Customer Reviews

Diva Las Vegas (CD+DVD)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

July 2010 UPDATE: AS STATED BY OTHERS, THIS DVD WAS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH REGULAR PLAYERS USED TO BE SOLD IN THE STATES BUT READ NOTE AT THE END; THINGS HAVE CHANGED...

Diva Las Vegas was produced in Germany (under PAL Format). DIVA was filmed during Bette's last two shows of her Vegas MGM Grand performance from 1995-1996. It is a MUST HAVE for all Ms. Midler's fans. A DVD was not produced or sold in the US because of her contract with Disney during those years.

Bette starts her show with a unique & typical of her entrance; coming down from the sky in a cloud. She then proceeds with the usual welcome and sings the expected oldies including the First Wife's Club, Bed of Roses, and other great classics followed by the regular Sophie Tucker jokes with more spice than usual (remember, it's Vegas). Next, an exquisite section on Burlesque; four terrific girls and only three costumes; yeap, someone's showing more than what expected. Vegas allowed it...

The second act starts with DeLores De-Lago; the wheel chaired mermaid who then decides to become a Home Shopping TV sales-woman [competing with Joan Rivers] and promoting her "Balls" to improve physical condition. You will be surprised on how Bette masters said balls. The section concludes with eight wheel chaired mermaids performing on stage at one time, singing New York-New York.

The show continues with a love song from her native Islands; Hawaii which prepares us for the grand finale singing the famous themes & love songs from Beaches, The Rose and the rest of her classic repertoire. It ends with the introduction of the orchestra, the back-up singers, the Harlettes and the great Bobby Lyle plus an unexpected and truly emotional "encore" of three songs.

Overall, the Divine Ms. M offers in Diva Las Vegas a much more sophisticated performance than on Divine Madness and a better production than Kiss my Brass (the 2005-2006 tour). The DVD sound is excellent and the picture surprisingly great for a PAL format. Diva compiles more than two hours of continued energy from the Divine Ms. M. This is a DVD that you will watch many times and will be proud it to show your friends, relatives & neighbors.

NOTE: If you do decide on getting this very expensive Germany produced DVD, buy an affordable programmable DVD player with Multi Region capability (for $30.00 TO $70.00 or so). You might have to change the region code from 1 (USA) to 2 [Europe] or to 0 [no region] following the instructions found on the Internet. Once accomplished, the device will play DVDs from all over the world including those from Japan, Spain, Great Britain and the US. Otherwise, burn the DVD into your computer HDD and watch the VOB version over & over. BTW, many current types of software allow you to burn VOBs into Disks. You can figure out the rest...

I was thrilled when I saw that Diva Las Vegas was available for order. I knew being an import that the DVD part would probably not play. It is indeed a Region 2-6 DVD, and not a Region 0 as it states. Thus it wouldn't play in my DVD player, but I was able to watch it on my computer. The video quality was wonderful, and it was such fun to watch again. Why it has not been made available here in the USA yet I do not know. It was never officially released here on VHS either -- only Emmy screeners I believe.

Anyway, the CD is great, although I find the track order to be a little odd. I'm not quite sure why they put them in that order, but still it's a great CD, and it's a lot of fun to listen to as well.

I think this is a great CD/DVD combo. It's definitely for fans of the Divine. It would be nice to have a Region 1 DVD, but until then this is the next best thing. A great product at a great price!

Big oops! I ordered this from Amazon but it was out-of-stock. I cancelled and ordered from a Marketplace seller and I did not get a Region 0 DVD. No, I got a Region 2 through 6 DVD. I'm not sure if there is a Region 0 or not, but Marketplace sellers should be careful that the item they are selling matches the Amazon one. If there is no Region 0 version, shame on Amazon for letting this through. I give 3 stars for the audio CD portion since it has been previously unavailable. Sadly, the DVD is still unavailable to me as well. I have a useless DVD because it's described as playable in the U.S. market. Buyer beware of this product.

I purchased this CD/DVD set after reading the reviews on-line, even though I knew the DVD would not play in my regular player, but would play on my computer. But i am such a big fan, that watching on my computer would be better than nothing. I had actually taped this special when it aired on HBO, but I think I lent my tape to someone and never got it back as I cannot find it. I also saw this particular show in concert (when she was touring) the October before this new year's show n HBO. It was great to watch it again and remember. She is Divine!