Las Vegas Weekly

December 24, 2009 · 1:57 PM

Viva Elvis Part 4: Robert Sillerman says Las Vegas is ‘under Elvised’

By Robin Leach

Robert Sillerman at Cirque du Soleil's Viva Elvis at Aria in CityCenter on Dec. 15, 2009.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Media tycoon Robert F.X. Sillerman is the mastermind behind the decision to bring the King of Rock and Roll back to Las Vegas. The normally reclusive billionaire, who is ranked 375th on the Forbes 400 Richest Americans List, is rarely photographed and almost never gives interviews. But as head of Elvis Presley Enterprises, which his entertainment conglomerate CKX owns (it also owns the worldwide American Idol franchise), Robert engineered the partnership with Cirque du Soleil nearly four years ago.

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and his executive production team recently joined with Priscilla Presley to unveil an 18-minute sneak preview of Viva Elvis in its new theater in Aria at CityCenter, and Robert suddenly found himself in the spotlight but nixed all interview requests.

However, I’ve met the mogul on previous occasions, and he agreed to talk freely with me:

“It makes perfect sense that Elvis should live on in Las Vegas, where his iconic status was cemented. When we teamed with Cirque du Soleil, we knew that any show they created would match Elvis’ larger-than-life presence. So we were pleased to open the vaults at Graceland and make available all the historic archival materials, recordings and concert footage that would help them create a show that will carry Elvis’ legacy into the future. Some of it had remained totally private all those years.

Robert told me he believes that Las Vegas is “under Elvised.” “There’s a lot we are doing to bring more Elvis to Vegas. This is only the beginning.” He confirmed that he still owns Strip land opposite CityCenter entrances that he’d originally earmarked for an Elvis-themed hotel.

“Obviously, with the economy, that plan has been changed, but although the hotel is on ice, we are seriously looking at it for other Elvis Presley businesses -- maybe a museum of his memorabilia, maybe something else. But it will be used at some point for him,” Robert told me. “I think first we’re proceeding with new Elvis movies. My partner is Simon Fuller. We bought his company 19. He has produced great creative ideas for many superstars, and he’s working with me on more Vegas for Elvis.”

Here’s my exclusive chat with Robert, who I last met on opening night of the Mel Brooks musical The Producers that he bankrolled here at the Paris.

Robert Sillerman: I saw the very first presentation of The Producers -- just with a piano. I sat next to Mel’s wonderful wife Anne (Bancroft). We saw its first incarnation, and it was chilling 18 months before it even reached Broadway. What we saw then probably was 70 or 80 percent what ultimately went on to Broadway to win the most Tonys ever. When I saw the run-through of Viva Elvis two months before the scheduled opening, I had the same feeling. It may have been an even bigger feeling.

Photo: TVT

Robert Sillerman, Priscilla Presley and Gilles Ste-Croix.

Robin Leach: There’s something very unique about this Viva Elvis show. I thought it was great that you see him in photos and video but not portrayed by an impersonator.

RS: That is true. We have been asked many times to do a biopic of Elvis, and our people have said, “Don’t you want it to define Elvis?” I have always thought that Elvis meant something different to everybody. So we don’t need to, and in fact it’s probably a disservice because your and my particular moment in time were made different in relating to Elvis. This show lets people transcend their inner Elvis to what he means to them. It is very interesting because I sat with some kids who obviously had never seen Elvis, and of course heard his music, and they had of course the same reaction. They had a personal definition.

RL: It’s already been called a double-super-sized song-and-dance show, and that’s what we need in Vegas now!

RS: Yes, with acrobatics that cannot be done anywhere else. That is the majesty of Cirque, and this is a little bit of an extension for them because it is not relying just on performers that can do things nobody else can do. It lets the music of Elvis and lets the archival material of Elvis wow the audience. That is a good director.

RL: You said you would produce new Elvis movies in the future?

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Robin Leach interviews Robert Sillerman at the media preview of Cirque du Soleil's Viva Elvis at Aria in CityCenter on Dec. 15, 2009.

RS: In time, there will be different Elvis movies in the future. Well, for instance, one movie that tells about his life will be segmented when he rose to fame in an explosive time and a pivotal time in American history in the ’50s. That in itself is a movie.

RL: So Elvis would be portrayed in the movies by different actors for the different ages and eras? One Elvis for the ’50s and a different Elvis in the ’70s?

RS: It will be because Elvis in Las Vegas is a very interesting story in it of itself. Elvis had a comeback special in 1968, and everything that went into that is a movie in itself because 1968 was a tumultuous time in this country. These movies are in the works. They are not scripted, yet but we are far along on the first one. That would be the Elvis story of the ’50s.

RL: Is the movie studio deal already in place?

RS: I don’t know about the inner workings of Hollywood, but when someone says yes, we are doing this, in my world that means we are doing it. Perhaps that is not the same in Hollywood, but I know I will live to see the day when we have these new Elvis movies in the theaters.

RL: How far away do you think?

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Robin Leach and Robert Sillerman at the media preview of Cirque du Soleil's Viva Elvis at Aria in CityCenter on Dec. 15, 2009.

RS: We are very serious about it, and one of the wonderful things about CKX is that my partner Simon Fuller is a visionary -- he talks the same way you do! He is a visionary who can imagine the past as well as the future, so he is hard at work on it to the point of casting, the directors and writers.

RL: Was this important for Elvis to come home to Vegas first live with the Cirque show in order for the movies to follow?

RS: I think this is the natural sequence to it. I think that showing Elvis’ broad appeal, to those who grew up with him and to the kids now being exposed to him for the first time, in fact to everybody is an important affirmation of Elvis. We’re not going to do a biographical story. Its appeal will be that it’s a story about someone who changed culture in the world and you will feel that in the movies.

RL: I am intrigued as to what Priscilla felt and said after she saw it for the first time.

RS: She said to me that it was all so real, moving and emotional that she simply cried. That was the first thing she said, and that may be all the validation that was needed. She knew him better than anybody else. So it means the essence of Elvis was captured correctly. The larger-than-life phenomenon that he was was captured on the Cirque stage.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Cirque du Soleil gives a sneak preview of Viva Elvis at CityCenter's Aria Resort & Casino on Dec. 15, 2009.

RL: So at this stage with previews underway, you feel good about this?

RS: Yes, I do. One of the great things about Cirque is that they are always working and tweaking, and I would venture to say -- I don’t know percentages -- that the show is 75 percent or 90 percent. We both have two months, and there is no doubt things will evolve and improve from even the great shape it is already. This show is the first of many new Elvis projects for the next decade. Absolutely!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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