In the third installment of our four-part salute to the upcoming 'Spamalot' musical arriving next month at the Wynn, features a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with hotel mogul Steve Wynn. He reveals for the first time that he'll shut down the other theatrical production there, 'Le Reve,' for 30 days to reconfigure the theater while he does the final makeover to the aquatic dreams spectacular. He also talks candidly for the first time about how the astonishing mega-dollar success of nightclubs in Vegas has forced him to rethink ticket pricing for Broadway shows relocating to the Strip. Our candid conversation started off amidst much laughter and a total lack of seriousness. (By the way congratulations and happy birthday wishes to Steve, celebrating his 65th birthday up at his ski resort home in Sun Valley, Idaho).

RL: Are you more convinced today, as you are about to go into rehearsals, than you were when you saw 'Spamalot' on Broadway that it is finally the big win for Vegas?

SW: We are totally committed and completely confident about everything in the future, but in spite of that we have developed a condo project that fits here in the room and is all financed actually. We are just waiting for the word to get going. I am having a hard time taking anything seriously; being around Eric Idle is viral. Plus, I have the ultimate secret plan for Los Angeles. We restricted the 'Spamalot' show contract so that it couldn't play in LA or Southern California. That would convince people to come over from California to Vegas to see the show. Part of it is a diabolically clever scheme to rob all California shows of their audiences and then, slowly but surely, the longer-range plan is to move the people from LA to Vegas and then actually move LA itself to Vegas. We have room in the dessert, and we will ask them to each bring water. It may work, it may need a little tweaking, but soon we will have the LA Times and Disneyland will be here and the part I like the best is Wynn's Chinese Theater!


RL: Steve where did you learn to be a comedian?

SW: I try not to be funny, but there is a ridiculous strain and I think mine has erupted being here. Idle is a very unwholesome thing. The man uses nasty words. I mean I try telling him to bring some class to the theater 'after all you are British,' and he simply said 'you should **** off.' Nobody has ever dared say that to me in my entire life, as you know!

RL: I'm not going to make a comment, but let me ask you one funny question. Would 'Spamalot' play in Macau?

SW: Good grief. Could you imagine Eric there? I will tell you what would play in Macau; those gorgeous girls in the cast. From Nikki to those other girls, whoever cast the show, they are stunning. Two of those girls have to be over six feet. They are beautiful women and Mike Nichols told me that he thought Nikki, the girl lead, is the most remarkable performer. He said she will knock everybody out. He thinks she may be the best of all the Lady of the Lakes. Now, considering who has played that role, and who is playing it, that is a hell of a statement. The material is whacky and absurd, irreverent, and politically incorrect, which is how you would describe Las Vegas actually!


(Steve continued in a more serious vein:) Nevertheless the resolution of this show lies with ticket prices. The truth is that a pair of tickets to a show on the Strip is now $250 and that makes it tough on folks who are here for three nights. Our average length in stay has gotten longer here. It is almost four days now and we want to give people a chance to see the show so we are constrained, and we are pressing ourselves to see if we can lower the price of entertainment and give everybody a chance to see it. Now, I am reminded of our initial experience at Mirage with Siegfried & Roy. We started with a $45 ticket and we moved to $100, but we always did so because there were more requests for the seats than there were seats.

Now here in Vegas, since the millennium, a whole new industry has sprung up and that industry is the club scene. You fully know about Tryst, Light, PURE and other places. These are extravagant places that are grossing close to 400-500 million dollars a year. This is an entirely new industry that didn't exist before 2000. This is competing with the shows. I think it would be a mistake if we let entertainment in any way get subordinate here in Vegas. So again, here is another reason to see how low we can hold prices and still keep the theaters viable. We are sitting in a newly remodeled theater, it was 1,200 seats and now it is 1,500. We increased the size of the theater to allow more people to see the show and then in turn lower the price.


RL: You have tweaked 'Le Reve,' and business has gone up.

