(Note: This scoop was ripped off and not attributed to The Strip. See the Gawker.Com feud over that.)

Feb. 27, 2006

Gripes A Lot
[hear The Strip episode with Wynn here]

STEVE Wynn is betting big on "Spamalot" in Las Vegas. The casino kingpin is adding 300 seats to his theater at the Wynn Hotel & Casino, and has started talking trash about competing shows after he pulled the plug on "Avenue Q" and put "Spamalot" in its place. In the Las Vegas Review Journal, Wynn dismissed "Phantom of the Opera" at the Venetian as "played out," sniffed that "Mamma Mia!" "came here late in its life" and is pulling in only 800 per show at Mandalay Bay, and declared that "Hairspray," which opened this week at the Luxor, "is not 'Spamalot.' "

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