David Mckee's Stiffs & Georges - Cirque du Soleil

Do not resuscitate?

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:01:00 -0700

Most of us hew to the standard English-language definition of "fixation" (as in "I have a sudden fixation with actresss Crystal Chappell"). However, in Cirque du Soleil-speak, "fixation" means "damage repair." To wit: Criss F. Angel vehicle Believe has been in need of fixation since before it opened. (Only Crazy Girls and Steve Wyrick get lower ratings from LVA members.)

It's nigh upon 11 months since Believe was foisted upon an eagerly skeptical Las Vegas and apparently, the "fixation" process still drags on within the catacombs of Luxor. Or not. Whatever the case, Cirque du Stuck on Themselves ain't tellin', not even to the Los Angeles Times.

Two thoughts: If the show's problems are so intractable they take nearly a year to "fixate," why not just bag it? Also, if what Cirque is presenting is a work in progress, ought not Believe to charge consumers a "price in progress"? Like, oh maybe $15/person to see Mr. Angel and his Cirque enablers try to figure out what the hell kind of show they want to do?

While I don't share Richard Abowitz's enthusiasm for Zumanity (for me, it's a show about sex that's staged by eunuchs). Ka is awe-inspiring and Mystere is enjoyable if you have a very high tolerance for whimsy. But it is with masterly understatement that Abowitz writes, "Cirque can be pretentious on stage and in the corporate culture."

Guy Laliberté's cosmic dream, our nightmare

Scarily, he reveals that head Cirque jerque Guy Laliberté is planning to spread coulrophobia to the cosmos. Is no place safe from putty-nosed clowns? Can't they accidentally-on-purpose open the airlock when Pennywise is trying to juggle in zero gravity or whatever Laliberté has in mind? (Given the reports of Laliberté's heterosexual athleticism, I have my suspicions as to what he really wants to experiment upon in zero G's.)

On the subject of ass-clownery, this takes the cake. I guess he believes "If you haven't been bookmarked, re-Tweeted and blogged/You might as well not have existed."

Adios, Charo? Moving further up the Strip, Abowitz speculates that an ankle sprain may provide the excuse for the Riviera to draw the curtain on Charo in Concert. (I accidentally typed "Charon." A Freudian slip?) Even reliably everything-is-better-than-ever Robin Leach concurs. Who'd have thought that, back when I reviewed Charo's show for CityLife, in tandem with Ali Spuck's cabaret act, that two months later, the plucky Ms. Spuck would be the one -- pardon the pun -- still standing?

Since the flamenco-guitar portion of Charo's show was a bit light on content (five songs), the Riv could have turned lemons into lemonade by working in more guitar and less coochi-coochi. But evidently not. But don't despair, guys. The Riv's still got Scarlett, Princess of Magic and her red bikini.

In an unrelated rumor, Tony 'n Tina's Wedding is alleged to be halfway out the door at Planet Hollywood. That always seemed a mismatch of show and venue; it will surely pop up somewhere else (LVA members give it our highest rating), should the rumor turn out to be true.

"Viva Elvis"

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:38:00 -0700

Obssessed? Moi?

Yes, Viva Elvis will be the long-awaited, enshrouded-in-secrecy title of the Cirque du Soleil show scheduled to debut this December at CityCenter.* Wow, they must have had to really burn the midnight oil in Montreal to come up with that one ... Speaking of name changes, Scarlett and her Seductive Ladies of Magic (at the Riviera) is now Abra-Ca-Sexy. Well, it's catchier ... The wheels continue to fall off the Riviera train: An Evening with Dean and Friends has closed, as has the dinner buffet (again) ... Lost in the bankruptcy tumult at the Greek Isles was the opening of a new show. Its cumbersome title is Chinaman: A Rock & Roll Comedy Experience. Moving right along ... By the time you read this, Rockstar: The Tribute should have reopened at the Harmon Theater after a disastrously short stint at the Wyrick Entertainment Complex (aka, "the Venue of Death") in Planet Hollywood. However, the Harmon has given it as much advance publicity as an IRS raid on a Vegas nightclub, so that's not a promising start ... In like manner, Beatles tribute Penny Lane tiptoed into the Tropicana without so much as a 'by your leave' ... Back at Planet Ho, Tony 'n Tina's Wedding evidently isn't performing up to expectations. Ticket prices have been reduced 13%-30%, although they're still steep ($63-$143) ... It looks like Deutsche Bank is going to wait a spell and open the Cosmopolitan in Sept.-Oct. 2010. Which, given that the Strip's been strangling on a glut of high-end rooms, is probably the wisest course of action. Wall Street's former Holy Grail, "another wave of megaresort openings," has become a phrase to be dreaded.

Ready for some good news? The most remarkable dancer of the late, lamented Sin City Kitties, Koree Kurkowski, is now part of the ensemble of Bite. The show is kitsch to the nth degree but it's entertaining in its own so-bad-it's-good fashion. The Stratosphere casino floor was pretty dead for a Friday night last weekend, but Bite was definitely packing them in. It's not as good as Sin City Bad Girls (at the Las Vegas Hilton) but way better than forgettable X Burlesque (at the Flamingo).

* -- the Viva Elvis revelation was let slip during last weekend's Michael Jackson festival at The Palms. I learned of it after being invited -- on 75 minutes' notice -- to co-host an episode of Steve Friess' The Strip Podcast, in which I am teased for being "obsessed" with Carmen Electra. I'll link to the edited version once it's available, so you can hear me date myself with a Barbi Benton shout-out.

This isn't Photoshop but an ad clipped from a Michigan newspaper, I kid you not:

The things you can find at the grocery store these days ...

No more "free" play?; Sahara sleaze; Donny & Tina; Criss F. Angel

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:29:00 -0700

In a decision that could have wide-ranging implications, Foxwoods Casino Resort and Mohegan Sun have been ordered to count (and pay taxes on) "free play" coupons as though they were revenue. This isn't a sock-it-to-the-players move like the one the Hawaii Legislature just pulled, taxing any money won at a casino (even if it's lost right back and then some). However, the ramifications for consumers if free-play coupons are targeted for taxation are discouraging. Play 'em while you've got 'em.

That stale "sleeping giant" analogy has been dusted off (and I use that verb advisedly) for some pimpery of the Sahara. On the glass half-full side, classy and romantic dinner spot House of Lords has been revived. It used to be a perfect place to take your Special Someone and hopefully will remain so. It's just off the main casino floor -- the most Moorish-themed part of the Sahara and the best "retro" experience to be had in town. (Almost everything else of newer vintage is bland grind-joint crud that needs to go.)

As for the empty half of the glass, that'd be the news that owner Sam Nazarian continues to go downmarket with a vengeance. Because nothing says "classic Vegas" like a tattoo parlor and a biker convention. Worse still, the tramp-stamp place will be in the otherwise elegant main lobby, with extended weekend tattoo-ing times ... since you never know when you want to do something you'll regret the rest of your life.

This "desert jewel rich with history and nostalgia" will continue that tradition with "a wet wife-beater contest, bikini tricycle races, a bourbon paired beef dinner with leatherwear fashion show, and an all-you-can-eat beer fest BBQ with one lucky rider winning a 2009 Harley Davidson Cross Bones bike." It's probably just a matter of time before Nazarian converts the big rear parking lot to a trailer park, too. That's Sam Nazarian for you: "class" with a capital "K."

"Tina Sparkle," flanked by Donny Osmond (evidently still in his pajamas) and Marie, who's looking damn fine from here.

