Shania Twain says Caesars Palace show reflects everything she is

At some point in the past 16 months, Shania Twain got a taste of what her fans are used to.

"There was a lag where I thought, 'Now I just feel like I'm waiting, waiting, waiting.' "

She was speaking of her debut in the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, which went on sale in June 2011 and is finally set to begin Saturday.

Loyal fans of the '90s superstar could say the same of the unusually long window for ticket sales (at least they had plenty of time to lock in an airfare).

Or they could say that of the 10 years since Twain's last studio album.

Or even of the time it took to get her singing voice back after the stress of a high-profile 2008 breakup from her husband and musical mentor, producer Robert "Mutt" Lange.

Twain says patience has its rewards.

"I've never hurried anything that I've done. I've always taken lots of time to do everything. It's just part of my personality," she says, speaking during recent rehearsals for her two-year, 60-show commitment to Caesars.

"I don't want it to be rushed. And I want it to be right. I want the show to be great the first week. I know it will get better and better, that's natural, because everything does get into a flow. I still want it to be more than just ready. I still want it to be running smoothly for the first show. You need a lot of lead time to make that happen."

At 47, Twain may need to prove herself again in Nashville when it comes time to release a new album. But in Las Vegas, she's the perfect age for a greatest-hits showcase that will include a 13-piece band, four male dancers, five scents - pumped in at various points in the show - and at least one horse: the one she rode in on for a Nov. 14 welcoming ceremony that closed the Strip in front of Caesars.

"Shania has her hand-stamp all over the entire thing," says Raj Kapoor, the show's director. Twain has new collaborators, "but she has been the main driving force. It's her vision up there. ... The show is very representative of her life and career, and where she is at this present moment."

The singer says that since she was never just one thing or another, there is no reason to choose between high fashion and intimate moments with the audience.

"The show is going to reflect everything that I am, which is just a lot of variety. And that's what it's always been. That isn't anything new."

Twain's superstar years between 1995 and 2002 produced three albums ("Come On Over," "The Woman in Me" and "Up!") that totaled more than 43 million album sales in the U.S. alone. Hits such as "Any Man of Mine" blurred the lines between country and pop, paving the way for Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.

Twain and Swift spoofed "Thelma and Louise" for last year's CMT Music Awards, but their careers bear little resemblance beyond their chart-crossing appeal.

"She's probably a little more comfortable in her skin than I was at her age," Twain says of Swift, who turns 23 on Dec. 13. "I think she is who she is, it's very clear. I wasn't that sure really at that age. ... I wasn't sure if I wanted to be Pat Benatar or Glen Campbell. I just didn't know."

Swift's suburban upbringing is a shared bond with her fans. But Twain lived a hardscrabble childhood more akin to a country song of the 1960s. As chronicled in last year's autobiography "From This Moment On," during her life in Ontario, Canada , the former Eilleen Edwards juggled her show business aspirations with raising her siblings after her mother and stepfather were killed in a 1987 car crash .

"I just didn't have the opportunity to get settled that early in my career as a recording artist," she says. "I had more extremes.

"I started out just being a little guitar singer and singer-songwriter," but her first break in show business came, ironically, when she was noticed in a resort cabaret show called "Viva Las Vegas."

"I've done a little bit of everything, and it reflects in where I ended up as a recording artist. Because I didn't start as a recording artist until later. I was already approaching 30 at that point."

It all worked out. Twain and Lange, hot off his work with Def Leppard, made "Come On Over" the all-time best-selling album by a female artist. "I'm happy now, looking back, that I didn't really find that groove younger, because it's allowed me to experiment with so many things," she says. "Now at this stage of my life, I really am all of those things."

Director Kapoor has helmed tours for Underwood, as well as the Jonas Brothers and live tours of "Dancing with the Stars" and "American Idol." "Of any artist I think I've worked with, (Twain) knows herself the best," he says. "She knows where she wants her band, what those moments are onstage she wants to achieve."

Fans will have to wait a little longer for a new studio album. "I wasn't going to be able to do that all at the same time (as the show)," the singer says.

"I would have to really abandon my personal life to do that and I would never be willing to do that. I have a young son and I like life. I like to have a good balance. ... I have to put them in the right order. The show came first and the album will come second."

She continues to work with a vocal coach after battling the condition dysphonia, a tightening of the muscles around the vocal cords. She has attributed it to physical and emotional distress in the wake of the split with Lange. He left her for a friend and employee, Marie-Anne Thiebaud, and she ended up marrying Thiebaud's ex-husband Frederic.

The vocal therapy did not include surgery, and Twain says her range is back to what it was 20 years ago. "I really just had to learn how to use my voice again," she says, adding with a laugh, "It's hard to explain. I had to gain the confidence back again as well."

Needless to say, she will be looking for a new producer when it comes time to record again. And any eventual new album will test the singer's continued viability in today's country market.

"I'm not in the industry in the sense that I was when I started," she says. "I'm in a different place completely. I'm not a new artist starting out trying to make my way. I'm not trying to set my groove, I'm not trying to find my place. I'm not even trying to hold my place."

For now? "I just am what I am," she says. "I'm in my own groove, my own pocket. It doesn't really matter how I'm categorized."

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.