O’Keefe gives standout ‘Skintight’ performance at Harrah’s

Joe Delaney

Friday, Sept. 8, 2000 | 9:59 a.m.

"Skintight" is Harrah's late-night adult revue; relentlessly sexy, breakneck-paced; well lit, choreographed, directed, produced and performed.

Shows are at 10:30 p.m. (the new "midnight norm" for Las Vegas) Sunday through Tuesday and Friday, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, midnight on Saturday (dark Thursday).

Greg Thompson is the producer-director, and his longtime associate Mistinguett, an award-winning choreographer, is one of the best at making this type of contemporary dance revue work. She has been inducted into the Broadway Round Table Choreographer's Hall of Fame, an honor she shares with Michael Bennett, Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins.

This is upgraded but typical of the Thompson and Mistinguett productions that have had extended runs here, in Atlantic City, Reno and Tahoe and other major areas with gaming.

Shannon O'Keefe is the featured dancer, ballet-trained, lithe, attractive, with a dynamic stage presence; the standout performer at the show caught. Traci Ault, an excellent featured singer, has heavy musical theater credits along with her Las Vegas and Reno play dates.

Playboy magazine's Miss October 1985, Cynthia Kimball, has top billing but failed to deliver a top-billing performance. Her biography lists comedy as her true love and she does have good credits in that area. Her work in both featured segments was ordinary at best. No one could quarrel with her credentials as a Playboy Playmate, however.

Melania De Los Santos, Scarlett C. Grable, Lazelle Holwarth, Kelly Millaudon and Carrie Proffitt are the five comely, talented female dancers, and Jim Hogan, top drawer through the years, Russell Hines and Edward Sam are the handsome, energetic equally talented male dancers. Hogan and O'Keefe perform some breathtaking adagio moves during the show.

Yes, the dancers work topless and one of my favorite descriptive terms, "callipygian," definitely applies here, to the entire ensemble. If this is your particular entertainment area, by all means, pay the $39.95 plus tax and see the show.