Bette Midler to replace Celine Dion in February 2008 as the resident performer at the Las Vegas' Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Scheduled to premiere 20 February 2008, her show will be performed five nights a week. Tickets are already on sale for $95 to $250. Look for a minimum of 100 concerts a year for at least two years. 

Elton John will continue to perform 50 shows a year at the 4,100 seat Colosseum. That leaves room for shows by one additional artist. So look for an additional artist to be announced. There is some speculation that it might be Cher. 

The Colosseum will go dark between Dion's grand finale 15 December 2007 and Better Midler's first show. The Colosseum at Caesars Palace was built in 2003 for Dion's "A New Day" spectacular. Reported 3 May 2007. 
 

STARDUST IS DUST

The implosion of the Stardust Casino and Hotel Towers took place at 2:30 am Tuesday morning, 13 March 2007. Demolition courtesy of LVI Services Inc. Tentative completion date of it's replacement is 2010 when the proposed Echelon Place complex of 5,300 rooms will be built by Boyd Gaming Inc. The Stardust opened 2 July 1958 as the world's largest hotel. As reported 13 March 2007.
 
 

HARD ROCK EXPANSION

The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is set for an expansion that will add 500 hotel rooms and 400 suites in two separate towers. There will also be a new spa and health club, pool area, several restaurants and bars along with a new nightclub. The Joint (a concert venue) will be increased in size. The $750 million expansion is to begin late in 2007 and is scheduled to be compete in mid 2009. As announced by hotel developer Morgans Hotel Group Co. and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners on Monday 12 March 2007.
 

MAMMA MIA! TO END RUN

"Mamma Mia!" to close late summer 2008. The musical features hits form the 1970s group ABBA. "Mamma Mia!" opened in February 2003 at the Mandalay Bay. No replacement show has been announced. This announcement made a year and a half in advance by the producers on Thursday 4 January 2007.

Note new Broadway shows scheduled to open in Las Vegas include: "Monty Python's Spamalot" at the Wynn in 2007, "The Producers" starring David Hasselhoff to open 31 January 2007 at the Paris Las Vegas hotel. 
 

CELINE DION  PERFORMANCES TO END RUN

Celine Dion and the the cast of "A New Day ..." to complete their fifth and final year of performances at the Colosseum at the Caesars Palace. Celine Dion's production opened in March 2003. Celine continues to sell out the 4,000 seats a night. "A New Day ..." is scheduled to close 15 Dec 2007. Tickets for the final block of performances from August through December will go on sale 1 March 2007.

Note that Elton John will perform when Dion takes a break during 2007. Elton John performs at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace 30 Jan - 17 Feb 2007, 27 March - 10 Apr 2007, and 8 May - 13 May 2007. posted 4 January 2007.
 

PRINCE

Prince starts a new gig on Friday 10 November 2006 at the 3121 club at The Rio casino-hotel. Prince will perform shows for the coming several Friday and Saturday nights at the 3121 club which was previously Club Rio. The club holds approximately 700 people. Tickets are $124.
 

PRIMM CASINOS SOLD

MGM Mirage has announced that it would sell three casinos in Primm, Nevada (near the Nevada/California border on Interstate 15 about 40 miles from Las Vegas). Herbst Gaming Inc. would purchase the properties for $400 million. Included in the sale is Buffalo Bill's, Primm Valley and Whiskey Pete's hotel-casinos. Not included in the sale is the 537 acre Primm Valley Golf Club. Herbst Gaming is a Las Vegas based company known for its roadside slot machines and its Terrible's brand gas stations and casinos. MGM Mirage had purchased the properties in 1999. As reported 1 November 2006.
 
 

BUNNIES

Playboy Enterprises announced that thePlayboy Club opens 5 October 2006 in the Fantasy Tower of the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. There will be the Playboy Club and Casino, store, the Moon (nightclub with a retractable roof), and the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa. The two-story 9,000 square foot villa has a media room, a fully equipped gym, a sauna, a poker table and an outdoor terrace. It also includes an outdoor cantilevered Jacuzzi with glass end walls as well as 8 foot round rotating beds. Only $40,000 a night. 
 

CIRQUE'S ELVIS SHOW IN VEGAS

A permanent Elvis show is scheduled at the CityCenter Hotel Casino. CKX (they own Elvis Presley Enterprises) and Cirque du Soloeil have made a deal with MGM Mirage to stage a permanent Elvis show. The Elvis show is scheduled to open November 2009 at the same time that the CityCenter Hotel Casino opens. As reported 17 August 2006.
 

MGM MIRAGE CITYCENTER

MGM Mirage Inc., revealed a model of its $7 billion Project CityCenter on Monday 26 June 2006. Project CityCenter is a seven-tower megaresort featuring two glass residential towers and 500,000 square feet of retail space. There will be a 50-story condominium-hotel with 1,543 units that can rent as hotel rooms when the buyer is not around.

Project CityCenter will have two boutique hotels. One hotel will be a Lifestyle Hotel and the other hotel will be a five-star Mandarin Oriental luxury hotel.

The 66 acre site is between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo - both owned by MGM Mirage. Concrete for CityCenter's foundation was poured on Saturday 24 June 2006. The entire property is scheduled to open in late 2009. As reported Monday 26 June 2006.
 

TONI BRAXTON AT FLAMINGO

Toni Braxton is set to take up residency in Las Vegas starting 3 August 2006. Toni Braxton will do an open ended run at the Flamingo Las Vegas.  Toni will perform "Toni Braxton: Revealed" six nights a week, Mondays through Saturday, with a selection of background singers and dancers. Ticket prices are $65/$75/$100. As reported on Friday 19 May 2006.
 

LAS VEGAS HARD ROCK SOLD

The Las Vegas Hard Rock Casino has been sold for $770 million. Hotel operator Morgans Hotel Group Co. has agreed to buy the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The hotel has 647 rooms and the casino is over 30,000 square feet. It sits on 41 acres. Peter Morton, chairman and property's founder, opened the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in 1995. In a separate announcement in January 2006, Morgans Hotel Group had announced that it would partner with Boyd Gaming Corp. to build two hotels with 1,600 rooms on the Boyd's casino complex on the Strip. The Echelon Place is scheduled to open in 2010. As reported on Thursday 11 May 2006.
 

PLANET HOLLYWOOD RESORT

Base Entertainment plans to construct and program two venues in the new Las Vegas Planet Hollywood resort. The two venues are to have flexible space with a maximum of 7,000 seats and 1,450 seats. Producers Brian Becker and Scott Zeiger formed Base Entertainment to produce, present, program and operator live entertainment. 

Harrah's Entertainment  Inc. - Harrah's Entertainment (NYSE: HET) operates hotel casinos in Reno, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, and Laughlin, Nevada and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Caesars Entertainment, Inc. is awholly owned subsidiary of Harrah's Entertainment. Caesars Entertainment was acquired by Harrah's Entertainment in 2005.