Photo via donnyosmond/Twitter
Donny Osmond, who played Hard Rock Event Center in Tampa, Florida on July 25, 2024.
Boasting a full band and eight skilled and highly agile dancers along with him, Osmond didn’t slouch on details in presenting a stylized and tightly run two-hour show of hits, memories, and plenty of comedic anecdotes. Added to that mix were a slew of costume changes, choreographed dance numbers, and dazzling lighting effects, which all added up to, as he promised during a recent interview with Creative Loafing Tampa, an entire Vegas production.
Taking the stage just a few minutes after the advertised 8 p.m. start time, and as purple (Osmond’s signature color) lights throbbed and flashed across the entire state, the singer emerged and kicked things off his 1989 comeback pop radio smash hit "Soldier of Love." Looking fit, stylish and youthful at 66, and backed by a five-piece band, Osmond instantly offered a commanding presence and strong vocal capabilities, and the audience, made up mostly of women in their 50s and 60s, gladly (and loudly) expressed their adulation for the one-time teen heartthrob.
Mixing hits from his early '70s run as a solo artist (outside of his fame as part of The Osmonds with his older brothers), along with more recent material from newer albums, Osmond delivered a mixed bag of familiar songs with some covers and some surprises.
As much a look back on past times as a modern and contemporary show, Osmond zigzagged between reminiscing and doing his best to remain of the present time. A 10-minute retrospective rap number that recalled his career highlights, while accompanied by visual aids on the screen onstage behind him, found Osmond rhyming his way through his entire show biz resume. While that might sound cringeworthy, the singer and actor was able to pull it off and induce plenty of chuckles and guffaws from the audience throughout the number. Osmond was also able to interject some newer material, namely a solid, modern-sounding pop number entitled "Who” (from his 2021 Start Again album), and did so with ease.
Other highlights came in the way of a dramatic and show-stopping rendition of "Close Every Door," a standout from Osmond’s run as the title character in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway smash, "Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." Close behind was his presentation of "I’ll Make a Man Out of You," from the 1998 Disney film "Mulan," for which he originally lent his voice as the character of Captain Li Shang in the movie. Asian-inspired costumes and elaborate moves found Osmond and his troupe of dancers displaying some of the most intricate choreography of the night.
An audience engagement portion of the night found Osmond taking requests from a variety of fans in the crowd. While some requests were obvious and expected, a few patrons dug deep and requested some lesser-known numbers from Osmond's discography that spans 65 albums, including solo works and collaborations with his siblings. He needed to be reminded a bit of the melody and the opening lyrics for one of the requests, which the audience member (with the help of a microphone that was provided) gladly offered. A request for "Any Dream Will Do," another tune from the "Joseph" soundtrack, found the requestor, a young, bubbly woman, invited up to the front of the house to join Osmond in belting it with him.
“Do you know it?” he asked to which the young woman enthusiastically replied, thanks to her own soaring and impressive vocals, which marked one of the more spontaneous and fun portions of the night.
Never one to spare himself from self-deprecation and never afraid to make fun of himself, Osmond took several jabs at a request that came for a song from his 1976 solo album, Disco Train. In referring to the ill-fated album, Osmond joked “Not only was it the worst album of my career, but it’s also the worst album of all time!”
Winding towards the end of the two-hour program, Osmond offered plenty of heartfelt recollections to his family and to his upbringing. A video homage of his years spent with his younger sister hosting their own "Donny & Marie" variety show of the late-1970s beamed on the screen as Osmond sang his rendition of The Beatles’ "In My Life." Next came a tribute to Andy Williams, the pop crooner who gave Donny and his brothers their first big break in the ‘60s when he featured them often on his own television show, a huge contributor to the singing brother act’s journey to worldwide fame.
While possibly viewed as contrived or schmaltzy to some, this very glitzy and show was the perfect vehicle for Donny Osmond’s still fiercely loyal and devoted fans to see a warm and heartfelt overview of his many decades in the spotlight presented in song and through his between-song banter and stories. You have to give it to someone who was able to emerge from the common pitfalls of child stardom without any controversies, scandals, or tragedies, remains a fan favorite, and serves as a reminder of more innocent and simpler days.
I’m sure all the women decked out in all purple in the audience would gladly agree.
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