VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Celine’s opening-night party a no-go

Thursday, March 20, 2003 | 10:48 a.m.

The first Las Vegas war casualty: the big opening-night party for Celine .

Park Place spokesman Michael Coldwell told VegasBeat this morning that the scheduled bash in the Garden of the Gods at Caesars Palace has been officially canceled. The decision was made Wednesday night.

And, while the pre-show red carpet festivities will go on as scheduled, it will be a decidedly more muted affair.

The debut performance of "A New Day" will go on as planned, starting at 6:30 p.m.

There were no celebrity guest cancellations as of this morning, but the war was less than 24 hours old.

For example, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have R.S.V.P.'d.

But since Pitt is in London filming a movie (he plays Achilles in the upcoming "Troy"), Aniston might bring her Screen Actors Guild Awards date, Courteney Cox Arquette. The rest of the "Friends" -- Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow -- may also show up.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck haven't R.S.V.P.'d -- yet.

But Jen Meyer (her dad, Ron Meyer, is president of Vivendi Universal Entertainment) and fiance Tobey Maguire reportedly have.

Maguire's best friend, Leonardo DiCaprio, hasn't -- yet.

DiCaprio, of course, starred in a little film called "Titanic." Celine, of course, had a little song in that movie called "My Heart Will Go On," which many radio stations are still playing.

Filmdom's hierarchy will be at the Oscars in nearby Los Angeles on Sunday, and many of the stars have been invited to see Diva Las Vegas. We hear that Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman may also come to Vegas.

Many of the other women who shared the stage with Celine at the televised "Divas" special at MGM Grand last year, as well as the original "Divas" special at New York's Beacon Theater, may also attend.

That group includes Mary J. Blige, Dixie Chicks, Shakira, Whitney Houston, Cyndi Lauper, Cher, Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey and Stevie Nicks.

Justin Timberlake is hosting the pre-concert show on CBS; his summer concert touring partner Christina Aguilera may make a "surprise" appearance.

Oprah Winfrey was expected to return for the opening; she was here Saturday to tape a show with Celine. Rosie O'Donnell is also expected to appear. She appeared on Celine's 1998 CBS special.

Will there be enough seats for all the famous fannies?

Maybe not, actually.

The Associated Press was looking into reports that the Los Angeles public relations agency contracted to run the opening, Golin/Harris, had filled 4,400 seats.

Problem is, the Colosseum, the new Caesars Palace venue where the show goes on, only holds 4,000. If true, 400 folks might have to be turned away.

No one from Golin/Harris was immediately reachable this morning for comment.

Sweet things

Five local entries were among the 15 national finalists at the Pastry Masterpiece Championship at the Pavilion at Caesars Palace on Tuesday.

Our local dessert darlings include Kathy Wessman (3950), Vinh Trien (Las Vegas Hilton), Paul John Padua (Caesars), Yoni Mora (China Grill) and Tim Abrams (Flamingo Laughlin).

Trien won, besting his Vegas colleagues and 10 other accomplished pastry chefs from around the nation.

Good job

A friend of VegasBeat walked out of the Rita Rudner show at New York-New York on Sunday with a big smile -- and not just from Rudner's material.

Seems that when our pal and her mom went to will call there was a snafu, and there were no tickets for the couple. And Mom had traveled from all the way across the country.

New York-New York Entertainment Manager Jim Thomas happened to be there at the time and overheard what was going on. He promptly came over, introduced himself and escorted the two women to seats in the front row.

Now that's what we call customer service.

Retreads

Nice to see that the originality-challenged folks at the Arkansas-owned paper across town read VegasBeat.

Once again, we experienced a sense of deja vu -- and the usual good laugh -- when we glanced at their paper Tuesday.

I reported Monday that auctioneer Robin Leach had sold four Celine tickets for $250,000 at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson's Research Foundation fundraising auction in Phoenix over the weekend.

The same item appeared in their gossip column on Tuesday.

I could go on -- and on and on, but there's work to do.

And after all, isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

VegasBits

Charlie Palmer and his team, including wine guru Andrew Bradbury and Aureloe General Manager Christophe Chatron-Michaud, are heading to Hollywood today. Palmer's Astra West restaurant in the Pacific Design Center has been booked for a star-studded Oscar bash and the boss wants to make sure all runs smoothly ...

JMA Architecture Studios turns 59 on Friday. It is believed to be Nevada's oldest business of its kind. It has an office in Henderson ...

Sheriff Bill Young was a no-show at the Fremont luncheon Wednesday kicking off a "diversion program" for chronic misdemeanor offenders. He was attending emergency anti-terrorism and war-related meetings ...

Master Chef Gustav Mauler appears in the inaugural issue of Ristorante! There is a laudatory stroy about him and photos of the chef at his Spiedini restaurant in Summerlin ...

One of the nation's most outrageous tabloid reporters, Bill Hoffmann, a former colleague of mine and a 24-year veteran of the New York Post, is on his way to Las Vegas -- for his bachelor party. He ties the knot this summer with 25-year-old Australia Sunday Times reporter Sandra Peterson. Hoffmann is well known in New York media for famously digging through Donald Trump's garbage for a story.

From Sun wires

Tobey Maguire is doing yoga and lifting weights -- and maybe looking over his shoulder a bit -- as he prepares to reprise his role as Peter Parker in the "Spider-Man" sequel.

The actor is expected to put his Spidey costume back on beginning April 12 to shoot "The Amazing Spider-Man."

But if he isn't ready when filming begins, Jake Gyllenhaal of "The Good Girl" is under consideration to replace him, the trade publications Variety and The Hollywood Reporter reported Tuesday.

Maguire is still healing from back soreness linked to physically demanding roles in "Spider-Man" and the racehorse film "Seabiscuit," his spokeswoman said.

She's got 'Personality': Handbag designer and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky has a new job: reality TV host.

Lewinsky has been hired for the Fox series "Mr. Personality," a dating show in which a female contestant is courted by men whose looks are kept hidden.

The series is scheduled to begin April 21.