Celine Sidelined by Illness

11/29/2006 12:51 PM, E! Online


A New Day... will have to wait until after Christmas. 

Five performances of Celine Dion's Las Vegas show have been canceled, starting Wednesday, so the French-Canadian songstress can recover from mycoplasma bronchitis, a respiratory infection that can be highly contagious. 

Because Dion was scheduled to take a holiday after Sunday's concert, A New Day... will pick up again Dec. 28. A spokesman for the show said disappointed Dion fans who have tickets for the upcoming week can either get refunds or book a new date.  

"Her doctor has prescribed medication to treat the infection and has given Celine strict orders to stay home and rest in order to recover as soon as possible," Dion's camp said in an apologetic statement on the singer's Website. 

The "My Heart Will Go On" purveyor won't be able to make her scheduled performance at the Billboard Music Awards on Monday, either. 

Dion's Caesars Palace-based spectacle, which features the diva running through her greatest hits, accompanied by a live orchestra, 48 dancers and enough fancy lighting, costumes and special effects to make Cirque du Soleil proud, opened in March 2003. 

Caesars, which built a brand-new 4,000-seat theater to house A New Day…, originally inked a three-year, $100 million deal with Dion but ended up extending it to next year. The Grammy winner's $81.3 million in ticket sales last year made her the third highest-grossing act of 2005, according to Pollstar.  

Her last cancellations came in April, just days before her 500th show, due to an ear infection.

Elton John's Red Piano concert extravaganza takes over the same theater during Dion's off days.  

When not bringing down the house in Vegas, Dion found time to release the multimedia concept album Miracle in 2004 and put out a best-of album of her French recordings, On Ne Change Pas, last year.