Las Vegas Weekly

February 26, 2009 · 6 AM

Morning Call: Siegfried & Roy ‘totally ready’ for fundraiser, farewell surprise

By Robin Leach

Siegfried & Roy.

Photo: Kirvin Doak Communications

It’s the return to magic that some said would never happen! Even the surgeons and medical specialists said that illusionist Roy Horn had died, not once but three times, on the operating table. When part of his swelling brain was removed and inserted into the wall of his stomach for safe keeping for several months during his recovery, experts said he would never walk again.

“He has the will and the strength of a thousand men,” Bernie Yuman, Siegfried & Roy’s longtime manager, told me several times. “He will not rest until he has made the impossible possible.”

Now we’re just 48 hours away from curtain up on the return of Siegfried & Roy: an extraordinary, one-night-only experience. More than 1,000 donors who have contributed a staggering $75,000 a table to the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute “Keep Memory Alive” charity dinner at the Bellagio will be eyewitnesses.

The rehearsals have been completed successfully. ABC’s 20/20 host Elizabeth Vargas has completed her TV interviews. Siegfried & Roy are “totally ready” to return to the stage for the first time since October 2003 when Roy was injured by one of his tigers, 7-year-old Montecore.

It is a modern-day miracle and a story of tenacity and will power that defies all the odds. “Roy simply refused to die. Roy simply refused to give up. Roy simply defied everything the doctors ever said,” added Siegfried.

Roy told me recently when they toured the Frank Gehry-designed Lou Ruvo Brain Institute downtown: “This is the goodbye we never were able to say. This is the farewell we wanted to make. Our duty now is to give back to the community that gave us so many gifts and so much love over the years. We are very much committed to the amazing work being done and the successes that will be achieved here.” Click HERE for our story and photos, and click HERE for our video.

Siegfried & Roy’s decision to make the return began with a lunch I had with Siegfried in Spago in November 2007. I asked him to encourage Roy to agree to perform at a return reunion to benefit Keep Memory Alive. “It’s impossible,” Siegfried said. “It can’t ever happen.” I persisted, and he promised to discuss it with Roy. Three weeks later, I got a phone call saying they were no longer thinking it was impossible. Last February at the “Keep Memory Alive” gala, Siegfried stood on a chair and promised the crowd that this February “we will be back.”

This Saturday, one more incredible step in Roy’s recovery will take place with a brief “moment of magic.” I can’t give you a hint of what they plan to do, except that it will be one amazing and incredible comeback. I will go on record as saying that when they take their final applause and standing ovation, there will not be a dry eye in the house. ABC will broadcast the event as a 20/20 special March 6.

Among the stars walking the red carpet with Siegfried & Roy and yours truly will be Hilary Duff, Danny DeVito, Teri Hatcher, Steve Schirripa, Lorraine Bracco, Frank Gehry, Wolfgang Puck, Todd English, Jean-Philippe Maury, Martin Heirling and, as a welcome to Vegas, the 16 ladies from the new Peep Show opening at Planet Hollywood next month.

Other stars have contributed auction items as part of the fundraiser, and all week Vegas Deluxe has listed highlights. Here’s today’s attractions: One winning bidder and three friends will have VIP seats at the finale of this season’s American Idol at the Nokia Theater in L.A. in mid-May and will meet judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Kara Dioguardi. Cher has donated four front-row tickets to her show at Caesars Palace and an opportunity to meet her backstage! And Judge Judy will take a winning foursome to lunch after a tour of her TV courtroom!

Check out www.keepmemoryalive.org for tickets and a final look at all the auction items up for bid on CharityBuzz. We’ll have the full report here at Vegas Deluxe on Sunday and Monday.

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