For the first time in a long time, a Presley will grace the famed Westgate marquee.
Priscilla Presley is headlining where Elvis ruled from 1969 to ’76, when the resort was first the International and later the Las Vegas Hilton. The cultural icon will host a multimedia storytelling show dubbed “Priscilla Presley: In Her Words” at 1 p.m. May 2 at the International Theater. Tickets go on sale at Ticketmaster on Feb. 13, with prices ranging from $125-$150, plus a post-show photo op for an additional $100.
Presley will provide live commentary to vintage home movies and archival footage, then lead a Q&A with the audience. Prominent voice actor Richard Horvitz (“Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” “Psychonauts,” “Skylanders”) will be the moderator. This is a similar format to Presley’s appearances at the South Point Showroom from 2022 to ’24.
“My show is basically about my life, from a young, shy girl to meeting Elvis at the age of 14, and what I learned from him,” Presley said this week in a text message.
In the shows at the South Point, Presley spoke extensively about the peaks and valleys of being married to Elvis. She also touched on the 2023 death of the couple’s daughter, Lisa Marie.
Presley’s recollections of Las Vegas have been mixed. In November 2023, she shared that Elvis’ early Vegas years helped poison the couple’s marriage. The two were married May 1, 1967, at the Aladdin and divorced in October 1973, midway through Elvis’ sold-out run in Vegas.
“When he was at the International and Hilton hotel, one of the guys said, ‘Get all the pretty girls and put them in front,’ so there would be blondes, redheads, beautiful, beautiful girls in the front, maybe about 30,” she said in that 2023 appearance. “So, you know, I noticed that and I thought, ‘OK, I guess that’s the normal thing.’ But then when I started seeing them in the dressing room, and the guys bringing them in and, you know, introducing them to Elvis.”
Presley has been involved in Las Vegas on and off for decades. She was a consultant on the Cirque show “Viva Elvis” at Aria, which ran from February 2010 to August 2012. In 2011, she was honored as Nevada Ballet Theatre’s Woman of the Year.
She also oversaw the “Graceland Presents” Elvis memorabilia exhibition from April 2015 to April 2016, which closed abruptly over a since-resolved business dispute.
Soon after, the street leading into the Westgate porte-cochère (formerly Riviera Boulevard) was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard, which winds into the property just under the resort’s marquee.
Post-Mirage move
Iliza Shlesinger is the latest former “Aces of Comedy” at The Mirage headliner booked at the Palazzo Theatre. Schlesinger premieres her new stand-up set on May 1 and Dec. 12. Tickets are on sale at 10 a.m. Friday on Ticketmaster.
Live Nation and entertainment company Bill Blumenreich Presents are the Palazzo series’ promotional partner. Blumenreich previously presented “Aces” at the Mirage Theater.
Shlesinger also played the Encore Theater after leaving The Mirage in October 2023. The 42-year-old comic released her seventh comedy special (and first on Amazon Prime Video), “A Different Animal,” in March.
She once talked of an uncle who lives in Vegas, and when the family visits, they usually hit Piero’s Italian restaurant.
“My uncle and dad, they like to feel like they’re in ‘Goodfellas,’ ” Shlesinger said prior to her ’23 Encore Theater show. “I’m a big off-the-Strip person. I just feel Las Vegas gets this bad rap for being just a party town, but there is so much off the Strip that people are missing out on. When I go there, I try to become a local.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.