Vegas is a perfect home for Ricky Martin. The singer has been entertaining audiences since he was a kid, when he joined the long-running Puerto Rican boy band Menudo at the age of 12, in 1984. From there, Martin has had a decades-long career performing songs in both English and Spanish, with hits in several languages in multiple countries. The lifelong showman now brings those decades of experience to a residency at the Park Theater, showcasing the range of his talents as a singer and performer.
By the time he left Menudo in 1989, Martin had recorded 11 albums and toured the world, and he wasn’t even 18 yet. His solo career began in Mexico in 1991 with his self-titled debut album and the hit single “Fuego Contra Fuego,” and over the next several years he became a superstar in Latin America with his Spanish-language songs. At the same time, he pursued an acting career with roles on both Mexican telenovelas and American TV series, including long-running soap opera General Hospital, as well as on Broadway in Les Miserables.
Martin’s Spanish-language hits like “Maria,” “Vuelve” and “Perdido Sin Ti” topped charts worldwide, including in the U.S., so that when he was finally ready to release his first album in English in 1999, it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts. That album helped launch Martin into an entirely new level of popularity, with the massive hit “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” and it also kicked off a boom for Latin pop in the U.S. Since then, Martin has continued racking up hits both in English (“Shake Your Bon-Bon,” “She Bangs,” “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely”) and in Spanish (“Tal Vez,” “Jaleo”) and touring around the world, collaborating with pop stars from a variety of countries.
It’s all led to Martin’s new Vegas show, which adds him to the ranks of performers like Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez and Elton John as a Vegas pop-star resident. “I’m extremely excited to have my residency in Las Vegas; I have been thinking about it for years and to see it become a reality is just an unbelievable feeling,” Martin said in a statement announcing the residency. For someone whose fame is so internationally based, setting up in Vegas is a smart move, with tourists from around the world converging in the same place, all getting the chance to see a superstar who might only perform in their home country once every few years.
“I’m working with amazing musicians, obviously,” Martin told The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon in February. “I’m going to have 18 dancers onstage. We’ve invested a lot of money, so it’s going to be an amazing show.” Martin’s team includes producer Jamie King, who’s worked on concert tours for stars like Madonna and Rihanna, and who also directed the Vegas Cirque du Soleil show Michael Jackson ONE. It’ll be a spectacle worthy of an international sensation, one whose Vegas presence has been a long time coming.
Park Theater at Monte Carlo, 8 p.m. April 5, 7-8, 11 & 14-15, $54.59-$229.36 plus tax and fee. 702.730.6620
