Norm! column

Feb. 17, 2006

Wynn sure of hit with 'Spamalot'

[hear the whole Wynn interview by clicking here]

Steve Wynn says he remains undecided about whether to add headliners to his entertainment lineup. The Las Vegas entertainment scene is "immensely more complicated," he said, and he's not convinced that "we have a group of entertainers that would be special."

A day after pulling the plug on "Avenue Q," Wynn told Las Vegas writer Steve Friess that he's so confident of Monty Python's "Spamalot" being a hit, he's adding another 300 seats to the theater. ''Spamalot," Wynn said, "is a big rock 'em, sock 'em Broadway show," adding that other local Broadway shows are trending downward.

"Take a show like 'Phantom' that's been played out, that's a whole different story," Wynn said, referring to the upcoming arrival of "Phantom of the Opera" at The Venetian. "That show has run a huge course."

He added, "'Mamma Mia!' came here late in its life" and is pulling in only 800 per show at Mandalay Bay. "Sixty-four hundred a week, that's it."

"Hairspray," which opened this week at the Luxor, "is not 'Spamalot,'" Wynn told Friess. The interview can be heard on the podcast at www.stevefriess.com/podcast.

###