A New Day...

A New Day...
Dion performing "To Love You More" during her final show
Tour by Céline Dion
Start date	March 25, 2003
End date	December 15, 2007
Legs	1
Shows	723 in North America
Céline Dion tour chronology
A New Day... (2003-07) Celine (2011-14)

A New Day... was a Las Vegas residency show performed by Céline Dion at the 4000-seat Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.^[1] It was created and directed by Franco Dragone (known for his work with Cirque du Soleil) and premiered on March 25, 2003. 90-minute event, A New Day... introduced a new form of theatrical entertainment, a fusion of song, performance art, innovative stage craft and state-of-the-art technology. Dion was originally contracted for three years, however, due to its immediate success, the show continued for an additional two years. A New Day... ended on December 15, 2007, after a 5 year run of more than 700 shows and 3 million spectators. It reached one of the highest concert grosses in music history, grossing over $400,000,000 in its entire run.^[2]

Dion returned to Las Vegas on March 15, 2011 to perform her new show.

About the show

The original inspiration for the show occurred when Dion and her husband René Angélil visited Las Vegas in 2000, at a time when she was taking a break to start a family, and they watched a performance of O by Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio. Dion was so moved and impressed by O that she insisted on going backstage afterwards to get to know the performers. Franco Dragone in turn heard about Dion's favorable reception of his work, and several weeks later, wrote a letter to them to put forth the idea of an artistic collaboration. Angelil called Dragone, they arranged an in-person meeting, and A New Day... was the result.

Dion initially intended for the show to be named Muse, but the band of the same name owned worldwide performing rights. Dion offered $50,000 for the rights, but the band declined, with lead singer Matthew Bellamy explaining that he didn't want people to think they were Céline Dion's backup act.^[3]

The Colosseum venue was built using fast-track construction processes in only about 140 days. The stage was designed to slope upward at 5.7 degrees away from the audience, to provide the best acoustics possible in a circular theatre. The other purpose of the sloped stage was to show lighting details, designs, and textures of the stage for Dion's show. This proved extremely hard on the dancers' bodies, and a few were forced to leave the show early as a result of their injuries.

The original plan for the stage backdrop/scenery was to simply use a giant video projector, but when the lighting designer, Yves Aucoin, pointed out that this would create unacceptable shadows when dancers ran in front of it, Angelil went back to Phil Anschutz, whose AEG Live was underwriting the production, and persuaded him to contribute an extra $10 million for the construction of the largest indoor LED screen in North America. The LED Screen was produced by Mitsubishi Diamond Vision LED Screens. This was a HDTV LED Screen Installation with a 8mm Display "Dot Pitch". The screen consisted of many separate LED panels put together. ^[4]

Set list

1. "A New Day Has Come"
2. "The Power of Love"
3. Medley: "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" / "Because You Loved Me" / "To Love You More"
4. "I'm Alive"
5. "I Drove All Night"
6. "Seduces Me"
7. "If I Could"
8. "Pour que tu m'aimes encore"
9. "I Surrender"
10. "Ammore Annascunnuto"
11. "All the Way" (virtual duet with Frank Sinatra)
12. "I've Got the World on a String"
13. "I Wish"
14. "Love Can Move Mountains"
15. "River Deep, Mountain High"
16. "My Heart Will Go On"

Additional notes

• "Nature Boy" was the show's opening number from March 2003 to November 2004. It was replaced by "A New Day Has Come."
• "Have You Ever Been in Love" was performed from March 2003 to November 2003. It was replaced by "Et je t'aime encore."
• "Et je t'aime encore" was performed from November 2003 to November 2004. It was replaced by "Pour que tu m'aimes encore."
• "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was removed from the setlist in August 2004 because of Dion's undergoing an operation.
• The instrumental interlude, "Aria Di Lucia De Lammermoor" was removed from the set list at the end of 2004.
• During a show in 2006, Dion reunited with violinist Taro Hakase to perform "To Love You More" to celebrate Hakase's 10 years in show business.
• The instrumental interlude, "A New Love" was last performed on November 10, 2006.
• "God Bless America" was performed on Independence Day in 2004.
• "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" was performed in December 2004.
• "In Some Small Way" was performed from December 2004 to January 2005.
• "At Last" and "Fever" were removed from the set list in May 2006. They were replaced by "All the Way."
• "What a Wonderful World" was removed from the set list in August 2006.
• "River Deep, Mountain High" was added to the set list on November 11, 2006.
• "Can't Help Falling in Love" was performed on August 16-17, 2007, for a taping on ABC.
• "Because You Loved Me" was performed with David Foster playing the piano on September 1, 2007.
• "Taking Chances" was performed from November 2007 to December 2007.
• "The Christmas Song" was performed in December 2007.

Box office score data

Broadcasts and recordings

The originally scheduled DVD release date was postponed because of changes and improvements made to the show since the initial filming. Instead, a live CD was released in June 2004.^[6]A New Day... was re-shot in high-definition during the January 17-21, 2007 week and released on DVD on December 7, 2007 and on Blu-ray Disc on February 5, 2008.^[7] The two disc set, which contains more than 5 hours of never-before seen footage, including the concert and three exclusive documentaries: Because You Loved Me (A Tribute to the Fans), A New Day: All Access and A New Day: the Secrets, became very successful on the music DVD charts around the world.^[8]

Personnel

• Director: Franco Dragone
• Associate Director: Pavel Brun
• Musical Director: Claude (Mego) Lemay
• Set Designer and Image Creator: Michel Crête
• Lighting Designer: Yves (Lapin) Aucoin
• Sound Designer: Denis Savage
• Projection Content Designer: Dirk Decloedt
• Costume Design: Annie Horth, Dominique Lemieux, Seble Maaza, Richard Ruiz
• Choreographer: Mia Michaels
• White Character: Elijah Brown

Band

• Conductor and Piano: Claude (Mego) Lemay
• Violin: Jean-Sebastien Carré
• Guitars: André Coutu
• Percussion: Paul Picard (till 2006), Nannette Fortier (joined in 2007)
• Keyboards: Yves Frulla
• Bass: Marc Langis
• Drums: Dominique Messier
• Cello: Julie McInnes
• Background Vocals, Cello and Tin Whistle: Élise Duguay
• Background Vocals: Mary-Lou Gauthier, Barnev Valsaint

Awards

References