{"id":380676,"date":"2025-12-31T23:49:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T23:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/380676\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T23:49:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T23:49:05","slug":"5-best-moments-from-opening-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/380676\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Best Moments From Opening Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 10 years since she launched her first Las Vegas residency across the street at the former Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood, Jennifer Lopez<\/a> popped the cork on her new show, Up All Night Live, at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace by popping out of a disco-ball inlaid champagne bottle.<\/p>\n

More from Billboard<\/p>\n

A parade of dancers, wind machines, nearly-nude bodysuits, winks about her past high-profile romances and a few clapbacks to the haters filled the more than two-hour set, staged for a crowd of 4,000-plus on Tuesday (Dec. 30). As Lopez belted out song after song, hit every dance move and blew through more costume changes than anyone could count, she left it all on the floor of one of the city\u2019s most important stages. Every part of the show worked in tandem to usher in a new era for Vegas residencies, leaning more toward the theatrical than a greatest hits rundown.<\/p>\n

The production was maximalist, with cinematic transitions that made the evening feel less like a concert and more like an abstract autobiography set to a beat. Between moments of humor and defiance, Lopez reminded the audience why her Vegas return has always felt inevitable: the grand sets, the theater, the stage and an adoring fan forum fit her best here, where she has the creative license to let it all out. While only 12 dates have been announced so far, this residency could be a shoo-in to break her previous 120-date record and $100 million gross.<\/p>\n

These were the best moments from opening night of Lopez\u2019s Up All Night Live residency.<\/p>\n

In Her Broadway Era<\/p>\n

Think of this as Lopez\u2019s \u201cEras\u201d residency. Organized into four Broadway-style acts, each themed around a different chapter of her career, the 120-minute-plus avalanche of music and dance featured many of her biggest hits reimagined into jazzier versions. Highlights from Act One, titled \u201cI\u2019ll See You in My Dreams,\u201d touched on her ingenue influences from the world of theater \u2014 such as Bernadette Peters, Rita Moreno and Chita Rivera \u2014 and opened with \u201cLet Me Entertain You\u201d from Gypsy, followed by a mashup of \u201cWaiting for Tonight\u201d coupled with \u201cMambo\u201d from West Side Story, for which she donned showgirl regalia. Up next was a jazz-hands \u201cJenny from the Block,\u201d and a nod to the luggage-cart acrobatics from Thoroughly Modern Millie with 2007\u2019s \u201cDo It Well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Act Two, \u201cTales from Manhattan,\u201d began with a treatment of \u201cLove Don\u2019t Cost a Thing\u201d through the lens of Marilyn Monroe\u2019s infamous \u201cDiamonds Are a Girl\u2019s Best Friend\u201d from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. In true J. Lo fashion, the strapless pink gown dropped to reveal a pink lace corset, as well as A Chorus Line-inspired \u201cLouboutins.\u201d<\/p>\n

The standout in Act Three, \u201cKiss Kiss Kill Kill,\u201d a laser-webbed \u201cKiss of the Spider Woman,\u201d also showcased her strongest vocals of the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cShall We Dance,\u201d the Act Four theme, drew heavily from the work of Bob Fosse, with nods to Chicago and Dancin, as well as Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl. The black-and-white sequined top hat and tails look was the perfect base coat for a sequence of dance numbers, culminating in the \u201cGet Loud\u201d closer.<\/p>\n

In the final chapter, as guests exited the theater, the screens read \u201cThe Best Is Yet to Come\u201d \u2014 a tip of the fedora to Frank Sinatra.<\/p>\n

Surprise, It\u2019s Ja Rule<\/p>\n

Vegas residency openings have come to rely on a headlining-grabbing surprise. That moment in Up All Night Live comes courtesy of Ja Rule, who joined Lopez during Act Two for a back-to-back medley of their catchy \u201900s hits \u201cAin\u2019t It Funny\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m Real.\u201d Whether Ja will be a recurring character in the show remains to be seen. Her \u201cAll I Have\u201d duet partner, LL Cool J, appeared in a video montage.<\/p>\n

The Covers<\/p>\n

Reminiscent of Lady Gaga\u2019s Jazz and Piano residency at Park MGM, J. Lo\u2019s show was packed with covers from Broadway and beyond \u2014 a testament to the dedication that Lopez has put into her vocal training over the years.<\/p>\n

Act Three featured three of the best takes, with Sarah Vaughan\u2019s \u201cWhatever Lola Wants,\u201d Lana del Rey\u2019s \u201cYoung and Beautiful\u201d and Elvis\u2019 \u201cHeartbreak Hotel.\u201d Other favorites and appropriately refreshing choices elevated Act Four, including Judy Garland\u2019s \u201cGet Happy\u201d and Barbra Streisand\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Rain on My Parade.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Deep Cuts<\/p>\n

Lopez surprised fans by including some of her deeper cuts in her Vegas set list \u2014 such as the Spanish-language \u201cEl Anillo,\u201d which hasn\u2019t been performed since 2019, and \u201cLouboutins,\u201d appearing during her live set for the first time since 2009.<\/p>\n

The J. Lo Winks<\/p>\n

In Up All Night Live, Lopez takes a more personal approach to her stage show as the acts are intercut with narration, revelations and some candid winks about her four marriages and her infamous body.<\/p>\n

In reflecting on it being 10 years since her Vegas debut, she said, \u201cThat went by in a blink, didn\u2019t it \u2026 At that time, I had only been married twice. That\u2019s not true. It was only once. Felt like twice. I\u2019m just kidding \u2026 The good news is that I\u2019m learning and I\u2019m growing. We\u2019re in our happy era right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, she admitted that she too scrolls the internet: \u201cWhy do we do this to ourselves? It\u2019s so crazy \u2026 I\u2019ve been doing this a long time. I can just ignore a lot of it; it really doesn\u2019t mean much. I tell my kids that all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[People say] \u2018She always smiles with her mouth open\u2019 \u2026 \u2018Why does she always dress that way?\u2019 \u2026 \u2018Why doesn\u2019t she dress her age?\u2019 \u2026\u00a0 \u2018Why is she always naked?\u2019\u201d Dropping that line, she clapped back, \u201cIf you had this booty, you\u2019d be naked too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up All Night Live continues Dec. 31, 2025. 2026 dates include Jan. 2 and 3, and March 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27 and 28.<\/p>\n

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Sign up for Billboard’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly 10 years since she launched her first Las Vegas residency across the street at the former Zappos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[12774,185901,22286,88,159327,19638,185900],"class_list":["post-380676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-barbra-streisand","tag-bernadette-peters","tag-caesars-palace","tag-entertainment","tag-ja-rule","tag-jennifer-lopez","tag-zappos-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}