From Poetry to Pigtails to the Pursuit of Passion and Beyond
I’m not quite sure that “sizzle” is the proper adjective for the star of the Suzanne Somers’ show at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. It’s too constrictive. Backed by an incredible five-piece band, Suzanne Somers does sizzle with sultry seductiveness on classic siren songs. But she also shimmers in her sexy gowns. She glows with health and vigor. She is humorous and self-effacing in her onstage musical journey through an incredibly star-spangled life. She owns the stage—leaving only once for one of several costume changes and again to mingle with the audience looking for a hapless male mark.
Clever costume designs by her daughter allow Somers to switch into a number of
glamorous ensembles behind a mock piano while never missing a beat. She draws the audience into her “dressing room” with tantalizing tidbits of a life full of not only professional collaboration, but also the intimacy of friendship with the likes of the Rat Pack, Leon Russell, Barry Manilow and Johnny Carson.
Amongst a cast of future blockbuster actors such as Harrison Ford, Ron Howard and Richard Dreyfus, Somers had a bit part in the 1973 all-American and iconic movie, “American Graffiti”, when she mouthed the words “I love you” from the driver’s seat of a classic T-bird convertible hardtop. Millions of American males fell instantly and madly in love with the pouty platinum blonde.
Somers’ role as the unflaggingly ditzy Chrissie on Three’s Company caused critics to call her the “quintessential dumb blonde.” The “q-d-b” went on to author over sixteen books including a #1 best-seller, develop and market her own line of health, beauty, clothing and jewelry products, and successfully battle breast cancer with an unconventional—and controversial— alternative treatment called Iscador.
The intimate and newly renamed Westgate cabaret venue, SUZANNE’S, is perfect for Somers and she knows it. It’s a welcome return home for her after leaving the Las Vegas stage in the late 80s to return to sitcom work in Hollywood for several years followed by a failed stab at Broadway in 2003 (The Blonde in the Thunderbird).
Somers continues to work in the personal wellness field—her literary focus seems to be combating cancer: (2010) Knock Out: Interviews with Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer—And How to Prevent Getting It In The First Place. Tox-Sick: From Toxic to Not Sick (2015). She’s also an advocate of natural hormone therapy for women.
The 70-minute show never lags. Somers lends an easy grace to the intimate cabaret at the Westgate as she offers an energetic salute to a bygone era. Her well-modulated voice is full and rich-which she attributes to a mildly off-color bit of sage advice from Ole Blue Eyes himself. Suzanne Somers is vibrant living proof that you can be all of what it takes to be a woman and still more-than-make-it in a man’s world. –Christine McKellar
SUZANNE Sizzles runs Tuesday-Saturday at 7 p.m. Visit the website below or call the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino Box Office at (800) 222-5361 for show tickets. https://www.westgatedestinations.com/nevada/las-vegas/westgate-las-vegas-hotel-casino/entertainment/suzanne-sizzles