Classical Appreciation: Venetian strives for authentic re-creation of Italian Renaissance era

Performers at The Venetian will entertain visitors with visions of Old-World Italy.
Photo by Jeff Scheid.


Donna Lucrezia (Suzanne Farace), a member of the Farrington troupe of entertainers, wears a hard hat over her headwear while in St. Mark's Square at The Venetian.
Photo by Jeff Scheid.

      Weeks behind schedule and as yet incomplete, the $1.5 billion Venetian debuts Monday as an already lavishly appointed resort designed to reflect the classical romance of the "Most Serene Republic" of the Italian Renaissance.
      Gondolas will bob in place in a 586,000-gallon lagoon fronting the Strip where Las Vegas Sands Inc. Chairman Sheldon Adelson, The Venetian's developer, will realize at least part of his dream of duplicating the water-girded refuge that fended off invaders and became the commercial, architectural and artistic wonder of the 15th century and beyond.
      "It had to be real," said Adelson, who traveled to Venice with a BBC documentary crew in tow for authenticity checks, "or it would not have been Venice." The hotel and convention-pace developer spent "tens of millions of dollars" on highly detailed reproductions of Venetian landmarks, sculptures and 24-karat-gold-gilded frames that encircle duplications of famous frescoes by the likes of Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, the latter the creator of "The Apotheosis of Venice," which looks down upon visitors from a 65-foot-high domed-ceiling casino entrance.
      Granted, nothing in Venice ever stood 35 stories tall, housed 3,036 rooms and reserved 116,000 square feet of space for gaming tables and flashy slot machines. And, when the first phase of retail specialty shops, celebrity chef-driven restaurants and entertainment attractions is completed by fall, The Venetian, 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South, could prove among the strongest of the new wave of megaresorts.
      Following Monday's media preview tours and a gala invitation-only, black-tie benefit for Reach Out, a Las Vegas center for children affected by AIDS, the public can expect to stroll over the lagoon and into the elaborate resort at around midnight.
      Here's what they'll find, as well as what they will have to wait for until completion, at Venice a la Vegas.
      New Orleans master chef Emeril Lagasse's Delmonico Steakhouse, which features his Creole touch, will be open along with Joachim Splichal's Pinot Brasserie, an offshoot of his highly regarded Patina restaurant in Los Angeles. Also ready for public consumption will be Star Canyon and Tacqueria Canyoñita from Southwestern cuisine specialist Stephan Pyles, and the Grand Lux Cafe featuring more than 150 items served around the clock.
      That leaves several other restaurants, ranging from Wolfgang Puck's branch of Postrio to a themed Warner Bros. eatery, that will be phased in from mid-May to November. A five-kiosk La Strada food court was listed as a "probable" for opening night.
      Only a smattering of the resort's own gift shops will be ready while finishing touches remain on more than 70 high-end Grand Canal Shoppes that eventually will overlook bypassing singing gondoliers ferrying guests at $5 per round trip. Major brand names such as Mikimoto, bebe, Ann Taylor, Movado, Kenneth Cole, Malo Cashmere, Marshall Rousso and Lorenzi of Italy will be part of the shopping promenade.
      Entertainment?
      For now, a troupe of opera-trained singers and actors will interact with customers while also entertaining them with masked Commedia dell'Arte skits and individual arias.
      "Right now, we're it," said a smiling Soozi Childers, company manager for the costumed 30-member cast of environmental entertainers hired by Farrington Productions; the company that boosted the themed resort movement by adding live Caesars and Cleopatras to pose and interact with the masses at Caesars Palace. "We feel completely ready to do a great job," Childers added. "We're all people oriented and we'll set the tone perfectly."
      The 45,000-square-foot Club C2K (for Carnavale 2000) will open in July with a predicted mix of headliners and production shows (seating for 1,400) with a late-night transition to a new-era disco.
      Publicist Ryan Brooks figures London-based Madame Tussaud's Celebrity Encounter should be ready by about July 8. The $16 million, 28,000-square-foot wax museum -- which will be roofed and cooled for obvious weather reasons -- will feature more than 100 full-sized portraits of famous folk, including Frank, Dino and Sammy -- the Rat Pack that ruled the Copa Room, the entire city for that matter, from the Sands in the 1960s.
      Adelson, who imploded the Sands in November 1996 to clear the way for The Venetian, views his new project as a high-end themed resort that will combine the romance of Venice and the luxury of a Beverly Hills, Calif., hideaway with the round-the-clock excitement of Las Vegas.
