What a Whitney Houston residency in Las Vegas might have looked like

By John Katsilometes

Monday, Feb. 13, 2012 | 10:48 a.m.

Some of the most inspired Las Vegas concepts never leave the port. Remember late casino pioneer Bob Stupak’s plans for a Titanic-themed resort across the Strip from the Sahara?

In 2009, there was a lot of talk that Whitney Houston would embark on a residency in Las Vegas, an extended engagement similar to that of Celine Dion’s production at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Planet Hollywood and Paris Las Vegas have been specified in such reports for a project to be fronted by Las Vegas producer Joey Battig. Nothing ever came of this planned showcase.

Well, not quite nothing. There are some fancy renderings of what Houston’s set would have looked like. In the aftermath of Houston’s death Saturday, Emmy Award-winning set designer and Las Vegas resident Andy Walmsey has made public two versions of a set he designed during his brief collaboration with Battig in ’09.

“It was one of those classic Vegas things that never had a chance of happening,” said Walmsley, whose work on the set of “American Idol” earned him a 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Set Design and who also has designed sets for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” “So You Think You Can Dance” and “America’s Got Talent.” In Las Vegas, Walmsley has developed set designs for Nathan Burton’s afternoon comedy-magic show at Flamingo, Terry Fator’s ventriloquism production at the Mirage and “Name That Tune” at Imperial Palace.

Walmsley says the show starring Houston was targeted for Paris and would have been a simpler production than what Dion had previously rolled out in “A New Day …” at Caesars, which was laden with Cirque-styled dancers and acrobats and a raked stage that doubled as a series of video panels.

In Walmsey’s renderings, Houston would have been flanked by lighted orchestra stands and a pair of LED screens. A long staircase descended to the stage from the middle of the set.

“It was just her and the orchestra onstage,” he said during a phone conversation late Saturday. “I made a 3D computer model of the set after (Battig) found me and called about it. I was looking for a big breakthrough in Las Vegas, something really big, and at the time nothing would have been bigger than Whitney Houston.”

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