REBA MCENTIRE ROCKS FANS AT SHOW ME CENTER

Two giant video screens bordering either side of the stage made every seat the best seat in the house, giving everyone a front-row view of McIntyre's story-telling eyes and pouty lower lip.

The show opened with synthesizer-classical music, accented with a beautiful light show played on the massive curtains that bordered the stage. A stage light suddenly came on, revealing McIntyre standing on a podium, looking like the Barbie doll of Nashville in a long, teal dress accented with sequins and feathers.

At the close of the first number, McIntyre -- master of the layered look -- jumped out of the evening gown, revealing a spandex-country montage accented with sequined boots in which she pranced and danced around the stage, prompting several in the audience to sway and step with her.

At the close of each song, she stood on the stage with a huge smile stretched across her face, looking as if she was enjoying each and every moment of her performance as much as the audience was.

Her facial expressions and body movements make her 17 years worth of work in the country music business come to life before your very eyes.

McIntyre's performance was not merely a concert -- it was an all-out show in itself utilizing video monitors, stage props, backup singers and many, many costumes.

The recent hit "Fancy" was introduced with a four-minute video that captured the audience's attention, allowing McIntyre to change clothes and stage hands to push a massive prop house onto the upper deck of her multitiered stage.

In the video, McIntyre was being driven to a "run down shack" in which Fancy grew up -- returning after many years away from home. As the McIntyre in the video stepped away from the cab, the McIntyre in Cape Girardeau stepped into the lighted doorway of the cardboard house, letting the audience see only a profile of Fancy's (less than) triumphant return home. And so the song began.

Half way through the song, she tore off the black dress she had been wearing to reveal a richly sequined gown underneath, bringing audience members who were not already standing leaping to their feet, applauding madly.

Even the sole interlude in the concert -- giving McIntyre a chance to again change clothes and to catch her breath -- was entertaining. After introducing her band and backup vocalists, McIntyre launched into an abbreviated version of the theme to "Red Sun Rising," and then left the stage to her band, who played a medley of television show themes, including "Bonanza," "Star Trek," "Hill Street Blues," "I Dream of Genie" and "My Three Sons." Each was accompanied by the original video opener aired on a block of 20 television screens stacked on a rotating platform at center stage.

McIntyre captured the hearts and souls of concertgoers Saturday night in a way only a seasoned professional could. She never had to scream the name of the city she was playing in, nor did she have to ask "Is everyone having a good time?" to spark the crowd's excitement; it was just there. From the minute the audience set their eyes on the red-headed wonder, it was all over -- they all had become groupies in the flash of a light, in the beat of a drum, with the wink of her sparkling green eyes.

This reviewer has heard stories still circulating of how Tina Turner rocked the Show Me Center shortly after it opened. Perhaps McIntyre's concert Saturday is the first to challenge, and maybe even succeed Turner's reign as Show Me Center Queen.