BritneySpears.comTonight is all about Britney Spears' comeback concert tour opener. Tomorrow will almost certainly be all about the critics' reaction. Today, however, is all about the hype.
Luckily for the "Gimme More" singer, her manager and career Svengali, Larry Rudolph, is a master of the hard sell. He describes The Circus Starring Britney Spears 2009 Tour, her first outing in nearly five years, with one appropriately hyperbolic—and neither Merriam- nor Webster-sanctioned—term.
"You can expect spectacularness," he told E! News' Ryan Seacrest. "Is that a word? It is spectacular.
"This is a full-out, full-blown Britney Spears show. It is a pop extravaganza. It is everything that everyone would expect from her and more."
Yesterday, the star herself did her best to get the excitement flowing for tonight's New Orleans launch, releasing the pop hit-heavy, ballad-light playlist on her official website.
Rudolph said fans can expect Spears, who will be introduced to the audience in a video featuring none other than gossip hound Perez Hilton (so chosen because he's "controversial and interesting"), to go "full speed through the whole thing."
All 90 action-packed minutes of it.
"I personally think this may be the best one she's ever done," Rudolph, who's well qualified to judge such things, having worked with Spears since she was 13 years old, said of the tour.
"We've been rehearsing this show for months now, from concept to choreography rehearsals to where we are now. It's the show that everybody would expect and hope for."
Which means you can count on it for one thing…
"It's pretty provocative…it's actually very provocative," he said.
DSquared² twins Dean and Dan Caten have designed the big top-themed costumes Spears and her onstage support will don for the tour. And judging by what they wrote on their website this morning, they don't intend to let the sartorial side down—writing that the costumes will be "sinister" and feature "sensualized 'sado' concepts."
Rudolph also revealed to Seacrest what has been hinted at in her video sneak peeks and well-timed insider leaks: namely that the concert will take place in the round and will feature performances by "circus performers, aerialists, dancers, martial artists, [they] have all kinds of things."
Asked whether Spears, who ran through the show twice yesterday from start to finish, has any preconcert jitters, Rudolph said she has handled herself like the pro she is—or, at least, is on her way back to being.
"She always has a little bit of nervous energy, but she has this way of channeling it…When it comes to game day, nobody brings it like she does.
"She knows what to do. She's the consummate professional. She knows where and how to dig deep."
As for her game-day ritual, Spears will "probably sleep late today…probably until early afternoon," as she will not have her sons Sean Preston and Jayden James with her.
Thanks to a custody deal Spears hashed out with Kevin Federline last month, the boys are joining their mother on her tour.
"It helps a lot," Rudolph said of their presence on the road. "The boys give her amazing inspiration and amazing strength."
As do her loyal fans.
"She kind of defies demographics now…The day we put the tickets on sale it was just extraordinary. People just want to see her, they really just want to see her."
And starting tonight, in 27 cities, they can.