Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.
Steve Wynn has said on numerous occasions that he must achieve new levels of sophistication in the development of Le Reve in order to meet the expectations of the public.
At the opening of the 59th annual National Association of Home Builders International Builders' Show Tuesday, Wynn told nearly 7,000 people that he also intends to set the bar high in the area of entertainment.
Wynn's NAHB keynote address was the climax of a two-hour production show kicking off the four-day convention that will bring 75,000 people to Las Vegas. The show, which includes presentations by more than 400 speakers on a variety of housing and development issues and more than 1 million square feet of exhibits in a trade show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, runs through Friday.
The opening ceremony, staged at the Aladdin Theatre of the Performing Arts, was part information and part entertainment, with performances by singing impressionist Bob Anderson, magician Rick Thomas, a Cirque du Soleil troupe and a 29-piece orchestra enthusing the convention crowd before Wynn took the stage to discuss his $2.4 billion hotel-casino project under construction at the former Desert Inn site.
It was Wynn's association with Franco Dragone that led to the development of Cirque du Soleil's "Mystere" show at Treasure Island, the second of Wynn's three Strip properties.
"We knew we had to take things to another level," Wynn said in describing the bid to conceptualize Le Reve. "We have gone for the 'Wow!' in some of our other projects, with an erupting volcano, a sea battle and fountains of water that dance. On this project, we're not going to go for a 'Wow!' but for an 'Ahh,' " he said.
To get the "Ahh" he wants, Wynn said he is relying on the personal relationships he has developed over his career, and that means going back to Dragone, who also developed the Cirque du Soleil show "O" at Bellagio.
Wynn said Le Reve would have $100 million dome-shaped venue for a Dragone-produced Cirque show. The 2,080-seat showroom will be round with a stage in the center.
Casino analysts have considered Dragone's participation in the project as part of Wynn's formula for success. In a recent report, Bear Stearns' Jason Ader noted that Dragone was the original producer of "O" and that Dragone associates are developing singer Celine Dion's new production at Caesars Palace's soon-to-open 4,000-seat Colosseum showroom venue.
Cirque du Soleil, a French Canadian performance company, recently signed show deals with MGM MIRAGE to develop presentations at the MGM Grand and New York-New York.
"We asked, 'How do you involve the audience with the performance?' What we want to do is have the show in front of you, behind you, around you," Wynn said. "We want the audience to be enveloped," he said, explaining that he doesn't care for the word "interactive" to describe the experience.
The concept of being on the inside, looking out at the performance is also reflective of the way the hotel itself is being designed. Wynn described how Le Reve -- French for "the dream" -- will appear from the Strip as a 150-foot man-made mountain, leaving the interior hidden.
From the inside, he said, guests will be able to look upon a man-made lake and a 50-foot waterfall that is 100 feet wide. The waterfall would become a staging point for choreographed multimedia presentations and Wynn described a "dream experience" with a projection of a flower on the waterfall to classical music by Rachmaninoff.
In previous public appearances, Wynn has described the hotel side of Le Reve's mountain incorporating hidden alcoves with restaurants and retail locations and rooms along a curved facade facing the faux lake.
"Las Vegas has never had any real geographic or natural beauty, just a desert," Wynn said. "It was all about entertainment and its ability to stimulate you."
Wynn said having key points of interest to people inside the property will create an aura of mystery that will be irresistible to visitors. The concept is a departure from previous Wynn properties that have used an entertainment experience to attract people outside the building to go inside -- an erupting volcano at The Mirage, a theatrical battle between pirates and the British navy at Treasure Island and choreographed fountains at Bellagio.
Wynn mesmerized the audience of builders with a story of the first test of the fountains at Bellagio. He explained that a few months before the property was to open, technicians were still having problems with the computerized show that blends fountains that erupt like geysers with others that simulate dance movements with a musical backdrop.
He explained how his team decided to test the system with Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain."
"I told them to turn it up really loud," Wynn recalled. "Early in the morning, you could hear 'Singing in the Rain' up and down the Strip. When people walking along a temporary sidewalk heard the music, they pressed their faces up against the chain-link fence to get a look at (the fountains). When it was over, several hundred of them cheered and applauded."
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