It's old news that Donny Osmond is going to be on the next season of Dancing with the Stars, but I hadn't known he was going to be paired with Aussie Kym Johnson. The latter is known to my Better Half and I as "Tina Sparkle" (it's a Strictly Ballroom thing), which would make for great DWTS levity next season, except ...

... for the soul-crushing news that the gorgeous and talented Cheryl Burke has been twinned with the repulsive (and potentially prison-bound) Tom DeLay, one of "Casino Jack" Abramoff's band of Beltway scoundrels. (Was scum-tastic sleazemeister Rod Blagojevich not available?) Bad luck for Cheryl, good news for DeLay because Ms. Burke could be matched with a tree stump and get aforesaid stump into the final three. If she could carry a woodpile like Cristian de la Fuente to the finale, DeLay should be easy lifting. It looks like he's got the requisite arboreal quality.

Does Criss Angel have compromising photos of high-ranking MGM Mirage executives? The company's "branding" him now, evidently having convinced itself that Believe is beyond wonderful ... and never mind that 11-year-old O regularly outdistances Believe in ticket sales by several country miles. Having sunk $85 million into this Cirque du Soleil turkey, MGM is evidently going to stick with it until the last dancing rabbit is hung.

Chintz thy name is ...

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:40:00 -0700

... Harrah's Entertainment. We've just returned from the formal opening of Matsuri. The 8 p.m. show started at 8:16, due in no small part to the fact that the Imperial Palace had one usher working the entire showroom. One showroom. One usher. By the time a reinforcement showed up, the damage had been done. (Oh, and the cocktails there are awful. It's enough to give temperance a good name.)

The new Imperial Palace bartender.

Matsuri itself is very good, that rare show which gives real meaning to the baneful phrase, "high energy." It's like all the fun, acrobatic parts of a Cirque du Soleil spectacle minus the fey pretentiousness. Or, as the saying goes, "All killer! No filler!" (Really.) The only regrettable element is Matsuri's playing in a venue that's badly understaffed.

Harrah's Entertainment: Where the customer almost matters.

Kitty rescue at Caesars; Stingy Station

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:43:00 -0700

As we were driving to LVA HQ this morning, we spotted a disoriented-looking little cat running through the Flamingo Rd./I-15 interchange, across from Caesars Palace. We were in a quandary about what to do until it turned and started ambling down the I-15 "on" ramp, heading straight for certain death. I ran down the ramp after it (the kitty's a fast little bugger), scooped it up in one hand and ...

Well, what to do? I am now the custodian of a small, tuxedo-patterned kitten who may be carrying God knows what infections. It's too docile to be a feral cat but it's definitely going to need a new residence. So if anybody reading this can lend a helping hand to a homeless kitty, contact me at dmckee@huntingtonpress.com. I could just plop the wee bairn out in the LVA parking lot, along with our resident strays, but they're all massive and it would be a very Darwinian situation, I fear.

Cheesparing at Station: The formidable Jean Scott has news of some recent and untoward developments at Station Casinos, as the bankrupt company resorts to new "economy" measures. While the Fertitta clan sinks approximately $90 million into Orange County mansions, they're recouping the cost of their poor business decisions out of their customers' hides.

Random observations: Last night, we celebrated my Better Half's birthday, partly at Cadillac Ranch, which seems to have an identity crisis. Its menu is slightly countrified (in a C&W sense), its walls are covered with photos of Baby Boomer rock stars (think Steven Tyler) and the video feed is heavy on hip-hop. Go figure. The root beer float is very good, though. At 10:30, as though by prearranged signal, an incoming tide of douchebags flooded the joint and we split ...

... the classy southern façade of Mandarin Oriental has now been marred by a building wrap, high up on one corner. It's small by building-wrap standards, managing to both spoil the view and look like a timid half-measure ...

... speaking of building wraps, Criss F. Angel has long since been evicted from the eastern façade of Luxor. A new wrap was placed on the northeast corner of Luxor's ancillary hotel, but it's also smallish and -- due to way the hotel's buttresses jut forward -- hard to see if you're driving into Vegas from the south. Then again, if I were MGM Mirage, I'd probably want to downplay with association with the widely ridiculed Mr. Angel, too.

It's lonely in the bunker; Luxor gets its groove on

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:35:00 -0700

Two resignations made the news today. First, the publicist for Criss F. Angel took a hike. Given the choice between the much-reviled Angel and unlikely rising star (and reportedly much, much nicer person) Holly Madison, Fantasy flack John Flynn left the sinking Angel ship.

With Guy Laliberté literally fleeing to outer space, defenders of Angel and his Believe debacle are growing fewer and fewer. (Hey, Cirque du Soleil, keep the title and redo the show as a Cher tribute. It can only be an improvement.)

"Would the last person to leave my office please turn out the lights?"

In an unrelated but symbolically parallel development, yet another high-ranking staffer has joined the exodus from the office of Gov. Jim Gibbons. Departing exec Mindy Elliott managed to drag Midnight Jim into yet another scandal when she persuaded the Gibber to exert influence on behalf of Boyd Gaming in a dispute with state OSHA. Unfortunately, the state's burgeoning jobless population will now have to deal with Elliott in her new role as head of the Dept. of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation. Is this a case of "failing upward"? "Sideways"?

Luxor? Sexy?!? It seems that the answer is, "Yes," judging by this creative marketing ploy: "Singles in Sin City." People come to Vegas to hook up, however briefly, so why not A) organize a promotion around it and B) class things up a bit? The four packages are, in ascending order of sexytime, "Get a Room," "Get Lucky," "PDA" and "The Player."

Well, it sure beats "First Base," "Second Base," etc., no? (If the funky vocal stylings of Robin Thicke don't make you want to get busy, nothing will.) And with the Strip currently floundering in disgrace -- and deservedly so -- Luxor's promotion is high heavens above, for instance, the cattle call that is Rehab at the Hard Rock Hotel. When they (foolishly, IMO) bought the place, Morgans Hotel Group claimed they were going to go upscale. Instead, by all accounts, they dove headfirst into the deep end of the cesspool.

Quote of the Day

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:56:00 -0700

"Forget the Cirque du Soleil show Zaia, which was quite good but played in a theater that was approximately 30 percent full on a Thursday night. And forget those poor saps trying to sell one high-end watch per day. As long as those tables remain full, which they generally are in the world's largest casino, it would be inaccurate to describe business in Macau as truly slow." -- AGEM Executive Director Marcus Prater, in the new issue of Casino Executive Management.

Scratch one Europoseur

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:49:00 -0700

Hot off the wire from Harrah's Entertainment: "The visionary force behind Club Fuego, ND, has opted to close the nightclub in order to pursue future projects in other formats. The closure is effective today [June 15]."

Durr: Friends don't let friends become Europoseurs

This mouthful of fulsome flattery requires a bit of translation. "ND" is the pretentious moniker chosen by Nicole Durr. The German impresario garnered a small but fawning following during her latest Vegas stint. She also was credited with conception, creation, writing, direction, producing, musical conception, co-composition, costume design, co-choreography, co-program design and photography for Raw Talent Live.

The latter was a mercifully short-lived Cirque du Soleil wannabe that ran at the Sahara and looked like what you'd get if you let Franco Dragone run riot with a budget of $17.95. Centering upon "The Laptop of Life" (don't ask), this incomprehensible mishmash -- I believe the operative German word is Scheisse -- featured among its dramatis personae one "Miss Conscience Guilt," who presumably was dropping in from The Land of Babelfish.

