A friend currently performing in a Vegas show says that the number one question being asked there is no longer, "Do you want insurance?" but "Have you heard any news about Roy?" Many answers abound, ranging from "It's better than they're reporting" to "It's much, much worse." What seems pretty certain is that the "Siegfried and Roy" show is closed indefinitely and no one's betting that it will ever reopen. Beyond the obvious tragedy here, it's sad to think about how many lives this accident has impacted. Most of the 150-180 people who worked on the show are suddenly unemployed at a time when no other show is hiring.
So far, I haven't seen any of the news stories mention that Dreamworks is deep in production on a CGI-animated series for NBC called Father of the Pride, all about a family of white lions who appear in the Siegfried and Roy show in Las Vegas. I have no idea if it'll be abandoned or altered but obviously, the lives of those working on that program will be impacted, as well. In fact, the ripples may reach anyone anywhere who's involved with dangerous performing animals. There are even silly but significant concerns: Someone on Late Night With Conan O'Brien is probably checking Monday night's rerun episode to make sure there's no Siegfried and Roy gay joke in there.
Years ago, I heard someone talking about what it meant to do a good job running a business…any business. He said, "One measure of being a good executive is to make sure that if you get hit by a car tonight, someone could walk in tomorrow morning and begin doing your job and keeping the company functioning." It probably doesn't work that way all the time in most industries but it almost never works that way in show business.