VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: De Niro to embrace Queen at Paris

Friday, May 28, 2004 | 10:35 a.m.

Robert De Niro is going to play Las Vegas. For one night, at least.

The Oscar-winning film star will be at Paris Las Vegas on June 27 to make the official announcement about the Queen musical, "We Will Rock You," which his Tribeca Productions is co-producing.

Previews start Aug. 14 and a gala red-carpet, Las Vegas premiere is penciled in for Sept. 8.

At the news conference, De Niro will be joined by Queen members Roger Taylor, Brian May and John Deacon, Brit scribe Ben Elton (who wrote the original London production) and producer Jane Rosenthal, De Niro's partner at Tribeca Productions.

"That is pretty much the only day Bob has off until the show starts previews, and we felt it was important he come to Vegas for the announcement," according to a source involved in the production.

De Niro is filming "Meet the Fockers" with Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. The film is a sequel to the 2000 comedy "Meet the Parents."

The first news that the show was coming to Vegas was exclusively reported on this page in October.

Vow again

If Britney Spears is ever back up at ghostbar (Palms) and decides to get married, she won't have too far to go to seal the deal.

Seems that a wedding chapel will be part of the new 400-room tower that the Palms is expected to break ground on in midsummer.

"It will be a very, very unique place," an insider said.

Also on tap for the new building are two restaurants from the N9NE group and a new nightclub.

In other Maloof family news -- and there is always plenty of it -- new Maloof Television production company (which we reported on in April) is up and running.

It is doing pre-production on a reality series called "The Whale" -- where the winner gets a massive bankroll to go off and be a casino high-roller.

They are also talking to Adam Sandler about co-producing a movie he'd star in called "Click" -- about a workaholic who finds a universal remote that allows him to pause events in his life or fast-forward through them, with unintended results.

Looking up

Joe Scillaci, president of Fremont Street Experience, is gearing up for what is likely to be the biggest party of the year downtown.

On June 14 the debut of "The Casino," the new Fox reality show set at the Golden Nugget, will be broadcast on the new $17 million Vegas Vision canopy LED screen located above the pedestrian promenade.

Vegas Vision is being touted as the largest LED screen in the world. It is coupled with what is already one of the biggest audio systems at 550,000 watts of concert-quality sound.

There is a free and open-to-the-public street party -- with refreshments -- before the 9 p.m. telecast.

"The night promises to be lots of fun," Scillaci said.

Talent issue

Young Las Vegas singer Todd Joseph thought that having talent was a good thing. Wrong.

He has been the featured "good singer" the last three weeks on the WB series "The Superstar." Thing is, the show puts a backspin on the "American Idol" concept and is searching for a horrible singer -- its own William Hung, if you will. Joseph, who is actually a good singer, is the guy the competitors measure up against to prove their limited talent.

But it all worked out well for Joseph. The exposure led to calls from "Good Morning America" and "Access Hollywood," and Joseph is now being represented by prominent Vegas attorney David Chesnoff, who helped Spears annul her 55-hour marriage and who was just added to the Martha Stewart defense team.

VegasBits

Celebrate: Toby Keith, the big winner at Wednesday's Academy of Country Music Awards at Mandalay Bay (he won four awards, including entertainer of the year and top male vocalist), celebrated by taking 10 of his nearest and dearest to Charlie Palmer Steak (Four Seasons) after the ceremonies ...

Celebrate 2: Also enjoying some red meat to mark a big win, Randy Travis was also at Charlie Palmer. Travis' song "Three Wooden Crosses" took the ACMA song of the year award ...

Party: Tiger Woods was partying Tuesday night at Studio 54 (MGM Grand). He is in town for his "Tiger Jam VII" fund-raising show at Mandalay Bay on Saturday night with musical guest Prince and host Ray Romano ...

Doc no more: Scott Lewis is still a chiropractor, but he's quit his Las Vegas practice to devote himself to show business. He has his own long-running hypnosis show Monday nights at the Riviera, does another hypnosis show in San Diego, and is shopping "Shock!" around town; it just ended a 16-month run at Bourbon Street.

Odds: Henderson resident and sports prognosticator Wayne Allyn Root was on Dennis Miller's CNBC talk show Thursday night. The topic was Republican attacks on Hollywood and the entertainment industry ...

Gig: Eighties rock group Dramarama plays the Summerlin club Plush on July 1. They are best remembered for their modern rock anthem, "Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)." Tickets are on sale ...

Eat: Former NFL star Marcus Allen was sitting by his lonesome at Spago's bar (Forum Shops at Caesars) at lunchtime Thursday eating a quesadilla ...

Faces: Eddie George and Terry Bradshaw had dinner (separately) with large groups at Charlie Palmer Steak Thursday night, while Jeremy Giambi dined alone at the bar.

From Sun wires

Let's make a deal: European soccer superstar David Beckham -- who's becoming as well known for tabloid rumors of extramarital affairs as for soccer heroics -- found himself in a smoother situation Thursday: an estimated $10 million deal to hawk Gillette razors globally.

For Gillette, the three-year deal comes at a time when rival Schick has gained ground on it for the first time in years.

For Beckham, who is married to former Spice Girl Victoria "Posh" Beckham, the deal brings him a step closer to inhabiting the multimillion-dollar sports marketing territory once limited to Michael Jordan and Woods. Beckham's already got lucrative global gigs with Pepsi, Adidas and Vodafone.

Harry situation: Harry Potter may never grow up.

Daniel Radcliffe, who stars as the daring schoolboy wizard, said today that Harry may die in the last book of J.K. Rowling's magical series.

"I'm going to be really unpopular for saying this about Harry, but I've always had the suspicion -- with everything that's going on -- that he might die," Radcliffe, 14, told a London news conference to promote the third film of Rowling's series, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."

Rowling has remained silent about the fate of Harry in the seventh and final book. But with each new installment, Rowling reveals more connections between the character and his archenemy, the evil Lord Voldemort.

"Harry and Voldemort have the same core in them, we get to see that in the fourth film," Radcliffe said. "The only way Voldemort could die is if Harry dies as well."