Donny Osmond celebrates spring break annually at his Las Vegas residency inside Harrah’s Showroom, but this year there is an addition to the festivities. In mid-February, Osmond announced that, along with a sing-along screening of the 1999 film version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on March 14, he will be interviewed live in front of an audience by Phil Rosenthal and David Wild for the journalists’ weekly Naked Lunch podcast on March 15.
Osmond had kicked off February with an announcement that his headlining engagement was extended through its three-year anniversary in August to November. In December, he jets off to Scotland for opening night of his debut as Pharaoh in a U.K. tour of Joseph, but until then fans can see him reprise his role as Joseph (and so much more!) in Vegas every Tuesday through Saturday in an award-winning autobiographical show complete with powerful five-piece band, backup dancers, costumes and triptych of video screens.
In the hands of another lifelong showman this could be a recipe for hagiographic disaster. But Osmond has fun and imparts his sense of disarming self-deprecation to the audience from a deep well of talent he’s evolved throughout his life. His extensive, video-enhanced “auto-rap-ography” comes early in the show and draws on the comic sense of humor he developed in the late-’70s with his sister on their prime-time variety program Donny and Marie.
That show is evoked in Osmond’s residency, although he has no problem holding his own as a solo performer for 90 minutes. He has eight dancers instead of the skating Ice Angels of Donny and Marie, with the four male dancers becoming Osmond brothers at one point in a segment that reveals how purple became associated with the seventh child of Ogden, Utah’s most famous showbiz clan.
Tributes to mentor Andy Williams and the Osmond family play a large role in the stage production, with a clip featuring the two oldest hearing-impaired brothers dancing and providing a particularly poignant moment. It’s Donny’s rapport with audiences, well-represented by fans whose devotion date back to his teen idol days, that sets his residency apart and makes him a must-see.
That rapport peaks when Osmond invites spectators to call out requests from any of his 60-plus albums, which he and the band proceed to play. This can rarely result in stumping Osmond, who will gamely sing along anyway to the audience’s amusement. It may even trigger a duet with an audience member.
If Osmond still suffers from the anxiety that became exacerbated when he transitioned from television to stage musicals, it’s not apparent. He looks happy, healthy and relaxed in performance. Spring break enables him to get closer with fans with this week’s sing-along screening of Joseph, as well as a “Fan Luau,” themed on campy 1978 comedy Goin’ Coconuts on March 16. Pre-show Q&As provide the most intimate interaction for Donny devotees, but for a one-of-a-kind experience the Naked Lunch interview is free and open to the public.
Harrah's Las Vegas. ticketmaster.com
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