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Las Vegas Strip headliner taking revue beyond 'burlesque'

John Katsilometes, Las Vegas Review-Journal on

Published in Entertainment News

LAS VEGAS — Dita Von Teese talks of putting some distance between her show and the term “burlesque.” This idea is akin to Cirque du Soleil moving beyond “circus.” But it makes sense, at least in Las Vegas.

“I almost want to abandon the term burlesque,” Von Teese says during a chat at Voltaire at The Venetian, home of her new cabaret and — yes, burlesque — revue. “It’s being used to describe every sexy show, and maybe I just need to lay off of it a little, especially in this town.”

You will get push-back if you describe a show as “burlesque” that purists feel doesn’t own the tradition. Same with “showgirl,” where a genuine showgirl will look over someone in a featured costume and scoff, “That’s not a showgirl.”

Even Von Teese’s new venue is particular about its title. Voltaire has many “nightclub” characteristics, but operators don’t like it called such. They prefer “theatrical venue.” I refer to it as a “chic nightspot,” or even, “groovy enclave.”

Name all of it what you like, Von Teese’s sexy and saucy adult revue mixes genres by expanding both. Von Teese has moved her show beyond the grand, but outdated, Jubilee Theater at Horseshoe into an extended residency run at Voltaire. Von Teese is the mistress of the manor at 9 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays (tickets start at $55; go to voltairelv.com for intel). The show opened for previews last week.

Von Teese is known as the International Queen of Burlesque, so editing out the burlesque term is not so easy. The show has burlesque touches, headlining with tantalizing striptease numbers by the headliner, who revives her martini-glass routine. The production also returns the comedy styling of Dirty Martini (catch her number on the merry-go-round horsey), a dance team of dazzling ladies and gents, and several Bob Mackie- and Pete Menefee-designed costumes from “Jubilee.”

 

Von Teese is employing those costumes with authority from Caesars Entertainment, which she laughs is a “secret situation.” But as was the case at Horseshoe, reviving those pieces was a condition for Von Teese to perform her strip on the Strip.

“Those costumes, after we brought them back to life on stage at the Jubilee Theater, were used for the Super Bowl, they were used for the Pamela Anderson-Gia Coppola movie, which featured a lot of my dancers,” Von Teese says. “There’s been a lot of interest in them, so we’re going to keep that interest going here.”

The movie Von Teese refers to is “The Last Showgirl,” which premiered this month at the Toronto Film Festival and was set in Las Vegas.

The movie keeps the showgirl image alive on the big screen. The international burlesque star is doing the same at Voltaire.


©2024 Las Vegas Review-Journal. Visit reviewjournal.com.. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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