Not only did Raw Talent Live have the miniscule distinction of being the single worst Vegas show I have ever seen, it was memorable in another respect: It used prerecorded applause. Either that or the theater was full of invisible people the night I saw Raw Talent, because there were probably fewer spectators than cast members.

In an effort to keep this Esperanto-flavored flub afloat, it was renamed Fuego Raw Talent Live, then just Fuego. But adding or subtracting words from the marquee provided no solution to an addle-pated concept.

That lesson went unlearnt when Ms. Durr set up shop over at The Rio. Posters on the property gaseously proclaimed: "ND's Fuego • The Club • Evolution of Nightlife." Now, if Steve Wynn were to announce that henceforth he was to be addressed and mentioned exclusively as "SW," and marketed his new property as "SW's Encore • The Resort • Evolution of Las Vegas" ... well, we'd all think El Steve had jumped the shark, to put it politely.

Before long, "Fuego" was doused and the Rio room became "ND's The Club." (Judging by its use of "Club Fuego," Harrah's Entertainment was as confused by the name-of-the-week as anyone.) All of which presumes that there's some brand equity in those two initials. Honestly, does anyone not on the Las Vegas Weekly's nightclub beat lie awake nights, tormented by the question, "What, oh what will ND do next?"

Durr earned herself a place in the Vegas history books when she helped spirit 50 Cuban artists to freedom. But of late she's drunk rather too deeply of her own bathwater. The ensuing cult of personality will not be missed.

OK, Durr is "develop[ing] the various elements of the brand." Guy Laliberté is being sent into outer space (meaning he's got 10 weeks to kick his nicotine addiction). So when will Christian Audigier take the hint?

Farewell to a legend. Europeans -- as opposed to transplanted Europoseurs -- remembered and revered saxophonist Sam Butera even after many in Vegas had forgotten him. Amidst the ongoing fuss over the demise of Danny Gans, the departure of Louis Prima's legendary sideman might have gone unnoticed were it not largely for the dedicated reportage of Cult Vegas author Mike Weatherford. Opportunties to hear Butera in Vegas were, in the past decade, few and fleeting ... but I wish I hadn't passed them up. That'll be something I regret.

"Fixations"

Thu, 21 May 2009 11:23:00 -0700

No, Guy Laliberté is not prancing around our offices in cap and bells, reducing staffers to helpless laughter with declarations of, "Criss Angel is not a magician ... he is an artist!"

Instead, cyber-gremblins have rendered our Web operations FUBAR -- as you have undoubtedly discovered already. This necessitates a temporary suspension of S&G operations. Among the items trapped momentarily in Limbo is an explanation of why it looks more and more like MGM Mirage will have to evacuate Macao ... plus early dispatches from the front lines of The Lion King.

However ... a few S&G tweaks have been performed, including a direct link to the article that inspired "Inside the Mind of Trump." It's a wild ride inside the Trumpian psyche.

I'll catch you on the flip.

"Peepshow" buys a clue

Mon, 18 May 2009 14:56:00 -0700

"Peepshow" prime donne Kelly Monaco & Mel. B

By now it's old news that Planet Hollywood's new resident spectacle, Peepshow, has gone topless for real. Though some question the move, to me it always seemed retrogressive and counter-intuitive to present a T&A show in contemporary Las Vegas that had scarcely a nipple in sight. That's so 1956.

What's newsworthy is the co-producer's rationalization for not daring to bare: "All of the other shows in this genre play to a smaller house. What we didn't want to do is alienate what could be 50 percent of our audience. We wanted to do a show both men and women are comfortable seeing."

In this context, "smaller" is anything less than 1,400 seats. By that Double-D measurement, Cirque du Soleil's nudity-friendly Zumanity plays to a "smaller" (i.e., 1,256-seat) house, but we're hardly talking Crazy Girls-cozy there, now are we? Jubilee! over at Bally's, seats 1,040. The sight of literally scores of bare breasts hasn't kept that show from racking up a quarter-century run.

If Jubilee! "alienate[s] ... 50 percent of [its] audience" -- which is very unlikely -- it's done no evident harm at the ticket window. (For that matter, I know some women who wouldn't mind seeing Peepshow's Mel B. in her knickers ... )

So you have to ask, "What were the Peepshow peeps thinking?" They evidently came in not knowing the market and seem only now to be getting up to speed. Fig-leaf prudishness and the Las Vegas Strip just don't mix.

(Slots A) Fun Fact

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:22:00 -0700

I've just read that the 2008 cash flow for Slots A Fun, the crown jewel of what used to be Circus Circus Enterprises, was $2.8 million. Which means that current owner MGM Mirage could justify a sale price of $22.5 million-$28 million. (Penn National CEO Peter Carlino, this is your chance!)

Then again, MGM could sell Slots A Fun four times over and probably still not recoup the cost of its Criss Angel vanity project, Believe.

Atlantic City gets a monorail. And other infrastructural-type stuff. That $3.6 billion would probably be better invested into building two or three new casinos, not to mention getting rid of those Colony C(r)apital grind joints.* New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) thinks Atlantic City's recovery is on the way. But as long as the market breaks down -- as its revenues do -- into Borgata and Everything Else, "recovery" will just be a euphemism for "much slower rate of decline."

* -- If banks won't underwrite new development there, why -- laws permitting -- shouldn't the state? I'm just askin'. The alternative is pretty bleak.

This just in: Yes, TV ads for impotence drugs (think of "Viva Las Vegas" debased to "Viva Viagra"), with their tacky innuendi, are embarrassing (albeit not as much as those for incontenince drugs). But Congress has slightly better things to do that adopt the proposal of Rep. Jim Moron, er, Moran (D-VA) to force them off the air ... least not untl it's amended to outlaw any TV programming featuring the bloated visage, voice and ego of failed casino boss Donald Trump. (Sorry; can't link to the Yahoo News video. I tried.)

Anybody seen my Cirque?

Fri, 15 May 2009 11:51:00 -0700

Last night's media performance of The Lion King, unlike most Vegas media events, drew much of the local "A" list. KNPR-FM's Dave Berns was there, as was man-of-all-media Steve Friess, along with large contingents from Fox 5 and Stephens Media, in particular, along with archrival Greenspun Media. Lil' old LVA made the scene, too, and as I entered the Mandalay Bay theater I passed a Quisp-like figure that I swear -- swear -- was Cirque du Soleil "director of creation" Guy Laliberté.

Eh bien, M. Laliberté? Whatever became of the much-ballyhooed "fixations" to Believe (including as many as five new illusions)? And what's going on with the Elvis-themed/still deeply-under-wraps/as-yet-untitled show that's going into Aria in seven months? (My better half thinks it's a slam-dunk but my firm belief is that trapeze artists, giant babies, and bowler-hatted clowns wearing tutus and spouting fey gibberish, do not mesh with "Satisfy Me.")

As impressive as it is in terms of physical spectacle, The Lion King is actually modest compared to the high-tech accoutrements of which Cirque is fond. Imagine had Laliberté been given his wish to simultaneously mount new shows at M'Bay and Aria, while 'fixating' Believe. It'd be a back-breaking folly akin to City Center itself, spiced with copious utterances of "Merde!"

As for The Lion King, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until next Thursday's CityLife to learn whether I could feel the love last night.

