Cher (59 page)

In February, Mary Bono got to deliver Sonny’s spin on the Sonny & Cher saga when the television biographical made-for-TV movie
And the Beat Goes On
was telecast. Since Mary was credited as the “co-executive producer” of the film, this certainly did nothing to endear it to Cher. An interesting take on their union, based on Sonny’s book of the same name, it didn’t do anything to hurt her career, but it certainly painted her as being ambitious and self-centered. Reviewing the movie in
Entertainment Weekly
magazine, Ken Tucker claimed “
And the Beat Goes On
is designed less to make Sonny look like a saint than to make Cher look like a cruel ingrate” (221).

And, what did Cher think of all of this? According to her, she refused to watch it. “I swear to God I wasn’t interested,” she proclaimed. “I enjoy the great drag queens who do me. I think that’s sweet. I feel a connection with them. I had no connection with that movie. Besides, I lived it. I don’t have to see somebody’s idea of what it was. I know what it was” (192).

In March of 1999, Cher’s follow-up single to “Believe,” the anthem to self-assurance, “Strong Enough,” entered the British charts at Number 5. As for “Believe” before it, Cher released a clever and glitzy video version of the song, which received heavy rotation on video programs around the world.

On April 13, 1999, VH1 broadcast its television extravaganza,
Divas Live ’99
, starring Tina Turner, Cher, Elton John, LeAnn Rimes, Faith Hill, Brandy, and Whitney Houston, along with guests Chaka Kahn and
Mary J. Blige. The special, which also yielded an album, video, and DVD, helped to herald Cher’s brilliant return to the top.

Tina opened the show, strutting into the Beacon Theater in New York City singing her hit “The Best.” Accompanied by Elton on piano, she then launched into her signature song, “Proud Mary,” only to be joined onstage by none other than Cher. To see that trio of superstars on one stage together was truly the highlight of the whole show. Cher’s only other performance on the special was her dramatic rendition of the fiery “If I Could Turn Back Time.” Interestingly, neither Tina, nor Elton, nor Cher were part of the big ensemble number, “I’m Every Woman,” which was lead by Whitney.

Backstage at the telecast, Cher used her media time wisely, announcing her first big concert tour in years, to commence that June in Phoenix, Arizona. When she was interviewed backstage, it was remarked how she was in fashion again. Asked how to define the cycle of her career being hot, Cher laughed, “When the moon is full, and my ass is in Jupiter—I don’t know.” With regard to what her fans could expect from her concert tour, she replied, “It won’t be plain or sedate, or tasteful” (222). According to VH1,
Divas Live ’99
was the most popular, and most watched, program in the television network’s history, and Cher’s presence was a huge part of making it exactly that.

One of the most dramatic career decisions that Cher made during this period of time was a sudden change in management. Although her longtime manager, Bill Sammeth, was credited on her
Believe
album as being her personal manager, by the time the
Divas Live ’99
special aired, she had signed with Roger Davies. It was Davies who had masterminded Tina Turner’s career up to and throughout her huge comeback of 1984. Reportedly, Sammeth was stunned by the news that he would be losing his star client suddenly, at the very peak of her success. According to
Entertainment Weekly
magazine, Cher terminated his services just prior to her appearance on the Super Bowl telecast in January.

“Take Me Home” producer Bob Esty, who has remained close friends with Billy Sammeth, explained of Sammeth’s sudden firing,

He was with her, literally holding her hand for twenty years. He was involved in the
Believe
album, setting up the whole thing, even talking her into doing it. And, she was getting ready to do this tour, and I think what happened was Roger Davies came on the scene, of course, smelling an opportunity, and sweet-talked her by telling her what she wanted to hear about how much she could make. Maybe she was thinking that Billy wasn’t in that league as far as big rock style concerts, even though Billy handled all the Cher shows over the years. But this was arenas—this was another whole thing. So, she unceremoniously fired him—completely out of the blue as far as Billy was concerned. He went up there to her house and Cher said, “You’re through.” So, he was hurt. She’d done it before, and then a week would go by, and it’s “Billy I didn’t mean it.” But this time she meant it, and went with Roger Davies. Coincidentally, I saw Billy in Key West, when I was doing a musical there, and he was so devastated and unhappy, and just couldn’t understand why she did this. Now, I got this story from Billy, so I am sure there is another side to the story (101).

