Production rigger Michael Gomez makes sure everything is in position for the man behind the piano

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LAS VEGAS -- Behind the glitz, glamour and grandeur of Elton John's "Red Piano" show at the Colosseum in Caesar's Palace, there's a healthy heart beating backstage while Elton hammers away at his Yamaha.

During a recent stint of the popular Las Vegas attraction that has hit this amazing stage more than 150 times, we got an exclusive eltonjohn.com invitation to peek behind the scenes at the venue hours before the concert, watch the incredibly detailed preparations, and talk to the people who make it all happen every night.

Stage manager Dennis McManus and production rigger Michael Gomez were kind enough to fill us in on what they do before and during a typical Red Piano performance, which is very different from a regular Elton John arena tour appearance.

McManus, who's been running the stage for Elton since 1984, says his job is pretty simple in theory. "It involves making sure that everything's set up right, running the crew, making sure the equipment's ready for when we start a show, making sure he's happy when he's on stage, and when he comes off stage, making sure he was happy then."

The "he" in question, is, of course, Elton, a perfectionist who has built a legendary career by doing things the right way. And for a show with detailed lighting, over-the-top inflatable stage props, meticulously crafted motion pictures on a huge screen and outlandishly creative set design by famous artist David LaChapelle, there's a lot to be done right.

"For this show, we come in at 5 p.m., start prepping the inflatables, checking the electronics, the sound system, the lighting system and the piano, obviously," McManus says. "Then the guitar guy, the drum guy ... Everybody checks their equipment and makes sure it works. Dinner break, then cover the piano at 6:30, doors at 6:45, show at 7:30."

If it seems pretty simple, well, it is, but only because these guys are among the best in the business and have been putting this show on for a long time.

"Once we install this show at the beginning of the month, everything is in position, so it's really a gravy gig, you might say, for a bit, until the load-out," Gomez says. "Everything's in position. ... It's a little payback for all the hard work on the road."

In other words, when Elton's on a regular tour, traveling from city to city, the crew members have to wake up early in the morning, head to the gig site, and figure out how they're going to configure their entire production to each particular stage setting. Then they set everything up, the show happens, and they take it all down and get out of Dodge after the final encore.

Then again, Elton doesn't drag 18 enormous inflatable pieces with him all over the world, including a huge set of blow-up boobs, a 30-foot-high peeled banana, enormous letters spelling out LOVE, and gargantuan garter-belt-wearing legs with high heels that seemingly rise from the stage all the way into the rafters.

"The scenery we use is definitely eye-catching and people enjoy seeing it, because nobody uses the inflatables we use," McManus says. "There's definitely some Vegas look to some of the scenery. Normally on tour, it's just him and the band and a nice backdrop. Here it's a real show. The video's going, every song's different, with scenery popping up at different times and special effects that we don't use on the road. It's more (about) the music on the road."

But that won't exactly be the case this summer.

Starting in May, the crew will learn what it's like to take this experience away from Vegas when Elton, for the first time, will bring the Red Piano show to Europe. And that's when McManus, Gomez and Co. will have to get to work once again.

Gomez likes to say, "The Pythagorean Theorem is in play every day," and that statement will be true when Elton's crew has to learn how to fit LaChapelle's larger-than-life, way-over-the-top vision of Elton's music into stages that aren't 115 feet wide like the colossal Colosseum.

"There are a total of 18 inflatables, and at one time during the song 'Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting),' we have nine of them all going on," Gomez says. "It covers the whole stage. All you can pretty much see is Elton and his piano."

This means that when the shows hit Europe and England, Gomez and his co-workers will have to decrease the size of the inflatables to accommodate the smaller stages. But even through all the sweat and soreness from pulling off a show as dynamic and accomplished as this one, the crew still enjoys listening to -- and watching -- the spectacle that unfolds when Elton takes the stage.

"It tells a lot about Elton John and his stories and LaChapelle's vision with some of his life stories," Gomez says. "It's a great show."