Another day dawned bright and blue. I could’ve slept late but my insomniac husband was up early, brought back hot coffee and was on the phone by 8:30. I know, not early but not vacation late, either.
Our plan was to walk down the strip in search of a great breakfast. First, however, we went online to buy tickets to see the Donny and Marie show at the Flamingo. Margy, Jeff and their Gonzaga friends were arriving in town this morning and we had plans to have dinner together and they already had tickets to the show. We’d hoped to have another Oregon State game to attend but it was not to be, so online we went. Tickets were very expensive but the show has been voted the #1 show in Vegas for 3 years running, so we knew it would be great. I mean, come on; its Donny and Marie!!
Twenty years ago, Jay and I had been fortunate enough to see Donny when he came through town with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He was so good it was insane. Two or three years ago, another production of Joseph came through town and it was good but the lead was no Donny Osmond. He didn’t even try to hit the high note at the end of Close Every Door and who could blame him? You could severely injure yourself if you reached for that note and missed. Like falling off a roof!!
I had never been a Donny-girl and neither of us were fans of the Osmonds but like everyone else in America, we never missed their show when it was on TV. It may have been the epitome of dorky squaredom but I don’t know anyone who wasn’t willing to make time in their schedule to watch it every week, even if all we did was make fun of it, pretending we didn’t love every campy second of it and secretly wish we were Marie.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Marie Osmond and Valerie Bertinelli. We’re all the same age and have the same general appearance and in a world of long, lean, leggy blond beauties, it was nice to some cute little brunettes make their marks.
We ran into problems on the website but no biggie: the Margaritaville right next door to the Flamingo has stunning breakfasts, so we hit the bricks, walked down the strip for coffee and tickets.
We were too late for breakfast at Margaritaville but buying out tickets in person paid off; we qualified for the senior discount, which saved us $70 a ticket!!
We were thrilled (I was thrilled. Jay was just pleased) with our tickets but hungry as all get out. We prowled the strip in search of breakfast. We googled ‘best brunch in Vegas’ and got a name. Naturally, everyone else in town googled the same thing and the line was so long we’d have missed the show we just scored practically free tickets to. We moved on.
We wound up eating breakfast burritos at some out of the way place in a casino and they were delicious. Breakfast is pretty hard to screw up and when you toss avocado into the eggs, it’s going to be good. I recommend it!
I wish I remembered what it was called or where it was.
It was a lovely, mild, sunny day so we continued wandering down the strip. Every once in a while, we’d cut through a casino, play a slot machine till the money was gone, then move on. In this way, we managed to wind our way all the way back to our hotel. Jay went in search of a hot tub, I did a very quick sketch of the view out our window and we took a nap before getting ready to meet Margy, Jeff, Chris and Lisa for dinner at Ferraro’s.
Jay had eaten at Ferraro’s before and was more excited for that than seeing Donny and Marie.
He, Margy and I all had the rabbit, which is touted on the menu as perhaps their best dish of all.
I’ve never had rabbit but after tasting what Ferraro’s did with it, I’d like to eat every raggedy bunny in my backyard. It was that good!
We ubered back to the Flamingo in time to make a mad dash through the casino to the Theater and our seats just as Donny and Marie took the stage.
Jay and I had seats on the aisle in the balcony, with a clear view of the entire stage. The theater is small, on a par with the Guthrie theater in Minneapolis. The show was great.
Celine Dion, Cher, Barry Manilow and Rod Stewart are just some of the big ticket shows being advertised all over town these days. Competition for the audience is fierce. Donny and Marie were initially supposed to do a 6 week gig at the Flamingo and the show has been running for 11 years.
So yeah, you know it’s gonna be good.
WE were blown away.
I knew that Marie had done a lot of musical theater but I really had no idea she could sing the way she does. She’s impressive.
As for Donny, in the middle of his set, he sang Close Every Door and nailed that last high note to the ceiling. I nearly wept.
Jay loved it too; he was really glad he came.
We met up with the rest of the party at Bugsy’s Bar afterwards to discuss our favorite bits and how great both Osmonds still look.
Jay and I took the monorail back to our hotel. I think I fell asleep before I even hit the pillow.