He sued her, she countersued him, and now her relationship with Bill Sammeth is over.

At long last, on May 14, 1999, Cher was back in movie theaters with a hit film, and a classy one at that,
Tea with Mussolini
, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Costarring a glittering cast of Oscar winners and nominees, this film was an effervescent treat to watch. And, for anyone who blinked in 1996 and missed
Faithful
, it seemed as though Cher had been missing from the big screen the entire decade—since 1990’s
Mermaids
.

Every one of the five principal women in this bittersweet remembrance of a film had previously danced with Oscar for one film or another. Cher (Best Actress winner) found herself starring on screen alongside Judi Dench (Best Supporting Actress winner), Maggie Smith (Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress winner), and Best Supporting Actress nominees Joan Plowright and Lily Tomlin.

The plot and script of the film were drawn from the personal diary of Zeffirelli, and the action begins in prewar Italy, 1935. The central character, Luka, a little boy who is the illegitimate son of a local businessman, finds himself without a mother when his own dies. His father, who is married to another woman, does not recognize him as his son due to the social stigma of fathering a child out of wedlock. Luka is also tormented by his father’s vulture-like wife. Cher, Dench, Smith, Plowright, and Tomlin all come to the rescue, taking turns doubling as his surrogate mother. In the middle of all of the action, World War II breaks out, and everyone finds themselves scrambling for their own safety and dignity.

Portraying the role of a wealthy American in Florence, Cher is a dazzling delight to watch on screen. She is sumptuously costumed in 1930s hats and flowing gowns, and she even gets to sing the song “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” amid the action. Cher’s character of Elsa stupidly signs away all of her belongings to an Italian gigolo, and when the United
States declares war on Mussolini’s Italy, she is incarcerated along with the British women. To make matters worse, it turns out that Elsa is Jewish as well, and is sought by the Nazis. It is right after Cher sings “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” that she gets to deliver her most memorable line. When one of her suitors asks her, “Are all American women as alluring as you?” she answers wryly, “Alas, no.”

In
Tea with Mussolini
, Cher gets to make one stunning entrance after another in glamorous outfits. Since three of her costars are charming but dowdy-looking older British women, and the other a drably mannish American lesbian archeologist (Tomlin), she is set off with gem-like sparkle scene after scene. “Yeah, I am very unforgettable,” Cher says on camera at one point. And, yes, in this film, she certainly is just that. Even her final exit scene is a dramatic one, escaping to Switzerland in a rowboat in the middle of the night.

The reviews for this film were also consistently good. Although not every critic loved the structure of the film, they were generally entranced by Cher. Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle
found it

Warm, spontaneous and heartfelt . . . the second thing to mention is Cher, who is wonderful in the film. Cher hasn’t had an important role in years, but
Tea with Mussolini
should turn things around for her. I’ve never been a fan. But with this movie I finally “got” Cher. It’s a role that allows her to be seen, that lets her create a vivid character while showing off what is best about her as a screen personality. . . . Plowright is lovely, but somehow it’s Cher who lingers in the mind when the film is over. She suggests an intelligence behind the free-spirited Elsa, a wisdom partly innate but earned, too. No one can be that generous without having gone through rough times, but she’s too classy to show it. Playing the essence of good times, lewdness and open-hearted enthusiasm, Cher manages to embody all those frivolous virtues that Mussolini’s fascists were intent on destroying (223).

Roger Ebert of the
Chicago Sun Times
didn’t love the movie, but he enjoyed the performances. He thought that “the movie is heavier with events than with plot,” yet found “the ladies supply quite enough entertainment all on their own. . . . I liked the performances of the women (including Cher, people keep forgetting what a good actress she can be)” (224).

