Singer Katy Perry recently appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show and dished about her Las Vegas residency. The singer has a family connection to Las Vegas which she revealed on the show, including her grandmother’s trick for keeping showgirl’s prized possessions safe. Let’s take a look at Perry’s Las Vegas residency and her connections to Sin City.
Katy Perry’s ‘Play’
Perry is appearing in a new Las Vegas spectacular called Play at the Resorts World Theater. The residency began December 29, 2021, and is scheduled to end on October 22, 2022. Play has been so successful that it has been extended many times, so it would not be surprising if more dates are added.
Reviews have been very positive. Perry sings many of her hit songs including “California Gurls” and “Firework”. Mark Gray from Rolling Stone stated: “the show is quintessential Perry, who indulged the emotional, the over-the-top, the whimsical, the psychedelic, and even the cheesy over the course of 95 minutes”. Vogue’s Christian Allaire stated: “Perry’s playful, tongue-in-cheek approach to dressing really makes the show for us. More than a decade into her impressive career, she’s clearly still a reigning queen of camp.”
In her own words while speaking to Out Magazine Perry called the show “a feast for both the ears and the eyes”. She goes on to say that this is “the most laughter” she has ever had in rehearsals. “My co-creators and collaborators and the dancers and the band, everybody’s just like, ‘This is the kookiest idea.'”
Katy’s Vegas family connection
It is a full circle moment for Perry to be performing in Las Vegas. On the Drew Barrywmore Show, Perry revealed her aunt was a former Las Vegas showgirl and her grandmother worked as a seamstress for the show. The very hotel that her aunt used to perform at, The StarDust, was used to build Resorts World, which is where Perry is performing.
Perry’s aunt performed in the 1970s when the mafia controlled Las Vegas and valuables could easily go missing. Because of this her grandmother had to come up with a place where showgirls could store their wedding rings. Her problem-solving grandmother would sew small secret pockets into the showgirl’s thongs to store their wedding rings. It was truly a genius move.
Perry’s Las Vegas connections do not stop there. Her father Keith Hudson grew up in Las Vegas. He met Perry’s mother, Mary Christine Perry, at a church service held in a tent there. They would go on to get married in the city and become Pentecostal pastors after a so-called wild youth. Perry was born in Santa Barbara, California, on October 25, 1984.
Katy’s other current happenings
Perry also updated Barrymore on her wedding planning with finance Orlando Bloom. The couple are struggling to find a wedding venue and Barrymore suggested Vegas like her parents. Perry seemed skeptical of this.
Perry and Bloom first met in 2016 at a Golden Globes after party. In 2019, Bloom proposed to Perry with a ruby engagement ring. The couple announced they were expecting their first child on March 4, 2020 via Perry’s music video for her song “Never Worn White”. Daisy Dove Bloom was born on August 26, 2020.