dancers, sequins, dream coats and more

“But not everyone can come to Vegas,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a recent telephone interview from his home in Provo, Utah. So the Empty Nest hits the road for the first time in years, including its first Atlanta stop in nearly 20 years at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center on June 25. (Tickets start at $39.50 via Ticketmaster.)

And against the advice of his business manager, he takes his entire Vegas apparatus with him: the props, the sets, the eight backup dancers, the works. “It’s very expensive but I don’t want to discount it,” Osmond said. “I want people to understand why we won all these awards. » (His show at Harrah’s won several Best of Vegas awards.)

His Vegas show is limited to 90 minutes, but he has no restrictions for his road show. “There is no overproduction,” he said. “We’ll probably finish in two hours.”

Credit: LEE CHERRY

Credit: LEE CHERRY

By finding a niche in Vegas, Osmond was able to turn the idea of ​​“Sin City” on its head. “Las Vegas may be called Sin City, but it has all kinds of entertainment. Look at all the sports franchises that come there. At the Formula 1 race, I sang the national anthem,” he said.

He knew he was taking a risk with his sister Marie when they began a residency at the Flamingo in 2008. But it worked. “Our brand was strong,” he said. “And the show was a great success. It’s like that Kevin Costner line, if you build it, they will come.

After 11 years and hundreds of shows, Marie decided in 2019 to take a step back. “It was a mutual decision,” he said. “We wanted to go back to the top and I wanted to do my own thing. I took what we did as Donny and Marie and took it to a whole new level.

It covers his days as part of the Osmonds, his 1970s variety show with his sister, his hits from his surprise 1989 comeback album, his 1990s Broadway run on “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” his winning in “Dancing With the Stars” in 2009. and his 2019 appearance on “The Masked Singer.”

In fact, he was a bit of a guinea pig on the very first season of “The Masked Singer,” placing second to Atlanta’s T-Pain as the Peacock. The show is now in its 11th season on Fox. “I immediately saw the potential in this show,” he said. “They gave me the choice of playing the Peacock, the Alien or the Monster. I chose the Peacock.

Osmond’s stage show includes an on-demand segment in which fans can ask him to do any song from his extensive discography, no matter how obscure. What if he doesn’t really know? “I’m pretending,” he said.

He also created a career-spanning “Hamilton”-style rap that lasted several minutes and took months to memorize. “I refuse to use a blower,” he said. “I can’t stand it when artists do that.”

And he recently added special beach balls thrown to the audience that flash with colors to his 1974 Osmonds UK hit song, “Having a Party.”

“I saw this effect that Coldplay produced on tour a few years ago,” he said. “I called the company that made them and wanted them to synchronize the lights with what was happening on stage. It’s such an awesome moment.

But the balls are rented so he makes sure to get them back. “It’s not my balls,” he said, cracking as close to an inappropriate joke as an Osmond can.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO

Donny Osmond

8 p.m. Tuesday June 25. $39.50 to $129.50. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. ticketmaster.com.