Osmond
By Jim Davis
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Wouldn’t it be nice to look back on your life and get a step-by-step glance at some of the best moments?
Say, maybe, 60-plus years of memories?
Donny Osmond liked the idea, came up with a plan and put it all in motion.
Stepping straight out of a Las Vegas residency at Harrah’s, Osmond will bring his Summer U.S. tour to Kettering Wednesday, July 26, for an 8 p.m. show at Fraze Pavilion.
“I’ve always wanted to do a show like this and I haven’t been able to do it. Now I can,” he said during a recent phone interview with AIM Media Midwest. “I’m jumping around six decades of stuff that I’ve done … all the different things that I’ve done in my career.”
And that’s a pretty wide collection of experiences. Osmond has 65 albums on his resume — 33 that achieved Gold status — with more than 100 million album sales worldwide. He’s been part of a successful music group with his brothers (The Osmonds), headlined television shows -including “The Donny & Marie Show” with his sister Marie, starred on Broadway, performed on movie soundtracks, hosted a TV game show and showed off his dancing chops by winning Season 9 of “Dancing With the Stars.”
The 65-year-old entertainer admitted packaging it all together took careful planning, but the payoff is a hit-packed, memory-filled evening he thinks fans will enjoy as much as he did putting it together.
“The challenge of producing this show is I wanted to put six decades into 90 minutes. It’s a challenge, but we did it. And it’s huge. From the amount of people I’m moving and the technical end of it to the special effects — the video and lighting — It’s a behemoth of a show to move. It’s almost like a Broadway show,” he explained, adding that he’s bringing a talented group of dancers, musicians, singers and road crew. “When you get the caliber of people I have for this show — right down to the lighting guys — they all know what they’re doing and are so professional. That gives me comfort because I can go out there and do the best I possibly can do and know (they’ll take care of things).”
Fans, too, play a role in the show each night, he said.
During a request segment of the show, “I put all 65 albums on the screen, and what’s fun for us is that the show changes every night — people want to hear different things. It’s so much fun because it changes every night and caters to every single different generation.”
Osmond said he had some fun including a nostalgic addition to the set list.
“I wanted to put my entire life together in a rap … kind of like ‘Hamilton,’” he said. “I called it ‘Six-in-Six,’ but I couldn’t fit everything in six minutes. It turned out to be a 10-minute rap.”
And what about all of those memories? Osmond chuckled a bit and noted many people will be reminiscing right along with him — looking back on his solo career, “The Donny & Marie Show,” and 60-plus years of working in the entertainment industry.
“It’s like doing ‘This Is Your Life’ every night,” he said.
Osmond, who has five sons with wife Debra — and 14 grandchildren — said he thinks the show will appeal to Fraze patrons no matter what age they are.
“It’s an all-inclusive show, and it’s quite interesting to see the faces of people during the show,” he said. “They always say to me I totally forgot all the stuff that you’ve done. The breadth of the career that you’ve had is totally manifested in just the rap.”
“I’m enjoying my career at this point,” he said. “I’ve worked really hard for six decades … I don’t want to rest on my laurels, but I certainly love resting on this show because it is everything I’ve done.”
And definitely worth reminiscing about with fans.
For information about how to see the show, visit the Fraze website at fraze.com.
To learn more about Donny Osmond, visit his website at donny.com.
