Siegfried & Roy: The Campest Act Of All Time

Siegfried & Roy are two names that simply just belong together, don’t they? The combination simply rolls off the tongue, and the proudly ostentatious duo cemented their place in history for a variety of reasons. 

The crowning achievement of Siegfried Fischbacher and Uwe Ludwig ‘Roy’ Horn was, of course, creating one of the campest and most dramatic magic and illusion theatre shows in the history of Las Vegas.

They made elephants vanish into thin air, and suspended tigers on flaming disco balls above dumbstruck crowds. They were bigger, louder, more dazzling and mind-boggling than anything else on the planet. Flamboyance manifest.

They also cemented themselves in the cultural zeitgeist when Roy was mauled by one of the tigers they used in their show, Mantacore, a majestic Himalayan white tiger.

The pair once famously claimed they had tamed their jungle cats so well that they would sleep in their bed, cuddling up next to them at night in their penthouse suite at the MGM Mirage.

Were those flamboyant magicians lovers or friends? 

The LGBTQIA+ community long considered Siegfried & Roy cultural icons of the community. While their relationship was never a secret, per se (at least, perhaps, not a particularly well-kept one) it feels like it was often ignored or pushed down.

Tabloids ran interviews with headlines like ‘WE’RE GAY!’, and yet, the pair were always coy to the media about it, alluding but never quite confirming.

In a 1999 Vanity Fair interview, Siegfried skilfully dodged the question, but in the same interview, a close friend of the pair acknowledged their romantic involvement.

On the night of the ill-fated tiger attack, reporter Steve Friess wrote for The Advocate that they asked Mirage spokesperson Alan Feldman if Siegfried and Roy were together. “It’s well-known that they were lovers at one time,” shrugged Feldman. “I don’t think anybody is hiding that.” 

It was always just kind of known, or assumed, that Siegfried and Roy were more than business partners. The pair passed away within a year of one another, as soulmates are wont to do: Horn, 75, died of COVID-19 in May 2020, and his beloved Siegfried, 81, died of pancreatic cancer. 

Despite the duo never officially ‘coming out’ for the peak of their career, between the emotional and affectionate public connection of the showmen, and the ultimate campness of their act, the LGBTQIA+ community claimed them as ours. We knew.

But how did two poor magicians who grew up in war-torn Germany become the biggest and highest-paid act in Sin City history? (No mean feat, when you consider the enormous paychecks that icons like Cher and Britney Spears have received for Vegas residencies.)

Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera

The brand-new Australian opera, Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera, seeks to answer that very question, making its World Premiere at this year’s Sydney Festival. 

With Siegfried being played by Christopher Tonkin (Faust, La Bohème) and Roy by Kanen Breen (Opera Australia’s Hamlet, The Marriage of Figaro), this epic new opera has live magic, powerhouse vocals, and a ‘guest appearance’ by Mantacore.

The show has plenty of tricks up its bedazzled-to-the-brim (costuming is by none other than Oscar-winning designer Tim Chappel, of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert fame) sleeves.

The performance is brought to life by New York-trained composer and co-librettist Luke Di Somma (The Unruly Tourists) and maverick director and co-librettist Constantine Costi (Il Tabarro, Sydney Festival 2024).

The opera relies on playful, even dark humour — they even use the duo’s infamous tiger attack as its marketing tagline, reminiscent of a punchline a drag queen might make about the iconic duo: ‘Sink your teeth into it.’ 

Ultimately, between the long-held seat at the table of the LGBTQIA+ community that Siegfried and Roy held, the inherent campness of their act, and the vibrant costuming and theatricality of this opera — well, let’s just say there may be calls for Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera to continue their run through to Mardi Gras.

Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera is on from 8 – 25 January, 2025 as a part of the Sydney Festival. You can learn more and buy tickets at sydneyfestival.org.au.