LAS VEGAS -- The cancellation of "Siegfried & Roy," the
top-grossing show in Las Vegas, has left a void in the tourism
industry here that was stunned and saddened by the mauling of
illusionist Roy Horn by one of his tigers.
"It's a huge loss for Las Vegas," said a spokeswoman for the Las
Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority (LVCVA).
The show was a fixture in Las Vegas, where the two German-born
entertainers performed six shows a week, selling out their
1,500-seat theater 45 weeks a year. Ticket prices were $110.
MGM Mirage does not release ticket-sales figures, but
multiplying the size of the theater by the number of performances,
times the ticket price, yields $44.5 million a year.
A spokeswoman for MGM Mirage said it is premature to discuss the
future of the theater at the MGM Mirage Hotel where "Siegfried
& Roy" ran since 1990.
"The show is closed indefinitely, and we're focusing on Roy and
not how the space will be used," she said. Those who purchased
tickets for upcoming shows have been given full refunds, she
added.
The "Siegfried & Roy" show did not contract with tour
operators to include tickets in packages so there was limited
impact on tour operators.
The Mark Travel Corp., which operates the MGM Mirage Vacations
tour operation through an agreement with MGM Mirage, booked seats
for the show for its clients, but payment was made directly to the
show when the client arrived for the performance, according to a
Mark Travel spokeswoman.
Brian Kaskie, director of entertainment for Tripreservations.com, the inbound division of Prestige
Travel in Las Vegas, said that although the closure is a "profound
loss" to the city, he did not expect it to impact visitor numbers
because the destination offers such a variety of attractions and
shows.
"Everyone is saddened to no end. They were the icons of Las
Vegas and one of the top three shows in town," he said.
Kaskie said he believes visitors looking for similar
entertainment will gravitate to magic acts, such as those by Lance
Burton and David Copperfield. However, those two entertainers do
not perform year-round as did Siegfried and Roy.
The other popular shows in Las Vegas -- the three Cirque du
Soleil shows, the Blue Man Group and comic/impressionist Danny Gans
-- often are sold out, and it may be difficult for those who do not
make plans early to get tickets to replace their "Siegfried &
Roy" performance, he said.
MGM Mirage also owns the MGM Grand, the Bellagio, Treasure
Island and New York-New York, all of which offer other popular,
long-term acts.
The MGM Mirage spokeswoman said "those shows generally sell out
every night, so it might be difficult to absorb those [who would
have gone to see 'Siegfried & Roy.']"
The popularity of those other shows is due, in part, to
"Siegfried & Roy," which helped build Las Vegas into the
destination it is today, said the LVCVA spokeswoman.
"We are lucky, in a sense, because Siegfried and Roy paved the
way for a great many entertainers and shows to become permanent
fixtures in Las Vegas," she said. "They have left an indelible mark
on our industry and we have a plethora of other shows to offer
visitors because of them."
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