The Siegfried & Roy show likely won't go on
Mon Oct 6, 6:05 AM ET
By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY
Big, beautiful cats made Siegfried & Roy household names. Now half of the famous duo is fighting for his life, and their Las Vegas show is in doubt.
Two days after illusionist Roy Horn was attacked by a white tiger as an audience watched in horror, those involved with the show are facing the very real possibility that, if Horn recovers, the show might not.
Horn's condition, listed Sunday as critical but stable, is severe enough that the show's cast and crew were summoned for a meeting Saturday night. They were told "no one can guarantee that the show will be performed again," says Alan Feldman, spokesman for the Mirage hotel, where Siegfried and Roy have done more than 5,000 shows. "The likelihood is, it won't."
The show is officially closed till at least Christmas. Feldman says tickets for the $100-a-seat shows had been sold out for 30 to 45 performances; all money will be refunded.
In the incident, a 7-year-old, 600-pound tiger named Montecore lunged at Horn and dragged him offstage by the neck, barely missing Horn's carotid artery. Horn, 59, is on a ventilator and is able to respond to voices and touch, according to the Associated Press. Though Horn had quipped on stage that it was the tiger's first night, that was simply a line in the act.
The tiger, now under a 10-day quarantine required by law, won't be destroyed. Asked how Siegfried Fischbacher, Roy's partner of more than 40 years, was holding up, Feldman said: "He's been stalwart, at Roy's side from the moment it happened. Siegfried is, like Roy, an extraordinary man."
In Vegas, where many reporters have flocked to the scene, "there's a huge sense of shock," says Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor, a consumer newsletter. "The news is all over the airwaves. Nobody expected anything like this to happen." Feldman says that before Friday, Horn and Fischbacher had received no more than "nicks and scrapes" in the act.
If the show closes for good, it would mean the end of an era's most conspicuous symbol. "Siegfried & Roy is the show really tied to the new Las Vegas," Curtis says. "The old Las Vegas was basically about gambling and buffets and headliners. Siegfried & Roy brought the concept of a production show, with spectacle, into the forefront. Things like Cirque du Soleil followed, and the production show usurped the headliner."
The Mirage could, of course, be hurt by the loss of its attraction. Feldman could not give exact statistics on how much the show earns for the hotel. "The business of this is so secondary, anyway. We're all just praying that Roy will recover and be able to enjoy the best quality of life possible."
Siegfried & Roy Show Canceled Indefinitely
Mon Oct 6, 8:36 AM ET
By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writer
LAS VEGAS - Fans and employees of the Siegfried & Roy show held a candelight vigil as famed performer Roy Horn remained in critical condition Monday after being mauled by a tiger, and the show has been canceled indefinitely, officials said.
About 200 people stood outside the hospital at University Medical Center Sunday night, where Horn, 59, is being treated. He suffered a severe wound to his neck when the 7-year-old male tiger named Montecore attacked Friday night in front of hundreds of people. Officials said Sunday he had improved and could move his hands and feet.
With the show's future uncertain, about 267 employees are out of a job.
MGM Mirage officials said the show was "closed indefinitely." They added that even if Horn recovers, it's unclear whether he would ever be able to perform again in the rigorous show.
"We are not going to sugarcoat this," MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said.
Show employees were wondering if the company would pay out the rest of their contracts.
"We are worried about him, but we also basically lost our jobs," said 42-year-old Mary Bryan, a single mother who worked with the acrobats. "We gave this show our heart and soul. It's awful we have to think about money at a time like this."
MGM Mirage officials have promised to help employees land new jobs.
Without the show, the fate of the tigers is also unknown. Montecore continues to be quarantined at the hotel, officials said.
Horn had never been injured during a show before, "not a scratch, not by an animal," said Bernie Yuman, the pair's longtime manager, who added none of the 63 exotic cats "have ever shown aggression on stage."
Horn, along with longtime partner Siegfried Fischbacher, have been a staple on the Las Vegas Strip for years, performing their magic show to sold-out crowds at The Mirage since 1990.
The illusionists, who put on one of the most well-known and expensive Las Vegas shows with their signature white tigers and lions, signed a lifetime contract with the resort in 2001.
The German-born pair perform six shows a week, 44 weeks per year and have been onstage in Las Vegas for more than 35 years. They have done about 5,700 shows since coming The Mirage in 1990.
Magician Roy Horn Gives Thumbs Up After Mauling
Sun Oct 5, 8:11 PM ET
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Famed Las Vegas magician Roy Horn of the "Siegfried and Roy" duo on Sunday signaled thumb's up after a second surgery to relieve pressure on his brain, two days after being savagely mauled by a white tiger during a performance, according to a family friend.
Horn remained in critical but stable condition at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, about two miles north of the Mirage hotel-casino.
A 600-pound seven-year-old male tiger grabbed the performer's forearm about halfway into the Friday night show at the Mirage, witnesses said.
When Horn tried to fend the tiger off with his microphone -- hitting the animal in the face and saying "no, no" -- it lunged and bit him on the neck and dragged him offstage, causing massive bleeding, they said.
