Bette Midler News

Bette Midler has been tapped to replace Celine Dion as the resident headliner at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace after Dion wraps up her five-year run at the hotel in December. 

The Divine Miss M will kick off a two-year, 200-show engagement Feb. 15 in the 4,100-seat Colosseum, which was specially built for Dion's song-and-wardrobe-change extravaganza that made hers one of the top-earning concert acts for four years in a row. 

"It just seemed like this was the next step," Midler, who calls New York home for most of the year, told USA Today. After finishing up a series of shows in 2005, "I thought, Wouldn't it be great to set the show down somewhere?' So I put feelers out, and the people at Caesars were interested." 

While she isn't sure just what her 90-minute show will entail, it will definitely take advantage of Midler's trademark flamboyance, the usual accompaniment to her booming voice and powerful stage presence.

"This is a chance to have lots of gorgeous girls in skimpy costumes. I love feathers and rhinestones and high heels. If it glitters, I've got to have it," the Tony-, Grammy-, Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning performer said.   

"And that theater is staggeringly beautiful—it's huge, and the sight lines are fantastic. They have the biggest video walls, and you can bring things up and fly things in." 

Midler is no stranger to Vegas, having first appeared there in the 1970s, but she acknowledges that Sin City isn't really the Rat Pack's town anymore. 

"There are so many Cirques out there, and you can't compete with the Cirques," the actress-comedian said. "And there will be people who don't speak English, because now it's an international city, with these fantastic crowds and unbelievable food." 

Since A New Day's debut in March 2003, millions of people have shelled out more than $500 million to catch Dion churn out greatest hits such as "My Heart Will Go On" and "Because You Loved Me" night after night, 160 shows a year. Her swan song is set for Dec. 15, after which the theater will be dark until Midler's run begins. 

Midler, who's 61 now and will be 62 by the time she storms the Colosseum, is taking it a bit easier than that, having signed up for five times a week for 20 weeks out of the year.  

Elton John, who periodically takes the stage during Dion's off-nights, will continue to play his Red Piano for 50 nights in 2008. There's no word yet on who will be occupying the stage for the rest of the year, but John Meglen, president of AEG Live's Concerts West, which books talent for Caesars, said that an announcement on who else gets signed to perform will be made at a later date.