VH1DIVAS 2000
IT WAS a brainstorm three years ago when VH1 launched its now-annual Diva series.
The idea was sweet and simple: Gather a gaggle of divas and let them do what they do best — belt out a concert worth of tunes.
Divas 2000 followed that formula, with frustrating results: Musically, the show was top-notch; technically and organizationally, it was a mess. The cable station collected hometown diva Mariah Carey, country diva Faith Hill, disco diva Donna Summer and big-footed diva RuPaul, and brought them to the Theater at Madison Square Garden to sing the praises of Supreme diva Diana Ross.
Like good divas, they all sang well, and some even achieved greatness, but VH1 was responsible for the evening’s only ugly diva “let-them-eat-snake” attitude.
The concert — if that’s what you want to call it — was a shameful sham in which the audience was treated as a prop for the cameras. The cablecast and future album (which is certainly in the works) were all that mattered.
The all-star musical variety show offered only about 90 minutes of actual music, although the event started at 8 p.m. and went on and on for nearly five hours.
For most of that time, the fans had to sit and wait.
Ken Ehrlick, the longtime Divas franchise producer, was asleep at the wheel, producing a lame, disjointed, out-of-control event that only a video editing room could salvage.
Too bad, because this guy has a great track record in creating fast-paced live television events.
Ehrlick and his loathsome crew of amateurs did get theirs when they were slapped upside the head by Ross, who made it clear she was the biggest diva on the block.
It was past midnight, and the entire cast had just sung a passable version of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and taken their bow. The audience began pouring out of the theater when Ross said, “Please stay. The cameras are off, and I’d like to sing you another song.”
The disembodied voice told Ross, “We’d like to bring back Destiny’s Child to redo their audio,” but Ross was unwilling to leave the stage, saying, “NO, I’m going to sing.”
With that, the band that marches to Diana’s beat took boss Ross’ orders and fired up “I Will Survive.”
Ross stretched and massaged that song into a 10-minute anthem, complete with individual band solos.
By the close of the song, the audience of about 1,500 people — already down from 3,000 — had dwindled to a couple of hundred at most — despite The Voice’s pleas for them to stay for the cameras.
Everyone who left, virtually shutting down the taping, tasted the sweetness of revenge, and let VH1 know how they really felt.
All this negativity will certainly be erased from the cablecast tape. What you’ll see tonight if you are wired is Miss Ross dueling with Mariah on the songs “Baby Love” and “Stop In the Name of Love.”
The pairing was incredible, and easily the evening’s highlight.
Ross and Carey were divalicious and musically terrific, not to mention sexy in their matching silver and gold mini-minidresses (there wasn’t enough material between them to stitch together a single gown).
Carey was consistently excellent on all of her tunes, including “Love Hangover” and her own “You Can’t Take That Away from Me,” where she got so into the song she dropped to her knees for its final verse.
Faith Hill, one of the favorite acts at last year’s show at the Beacon Theatre, was less successful. She had a cold start with “Love Child,” on which she was totally unconvincing, offering a gritless delivery of the down ‘n’ dirty tune.
But she did look real pretty in her leather hip-huggers and one-button blouse during the song “What’s In It For Me?”
Donna Summer did a hot version of her signature tune “Bad Girls,” but after a 20-minute wait to hear it after her first song, who cared? The live show in general, like Summer’s performance specifically, lacked any semblance of momentum.
The guy-diva joke was funny last year, when Elton John battled Tina Turner in an off-stage feud and the duo hurled the ‘B’ word at each other on stage in Elton’s “The Bitch is Back.”
Funny then, but the guy joke was stale with RuPaul’s appearance. He doesn’t have a great voice, or the attitude or the natural beauty of a diva, so his presence remains a mystery except as a gag.
The main body of Ross’ performance was OK. It was marred by a series of faulty microphones, pushy stage direction and a case of rusty pipes that it took a few songs to clear.
Still, Ross managed lovely versions of “Touch Me In the Morning” and “Endless Love.”
Ross also gave her fans a taste of her upcoming Supremes reunion concert by singing “Love Bug” with former Supremes Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne, who joined the band after Ross left.