Mariah Carey Announces Residency at Caesars Palace Las Vegas

[Nash]

Diva Las Vegas?

Mariah Carey will be the next songstress to perform in Las Vegas as an artist in residence, joining the ranks of Celine Dion, Cher and Britney Spears, she announced on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday.

Carey has signed a deal to perform all 18 of her No. 1 songs at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The show is expected to include all of her chart-toppers – from her first hit, "Vision of Love," to the most recent, "Touch My Body."

"I have to hope that the fans will enjoy this, because I'm going to be performing, which was kind of inspired by my album Number 1's," the newly single singer told Ellen DeGeneres with a smile. "Hopefully, other people will enjoy this. I've never done this before."

The payday for a Vegas residency can be astronomical. Spears, who was considered a gamble when she was first signed, was reportedly paid $30 million to extend her "Piece of Me" residency until 2017. Dion was reportedly earning $476,000 per show until she postponed her tour to care for husband René Angélil, who has battled ongoing health issues.

Carey's tenure kicks off on May 6. Tickets are on sale now.

[Alan Mendelson]

Is there any update on Celine returning or not returning?

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[Nash]

No, Celine was supposed to return in March but now she won't give a date for her return.

[Alan Mendelson]

I question this, from whatever article you got this from:

Dion was reportedly earning $476,000 per show

There are about 4,200 seats in the Colosseum at Caesars which means Celine earned about $113 per seat if indeed she earned $476,000 per show.

I remember the "best seats" selling for about $250 each, and other seats priced under $100.

For Celine to have been paid $113 per seat, what money was left for the other performers, the production, Caesars, even to pay the light and air conditioning bills?

I'm wondering if Celine's show GROSSED $476,000 per show? That would make more sense to me.

[Nash]

J LO was offered $350,000 per show at Axis at PH. Britney is making $310,000 per show at PH. That's probably GROSSED too.

[Alan Mendelson]

If gross amounts they pay the tab for their production companies maybe even the light bill.

[Vegas_lover]

Alan, the amounts the stars get are the same as reported in this thread. So these figures are propably the actual pay for Celine, Mariah, Brit Brit and J-Lo. Most expensive seats for Celine weren't $250 but $850 although I think they didn't really sell those. These were seats on the first rows in front of the stage and my guess is, they reserve those seats for high rollers and visiting celebrities. The amounts these stars get paid are probably higher than the daily revenue of the show alone. Bit think about this: how many people eat at CP's restaurants before the show? How much do they earn on beverages on each show? (that must be alot because the prices are high but people are buying anyway, it's their night out). How much money do all these people lose in the casino before and after the show?

[Alan Mendelson]

I sat in those center seats in the first two rows and the tickets were marked $250. And they were comped.

Just doing the math for the number of seats -- it doesn't make sense.

Let me assure you that many "news writers" don't understand the difference between gross revenue and net revenue, and they may not even make the connection of the revenue for the show's production company vs the actual fee paid to the star for each show.

Now, if someone could produce an actual statement from Caesars Palace (maybe it will show up in the bankruptcy filing?) then I might believe it.

I think it's very easy to confuse what Celine Dion is paid vs. what Celine Dion's production company is paid per show.

Yes, I can accept that Celine Dion's production company earned $450,000 per show -- that's a little more than $100 per seat. I cannot accept that it all went to Celine Dion herself with none of it going to the hundreds or so who work as part of the production company including musicians, dancers, stage craftsmen, etc.

Now show me I am wrong.

[Dan Druff]

Alan might be right about all of the above, but these stars do very well.

Why else would they do a "resident" show? Imagine if you're Britney or Mariah, and you have to do the same show night after night after night, for 7 years. Would you go crazy? I probably would.

So they have to be compensated pretty damn well.