Columnist Kate Maddox: Blue Men have red-hot opening

Kate Maddox

Friday, March 17, 2000 | 10:50 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column appears Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays, only in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach her at kmaddox@vegas.com. To subscribe to the Sun, call 383-0400.

Tuesday night's opening of "Blue Man Group: Live at Luxor" was quite a party. After a rousing show filled with audio and visual creativity, the packed house regrouped for a party that overflowed to a pool-side schmooze and mingle hour.

Las Vegas entertainment heavy hitters lined up with demi-celebs and fans to get bussed by the blue dudes. By the end of the evening almost half the crowd was walking around with blue kiss smears on their cheeks. This smooching the fans number is a regular gig with the Blue Men. After each show the guys rush out to the lobby to talk to the masses and sign autographs with blue fingertips or kiss marks.

A handful of celebrities made the trip from L.A. to see the official Las Vegas opening. Two of the most notable (and slightly obscure) were Liev Schreiber and Spalding Gray. Schreiber, whose films "Partygirl" and "The Daytrippers" made him a hero of the indie movie scene, has transitioned nicely into a more mainstream movie career with parts in the "Scream" trilogy. Gray, who considers himself an actor, author, monologist and performance artist, showed up with his family in tow. A couple of minor players rounded out the short list of celebs -- including two former soap opera hunks -- but that certainly didn't put a damper on the fun.

Mayor Oscar Goodman kept his promise to the cast of "Smokey Joe's Cafe" on Wednesday night when he walked on stage and, ahem, sang a line from "Charlie Brown."

Goodman soloed on the line "why is everybody always pickin' on me" while wearing a rainbow-colored propeller beanie. In the spirit of good sportsmanship, the crowd applauded his efforts in backing up show star Gladys Knight and company. However, after the show, which the mayor attended with his wife, Carolyn, Goodman was told that he might want to keep his day job. His Honor humbly replied, "That's what they told me after I did 'Casino.' "

Last week boxing legend Muhammad Ali got a standing ovation from the dinner crowd at Wolfgang Puck's Postrio at the Venetian. Ali, who was here all week for a ShoWest appearance, spent his last night in town dining at Puck's newest Las Vegas venture. As he was leaving the restaurant a fan recognized the boxer and soon enough his cover was blown. Never one to bashfully retreat, Ali instead treated the diners to a little shadow-boxing show as he waved goodbye to the cheering crowd.

If you've been tipping the gondoliers and Renaissance characters at the Venetian hotel-casino, you've been breaking their company rules. Not to worry, however: The characters -- who are "tip-exempt" professionals -- have pooled their gratuities and honorably donated them to the Ronald McDonald House charity. The gondoliers and costumed characters who made the $5,000 donation are employees of Farrington Productions, which started the tip donation program last year.

And, on that same feel-good note, hats off to Tickets.com. The online ticket provider has donated 400 tickets to Mariah Carey's Saturday night concert (see story below) at the Thomas & Mack Center to the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation. The AACF will distribute the tickets to disadvantaged young people who benefit from local charitable organizations. The AACF has raised more than $14 million for at-risk youth in the Las Vegas area.

The gossip-hungry folks at the Ain't It Cool News website got a hold of an early draft of the script for the remake of the Rat Pack's "Ocean's 11," which is set to star George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle.

According to AICN, the script isn't merely a rewrite of an old-school Las Vegas casino heist. Instead, the scenes and storylines are very relevant to "new" Vegas. In this modern-day version of the Rat Pack classic, Steve Wynn is an actual character and the story touches on the rapid growth and changes that this town has undergone over the past few years.