Perp Show

Thu, 14 May 2009 12:38:00 -0700

If you're bald, weight 285 lbs. and have one arm in a cast, you're not exactly inconspicuous. So how was it that that such a hefty man was to infiltrate a VIP area of Planet Hollywood and bust into Peepshow headliner Kelly Monaco's suite? It gets weirder: Merrill Wetter was a long-term denizen of Planet Ho and had been 86'd last month for following a money cart around. And yet his reappearance on the 50th floor didn't raise any alarms, literally or otherwise. This new information suggests a serious lapse of security at Planet Ho, something that the Nevada Gaming Control Board might want to investigate.

April in Atlantic City. The numbers are out and they suck. Again. Unless you're Borgata, which was basically flat with April '08 -- a veritable triumph in this context. The Showboat didn't do too badly (-7%), pushing ahead of the larger Tropicana Atlantic City (-21%). However, another Harrah's Entertainment property, Bally's Atlantic City is way off last year's pace (-19% YTD) and risks joining the Dead Man Walking quartet of Trump Marina, Trump Plaza, the Hilton and Resorts.

The partial reinvention of Trump Taj Mahal continues to pay off, with gaming win down less than 1% through the first four months of the year. Don't you wish we had this kind of reporting transparency in Nevada?

Reid's smooth ride: Would-be GOP challengers to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) are not only thin on the ground they're probably hearing casino-industry check books slam shut after the Senate Majority Leader jawboned banks on behalf of CityCenter and Fontainebleau. (It was a futile effort but, at this particular moment, that says more about the lending-averse banking industry than Reid.)

Party leaders say a "highly motivated" "strong GOP challenger" is out there and will emerge ... in five months or so. The only person shaking the money tree so far is former state legislator Sharron Angle. She'd rough Reid up, to be sure, but has an Achilles heel or two. To date she's been a single-plank candidate -- property taxes; not what you'd call a senatorial issue. Also, state GOP chairwoman Sue Lowden doesn't want a divisive primary ... and Angle was very divisive when she ran against Dean Heller (R-NV) three years ago for the congressional seat Heller now holds. She even tried to have the primary results overturned in court. But for now she's the only game in town.

Double duty: For the unforeseen future, I'll be spelling the estimable Dave Surratt as CityLife's theatre critic. First up is a show directed by Zumanity emcee Christopher Kenney. Called The Facts of Life: The Lost Episode it's ... it's ... well, it's different.

Case Bets: B'way in Vegas; Trump bloviates

Wed, 13 May 2009 15:48:00 -0700

Opening night for The Lion King is three days away. Which means the New York Times is right on schedule with another hand-wringing piece about whether Broadway-style shows can succeed in Las Vegas. By now it should be obvious that it's a strictly case-by-case proposition. In the instance of Spamalot, Steve Wynn maintained that the show was profitable; he just wanted more profit. (Enter Danny Gans ... briefly.)

Could six -- soon to be seven -- Cirque du Soleil shows coexist on B'way? Most Vegas shows certainly wouldn't last there. Comparisons of the Strip and the Great White Way are apples and oranges, and always will be. At least the NYT piece has a colorful slide show. That Mel B. has quite the gams, doesn't she?

Ticker symbol: BHO. Even if Donald Trump couldn't keep pace with the casino industry and can't get anyone to buy his condos anymore, he'll always have the Miss USA pageant, over which he presides in a manner best described as "papal." He's also sufficiently astute to know that when your own brand equity is in the tank, latch onto a stronger brand, specifically President Obama's. The full video of the press conference is not for the squeamish, mainly because very unfortunate lighting made it seem as though Trump's hair color had leached into his skin, turning him completely orange.

Since what happened at Planet Hollywood didn't stay there and simply refuses to go away -- has, in fact, turn into the PR equivalent of a Megabucks jackpot -- it's time to roll out the heavy artillery. Ladies and gentlemen, I yield the floor to Mr. Keith Olbermann ...*

* -- including an extra-special cameo appearances by anti-casino nabob Dr. James Dobson and even Satan, disguised (?) as Perez Hilton.

Case Bets: Caesars, Criss Angel, Lance Burton, Earl & Lani and Trent

Wed, 13 May 2009 14:44:00 -0700

Seen last night by an S&G source, Pit One at Caesars Palace empty save for one or two baccarat players. It's just a small indicator of a larger disconnect that I hope to address later.

PR flack Robin Leach has been transcribing more of the gospel according to Criss Angel, the latest being that Cirque du Soleil's wunderkind "will juggle his schedule" of Believe dates to make room for filming the next season of Mindfreak. Do you think this might be a face-saving way to cut back on performances of a show that's already having to be deeply and frequently discounted? Naaaaaaaaaaaaah!

And is MGM Mirage really content to let Lance Burton walk, as appears to be the case? With only a month remaining on Burton's contract, no extension has been signed and MGM punted our query to Burton's manager.

Two of the Strip's major showrooms are currently vacant. Burton's act is probably too downmarket for Wynn Resorts' tastes (or pretensions, if you prefer) but Alex Yemenidjian could steal a march on his former employer by bringing Burton back to the Tropicana. Lord knows, the place could use him and Dirk Arthur is working on a short-term contract now -- a stopgap arrangement made when interim Trop management screwed up and came within days of having no shows at their property.

Value for the $$. Last week's adventures included checking out Voices at the Las Vegas Hilton, which gives the LVH a long-needed shot in the arm. Stars Earl Turner and "the beautiful Lani Misalucha" (as she is always introduced) wisely minimized expectations prior to opening. For one thing, their energetic, caution-to-the-winds revue features far more interaction than they led people to expect. Who knew if these two very different singers would "jell" ... but they do.

It's a rouser and -- at an $80 top -- a considerably better value than Elvolution, starring Trent Carlini. Eighty bucks at Voices gets you two headliners and a six-piece band. A $92 top at Elvolution buys you an Elvis Presley impersonator ... singing to backing tracks. That takes some nerve, I tell ya.

A (much different) Gans question

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:40:00 -0700

Story after story on the tragic decease of Danny Gans has used one or another variant of this phrase, "named 'Las Vegas Entertainer of the Year' 11 years in a row." Most recently, it popped up in a Las Vegas Review-Journal tribute. What I want to know is who kept bestowing this 11-time (or more) accolade? And I've not been the only one asking.

It's simple Journalism 101 to be able to cite the bestower of this honor. For all we know right now, it might as well have come from The Man Upstairs. And was Gans "voted" that honor 11 times? Or was he "named" it "12 years in a row"? )(CNN opted for the 11-year version.) Does anybody even know? It's like some kind of self-perpetuating legend.

The obit in the New York Times, significantly, steers clear of the issue, though it's otherwise quite a trove of Gans-iana. Same with the Los Angeles Times obituary. Both papers clarify that it wasn't Gans who rejected Broadway but the other way around: His 1995 B'way show closed after only six performances ... which is probably at least 500% longer than Criss Angel's Believe would last on the Great White Way.

If newspapers and TV stations are going to keep parroting this superlative, it'd be nice if they could provide even an iota of context. (Gans is alleged to have had only two predecessors as "Entertainer of the Year," by the way, one of them a drag queen -- and, no, it wasn't Frank Marino.) The blogosphere is often accused of being a "giant echo chamber," but in this case it's the sacrosant MSM which is performing that function.

Updates: Pinnacle, Boyd, Foxwoods, Donald Trump & Criss Angel

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:07:00 -0700

Don't wait by the phone if you've got a date with Pinnacle Entertainment. It has just pushed back the timelines on its Baton Rouge and Lake Charles projects by five months. It cited investor reluctance and warned more delays are likely.

