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Shania Twain and Donny Osmond on what it’s like to have a Las Vegas residency: “The standard is so high”
Las Vegas, long recognized for its dazzling lights and entertainment, is also being celebrated as a prestigious stage for artists, a significant shift from its past reputation. This transformation into an entertainment hub is highlighted by the success of performers like Shania Twain and Donny Osmond, who view their Vegas residencies as a badge of honor.
Donny Osmond, performing solo at Harrah’s for over two years, showcases a vibrant career spanning six decades. His show, performed five nights a week, takes audiences on a journey through his hits, including a nostalgic trip back to the ’70s and a nod to his role as Captain Shang in “Mulan.”
“I’ve been playing here since I was 7. I know that,” said Osmond.
He first came here with the Osmond Brothers in 1964, and later had an 11-year residency with his sister, Marie.
“You want the people to walk out saying, ‘That was not a show. That was an experience,'” he said.
Shania Twain, set to launch her third residency in May at Planet Hollywood, celebrates the 25th anniversary of “Come On Over,” the best-selling album ever by a solo female artist. Twain’s approach to her performances is heavily influenced by audience interaction, making each show a thrilling and unpredictable experience.
“I have to be prepared for the spirit of the audience,” she said. “Because I do interact so much with them and I do bring them up on stage, I never know who I’m gonna meet and what I’m in for.”
Las Vegas has been a cornerstone of entertainment since the 1940s, with historic residencies by the Rat Pack in the 1960s and Elvis Presley’s comeback in 1969. The city has evolved into a place where legends are made and careers are celebrated. Celine Dion, for example, revolutionized the concept of a residency with her 16-year stint starting in 2003, setting a high bar for Twain.
“I’ve learned that when you’re doing all of that you’re vocally an athlete more than you’ve ever been before and you need serious discipline,” said Twain.
Artists like Twain and Osmond also debunk the myth of Vegas as a “graveyard” for entertainers.
“Not anymore,” Osmond said. “I mean, you go up and down the street. You know, you see the A-listers.”
Twain echoed Osmond’s sentiment, considering her residency a privilege and a challenge, “because there’s not room for everyone.”
Twain added that having a Las Vegas residency sets a high bar.
“You’ve gotta earn your way in there,” she said. “And it’s demanding. It’s the most demanding stage, I think, in the world.”
Another factor is the fact that audiences have a wide range of options.
“The standard is so high. The audiences, they have so much choice,” said Twain.
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Sen. Thom Tillis says “the scope” of Helene damage in North Carolina “is more like Katrina”
As recovery missions and repairs continue in North Carolina more than a week after Hurricane Helene carved a path of devastation through the western part of the state, the state’s Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called for more resources to bolster the relief effort and likened the damage to Hurricane Katrina’s mark on Louisiana in 2005.
“This is unlike anything that we’ve seen in this state,” Tillis told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday morning. “We need increased attention. We need to continue to increase the surge of federal resources.”
Hurricane Helene ripped through the Southeast U.S. after making landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 as a powerful Category 4 storm. Helene brought heavy rain and catastrophic flooding to communities across multiple states, including Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, with North Carolina bearing the brunt of the destruction. Officials previously said hundreds of roads in western North Carolina were washed out and inaccessible after the storm, hampering rescue operations, and several highways were blocked by mudslides.
Tillis said Sunday that most roads in the region likely remained closed due to flooding and debris. Water, electricity and other essential services still have not been fully restored.
“The scope of this storm is more like Katrina,” he said. “It may look like a flood to the outside observer, but again, this is a landmass roughly the size of the state of Massachusetts, with damage distributed throughout. We have to get maximum resources on the ground immediately to finish rescue operations.”
Hurricane Katrina left more than 1,000 people dead after it slammed into Louisiana’s Gulf Coast in August 2005, flooding neighborhoods and destroying infrastructure in and around New Orleans as well as in parts of the surrounding region. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. in the last 50 years, and the costliest storm on record.
The death toll from Hurricane Helene is at least 229, CBS News has confirmed, with at least 116 of those deaths reported in North Carolina alone. Officials have said they expect the death toll to continue to rise as recovery efforts were ongoing, and a spokesperson for the police department in Asheville told CBS News Friday their officers were “actively working 75 cases of missing persons.”
On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Transportation released $100 million in emergency funds for North Carolina to rebuild the roads and bridges damaged by the hurricane.
“We are providing this initial round of funding so there’s no delay getting roads repaired and reopened, and re-establishing critical routes,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris administration will be with North Carolina every step of the way, and today’s emergency funding to help get transportation networks back up and running safely will be followed by additional federal resources.”
President Biden previously announced that the federal government would cover “100%” of costs for debris removal and emergency protective measures in North Carolina for six months.
With North Carolina leaders working with a number of relief agencies to deal with the aftermath of the storm, Tillis urged federal officials to ramp up the resources being funneled into the state’s hardest-hit areas. The senator also addressed a surge in conspiracy theories and misinformation about the Biden Administration’s disaster response, which have been fueled by Republican political figures like former President Donald Trump.
Trump falsely claimed that Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent in the November presidential election, were diverting funds from Federal Emergency Management Agency that would support the relief effort in North Carolina toward initiatives for immigrants. He also said baselessly that the administration and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, were withholding funds because many communities that were hit hardest are predominantly Republican. Elon Musk has shared false claims about FEMA, too.
“Many of these observations are not even from people on the ground,” Tillis said of those claims. “I believe that we have to stay focused on rescue operations, recovery operations, clearing operations, and we don’t need any of these distractions on the ground. It’s at the expense of the hard-working first responders and people that are just trying to recover their lives.”
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