Las Vegas Weekly

February 27, 2009 · 11:59 AM

Siegfried & Roy to make magic again for one final time

By Robin Leach

Siegfried & Roy with Larry Ruvo at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in downtown Las Vegas.

Photo: Courtesy

It’s now just hours to the final and reunion performance for Siegfried & Roy. Tomorrow night, they will cap their more than 40-year career with one last performance so they can officially say goodbye. They penned a special note for the 1,000 guests attending the Keep Memory Alive gala at the Bellagio:

“Our friends: It is what we know, so let us talk about magic. For more than 40 years, we have urged everyone to seek out the magic that surrounds all of us. The kind of magic that took two young Germans from humble backgrounds on a life-long odyssey to stages around the world and finally to Las Vegas, where we became known around the globe for making the impossible possible.

“The kind of magic that inspired an entrepreneur and a small group of his friends to create a place where the best doctors come to study and treat those afflicted by brain disease. In Las Vegas? Yes, Las Vegas, they said. Of course, Las Vegas. Larry Ruvo then convinced one of history’s greatest architects, Frank Gehry, to design the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute. It is a true testament to our belief that, in magic, anything is possible.

“There is magic here tonight. Any time a group comes together to make our city a better place, there is magic. We are happy to be a part of this evening, this effort and this great cause.

“For one last time we say “SARMOTI” (Siegfried & Roy Masters of the Impossible)”.

Wolfgang Puck, Todd English, David Robins, Martin Heierling and Jean-Philippe Maury have masterminded the gala chefs dinner, with contributions from Eric Ripert and Nobu Matsuhisa. We’ll have our live auction which Christian Kolberg, and I will emcee; about 10 p.m., the curtain will go up for the last public magic performance of Siegfried & Roy.

Said Roy: “We didn’t get the opportunity to say goodbye properly before, so this will be it. One very magical moment.”

I must just personally add how pleased I was yesterday to see that our County Traffic Department has changed all the Frontage Road signs alongside I-215 and that it is now officially known as Roy Horn Way -- just in time for tomorrow’s memorable event.

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