Inside Gaming Column: The Show is Coming Yeah, Yeah Yeah

The Mirage recently wrapped up construction work on the 2,000-seat Beatles Theater, won its certificate of occupancy from Clark County and moved on to planning opening night. In partnership with Cirque du Soleil and Apple Corps, the Beatles' company, owner MGM Mirage hopes to change the face of Las Vegas entertainment with its new, $100 million Beatles Musical Legacy. Sources say MGM Mirage hopes to raise the curtain in time for Christmas crowds. Otherwise, the company has dropped a veil of secrecy on the production in deference to the international entertainment media.

Polls done for competitors and Broadway backers show MGM Mirage may strike gold with the Beatles show it has planned to succeed Siegfried and Roy. Fundamentally, the affluent, baby boomer crowd is in the mood for legitimate-seeming Beatles concerts. The success of Paul McCartney would seem to bear this out. The new show may just redefine the Las Vegas show as profoundly as did Siegfried and Roy when Mirage developer Steve Wynn launched them into stardom nearly 20 years ago.

Never to be outdone, Steve Wynn last week won lender backing to expand Encore, the second phase of Wynn Las Vegas, to 2,054 rooms and hike the budget to $1.74 billion. The added funds will cover the cost of "Spamalot," the Monty Python revival Wynn believes will redefine Strip entertainment as profoundly as he did when he developed The Mirage. The increased cost also includes a new pedestrian bridge and employee parking garage.

Meanwhile, the New York Times Magazine recently carried an advertising supplement promoting competitors Bellagio and The Venetian. "Fine Art, Astounding Architecture, Innovative Theater, Creative Cuisine -- a new renaissance." Over the top, perhaps, but this is Las Vegas. In the ad, the two megaresorts claim to be competing to show they are bigger, better and more outrageous than any other place. That begs the question of whether they're both competing against Wynn Las Vegas for top honors, or not.

Meanwhile, survey research in Southern California, where gasoline prices already exceed $3 a gallon, shows surfers are turning shy about Las Vegas drive-in vacations as fuel prices affect lifestyle choices. However, there's no sign from highway traffic anyone's being deterred. And polls also suggest some Southern Californians are thinking about trading in overseas vacations for long weekend fly-ins to Las Vegas. While we may lose drive-ins, we may gain fly-ins, and the surveys suggest the trade-off would bring in higher income, bigger-spending visitors.

Gaming Wire Editor Rod Smith can be reached by e-mail at rsmith@reviewjournal.com or by phone at 477-3893.

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