Word: midlerisms
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Read an earlier piece by Richard Corliss about Bette Midler here...
...anthem "Pretty Legs and Great Big Knockers," its brass and sass intact; to reprises of the signature ballads "The Rose," "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and (the unnecessary but apparently mandatory) "From a Distance." These are signposts of the part of the country her fans call home: Midler America. That's what keeps 'em comin' back for more...
...nonstop snazz and of course the bawdry - or, as she puts it, "hits, glitz and tremendous tits." Innuendo goes out the window when Miss M. comes to town. The clerk at the ticket desk offers the friendly warning that this is "adult entertainment," and inside you'll hear Midler caution the crowd, "Please don't call the Pope if you see a tit or two." You won't have to phone Rome; skinwise, the show is pretty chaste. Bette relies on one of her longtime characters - Soph (for Sophie Tucker), the oldest babe in show business - to supply the raunch...
...real Bette Midler, chantootsie extraordinaire, got the crowd to sing along with "The Rose" while waving their cell phones like cigarette lighters at a '60s concert. Still, she's at her best not so much in the pop ballads that gave her mid-career a Top 40 lift, as in a plaintive ballad like John Prine's "Hello in There," or her rave-up of "When a Man Loves a Woman." They're terrific songs, and prove the lady's still got the lung power. (Does she take requests? Please, then, an encore of her late-70s gut-destroyer "Stay...
...Soph, Midler passes along some folk wisdom for the business that we call show: "Find your light. They can't love you if they don't see you." Bette has been radiating that light for nearly four decades; you'd think she'd be worn out by now. But The Showgirl Must Go On displays the sexy sexagenarian at the top of her form. There's simply no one who can match Midler as a full-service mesmerizer - all-singing, all-talking, all heart and soul. Here's a sure thing for high rollers: Go to Vegas...