SW: The big tweak has come with the opening of 'Spamalot' and 'Le Reve' is going down in April once 'Spamalot' has opened. They will be doing some remarkable lighting changes, under water and in the theater. The theater is being changed so the seating is more beautiful and comfortable and we are adding boxes and we are taking the show in a different direction and between the physical changes will take place during four weeks in April and we will reopen the show and we are introducing the new stuff during the summer and this time next year we will have a presentation of 'Le Reve' that is going to explore a different sensibility than what is here. I am having the idea that there is a lot of Cirque in town and I love it and people are doing incredible physical feats in the water, and in the air and we first brought Cirque to town and loved it. I think that as a result of these experiences of watching these shows we discovered that we can combine things that haven't been combined and move this central tempo of the performance in a different direction.

So we changed the room and added things. We have been getting 13.500-14,500 people a week to see the show, which would be a hit in the old days, and I was serious about the answer of ticket prices. I think that all of us have to think like an audience works. It's the same with restaurants; we're watching those prices too to prevent things getting overpriced out of control. It is great to have the chefs. There are 16, five-star restaurants in America and we have one of them right here in my hotel. I understand how tough that is to do, but we have to keep an eye on our prices. We are at the peak of our power in this city and everybody in our company is breaking all kinds of records and we must not take that for granted and I for one am very concerned. We led the parade for more expensive entertainment. The folks at MGM spent so much money on 'KA,' but they had to have that number.


RL: $200 million is a number I've heard floated for their new magic show. I can't imagine what that ticket price has to be.

SW: I am going to try very hard using our association and our creativity to not go there. I would much rather have the people than that money. We have all the restaurants and the stores, slots and the tables, spas and rooms; let's let them enjoy them. I am not suggesting that we have to turn into Wal-Mart, or Motel 6, but there is room for every level in this city. Those of us at the top end must never forget how to think like a customer. I don't want it to get to the point where all the average person can afford is one show while they are here in town.

RL: Might it get to the point where the casino gaming business has to be improved and grown to take that revenue base up over the 50% mark against fine dining and entertainment?

SW: In our case that has not been a problem. We have the most successful casino per sq. ft in this state. I know why it is successful and it is because of the people that come to this city. They are responding to a host of stimuli, not just the promise of a baccarat game or a blackjack game. Those are everywhere. It is about the breadth, the width, and the diversity of the invitation. I want to make it impossible for anyone not to come here. I am being helped in that with all my friends and all the other companies down the street. We are making sure that the future of Vegas is bright and safe and the way to do that is to focus on the parts and focus on the customer.


RL: Are you even blown away by the amount of construction going on? You led the first wave, the second wave and this third wave of current construction is even crazier with the number of hotels and rooms coming on line

SW: There is a dark side to that too. The quality of workmanship. The strain on the subcontractors. It is not easily to get the quality we had in the Mirage and Treasure Island construction days, even in the Bellagio days. Building Wynn was far more daunting. Even though there was a lot of tricky stuff that went with it. My builders and subs are complaining about help. We are now more expensive than NY. It is not just a construction cost; it means that the capital prices have zoomed. Is that going to effect prices? I am sure of it. Our niche is that we are a Neiman Marcus, not a K-mart. The secret of the city is to be Target. The fact that people can get great deals here. They get great things at the top end for a great price. I hope that we all figure out how to keep prices at a minimum. That's got to be the new Vegas as we go forward into the future. We're really healthy and growing now, and we mustn't let anything harm that. Our job is to keep being flexible and forward thinking to ensure we remain #1.

Related Pop-ular Stories:
- Luxe Life: Part I: Eric Idle, John O'Hurley and Steve Wynn Answer 'Why Vegas?'
- Luxe Life: Part II: Eric 'American' Idle On Why Monty Python is Popular in the U.S.
- Luxe Life: Part III: Steve Wynn On the State of Vegas
- Luxe Life: Part IV: John O'Hurley Goes From the Grim Reaper to King Arthur