Siegfried & Roy’s Unlikely Vegas Revival

• Siegfried & Roy are on the cusp of a surge back into pop culture
• A new Apple TV series is filming around Vegas and their former bronze statue from the Mirage will be re-unveiled this spring by the Neon Museum
• The resurgence is surprising considering America’s changing attitudes toward wild animal shows
  

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Siegfried & Roy are on the cusp of an unlikely surge back into pop culture — more than 20 years after their final magic show and three since either of them was still alive.

“Wild Things,” An Apple TV miniseries about the magic duo, has been filming around town since last month — with actors Jude Law (Siegfried) and Andrew Garfield (Roy) photographed shooting scenes in the title roles.

In addition, a full-on celebration of Siegfried & Roy’s legacy was announced by the Neon Museum on Friday. On April 24, the bronze likeness of the pair that once fronted the Mirage is scheduled for a re-unveiling.

The 17-foot statue, featuring Siegfried & Roy’s busts peering over a white tiger, was first unveiled by Mirage founder Steve Wynn in 1993.

The sculpture was gifted to the nonprofit museum by Siegfried & Roy’s estate and Hard Rock Hotel International, which purchased the Mirage from MGM Resorts in 2022 and is currently transforming it into the Hard Rock Las Vegas and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas. It was transported to the museum last year.

Tickets will be available to the public for the unveiling, which will feature Neon Museum and local officials and celebrities telling Siegfried & Roy stories as part of the “Vegas Voices” speaker series.

Lions and Tigers and Comebacks, Oh My!

The Siegfried & Roy renaissance is surprising considering that the removal of their statue last year — and of their Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat a year before — were seen by many as symbolic of America’s changing attitudes toward captive animals as sources of entertainment.

When Siegfried & Roy’s last surviving lions and so-called “Royal White Bengal Tigers” (a name they made up to cover up their cruel inbreeding) left Las Vegas for sanctuaries in July 2023, it was the first time the Strip was without a single exotic cat appearing, performing or residing there since 1967.

“Forcing tigers and other big cats to perform demeaning tricks and displaying them in cramped enclosures next to a hectic, noisy casino denies these complex, naturally far-ranging animals any semblance of a normal life,” a PETA spokesperson told Casino.org last year. “PETA applauds Sin City for closing the curtain on big cat shows.”

One more element of Siegfried & Roy’s legacy is also expected to be stripped from the former Mirage.

Siegfried & Roy Drive, the access road formerly leading from Las Vegas Boulevard to the main Mirage entrance, will be renamed “Mirage Drive” when the Hard Rock opens in the fourth quarter of 2027 — at least that’s the working title of the street listed on Hard Rock transition filings and internal planning documents.