Handlers sprayed the tiger with a fire extinguisher to separate him from Roy, who was conscious when he was rushed from the hotel to undergo about two hours of surgery.
Even as he was being attacked by the tiger, he showed concern for the audience by trying to remain calm and not do anything that might provoke the tiger to attack anyone else. As Horn was being led away by paramedics, he said: "Don't kill the cat," according to Amy Fink, a family friend who came by the hospital after the surgery.
Fink was one of 600 people who attended Horn's birthday party Thursday evening in a showroom at the Mirage. The entertainer turned 59 on Friday.
Late Saturday night, Siegfried and Roy's longtime manager announced the S&R spectacle, as they called it, would be suspended indefinitely. Everyone who works for the show was told they should probably look for a job somewhere else.
COMMUNICATING WITH HIS EYES
"We didn't want to lead them to think this would resolve in the next day or two, week or two, or month or two," said Alan Feldman, a spokesman for MGM Mirage .
Lynette Chapelle, one of the stars of the Siegfried & Roy show, said Horn has communicated with doctors and friends despite being on heavy medication and in critical condition from the neck wound. He communicates with his eyes, squeezes hands and can make some sounds, she said.
Penn Jillette, of the magic act Penn & Teller, was among those who have visited the hospital in past 24 hours to show support. "They devised this bigger than life thing," Jillette said. "His job, he's the best at it there ever was. You could never read the danger in his face."
S&R cast members and other Las Vegas entertainers plan to hold a vigil at the hospital this evening.
"I think time is a good thing," Horn spokesman David Kirvin said, saying his survival after two days is a "positive" sign.
"The doctors are encouraged that he will recover, but it will be several days until the full extent of his injury is known," Kirvin said in an interview on Saturday.
Horn's partner, 64-year-old Siegfried Fischbacher, spent most of Friday night and early Saturday at the hospital, Kirvin said. "He is shocked and devastated," he said.
There had been no previous attacks in the more than 5,000 shows the two men have performed at the hotel, said Bernie Yuman, manager for "Siegfried and Roy."
"The last place Roy would place blame would be with the animal," Yuman said on Saturday.
White tigers and lions are a trademark of the German-born illusionists, who have been putting on one of the most famous shows in Las Vegas for more than 30 years and performing at the Mirage for 14 years.
Horn, born in Nordenham, Germany, and Fischbacher, of Rosenheim, Germany, have performed worldwide since meeting in 1959.
Doctors cautiously optimistic about magician's condition after tiger attack
Mon Oct 6, 8:02 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Hope emerged for entertainer Roy Horn, part of the legendary "Siegfried and Roy" duo who is fighting for his life after being attacked by a tiger on a Las Vegas stage.
Optimism about a possible recovery from his serious wounds came more than two days after the 59-year-old German-born illusionist was mauled and bitten in the throat by a rare white Bengal tiger during the duo's blockbuster show.
"We are embarking on the third day and Roy continues to stay stable and doctors are cautiously optimistic about his condition," said his manager of 28 years, Bernie Yuman.
"He remains critical," but "he is communicating with us... he is communicating with the doctors," he told reporters at Las Vegas' University Medical Center, where Horn was taken after the savage attack.
His partner of more than four decades, Siegfried Fischbacher, was at Horn's side, Yuman said. The pair's famed show at the MGM Mirage Hotel in the desert gambling hub has been cancelled indefinitely, and cast and crew have been told they are free to look for other jobs.
The seven-year-old tiger 'Montecore' lunged at the showman, who lives and works with a menagerie of wild animals, after he tapped him with a microphone, witnesses said.
"We don't know what precipitated the attack and frankly we may never know, but the tiger lunged at Roy and he sustained a very serious injury to the left side of his neck," Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said Saturday.
Horn suffered huge blood loss and needed three hours of emergency surgery to save his life when he arrived at the hospital, Feldman and ambulance crew said.
"We couldn't stop the bleeding, only the operation could have done that," Southwest Ambulance Service managing director Brian Rogers told AFP.
In nearly half a century of performing, the pair had never been attacked by any of the wild animals that co-star in their show, Feldman said.
Siegfried and Roy -- both of whom were born in Germany -- have become fixtures of the Las Vegas scene and are known across the world for their extravagant costumes and daring stunts with wild animals.
The famous illusionists perform eight shows a week in a 1,504-seat theater that bears their name at the Mirage, which holds a lifetime contract with them.
The rare white tigers, which the men raise from cubs, are a signature part of their act.
ok people sorry to break the news to you but he was NOT ATTACKED. he slipped off stage and his tiger being loyal went to his aid and jumped making it look like an attack and went to go recover his master. why'll doig this the tiger tried to pick him up by his neck and having such masive teeth it caused a pierce and bled him. i just wanted you all to know. i know this for a fact becuase its not only in newspapers now but he said it himself in an interview he had on 60 min. thank you
Hey Luigi wake up and smell the coffee bub. PEOPLE! There has been 38 people who viewed this thread....duh. lol. Not only 3 people. Man get a life dude. Plus if you knew how to read it says different things everytime. Why dont you read the post before asking if its the same thing. I didnt even have to read it 4 times all you have to do it read the last word on each post. Now again "people" thank you.
