When Donny Osmond’s new residency show at Harrah’s Las Vegas was announced in November, no one on the Strip was surprised. The pop culture icon had already performed for more than a decade with singing sibling Marie Osmond at sister property the Flamingo in one of the most successful shows of its kind in recent history, wrapping up in 2019.
But the new production at Harrah’s Showroom, which opened on August 31, is something different for Donny because it’s a true career retrospective — and no one has had a career like his.
His debut came at the age of 5, singing “You Are My Sunshine” on “The Andy Williams Show” in 1963. That started a multifaceted showbiz career in music, on TV, on Broadway, in movies and reality competition shows and just about every other medium one can imagine. And Osmond released his 65th album this year, a fresh collection of tracks called “Start Again.”
“It’s different in the way that it’s everything I’ve done,” Osmond says on this week’s Sun on the Strip. “To me, it’s a celebration more than a show, a celebration of all the different aspects of showbusiness. I’ve had to reinvent myself so many different times and with those reinventions comes new territory and new mountains to climb.”
The fast-paced production finds Osmond backed by a powerful live band and eight dancers, building plenty of energy and momentum as he reaches back to his earliest hits and showcases plenty of his new music. He closes the show with a party starter called “Let’s All Dance,” and the album version features a duet with soul and R&B legend Charlie Wilson.
“I set out to do a record that was relevant and surrounded myself with a lot of amazing musicians and writers, but obviously, it has to come from me,” Osmond said. “The lyrical content in this album is really deep when you drill down to what I’m saying and the pictures I’m painting with the lyrics, but the music, I wanted it to be very relevant.”
He’s back in Harrah’s Showroom next week on September 28 and continues with plenty of dates through November, then after a holiday break, Osmond will return for an extended run throughout 2022.
Find this week’s Vegas entertainment news, interviews and more every Wednesday with the Sun on the Strip.