Donny Osmond duets with teen ‘Donny’ in Strip show
We’ve seen Donny & Marie on the Strip. Now it’s Donny & Donny.
Donny Osmond, who possesses an uncanny youthful exuberance age 67, returning to his teen-idol roots at Harrah’s Showroom. Osmond has created an AI version of himself at age 14, a segment the “D14 Puppy Love Holobox” number.
Donny’s grandson Daxton, who is conveniently 14, appears onstage, his face transformed to Donny’s by the use of AI and CGI technology.
The two swap lines on “Puppy Love” and banter on stage. The younger Osmond wears the famous purple cap, and also Donny’s mop-ish, 1972 haircut.
The setup is the January 1972 recording session for the hit single. Donny false-starts, takes a break, and “D14” shows up to save the number.
The Osmonds worked with the Brooklyn production company ZeroSpace, founded in 2017 and a specialist in head and full-body “photogrammetry.” Keyboard/keytar great Otto Ehling (he of the David Perrico and the Raiders House Band) arranged a new version of “Puppy Love” that blended the two Osmond voices. This is the ultimate trust move.
The segment took two years to achieve. I haven’t seen it yet, but 14-year-old Johnny Kats has, and is now hanging with Daxton backstage, playing Stratego.
We can report that, a week into the stage interaction, the Donnys are a hit.
Osmond posted video testimonies from fans after a recent performance. One ticket-goer had been a fan since the actual Donny was age 14 said, “It made me cry.” Real tears, too.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