      "This is not a family-oriented resort," Adelson stressed in a recent interview. "Our market is the affluent, high-end traveler. ... We're going after the top 5 percent of the market."
      Room rates will average $167 per night with off-peak lows ranging from $109 to $119 and busy weekend peak tariffs of $239 to $289 per night. And all visitors will find themselves in suite-sized "standard rooms" averaging 700 square feet with sunken living rooms, bathrooms highlighted by Italian marble, fax machines, computer hookups and twin 27-inch color televisions. In contrast, Mirage Resorts Inc.'s Bellagio, which opened in October has standard rooms measuring 510 square feet.
      "It's all in the details," said Venetian communications director Kurt Ouchida during an early week tour of the sprawling resort that found jackhammers still pounding, dust rising in thin clouds and machinery moving materials about in a required hard-hat area.
      "A great deal of precise work went into the project," he added, pointing to columns supporting the inlay rose-and-white tile that covers the facade of a Doge's Palace reproduction that's reached by crossing the lagoon over a steep-pitched rendition of the famed Rialto Bridge.
      Indeed, each column is ringed with diverse sculptural details -- cherubs, angels and gargoyles among sundry human images initially carved by hand in clay. Ouchida describes a somewhat alchemistlike process of silicone injections and contrasting gypsum casting that 250 artisans employed to create the unique figurines that already possess an intended weathered look.
      The Doge's Palace is flanked by a nearby replica of the brick Campanile bell tower of St. Mark's Square built in 1517, bridges and ubiquitous statues of a winged lion that became the symbol of the resilient republic that was founded on reedy marshlands and tide-effected islands in the sixth century as protection from invasions by the Vandals, and Attila and his blood-thirsty Huns.
      But life will be anything but ancient at a resort that will operate a branch of the well-known Canyon Ranch Health Resort from Tucson, Ariz., offering nearly 100 services. A special wing with private corridors will be available to select guests.
      A gaming-free check-in area features contrasting colored tile that lends a three-dimensional M.C. Escher-esque feel to an arched, art-laden gallery that runs 150 feet before the sound of a plunking quarter can be heard.
      The interior replica of St. Mark's Square will do everything but flood each day -- no pesky pigeons either -- and serve as a central staging area for gondola cruises, and the Farrington troupe's vignettes and solo performances.
      "Our costumes date from the 1200s to the 1700s," noted Childers, drawing a "it's a real time warp" quip from a bystander. That explains the guy dressed as Napoleon Bonaparte -- the French general who occupied Venice in 1797 -- and the royal blue, gold-trimmed 16th-century-styled gown worn by Suzanne Farace, who plays and sings the role of Donna Lucrezia.
      "I'm so excited about performing in a venue that is ready for opera," says Farace, who has sung with the Nevada Opera Theatre. "Opera is making a comeback. ... It's not just a novelty anymore."
      For Karl Baumann, a k a Napoleon, this job is a definitive break from his three years as a silent green lizard in Cirque du Soleil's "Mystere" at nearby Treasure Island after years of touring with the nouvelle circus troupe.
      "I was attracted to this kind of intimate performance," he said, "and, well, I finally get to speak and sing!"
      A 10-day "audition trip from hell," as Childers termed it, roamed as far east as Minneapolis in search of talents with opera-quality voices. "There were plenty of great people in Las Vegas, too," noted Childers, "and some of them are with us."
      Like Emily Herrera, a 1998 Metropolitan Opera finalist, who moved from Denver and took a job as a waitress while earning soprano roles such as Musetta in "La BohŽme" staged by Nevada Opera Theatre. Herrera was so impressive, she was hired on the spot and "I'm no longer waiting tables."
      Another local, Guy Totaro, was hired to teach the ensemble the broad physical comedy style of Commedia dell'Arte that was first practiced on the streets of Venice circa 1545.
      "It is very much the forerunner of today's modern comedies," said Totaro, "based on ancient archetypes such as Capitano, the braggart who you see when you watch a cartoon with Foghorn Leghorn. It was street performance and it formed the root of all modern comedy, even Shakespeare's Falstaff is just Capitano in a different setting."
      Part strange-mask mime, part overplayed comedy/satire, Commedia evolved into vaudeville and character traits that can be tracked by watching reruns of "Seinfeld."
      The cast will soon be able to perform minus requisite hard hats when The Venetian's soft opening commences.
      Then, sometime in summer, Adelson is expected to begin construction of a second phase that could be ready for public perusal in 2001.