Sunday, May 08, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NORM: Wynn Las Vegas reviews pour in

Steve Wynn and his new hotel are the subject of articles in Vanity Fair, Time and the Chicago Tribune. REVIEW-JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

As raves pour down like the waterfalls at Wynn Las Vegas, the reviews focus as much on the man as the monument.

Vanity Fair's exclusive 10-page, 11-photo ode includes a rare glimpse of Steve Wynn's famous volcanic temper.

Both Vanity Fair and the Chicago Tribune began their articles with a quote from a Wynn Las Vegas brochure:

"Michelangelo took four years to complete the Sistine Chapel. Your room took five."

"Modest men do not build hotels that cost $2.7 billion," wrote the Tribune's Vincent J. Schodolski, "and so it is no surprise that Steve Wynn compares his new resort and casino to the place where the pope was elected."

Time magazine's Joel Stein wrote: "The guy who once had Frank Sinatra pinch his cheeks for a commercial and who earlier this year had helicopters shoot videotape of him while he stood on a 5-ft.-wide catwalk on the roof of his 50-story hotel is just getting going when it comes to promotion.

"His giant signature is not only on the top of the building and the clock radios in every room but also underneath the sheets on the mattresses. The man is even branding himself to his maid," wrote Stein.

Rick Garman, who runs the Las Vegas-centric Web site Vegas4Visitors.com, was underwhelmed with Wynn Las Vegas.

So many people compared Wynn Las Vegas to the Bellagio, "in so many ways it was almost spooky," wrote Garman.

While Vanity Fair got special access in its exclusivity deal, it was a positive story without being a puff piece.

But author Nina Munk likely won't be on the Wynns' Christmas list.

At one point, Munk alluded to the rumors of Steve Wynn's cosmetic enhancements with the line that he appeared so "shiny and smooth ... he glistens, almost."

After flying to the Wynns' vacation home in Sun Valley, Idaho, aboard their corporate Gulfstream IV jet, Munk said her three days of interviews concluded with Wynn losing his cool.

His temper flared when he asked what vision Munk had for the article.

When Munk didn't elaborate, Wynn, "on the attack now -- verbally, rhetorically," she wrote, said he was "disappointed."

According to Wynn, she had "failed to grasp his vision" nor "posed the right questions."

With that, Wynn said, "If you don't have any impressions yet, then fine, that's the end of the conversation."

Dream interrupted

For a few tense moments at Friday's VIP opening of "Le Reve," Steve Wynn surely must have felt his dream was turning into a nightmare.

As a fire alarm went off 45 minutes into the show, I saw Wynn, in an aisle seat across from us, leap to his feet and briskly walk off with his right-hand man, Marc Schorr.

Within a minute or two, after the all-clear announcement was heard, Wynn returned and, leaning forward, resumed his intense study of the show, with his chin resting on his hands.

My first impressions: The in-the-round theater with a colored-water stage was a marvel of mankind.

Early on, it's a slow "O" with too few ooos and ahhhs. At times it is dark, a "Dante's Inferno" with fire-and-water overtones. Particularly jarring was the scene with pregnant-looking women in white being dropped into the pool.

There's a rainstorm, a snowstorm and dozens of doves. Unlike in earlier previews, the birds quickly found their way home without incident.

Comic relief came from the world's shortest pink tutus (on dudes). You'll wince at the sound of the belly-flop segment.

Afterward, Schorr expressed utmost confidence that Franco Dragone would mold another masterpiece.

"I remember when I opened up 'Mystere,' it took from September to February," said Schorr.

The Punch Line

"Would spend hours sewing outfits for the backyard squirrels." -- Top 10 Little Known Facts About My Son (presented by David Letterman's mom, Dorothy)

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