Analysts like few gaming stocks and one of those lucky few is Penn National. But a Morgan Joseph analyst thinks Penn has gone about as high as it should and perhaps too high. The sparked an early sell-off of PENN, thankfully followed by a rally.

One more thing to blame on casinos. The tighty righties (and lefties) are going to have a field day with this. It's a windfall of free publicity for Foxwods Resort Casino, though.

The mouth that snored: How far over the shark has casino mogul-turned-TV performer Donald Trump jumped? Would you believe he was "spotted dozing off during Paul McCartney's concert Sunday at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel," according to gossip columnist Norm(!) Clarke. By all accounts, the McCartney show was far and away one of the most electrifying concerts given in Vegas in quite some time, launching Joint 2.0 in style. Sleepy Uncle Trump, though, officially qualifies for fuddy-duddy status.

Mike Weatherford, author of Cult Vegas, has a refreshingly contrarian take on the Criss Angel brouhaha from last weekend. Both MGM Mirage and Cirque du Soleil knew what they were getting (or at least thought they did) when they signed Angel. The real disgrace here, IMO, is that it took Cirque nearly 72 hours to crawl forward with an apology. D'ya mean to say they actually had to think it over? Ridiculous ... though not as ridiculous as the amount of oxygen being consumed by the Carrie Prejean kerfuffle. Would the vaudeville hook please drag that Stepford Wife-to-be and her have-they-nothing-better-to-do detractors off the stage, please?

(Prominently visible in at least one clip from the show was Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin, separated from Old Man Trump by a stunning beauty whom I took to be Mrs. Ruffin. Whoever she was, the leading pageant contestants weren't a patch on her.)

Quote of the Day

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:25:00 -0700

"I have to recognize someone special here in the house. Perez Hilton, please stand up. We have the world's biggest douchebag asshole in the house!" -- MGM Mirage poster boy Criss Angel, at the end of last Friday's Believe, enraged that Hilton had been twittering disparaging remarks about the Cirque du Soleil star's extravaganza.

New category of Las Vegan

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:39:00 -0700

Europoseur:

Only found on or near the Strip, sometimes impersonated by French Canadians (see Soleil, Cirque du). Occasionally demand to be addressed by their initials only, usually smoke cigarettes and are invariably able to generate fawning press coverage. Are known to manifest themselves in forms male (Christian Audigier), female (N[icole] D[urr] of Raw Talent Live infamy) and extraterrestrial (Guy Laliberté).

Un-Believe-able discounts

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:15:00 -0700

Seen yesterday at the Luxor ticket booth: A video message promising 35% off Believe tickets if you stay at the King Tut place between Tuesday and Thursday (inclusive).

Heck, just last week Luxor trotted out one of the most "george" package deals I've ever come across: For a two-night/$420 stay, you'd get: "all you can eat at the buffet" (LVA readers don't like it and neither did I), plus pairs of comped tickets to the Titanic and "Bodies" exhibitions (S&G recommends the former, won't go near the latter -- creeptastic); free admission to both LAX and CatHouse; Nurture spa day passes; and, yes, a pair of freebie seats for Believe.

At a very conservative estimate, that's $431 in comps for a $420 room (not including hotel taxes are sundry add-ons). Yes, Vegas is giving away the store.

And yet ... not so desperate that you can score free tix for Fantasy. No, you are condemned to see Believe. If it wasn't clear right after opening night, it's painfully evident now that if this vanity production were any more of a dog it'd have mange. Forget a 10-year contract. This turkey will be lucky to eke out 10 months.

(The best Cirque du Soleil show remains Ka, which has some famous fans.)

What's more, you can enter a drawing to win Criss Angel's automobile (a Corvette, I seem to recall). If that car is anything like Angel's show, as soon as you get the keys and registration, it'll have to go into the shop for weeks of vague "fixations."

A twist of Fator

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:08:00 -0700

We took in Saturday night's opening of Terry Fator and his Cast of Thousands, as did quite a few C- and D-list celebrities, plus several MGM Mirage executives -- no doubt enjoying 90 minutes' respite from worrying about their company's future. MGM brass weren't nearly as visible as Harrah's Entertainment exec-about-town Don Marrandino. He was last seen chatting up a threesome of bottle blondes in matching, skintight, red dresses. Presumably they were the string trio Alizma, although I hope they're better at fiddling than at finding their seats, a feat which required circumnavigation of the auditorium. (Such are the perils of wearing bright, identical outfits.)

The evening was more like a corporate cocktail party with intermittent entertainment by special guest Terry Fator, as audience members couldn't be bothered to take their seats for a full 20 minutes, kibbitzing away interminably. This meant that people who were actually prompt (Quaint notion!) were treated to tape loop upon loop -- I lost count -- of Fator having his portrait painted. At least it gave one plenty of time to appreciate the skill and energy of DJ Ben Harris, as good a warm-up act as you could have.

Terry Fator and co-worker.

Although the crowd seemed extraordinarily reluctant to actually sit down and watch the show, once it started, they ate it up. Some Red State-friendly material was red meat to the opening-night audience, but the biggest laugh had to be when Fator took a jab at Believe divo Criss Angel. You had to wonder how the MGM execs felt, listening to the roar of savage glee directed at their failed, $80 million wonder boy. (Looking on the bright side, never has Lance Burton gotten such good reviews as he did right after Believe exploded on the launch pad.)

With the exception of Norm(!) Clarke, local press reaction to Fator has been pretty 'meh,' the consensus being that it's mostly tame, old-school fare (or, "cloyingly cute, reactionary and regressive") that will play well to a broad audience. Sounds like a can't-miss box office formula to me.

Perhaps it's because I have low expectations where ventriloquism is concerned or don't find Strip entertainment very cutting-edge anyway, but I thought Fator exceptionally good. Singing is in and of itself very difficult -- doing it well while also throwing your voice and manipulating a puppet takes an inconceivable level of skill, to say nothing of stamina. And, save for a brief costume change, Fator is onstage for the entire show. In fact, it's so densely packed with material that it risks overload. It's like walking that tightrope between being sated or outright stuffed at the buffet.

Fator has a snazzy-looking set and a crisp, seven-piece backup ensemble. The CGI imagery that accompanies most of the songs is beautiful and state of the art. The video montages for "Home" and "What a Wonderful World" aren't just corny, though, but are so literal-minded they stray into parody.

The vast majority of Fator's songs and pop-culture references are contemporary, with Patsy Cline and Roy Orbison impersonations are throwback-y as he gets. James Blunt, Gnarls Barkley, Amy W(h)inehouse and several other current artists get their due, so I'm perplexed by the critical consensus that Fator's material is tepid and dated. By contrast, Danny F. Gans adds two or three adult-contemporary numbers into his mix and it's treated like a massive reinvention.

OK, so maybe ridiculing Michael Jackson is like tripping a dwarf but this is a Jackson-obsessed town. Our dailies keep tabs on Jacko's whereabouts and speculation about if or where he'll headline in Vegas is neverending. So Fator is hardly off-base here. His sudden swerves into political japery, though, are so unexpected that they can throw you right out of the rhythm of the show. They contrast jarringly with the prevailing soft-and-cuddly vibe, sounding more like sudden irruptions from Fator's id. Most of the other laugh lines are ribald enough for Vegas but not so raw that a parental advisory is required.

