From her days as a Fly-Girl, on Keenan Ivory Wayans’ groundbreaking In Living Color, to her work on the silver screen (Selena, Out of Sight, Monster-in-Law), and back on television, once again (double-fisting, this season, on the new NBC series Shades of Blue, and the final season of reality juggernaut American Idol), Jennifer Lopez has always kept our attention.  Sure she’s got the sass (not to mention that ass), but there’s more to it than that. 

Wednesday night, I bore witness to Lopez snatching of the crown as Las Vegas’ new queen of the Strip, and that’s not an imprimatur I bestow lightly.  With All I Have, Lopez struts, slides, leans, glides, and shimmies into her new role, with a level of sophistication not generally seen in this town. 

It’s that sophistication, extending as it does from the art direction and the set design to the choreography and the costuming; that really brings All I Have together.  While it is indubitably a Las Vegas spectacular of the highest order; I couldn’t help but feel as though I’d been transported to Miami’s legendary Fontainebleau Hotel, circa 1964, and was watching a futuristic performance that might’ve been viewed in the ballroom, by James Bond, Pussy Galore, and Auric Goldfinger (when they weren’t playing cards, poolside).

Centered around Lopez’s substantial oeuvre, there were also a few covers (including “Got a Lot of Livin’ to Do” from Bye Bye Birdie; mambo classic “¿Quién será?” – better-known to Rat Pack fans as “Sway” by Dean Martin; “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack; and “Quimbara” by one of my style icons – salsa queen, Celia Cruz.  I’m also pretty sure I heard a snippet of “The Glamorous Life” by Sheila E., but don’t quote me on that…).

The choreography was tight (and I mean laser-sharp), and the dancing was en fleek!  There was a burlesque number that was so hot I wished I’d had a cigarette (I can only imagine what the straight guys were thinking).  But the sequence I most enjoyed found Lopez channeling James Brown, while singing “Hold It, Don’t Drop It” as a trio of dancers (dressed in bedazzled tangerine-hued suits) tried placing a fur cape over her shoulders, as she slid across the floor and rocked-out with the mic.  There must’ve been a dozen fans blowing, to ensure maximum hairgasms!

Other moments that got me all hot and bothered include entering the stage on an ersatz 6-Train for her "Jenny from the Block" sequence; donning a sequined caftan for a salsarific nod to Celia Cruz; and descending from the ceiling in a mirrored crescent moon (a tip of the hat, perhaps, to the late Follies Bergère).

As a special treat for the audience on opening night, there were guest performances by Ja Rule (“I’m Real”), Ne-Yo (“All I Have”), and Pitbull (“On the Floor”); not to mention a star-studded audience that included Hoda Kotb (who got down with her bad self and her glam-squad), Lopez’s Shades of Blue co-stars, Ray Liotta and Warren Kole, actress Rebel Wilson, Victoria’s Secret “Angel” Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Kelly Osbourne, Dancing with the Stars’ Cheryl Burke and Derek Hough, T.I., actor Ato Essandoh (taking a break from filming the new Jason Bourne movie), Nicole Scherzinger, Ryan Seacrest, Wilmer Valderrama, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Kiesza, and Justin Bieber.

The show clocks-in at roughly one hour and forty minutes, but I’d happily wager that within a few weeks, a couple of numbers will be edited-out, and the time will drop to a more Vegas-friendly eighty minutes.  That said, I was so mesmerized by the show, I don’t think I’d have noticed (or cared) if it had gone on for more than two hours!

There are “bigger” shows, in town; and perhaps prettier productions; and no doubt some that won’t result in your ears ringing, while you wait for your car, in valet; but I doubt that many (if any) will leave you as satisfied as Jennifer Lopez: All I Have.

Jennifer Lopez: All I Have
The AXIS at Planet Hollywood
Click HERE for tickets and info

Get into it!
#JLoVegas