Wednesday, March 3, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.
"Mamma Mia!" has pretty much taken over planet Earth. There are 11 worldwide productions of the ABBA musical -- including the one at Mandalay Bay -- with plans for six more over the next 18 months.
And the Swedish singing group's Bjorn Ulvaeus has plans to continue the global assault.
He exclusively told VegasBeat he is reviving "Chess" -- a 1980s musical -- and that it might debut in Las Vegas.
"I have a meeting yesterday (Sunday) with (Shubert Organization boss) Gerry Schoenfeld about 'Chess.' I can tell you that something is definitely going to happen with this. I have been working on it for a while, and I am pretty excited about it," Ulvaeus told us in a phone conversation.
Ulvaeus was in New York to attend Thursday's 1,000th performance of "Mamma Mia!" at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway.
"Chess" opened on the Great White Way on April 28, 1988 -- and closed six weeks later, unable to survive a savage review by Frank Rich in the New York Times:
"The show is a suite of temper tantrums, all amplified to a piercing pitch that would not be out of place in a musical about one of chess's somewhat noisier fellow sports, like stock-car racing."
Then, the review got especially nasty -- and cemented Rich's "Butcher of Broadway" nickname.
The musical's main theme is that all the world is a chess game, that all the men and women are merely pawns, and that everything from global conflicts to love to detente is subject to the same strategies and moves.
"At this point, I don't pay much attention to the critics," Ulvaeus said. "But I did then. Rich's review was the reason we opened 'Mamma Mia!' in London, and then Toronto.
"Las Vegas would be a great choice for 'Chess' to make its return," Ulvaeus said. "Based on the tremendous response to 'Mamma Mia!' there and everything else the city has going for it, having the opening there is something that we are going to take a very close look at."
Juxtaposition
It's so Vegas. Motorists are chuckling about a new sign above Interstate 15, northbound, just south of Treasures -- the adult club.
The billboard promotes an upcoming appearance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which will perform in Las Vegas for the first time in a generation on April 20.
The choir's performance will be at The Orleans Arena -- not the topless club.
Hopper headlining
More details on the Jimmy Hopper news we reported Tuesday.
The former Fontana Lounge (Bellagio) regular is officially taking off on his own headline tour.
According to a Harrah's spokeswoman, Hopper will headline at one of its Lake Tahoe properties this summer and then at its Atlantic City locale in the fall before moving on to Harrah's venues in St. Louis, San Diego and Phoenix.
Vegas TV
It's another new role for Rob Lowe. He's going to be a doctor. In Las Vegas.
Still looking to right his career after his contemptuous exit in a money dispute last season from "The West Wing" (where he was played a speechwriter), Lowe, whose NBC legal drama, "The Lyon's Den," was quickly canceled this season, has been cast to star in a CBS pilot, "Dr. Vegas," according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Lowe's role in the hourlong drama is to be that of Dr. George Rivers, an in-house physician at a casino.
Don't know if it's the same casino James Caan works at in the NBC show "Las Vegas."
VegasBits
Blue show: Disney's California Adventure theme park, next to Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., is talking to producers of "Blue Man Group" about bringing a production of the imaginative family show to the theme park ...
Beam me up: James Doohan, who played Engineer Montgomery Scott (Scotty) on the original "Star Trek" TV series, turns 84 today. Producers of the new "BORG Invasion 4-D" attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton are trying to get him to attend the big opening party next week for the new live-action entertainment destination ...
Boss: Hard Rock Hotel owner Peter Morton, his son Harry Morton and Enrique Iglesias had dinner Saturday night at Simon Kitchen and Bar before Iglesias' show at The Joint ...
Fast: NASCAR driver Elliot Sadler, driver of the No. 38 "M&M's" Ford, will sign autographs Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at M&M World on the Strip. Tickets to get a signature will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 10:30 a.m. ...
Punch: Heavyweight boxers Shannon Briggs and Francois "The White Buffalo" Botha, K-1 USA champion Carter Williams, two-time K-1 tournament winner Michael McDonald and Las Vegas resident Dewey "The Black Kobra" Cooper are confirmed to compete in the K-1 martial arts competition in the Bellagio's Grand Ballroom on April 30. Tickets, priced from $50 to $250, are on sale.
Prize: Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow will be in Las Vegas March 25 to receive the special ShoWest 2004 Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film Award ...
Vows
Caesars Palace headliner Elton John is today at the epicenter of a national cultural clash.
The New York Daily News this morning quoted John at length saying that he was a proponent of gay marriage, and that he planned to tie the knot with David Furnish, 40, his companion of 11 years.
The 56-year-old pop superstar told the paper at an Oscar party on Sunday that since he's a British citizen, he and the Canadian-born Furnish want to get married in England.
"We're definitely going to do it when it gets passed," John is quoted in the Daily News. "I would like to commit myself to David. I already have in my mind anyway."
However, John amended those comments in a statement issued after the paper hit the newsstands.
"David and I are in favor of gay marriage but have no plans to get married," John said today in an Associated Press story.
John was married from 1984 to 1988 to Renate Blauel.
From Sun wires
Compatible couple: Playwright Neil Simon has received a kidney transplant courtesy of his friend and longtime press representative.
Simon and Bill Evans were recovering at a New York hospital after the surgery Tuesday, Simon's wife, Elaine Simon, told the New York Times for today's editions.
Neil Simon, 76, has suffered kidney problems for several years. Before the operation, he had been receiving dialysis treatment three times a week.
Evans, 53, took several tests to ensure his kidney would be accepted by Simon's body.
archive