The giant, flanking-video-screen setup is de rigeur for almost any showroom these days but give Fator props: He's in closeup much of the time, so any technical sloppiness on his part will be writ large. As for his occasional confusion as to which voice should be emanating from which mouth or his tendency to "corpse" in mid-routine, dissolving in laughter ... well, that's part of the fun and keeps the evening from feeling too slick.

At first, I thought The Mirage was taking a huge risk by awarding a long-term contract to a ventriloquist. But Fator is no ordinary ventriloquist and the gambit appears certain to pay off. The Mirage looks like it's got a huge hit on its hands -- maybe not Donny & Marie huge, but not too far behind either.

As though to put Fator in perspective, the truly awful Gordie Brown returns to the Golden Nugget on March 27. (Given former owner Steve Wynn's affinity for things French, I always think of that place as Le Nugget d'Or ... but I digress.) At least Brown won't be contractually obligated to sing that craptastic "Golden Nugget" theme song with which Rich Little opened his shows -- we think.

I won't get to find out, as we have an insuperable conflict with Trent Carlini's Elvolution that night. Aw shooty!

Update: Darn it all but they've gone and pushed the Trent Carlini ~~opening~~ media night back to April 24. Guess I'll just pass on Gordie B. in favor of watching DVDs of Space: 1999.

Coming attractions: You'll get Anthony Curtis' take on Terry Fator when the next issue of Las Vegas Advisor makes print.

Case Bets: Fasolt, etc.

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:17:00 -0700

A reader has asked how Fasolt got his name. I'm to blame for that, because he was called "Marble" when I met him. He was living in a foster home in Minneapolis, after a woman had thrown out her boyfriend and his cat, but not before her bratty kids has smeared bubble gum in his (the cat's, that is) fur. "Marble" was a logical reference to his coloration but it's also cold, smooth and impersonal ... in short, nothing like the friendly and gently inquisitive -- albeit huge -- cat to whom I was introduced.

Fifty bucks later (the best $50 I ever spent), the mega-kitty was mine but the name had to go. Casting about for inspiration, my mind fell upon Fasolt, the soft-hearted giant from Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold. In it, Fasolt has a surly brother, Fafner, who clubs him to death in an argument over some gold. Fasolt, to his credit, only had eyes for the goddess of spring, Freia, but once the brothers are persuaded to take mere money instead, they're at each other's throats in nothing flat. (Allegory much?)

Fasolt, the giant, as portrayed in the Bayreuth Festival's 1980 revival of Das Rheingold.

Since Fasolt is the only character in the Ring of the Nibelung whose morality doesn't come into question at some point, he made a perfect namesake for my new feline friend. It's been the despair of veterinarians, who always misprononounce his name "fasOLT," but they've come to love him so much, I no longer mind. He lives with two Norwegian Forest Cats, Shadow and Mr. Bit, so that's a lot of plus-sized felines lumbering around my little pied-a-terre.

Magic's a Drag: I was persuaded to see it last night and, yes, it is indeed a drag. How anyone can justify $50 a ticket for such a cheaptastic show is beyond me -- especially when you can now get into Cirque du Soleil's Love for as little as $60.

Dix Nix Snix: Some gay-bar hanky-panky (third item) will cost Snick's $50K and a sex-, er, six-month loss of its slot route, unless the Nevada Gaming Commission overrules an already lenient settlement. Moral: Sex and slots don't mix.

Actually ... I can think of some off-color variants of that lesson, but I'll spare you.

MGM Mirage: Uh-oh; "Off the box"

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:53:00 -0700

Following in the footsteps of Station Casinos and Harrah's Entertainment, now MGM Mirage is drawing its revolver, so to speak, to fund operating expenses. This is never a good sign. Earlier this week we learnt that all of Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. stock (53% of MGM shares) has been pledged against CityCenter. I was guardedly optimistic about MGM's future, but now ... ?

At least if what LVA is hearing about Fontainebleau is true, MGM won't have to worry about competition from F'bleau for as much as 10 weeks after Aria opens.

"Off the box": That's the new coinage for describing public figures who go from being seen as assets to liabilities. It was inspired by Kellogg's dumping of Michael Phelps after those bong photos surfaced.

In the gaming sector, the obvious "off the box" candidate is Donald Trump -- so obvious, in fact, that Trump is trying to get himself off the box, demanding that Trump Entertainment Resorts become Something Else Resorts. Another OTB candidate might be former Cirque du Soleil wunderkind Criss F. Angel.

Anybody else?

What's the sound of stale?

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:12:00 -0700

It'd probably be very much like the dulcet tones of Danny F. Gans (pictured), who reassures prospective attendees to his Encore show not to worry: It'll be the same old same-old. Or, as he rationalizes it, "I'm trying to give [audiences] exactly what they want." (Which seems to be the problem with most Hollywood movies, too, but I digress.)

I'm only slightly younger than Gans and if a graying head like mine thinks that, say, doing a George Burns impression marks you as badly out of touch, what are the 35-45-somethings Gans claims to be targeting going to think? Heck, the recent Cirque du Soleil fiasco, Believe, didn't tank because it was too new, too risky but because -- by an overwhelming consensus -- it was too derivative, too Cirque de Yesterday.

"I feel like I'm kind of the Rocky of this town," Gans declares. Given that Sylvester Stallone looks ossified and does the same thing over and over, that analogy may be unwittingly apt. Gans' reputation is that of a performer whose act fossilized somewhere back in the Clinton administration and he seems determined to validate the perception. But Steve Wynn is wagering that there's money to be made off predictable mediocrity and he's likely to be proven right.

MGM CEO sez, "Make me an offer"

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:47:00 -0700

“We are certainly not looking to aggressively sell assets, but the point is that we do have assets that are attractive and we are going to be very responsive.”

That's MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren's way of saying that he's not going to hold a fire sale ... but don't be shy with those purchase offers, either. He's identified drastic debt reduction as his top priority, which partly explains why the company is spinning its undoubtedly mortifying The Harmon fiasco as A Good Thing, Really, as it brings the moving target which is CityCenter's budget down to a svelte $8.6 billion ... assuming they don't have to refund those $88 million worth of Harmon deposits. (Murren may have conceived CityCenter but it is his perceived rival, CityCenter CEO Bobby Baldwin, whose resumé is much likelier to be blotched by the forced truncation of a planned 47-story tower into a 25-story stump.)

CityCenter: Now with 50% less Harmon!

Elsewhere, Murren contends that MGM could have gone back and finished The Harmon at its intended height. Well, yes ... but even if the bankers are reopening their checkbooks, as Murren says, it's difficult to imagine a scenario in which they happily agree to pile additional hundreds of millions in debt onto a project that still isn't fully funded. Unspecified Chinese banks are reportedly being supplicated for those elusive last few (millions of) dollars.

Perhaps Murren was being a mite tongue-in-cheek, as the odds of financiers underwriting a Harmon do-over are probably somewhere in the same realm of probability as flying pigs and Guy Laliberté admitting that Cirque du Soleil screwed the pooch with Believe. (Mais non, it's nothing that as much as six months of "fixations" can't cure, mes amis.)

The James Packer Jinx redux? This isn't reassuring: Soon-to-be Cannery Casino Resorts owner James Packer's Crown Ltd. is promising "a new Las Vegas-based senior management team and board" and that "many" current managers and employees will stay. Furthermore, the company will apply business models that have worked for it in Australia, Canada and Macao to improving the not-exactly-struggling Cannery performance.

