Ann-Margret shows grace, fire

Monday, March 1, 2004 | 8:16 a.m.

Ann-Margret will be 63 on April 28.

She moves a little slower than she did when she was high stepping and strutting across stages and screens in the '60s and '70s.

Her singing voice doesn't have the range it once had.

And the sexy Swede may not be the package of dynamite she was back when she was being courted by Elvis.

But she's still a firecracker.

Ann-Margret either can't, or won't, age gracefully.

Her recent performance at The Orleans, if nothing else, was a demonstration to the older fans who filled the showroom that age has nothing to do with vitality.

Ann-Margret put on a show that might not have been on par with her explosive productions of times past, but it nevertheless was an entertaining evening well spent.

Her tour, which began in January in Kansas City, Mo., is her first in 11 years, not counting an 18-month stint with the road show of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" in 2002-03.

Enhancing her performance was a great seven-piece band, three talented dancers who were superbly choreographed and costumes by Bob Mackie that gave her figure the benefit of any doubt.

The production was a melange of music, dancing and reminiscing, a perfect combination for a zealous entertainer whose life seems to have been one of living out her destiny of fame.

She may have had to struggle in the early days of her career, but you wouldn't know it from the ease with which that career unfolded.

Barely out of high school, Ann-Margret was discovered by George Burns when he heard her in a campus musical at Northwestern University. In 1960, at age 19, she auditioned for him for his act in Las Vegas.

During a break between songs at The Orleans, she told her fans that when she auditioned for Burns she was wearing a pair of tightfitting toreador pants. When she got the part she bought loosefitting clothes and went to rehearsal.

Burns looked her over and asked what happened to the tight pants.

"Then he said something I've never forgotten," Ann-Margret said. "He said, 'Annie. People don't only want to hear your voice, but they want to see where it's coming from.' "

She showed them for decades.

And at the same time she showed them her acting talents (Oscar nominations for best supporting actress in "Carnal Knowledge" and "Tommy"), her dancing ability (in such films as "Viva Las Vegas" and "Bye Bye Birdie") and her propensity for living a larger-than-life existence.

Throughout her 90-minute performance Ann-Margret sprinkled vignettes from her colorful and glamorous past, and included in her asides bits of humor.

"Roger (Smith) and I have been together now, as of 2004, 40 years," she said. "Thirty-seven on paper. To tell you the truth, he's beginning to get on my nerves.

"People ask how is it we have survived, and I remember what Mr. Charlton Heston said when he had been married 50 years. He said the secret is simple, just three little words -- I was wrong."

Ann-Margret's repertoire of songs ranged from country (Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like a Woman.") to a Swedish lullaby to a number in Italian.

But for the most part, the music provided a night of nostalgia for Ann-Margret fans, and she didn't disappoint them. At one point in the evening about 20 of them rushed to the stage to shake her hand.

She sang "A Lot of Livin' to Do" from "Bye Bye Birdie" (1963); "Viva Las Vegas" from the 1964 film of the same name; and, from the rock opera "Tommy" (1975) "Pinball Wizard."

Elton John sang the original version, and he reprises it for his production "The Red Piano" at Caesars Palace.

"Once Before I Go," written by Peter Allen and Dean Pitchford, was Ann-Margret's closing song, and she may have saved the best for last.

In it she revealed the depth of her sensitivity and a talent that is ageless.