Sunday, March 27, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NORM: Magazine gets Wynn exclusive

With his martini nearby, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman accepts an award at the Best of Las Vegas awards show Saturday at Harrah's. Photo by John Locher.

Next month's opening of Steve Wynn's $2.7 billion megaresort will be an ultraexclusive affair. So exclusive that there is no room at the inn -- or Wynn -- for the media for the first week.

Vanity Fair will be the exception. As he did with the 1998 opening of the Bellagio, Wynn is giving Vanity Fair an exclusive first look at Wynn Las Vegas.

No prying TV cameras. No gum-shoed, ink-stained wretches. No media photos for two weeks.

In return for the exclusivity, Wynn will be profiled later this summer in Vanity Fair's curtain-lifting issue on Wynn Las Vegas.

Here's the first look at the schedule of events:

• The four-day, invite-only opening begins on Wednesday, April 27, with a charity gala premiere of Franco Dragone's "Le Reve -- A Small Collection of Imperfect Dreams." The event offers two options: a $1,500 ticket for cocktails and "The Moveable Feast," which includes a sampling of the resort's restaurants and preferential seating for "Le Reve," or the $7,500 per-couple package, which includes, among other perks, a suite and the privilege to be among the hotel's first overnight guests.

• The first public viewing will be at midnight on April 27 after a charity event benefiting The Foundation Fighting Blindness, Greater Las Vegas After School All-Stars and Communities in Schools.

• Elaine Wynn's birthday bash on April 28 will feature nine of the world's top chefs, who will prepare a dream dinner at a private party.

• On the menu for April 29 is the premiere of the Wynn Las Vegas restaurants and another showing of "Le Reve."

• Broadway star Hugh Jackman performs at the casino-opening event on April 30.

• The first media event will be May 5 for the unveiling of Lure, Wynn's ultralounge. Two nights later, La Bete, the main nightclub, will be officially opened with another media party. "Le Reve" will be viewed by invited media for the first time on May 6.

Gin City

Gin jokes flowed during the Review-Journal's Best of Las Vegas awards show on Saturday at Harrah's.

Golden Nugget headliner "Downtown" Gordie Brown uncorked the first of many gin references when he spotted Mayor Oscar Goodman in the crowd at the Clint Holmes Theatre.

"The mayor's here. My 10-year-old son is a big fan," said Brown.

Later in the show, Goodman let the audience know he wasn't going to apologize for his recent remarks to fourth-graders about his affection for gin.

"I'm not going to change anything I do until I speak to sixth-graders," he said.

When Goodman went to the stage for the third time, the band played "Celebration." But the mayor's celebratory mood was dampened when Myron Martin, the show's producer, accidentally knocked Goodman's martini over on the podium, soaking both of them in gin.

Goodman, feigning anguish at the sight of spilled gin, stormed offstage, saying, "You spilled my gin. I'm out of here."

Sightings

Two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, dining Saturday at N9NE Steak House (Palms). At another table: Internet gossip guru Matt Drudge, proprietor of the Drudge Report Web site. ... Kevin Federline, partying at Pure (Caesars Palace) in the wee hours Saturday. ... Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley at Light (Bellagio) on Friday. ... Pete Rose, dining at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab (Forum shops expansion at Caesars).

The Punch Line

"I have to say I'm more surprised than Robert Blake's attorneys." -- Rita Rudner, after winning the best comedian category in the Best of Las Vegas competition.

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.