Streisand, Sinatra among luminary likenesses at Times Square Tussaud's

Frank Sinatra   Mahatma Gandhi, left, Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama   Harrison Ford and Meryl Streep   Liz Smith and Larry King

In this story: All-star affair World leaders coexist RELATED STORIES, SITES

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Madame Tussaud, peacemaker?

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, New York's prickly mayor, once had Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat booted from Lincoln Center, but the two leaders are now happily ensconced under one roof at the latest branch of the famed Madame Tussaud's wax museum.

Opening to the public on Wednesday -- with a gala slated for November 15 -- the newest Madame Tussaud's has trained its spotlights on a host of New York denizens and themes, starting with its "Opening Night Party."

Set in an Italian baroque garden, eerily lifelike wax versions of Woody Allen, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand, Yoko Ono and Brad Pitt mingle or hold court.

And with tongues firmly tucked into their wax cheeks, the folks at the Times Square Madame Tussaud's have assembled their roster of stars in a manner sure to stoke gossip.

"We want to be a little bit camp, and slightly off-kilter," Tussaud's U.S. development director Tony Peluso told Reuters. "It's got to be fun."

So while Gov. George Pataki might stand with fellow Republican Giuliani, his interest seems to lie elsewhere, with his gaze directed at Ivana Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump. The real estate mogul might be sidled up to Ted Turner, but he's keeping a wary eye on his ex.

CNN's Larry King hangs with gossip maven Liz Smith, while a bemused Woody Allen sits alone at a table in a corner. A lonely Streisand also braves the soiree solo, perched by a fountain.

Presiding over the entire scene is RuPaul, arguably the world's most famous drag queen, on a shell in the middle of the fountain.

Peluso said the museum tries to work closely with all its subjects. But he conceded they have little say as to where or with whom they are positioned.

Most, including Trump and Princess Diana, have a personal sitting where hundreds of measurements are taken, clothing is discussed and often donated, and poses are considered.

Others, such as Allen, cooperate by sending the museum information about themselves. If no clothing is donated, the museum works with designers on copies of the subject's duds.

But no one, Peluso said, has ever objected to the manner in which they were depicted.

After mingling with Harrison Ford, John Travolta, Cher and a host of other A-list stars, visitors move on to a gallery featuring world leaders, followed by a popular culture exhibit depicting everyone from Michael Jackson and Diana Ross to Babe Ruth and Charlie Chaplin.

And politics plainly plays no role. With world leaders ranging from Gandhi and the Dalai Lama to Arafat, Malcolm X and Fidel Castro, it's a place where the mayor will have to settle for peaceful coexistence.

The original Madame Tussaud escaped the French Revolution's guillotine by agreeing to traipse through graveyards gathering severed heads to make death masks of the executed.

Madame Tussaud first established a permanent home for her traveling exhibition of revolutionary relics and effigies of public figures in 1835 in London, where it is now the city's top tourist attraction with more than 2.5 million visitors per year. Other branches are in Amsterdam, Las Vegas and Hong Kong.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Madame Tussaud's - New York

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