don't know if their sensibility would allow a big book show like this," Brooks recently told Pollstar, clearly not enthused by the fate of his other title.

To make the "Frankenstein" producers defer and perhaps screw up the guaranteed success of touring, Las Vegas would have to bet big. And for Broadway musicals, "Vegas isn't proving to be the moneymaker it needs to be to offset the road," says one producer.

Isn't Cher's 61-year-old navel looking better every day?

The only real question here is whether AEG Live is splitting a pair of 10s by hiring both Cher and Midler for the Colosseum. The two singers are only a year apart in age and both are gay icons of the highest order.

If there aren't enough gay dollars to go around, I think Midler is the one with more to worry about. Might it have been safer to stick with one and balance the schedule with a polar opposite such as Toby Keith?

Maybe, but if you can get both Midler and Cher, you'd best do it now. Neither will be any younger in 2009. And producers seem confident fans will want to see both shows, and plan their visits accordingly, rather than making a choice.

"By increasing the number of resident artists, we increase the number of repeat trips for people to Las Vegas," says John Meglen, co-chief executive officer and president of AEG Live/Concerts West.

That hints to a simple means of sorting the pecking order of Las Vegas entertainment, one that's easy for locals to forget. The great majority of shows answer the question: "What are we going to see now that we're checked in?"

Only a handful motivate the trip in the first place.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 383-0288 or e-mail him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.