Columnist Susan Snyder: Showgirl auditions a tall order

Tuesday, May 15, 2001 | 8:17 a.m.

With college graduation only a few weeks away and no big job prospects in sight, Sarah Deutschman and four Florida State University classmates settled on Plan B.

Vegas, baby.

For showgirl auditions.

Yes, we all know it takes more than a whim to grace a Las Vegas stage. It takes training, practice and, in many cases, a good surgeon. But the Strip looks pretty fine from the dreary office of a Florida youth boot camp, where Deutschman did an internship this winter.

"I was so bored," she said. "I didn't think my career was going anywhere, and I thought well, shoot. I could audition."

"So we said we're going to Vegas and we're never coming back," her buddy Jana Wells added.

Fueled by youth, hope and maybe a little desperation, Deutschman spent hours researching their plan on the Internet.

She reserved plane tickets and a hotel room, and they arrived the first week of May. I caught up with the merry band at Bally's on May 4, a week after Florida State's graduation where all received bachelor's degrees.

Deutschman, 22, graduated with a degree in criminology. Wells, 21, earned a degree in audiology and plans to pursue a doctorate in the field. Amanda Johnson, 21, is going to be a nurse.

And the showgirl auditions?

First things first. Johnson was up $300 at the blackjack tables. No small feat for someone who was operating on precious little sleep. For four days nonstop, it had been gambling and clubs by night (and part of the mornings), followed by swimming-pool time, shopping and then back to the casinos.

"We've been to (Studio) 54 and gambling at the MGM," Deutschman said over a plate of huevos rancheros. "We made up stories. It's fun when you're on vacation."

Vacation? What about the auditions?

"We have these names," she said. "Mine is Jasmine."

Wells chose "Cassandra," and Johnson's alias was "Lola."

Of course, a couple of margaritas and the whole plan rapidly unravels in slips and giggles at all the wrong times, Wells said.

Deutschman said there were supposed to be five of them on this trip, but two bailed at the last minute for lack of money.

"Kate really had nothing else to do. She's 6 feet tall and just got her (new) boobs and everything," Deutschman said. "But she got a job at the last minute with the (Florida) Senate."

For the duration of their five-day trip the trio gambled some more, hit about 150 bars and rode around town in a limo with a bachelor party from the Midwest. They they arrived at the airport May 5 to discover Johnson had, at some point she couldn't quite recall, switched her ticket and the one for Wells to a flight that left two days later.

Deutschman had to be back for an interview with "a federal law enforcement agency." Seems her career was headed where she intended after all. Wells and Johnson revealed they were starting graduate school in the fall.

"My parents are pretty much into this doctor thing," Wells said.

And the auditions?

"We found out a few weeks ago that you have to be 5-foot-9 just to try out," Deutschman said. "We're all too short."