Cher Where: Caesars Palace When: 7:30 p.m. Tues.-Wed. & Sat.-Sun. Cost: $117 and up Info: (866) 88-SHOWS

She believes in life after love, she's got you, babe, and she's forever turning back time. She's the gypsy, the tramp, the thief, the Oscar-, Grammy- and Emmy-winning singer/actress, the gay icon and, at 61, the no-longer-retired star of her own production show.

She's simply Cher, and her impending arrival has been Las Vegas' worst-kept secret for years, as rumors swirled about when – not if – she would take her place alongside Bette Midler as the heir to Queen Celine's throne at Caesars Palace. Instead, the best-kept secret, it turns out, are the exact contents of a Cher spectacular.

"I'm not telling you anything," she not-told Good Morning America in February. "But things have never been done before because we've never had technology like this."

The genesis of Cher the Megastar has been chronicled in top 10 hits, variety shows and tabloid pages since "I Got You Babe" topped the charts in the summer of 1965. Her tempestuous, decadelong relationship with Sonny Bono provided plenty of fodder for music and comedy, as she parlayed her recording career into success on the small screen with The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. Pitting the slender hippie priestess against her mustachioed Italian husband, the show earned four Emmy nominations on the strength of their playfully combative banter and Cher's effusive charm.

Divorcing Bono in 1975, Cher sought refuge in disco, movies and Gregg Allman, whom she married four days after her divorce from Bono was finalized. In 1979, the dance-friendly "Take Me Home" returned her to the top 10 after a five-year drought, but the big screen was where she really caught fire. Her performance in 1983's Silkwood earned her an Oscar nomination; four years later, she sealed the deal with Moonstruck. In her acceptance speech, an uncharacteristically humble Cher remarked, "I don't think this means that I am somebody, but I guess I'm on my way."

Propelled by her onscreen success, Cher returned to music with a bang – and lots of fishnet, leather and at least one butt tattoo. Remembered more for its outrageous music video, "If I Could Turn Back Time" heralded an umpteenth comeback, becoming one of the biggest hits of her career.

Biggest, of course, is a relative term in the Land of Cher. In the nearly two decades since then, Cher released her most successful and indelibly catchy single ever, "Believe," and embarked on a three-year, 325-date farewell tour.

As the clock ticks ever closer to May 6, her first Vegas performance in three years, Cher promises something we have never seen before. For some of us, we soon will see it. For the rest of us, we'll just have to believe.