James DiGiovanna, in the
Tucson Weekly
, snidely observed, “Played by Maggie Smith in her usual stiffly regal style, Lady Hester is fond of fascism and afternoon tea, and despises Americans, Jews and crassness.
Thus, she is triply irked by the arrival of crass, Jewish-American singer Elsa, played by crass, Native American singer Cher.” He also points out, with regard to the Jewish vs. Nazi angle in the film, that “it seems odd that only the wealthy and beautiful Elsa (well she’s supposed to be beautiful, though Cher’s post-modern approach to plastic surgery strikes me more as ‘scary’ and ‘weird’) is affected by this situation” (225). Oh well, you can’t please everyone.

Speaking about
Tea with Mussolini
, prior to its opening in March in London and in May in America, Cher was in the dark as to how it would fare. According to her at that time,

I just put one foot in front of the other and do my work. You never know. When I was making this album [
Believe
], there was nothing that would lead anyone to suspect it was going to be big. I made it in this funky little studio in England, about as big as my bedroom. It was really low-key. And the movie in Italy was a really quiet production. You know, it’s just work until it comes out, and then it’s either a hit album or a bomb. You just don’t know. Or you could be in a huge movie, with a $100 million budget and it could be nothing. You just don’t know with art. Art’s a strange thing (23).

Discussing his casting choices for this film, director Franco Zeffirelli said of Cher, “She was heaven-sent. We had already cast the three English ladies, but we were still fighting to find the right American lady. There was the usual list—Glenn Close, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon. But then I wondered, ‘What happened to Cher?’ You know, her career goes up and down like the waves of the ocean. I didn’t know if she was available” (144).

When Cher did finally see the edited film, her first reaction was to be—as she would put it—pissed off. She felt that much of her best work on camera ended up on the cutting-room floor. “My scenes were cut to ribbons,” she proclaimed. “They were much longer when we filmed them. They made more sense. Now they seem disjointed. But maybe I’m looking at my performance and judging the film by it. I don’t know. I shouldn’t knock it. A lot of people really like the movie (144).

According to
TV Guide
magazine, Cher’s final scene in the film, in the rowboat, was “soooo Garbo.” She also received glowing congratulations from several of her acting compatriots. Said Cher, specifically about the rowboat scene, “I got the coolest message from Ben Kingsley, who was going on and on and on about that and I thought, ‘What movie did he see’ ” (192).

Cher’s 1999 month-by-month global domination of every media outlet on planet Earth reached an all-time frenzy. She seemed to appear on every magazine cover and every television show within reach, from VH1’s
Behind the Music
to
Rosie O’Donnell
. In May 1999 she was in Monte Carlo for the World Music Awards, wearing silver pants, silver-and-white jogging shoes, and a black cherry–colored red wig. On June 16, 1999, Cher kicked off her
Believe
concert tour. Sold out in every American city it was booked in, it was a massive success with her fans.

It was an elaborate and exhausting show for Cher to mount and perform week after week. Toward the end of July, she was so exhausted that she was forced to postpone several of her scheduled dates in certain cities, including Detroit (July 23); Moline, Illinois (July 24); Indianapolis (July 27); Cincinnati (July 29); Tinley Park in the Chicago area (July 30); and St. Louis (July 31). According to her record company, Warner Brothers, she was “under the weather, hit by an undisclosed illness” (226). But, by the beginning of August, she was back on her feet again, making her fans “believe” in her—show after show.

The American leg of the tour ended up in Las Vegas, at the MGM Grand, where the last concert was broadcast “live” over HBO, on August 29, 1999. Before the year was over, Cher’s Vegas concert had become an elaborate video cassette and a DVD package. Both the video and DVD packages included a 3-D cover illustration of the diva.

Cher’s
Believe
tour stageshow delivered all of the aspects of her life and her career, from music, to fashion, to television, to film. Instead of discussing her career as a part of Sonny & Cher, she let a presentation of clips from
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
present that aspect of her life for her, while she was busily changing into a new outfit and a new wig. The same was true of her many movie roles. Another taped segment, which was shown on several huge projection screens around the venue, displaying her varied cinematic personas. Paul Mercovich, who was one of the keyboard players in her touring band, sang the duet “After All” with Cher in concert.