When singer Toni Braxton opened at the Flamingo awhile back the critics were not exactly kind. A raft of extremely negative reviews filled the papers and the buzz on The Strip was that the show wouldn’t last long.
But Braxton was not willing to go down without a fight, and now she has won over audiences and critics alike with a lively, sexy, funny show that just got extended into 2008.
In case you don’t know who Braxton is, that’s okay – you’re forgiven. Her biggest success was with a string of R&B and dance hits a decade ago and while songs like “Breathe Again,” “Another Sad Love Song,” “Unbreak My Heart,” and “You Mean the World To Me” were all over pop radio and in nightclubs it still comes as a surprise to some people that she earned six Grammy awards and is one of the top selling female artists of all time.
I was a nightclub DJ during her peak so I was familiar with a lot of her music but like so many others, I was unsure what she could offer a Las Vegas audience. A lot as it turns out.
She still has a great voice – husky and smoky, although occasionally there isn’t quite enough enunciation, which even she admits. She looks fantastic and is a hell of an entertainer even if you don’t know her music all that well, but that’s not the real winning aspect of her show.
Instead it is her performance attitude, seizing the mantle of Vegas sex kitten from An-Margret and reinventing it for the new millennium. Don’t worry, there’s nothing even R-rated in this show – instead it is Toni as vamp, vixen, and naughty girl who likes to croon from laps of handsome male audience members, after politely asking permission from accompanying females of course. On the night I was there she even got the mayor of a major southern city up on stage for a little hip shaking and the whole thing was delightful.
The fact that the same southern Mayor was recently the subject of headlines regarding illicit video tapes is probably not relevant right now. But an interesting story for another time, perhaps.
I never saw the early incarnation of Braxton’s show so I have nothing to compare it to but from all accounts it has improved tremendously from the early days as she has settled into the gig, gotten more chatty with audiences, and honed her vampy playfulness to a fine art. It’s certainly not perfect – one can tell that Braxton has a tendency during certain moments to take herself a little more Diva seriously than she probably should. But the melodramatic styling of a few overwrought numbers is far outweighed by the silly fun of when she pulls audience members up on the stage to do some booty shaking.
Overall, a solid night of entertainment.
Now, about that Mayor….
Vegas4Visitors Grade: B+
Toni Braxton
Flamingo Las Vegas
3555 Las Vegas Blvd. S.
800-222-5361
website
Price:
$69-109
Showtimes:
Tues-Sat 7:30pm
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