VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Wynn has plans for musical Q’d up

Tuesday, June 8, 2004 | 10:56 a.m.

VegasBeat appears Sunday through Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. Timothy McDarrah can be reached at tim@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-4096.

So just why were Steve Wynn and Mark Schorr making such an excited display of themselves Sunday night during the Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City?

They were especially animated when "Avenue Q" -- an imaginative and irreverent "Sesame Street"-skewering musical featuring foul-mouthed puppets and set in Brooklyn -- pulled the biggest upset of the awards when it nabbed best-musical honors.

Spies knowledgeable about the Great White Way tell us that the casino mogul is planning to bring "Avenue Q" exclusively to an 1,180-seat venue he will build at Wynn Las Vegas.

We hear that Wynn is also looking to import Hugh Jackman to the Strip.

Jackman is planning to do a recurring one-man show called "Hugh Jackman's Broadway," which will open at Wynn Las Vegas.

Jackman is starring in "The Boy From Oz," directed by Philip McKinley, a former longtime theater teacher at Henderson's Burkholder Junior High School. McKinley would direct Jackman's solo effort.

Wynn and Schorr were traveling back to Vegas on Monday and could not be reached for comment.

"Las Vegas is one of the great entertainment capitals of the world," longtime Tony Awards Communications Director Keith Sherman told us Monday. "In the past, there was a sense among the casino operators that a Broadway show was not considered a viable option for Las Vegas. But the enormous success of 'Mamma Mia!' has shown that Broadway shows can have a substantive presence there.

"I do not know specifics about what Wynn is doing, but he is known for making some very smart and prescient business decisions."

Also, the 2003 best musical Tony winner, "Hairspray," is coming West, as we reported a few weeks ago. It will not immediately come to Vegas, however. It opens at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood on July 20, with a possible Vegas engagement in the fall.

Vegas drama

The soap opera that is "The Vegas Show" plays on.

Show co-host Clint Holmes left the program Monday -- one week before the show was scheduled to be relaunched.

Sources say the reasons were twofold: His schedule is too full for him to give the show the time it deserves, and he is unhappy that Bill Fayne, his lifelong friend and the muscial director of Holmes' headline show at Harrah's, was passed over as musical director of "The Vegas Show" in favor of local entertainer Pat Caddick.

Caddick is known for filing a $1 million lawsuit against Danny Gans two years ago, which centered on who owned music that Caddick contributed in seven years of working for Gans. An arbiter eventually decided that Caddick receive a nominal payment.

"Vegas Show" co-executive producer Rick Garson confirmed that Holmes is parting from the show, but said it was nothing more than a scheduling conflict.

"We tried right up until today to accommodate Clint's schedule, but we were unable to work it out," Garson said. "We wish him nothing but the best."

Co-executive producer Howard Lefkowitz said that, for the immediate future, the show would use a series of guest hosts with Sheena Easton.

Calls to Holmes' cell phone were not returned Monday.

The new show's scheduled debut with Dennis Hopper and new Golden Nugget owners Tim Poster and Tom Breitling will likely now be postponed one week, Garson said.

Star search

Our attempt at a quiet weekend in Los Angeles to see some family and spot celebs at the Lakers game was monumentally derailed. Talk about a weekend full of the unexpected -- much of it with a Vegas connection.

The Smarty Jones upset at the Belmont and the news of the death of former President Ronald Reagan was front and center when we arrived at the taping of the "MTV Film Awards" (which air Thursday on Channel 37) at the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, Calif.

The show was ripe with puns on, and references to, the "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" ad campaign, and also featured Eminem dropping drawers and mooning the audience.

Then, as Sean Astin (whose cousin Michele Tell runs the Vegas communications firm Preferred Marketing & Public Relations) was accepting an award for "Lord of the Rings," the cell phone rang with the news that US Weekly was reporting the surprise marriage of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony. We calmed down a bit when we learned that the ceremony was not in Vegas, as had been rumored, but in her back yard in Beverly Hills.

The Lakers, by the way, did draw an A-list crowd, including upcoming CineVegas honoree Jack Nicholson, Justin Timberlake, Meg Ryan, Penny Marshall, Sylvester Stallone and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

VegasBits

Fame: Beyonce and her boyfriend, Jay-Z, were among the announced ring-side celebrities at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night when Oscar De La Hoya beat Felix Sturm in a decision. Also announced: Joe Piscopo, Ivana Trump, Tony Curtis and several pro athletes ...

Old news: The other gossip in town was late again, this time nearly four months behind, in reporting the "news" Friday that Mike Tyson's Tomiyasu Lane manse was for sale with Don Humeston of Century 21. We reported that info the first day the house was on the market, on Feb. 13.

From Sun wires

Fashion awards: Sean "P. Diddy" Combs finally got what he's craved from the fashion industry: respect -- and a little thing called a CFDA award.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America named Combs the top menswear designer of the year for his Sean John collection at its annual awards show in New York Monday night; he beat veterans and previous winners Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors.

Carolina Herrera was honored as the best womenswear designer of the year, and Reed Krakoff, Coach's president and executive creative director, was picked as the top accessories designer. Sarah Jessica Parker was toasted as this year's "fashion icon."

Magic burgers: He won't exactly be flipping burgers, but Magic Johnson is definitely in the business.

His company, Magic Johnson Enterprises, has agreed to buy 30 existing Burger King restaurants in Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; Dallas; and Miami. The deal takes effect July 1.

Another Madonna book: Madonna's third book for children, "Yakov and the Seven Thieves," will be published June 21 by New York-based Callaway Arts & Entertainment.