Now, this is what's called fixing what isn't broken. Nor has the Vegas market been kind to operators who have come here from overseas and attempted to reinvent the wheel. One cautionary example Packer hopefully will heed is that of Swiss Casinos, whose somewhat pretentious Resort at Summerlin tanked unmercifully, to much glee within the industry. Swiss Casinos made it plain it didn't want to hear Word One about what worked in Las Vegas, they had it all figured out. Their pride went before a fall into Chapter 11. Ironically -- or prophetically, perhaps -- Packer will inherit the erstwhile Resort @ Summerlin, which Cannery manages in its current guise, the Rampart Casino.

Less the value of that management contract, Packer is paying $600 million apiece for two locals casinos and a Pennsylvania racino. That seems more than a bit steep, even in a good economy, but looked like a much better idea at the time it was hatched, before Wall Street did a face-plant and hindsight became 20/20.

Well, at least Packer was able to get a plane ticket to Las Vegas this time. (He missed his previous scheduled appearance.) That's a good start.

Deep Red: Encore

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:53:00 -0700

As much as casino-watchers have been vexed by the total media clampdown on all but the smallest scintillae of revelation about Steve Wynn's Encore, it was worth the wait. Or, to put it differently, Aria and Fontainebleau have just been given an exceptionally difficult act to follow.

I say that as someone who was disappointed with Wynn Las Vegas when it debuted in 2005. Despite the modernity promised by the exterior, what I found inside was a pastel-colored version of Bellagio -- smaller, muted, rearranged and more than a bit fussy.

Let it not be said that there is anything pastel about Encore, nor anything tentative. For starters, primary colors are back "in" with a vengeance, specifically red. Now, I like red but we're talking RED!!! For relief, the VIP area is dominated by green. But did I mention to utter profusion of RED??? If Dario Argento designed a casino, this would be it.

My tour group, which included fellow Vegas Gang-sters David G. Schwartz, Chuck Monster and Robert Earl's favorite writer, Hunter Hillegas, had the good fortune of being in the tour group led by Wynn Resorts design guru Roger Thomas. For the latter, Encore represents his Vegas swan song and it closes the circle in other way: As Thomas put it, when Wynn and he remade the downtown Golden Nugget, it was the death knell of that Vegas staple, "the red casino." Not another would be built after that. "We killed [the red casino], we get to bring it back," Thomas says by way of explaining the riot of scarlet luxuriating throughout Encore.

Above and beyond its coloristic impact, Encore is the most tactile casino on the Strip and probably in the U.S. You'll be wanting to "cop a feel" many times over, whether it's of the wood finishes, the wall coverings or the sculpted textures like the "wall of bodies" that ushers you into nightclub XS. (Once you get in -- if you get in -- the view across the dance floor and the "European" [read: topless] pool to the al fresco bar opposite is one of the bigger "wow" effects at Encore.)

They mix a mean sangria there, too. The color scheme is as gilded as the casino is reddish and Thomas confesses, "I'm certain Goldfinger had a little to do with it." Whatever the case, it's like Christian Audigier -- The Nightclub (right down to the fashion boutique) but for people with taste.

There will be other articles and blogs appraising the aesthetic and functionality of Encore, so I'll leave the assessment to experts and confine myself to various jottings made while trying to walk and scribble simultaneously.

Thomas, who's been with Wynn since 1981, describes himself as the "partial author" of The Mirage, the seminal property of contemporary Las Vegas, and "full author" of Treasure Island. He's not necessarily patting himself on the back, as he says that one of the lessons learned at the Island was not to fully theme a casino (a lesson that several non-Wynn casinos failed to heed) and not to have one designer do the entire hotel. His subsequent approach has been to assemble teams he knows and admires, who hit it off with Wynn himself, and who have the reputation of being on time and on budget.

Despite those last criterion, not every last light fixture or handrail was in place (some uninstalled fixtures, left carelessly in the middle of a hallway, nearly cost posterity the future writings of Dr. Schwartz). Nor did we get more than the teensiest peek at the Encore Theater, which has been redone -- again -- for Danny F. Gans. The proscenium has been moved back but that's the only specific we were given.

Flocked with butterflies. Other than the ocean of RED, the design element likeliest to be mentioned are the omnipresent butterflies. They're in the moldings, the tiling, the wall coverings ... in short, everywhere. Not only do they "represent an abudance of good luck," they provide Thomas with a metaphor for the transformative process he and Wynn enjoy: turning the unromantic elements of cement and steel into an escapist paradise. There are no Strip views at ground level because, Thomas says, "When you're cocooned at Wynn, everything is beautiful." (He did not, however, croon" ... in its own little way.")

The third design element, less obvious to the eye, is a running motif of garlands of laurels. These were inspired by the most famous tale of metamorphosis (no, not Franz Kafka's), the myth of Daphne, depicted in a statue in the Lobby Bar & Café. Yet another reinvention is Switch, the restaurant whose decor changes every 20 minutes. It sounds godawfully corny but, in actuality, it's wondrous to behold -- like a dining experience by way of Cirque du Soleil. The revelation of multiple 18-foot chandeliers is a particular coup de theatre. "Steve can't help himself," Thomas explains. "He's a lover of theatre."

Encore's Esplanade mall has less natural light, more space than its opposite number at Wynn LV, which was one of the areas where it was most obviously "Bellagio II." The decision to mix design styles is evident in the amalgam of sharp angles and wave forms in the conjoined Rolex/Wynn & Co. boutiques. It provides relief from the overall aesthetic -- as intended -- without making a violently contrasting statement.

(My favorite design element, in truth, was the chair in Wynn & Co.; pure Heaven to anyone with an aching back. I want one, dammit!)

If natural light is somewhat lacking in the mall, Encore's atrium more than compensates. This vaulted, latticed space is Wynn's biggest "You have arrived" statement to date. Its conservatory-writ-large style manages paradoxically to be both grandiose and subdued. It's crowned with a pair of huge sconces salvaged from a demolished hotel in Cap d'Antibes.

Path of Excess = Palace of Wisdom? In the mall and, in fact, throughout the property, Thomas' preference for layering details sometimes induces sensory overload. The stated intention was to create a property that would require several visits to fully appreciate and one can report: Mission Accomplished. For instance, if there's a spa in town more ornate and in-your-face indulgent than the mere lobby of the Encore spa, well, I've not seen it. Several in my group agreed that Wynn could charge people for audio tours of Encore, and rightly so. It feels less like you're being shown through a resort and more like being given a walk-through of a working palace.

A good thing, though, that Wynn's attempts to buy up and demolish the nearby Guardian Angel Cathedral were rebuffed, though. Not only could Wynn use some guardian angels in the current economy, Encore's beauty parlor overlooks the cathedral and, were it not there, you'd have an all-too-clear view of some genuinely craptastic buildings on Covention Center Drive. The Catholic diocese did Wynn a favor by turning him down.

Of the many iterations of "suite" at Encore, we were shown two: a Tower Suite that makes up in comfort what it lacks in size (it's generous to call it a "suite," though it may make you feel better about what you're paying to stay there) and a Salon Suite in which you could land a helicopter. Something very intense and Asian was going down in what appeared to be an even larger suite at the end of the hall -- a huddle with the CEO of Tagruato Corp. perhaps?

Even the elevators are differentiated in their decor. One had a red alligator-skin motif while another was clad in butterflies rampant on a field of purple. I mean, we're talking spare no expense here, folks. The fabric for the drapes in the VIP room was purchased three years ago and kept under wraps until now.

