Las Vegas Weekly

July 17, 2008 · 3:04 PM

A final look at Spamalot’s well-worn wares

By John Katsilometes

Tiffany Cleaners co-owner Judy Del Rossi examines the Lady of the Lake's attire.

Photo: John Katsilometes

Whenever I air my dirty laundry at Tiffany Cleaners, I play catch-up with owners Dan and Judy Del Rossi. This is how I know that Dan is a onetime pinball wizard, and how they know to talk to me before they ever go handgun shopping.

This week, Judy ask what I’d been up to, and I told her I’d just covered the closing of Monty Python’s Spamalot from the orchestra pit at the Spam theater at Wynn Las Vegas. Her eyes lit up.

“What a coincidence!” Judy said, or, rather, exclaimed. “They just dropped off their costumes!” Tiffany, which boasts that it is the city’s only couture cleaner, has been a family business at the Commercial Center on East Sahara Avenue since 1973. Over the years, Tiffany has cleaned the garments of such Vegas luminaries as Liberace, Wayne Newton and flamboyant Vegas attorney James “Bucky” Buchanan. The Producers are former customers; Wayne Brady and the cast of Jersey Boys are still on board. Cirque is also frequent customer – for a time Tiffany cleaned the costumes from Love at The Mirage, and still handles KA.

“This is the last shipment from Spamalot. These shows come and go – look at The Producers,” Judy said. “Our regular customers keep us going.” But we did get a final look at the dozens of costumes that will be doled out to some other production of Spamalot, most likely in London. “These are beautiful, beautiful pieces,” Dan said. They’re heavy, too. The heavily beaded green dress worn by The Lady of the Lake must weigh 100 pounds. “So much work went into these,” Dan said while grabbing the reversible Lady of the Lake blue/white wedding gown. “It was an honor to work on them, that’s for sure.”

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