The Sinatra restaurant is dominated by gargantuan, larger-than-life-size portraits of the Chairman of the Board himself. Is it a restaurant or a shrine? I felt I ought to genuflect or at least make the Sign of the Cross. But the real conversation-starters here are two hefty obelisks which flank the bar, while overhead sails a bejeweled galleon. Thomas rescued these from the shipwreck that was a failed New York City restaurant.

Society will be, for want of a better term, Encore's bread-and-butter restaurant, as well as a must-visit for chocoholics. Thomas' goal here was, "A room that Oscar Wilde would like."

Now stop for a moment. Can you imagine Thomas saying that to William Weidner and getting anything more than a basilisk stare? Or having a conversation with Gary Loveman about the metaphorical significance of butterflies? The Harrah's Entertainment CEO would probably just want to know what the return on invested capital from butterflies was going to be.

Which goes to the heart of what makes a Wynn property different from anything else in the marketplace: His willingness to invest monetary and artistic capital in things which don't translate to the bottom line in a quantifiable way but which create a "must-see" factor. I have no idea what the ROI of the Bellagio fountain is but it's -- and not arguably, I'll contend -- the fulcrum of the Strip, the icon off of which everything else plays. Wynn is an anomaly: a casino industry CEO with the temperament of an artist ... but an artist who's chosen a very unusual art form by which to express himself.

To have come all this way and not have spoken of the Encore casino floor itself is not to imply that it's an afterthought (the way the Venetian's casino floor feels like a waystation between the super-grandiose lobby and the Grand Canal Shoppes, for when you simply must shoppe 'til you droppe). Actually, quite a bit of thought has clearly gone into the casino, the part of Encore in which Wynn's experience with Macao is most prevalent.

Even more than Wynn LV, it's dominated by semi-secluded areas. But unlike the serpentine traffic patterns of its sister property, Encore's casino is neat and orderly, laid out in a street-and-block system, with superior lines of sight. Bucking the "more is more" trend, Encore has only 850 slots, which we're told are on an infrastructure ready for server-based-gaming when (or if) it takes off.

The innate conservatism of Wynn's approach here is the sort of thing that stands him in good stead with the banks. (Server-based Aria could be a triumph of gaming technology but it's a helluva ski jump.) In the mass-market area, each '21' table is flanked by a pair of table lamps, providing an appealingly homey (or "very residential," in Thomas-ese) vibe to the table game pit.

Steve Wynn looks suspiciously like he's been Photoshopped into his own atrium at Encore, but at least it gives you a sense of scale.

It's difficult to rank Encore in the pantheon of recent Las Vegas megaresorts because Wynn's most serious competion in the last decade has been ... Steve Wynn. Even had Palazzo's rollout not been a near-total botch, it still has that expensive-shopping-mall-that's-doomed-to-fail look about it. Planet Hollywood, had it all reopened simultaneously, would have flung some serious "Wow!" at its audience, but Robert Earl's had to relaunch it incrementally and progress of late has been agonizingly slow. Other than the Criss Angel bomb Believe, it may be the Strip's most expensive work in progress.

So ... will Encore create excitement unto itself? I believe so. Does it represent not only a leap forward for Wynn but an even bigger one than expected? Yes and yes. But ...

Will it drive business? If I owned WYNN stock (which I don't), I would sleep very well tonight.

Right from the beginning

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:57:00 -0700

Time Magazine, no less, has designated the LBO of Harrah's Entertainment by Texas Pacific Group and Apollo (Mis)Management the third-worst business deal of 2008. Harrah's CEO Gary Loveman sought out this deal -- and these particular buyers -- out at a time when it made precious little economic sense, so I guess he earns sole possession of this "award," having been the architect of the debacle. Those of us who were skeptical from Day One get a small measure of vindication to keep us warm on a day when the snowfall in Las Vegas is so heavy that I can't even see Harrah's The Rio, two blocks distant, from my office window.

Way to extend that brand! Moving from triumph to triumph, Harrah's has found a way to perfume the pig that is its $578 million golf course in Macao. It is now Caesars Golf Macau (y'know, for when Total Rewards members get a sudden golfing jones that can only be sated via a trans-Pacific commute). Yup, Harrah's sure is getting every inch of mileage out of its Caesars brand ... if you mean frequent-flier mileage, that is. At least Harrah's is maintaining its investment, not proposing to abandon it to the rough mercies of Mother Nature, like some.

Criss Angel goes to Disneyland, Hefbot in tow. Isn't that special?

Speaking of Mr. Angel (if we must), it's conventional wisdom to the nth power that Vegas isn't going to make it as "Broadway West." Of course not. If Cirque du Soleil opened an $85 million headliner show on the Great White Way to terrible reviews and -- if possible -- even worse word of mouth, we'd be talking about Believe very much in the past tense. Heck, it probably would closed after one performance, and all the king's "fixations" and all the king's clowns couldn't have put it back together again. So producers of half-assed shows like Fuego Raw Talent Live ought to thank their lucky stars they're not on Broadway West.

When all is said and done

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:32:00 -0700

The way old friends do. Last Sunday, I received an early Christmas present in the form of tickets to Mamma Mia!, entering its antepenultimate week on the Strip (where it's still the best entertainment value around). Happily, the cast was still grabbing all the gusto they could, to paraphrase an old beer commercial. You'd never know this particular ensemble had been together for three of the production's six years.

... to fill the hole in your soul.

The visitors. Anyway, I figured that might be my last-ever look at the show that's successfully flouted conventional wisdom about what "won't work in Vegas." And which is still packing them in, I might add. Well, the ABBA gods (or goddesses, for those who worship at the shrines of Frida and Agnetha) must have smiled upon us, as the Better Half just scored tickets to Jan. 4's last-ever performance of Mamma Mia! at Mandalay Bay.

It's liable to be a bittersweet experience. I'm sorry to see it end but we can take some consolation in observing that -- like ABBA itself -- it's going out with a full head of steam instead of being put out of its misery. (Compared to, say, Fuego Raw Talent Live, where you expect the closing notice to be posted in mid-show.) Besides, the same evening sees the final performance of Stomp Out Loud at Planet Hollywood, so it will be a dark night indeed for theatre on the Strip.

Why did it have to be me? At least in the case of Mamma Mia!, if it had to depart, I can think of no more auspicious successor than The Lion King.* (Did subliminal associations with Leo the MGM lion play any part in the decision?) Second-hand word from last week's media preview is that it will be the full-scale Lion King, without any of the downsizing that was hinted at in the initial announcement. Also, the Lion King's producers are prepared to go into the M'Bay theatre "as is," which must have endeared them to MGM Mirage no end. A seventh (God forbid) Cirque du Soleil show would have required expensive, er, I mean extensive customization of the space.

(* -- Of the mooted replacement for Stomp Out Loud, the less said the better.)

Nonetheless, Cirque high pajandrum Guy Laliberté has continued to play the role of spider on the valentine, openly coveting the M'Bay space for himself even before Lion King has planted its first paw there. Hey, M. Laliberté, don't you have a Criss Angel vanity project that's stinking up the joint over at Luxor? Why don't concentrate on your three months of "fixations," as you call them, while MGM Mirage gets on with a show that's certain to succeed (and I don't mean Believe).

Oh, and thanks for asking people to shell out $160 apiece to see a work in progress. Quel schmuque.

Here's to six long years or more of The Lion King -- and at least as many before we have to endure any more of M. Laliberté nicotene-stained bombast. The silver lining to Jan. 4's dark cloud is that Mamma Mia! will be making room for another class act.