‘American Storm’ at Riv can’t strike right tone

Friday, Oct. 7, 2005 | 7:24 a.m.

Fast Facts

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays; 7:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Dark Tuesdays.

Where: Riviera's Crazy Girls Theatre.

Rating (out of five stars): ** 1/2

Male strip revues are breeding like rabbits in Las Vegas.

Someone needs to shoot the hare before our showrooms are overrun with hunks flexing their pecs and baring their abs for screaming women, who are proving they can be as disgusting as men under the right circumstances.

There's the granddaddy of male strip acts, "Chippendales, The Show" at the Rio.

And "Men, The Show" in the Playgirl Lounge at Sapphire's Gentleman's Club.

Also, "Krave Men of Vegas" at Krave (a gay-friendly nightclub adjacent to the Aladdin).

The "Men of Russia," eager to attract females, recently left Krave and now is at the Suncoast.

And at Excalibur is "Thunder From Down Under."

The most recent addition to the family of torsos is "American Storm," which premiered in the Crazy Girls Theatre at the Riviera in July.

If you see a connection between "Storm" and "Thunder," then go to the head of the class. Both shows are produced by SPI Entertainment Inc.

There are a lot of similarities in the two shows -- including a scene in which one of the cast members performs a couple of acrobatic tricks over the prone body of a female volunteer.

Also, both shows have a patriotic number in which the cast appears onstage in military uniforms and strip down to their strings.

And both place great emphasis on interacting with fans, making sure the girls have a good time.

"Thunder" seems to have wider appeal, attracting a broad cross section of women.

"Storm," at the recent performance I attended, was filled with eager women who appeared to range from 20 to 30.

"Thunder" is smoother, the cast members exuding more confidence as they go through their paces.

"Storm's" cast, as a whole, seem ill-at-ease as they get down to their bare essences in front of an audience.

Some seem outright giddy, grinning sheepishly as they shoot glances at one another while trying to dance.

"Trying" is the key word here.

There is no comparison between the dancing abilities of "Storm" and "Thunder."

The Aussies are pros.

Their American counterparts, for the most part, have two left feet. Dancing is not their forte. Looking good is.

The "Storm" cast members were not professional dancers until they entered VH1's reality series "StripSearch."

Contestants were eliminated during each show until there were only seven left at the end of the series. Those seven are now in "American Storm."

There is nothing pretentious about them. They are not self-absorbed and none of them seem to be tripping over their own egos when they're onstage.

They are regular people -- students, auto mechanics, salesmen -- who have suddenly found themselves in the spotlight entertaining a roomful of women screaming for them to get naked.

Their low-keyed, bemused attitude may be at the essence of their charm, and why the fans find them so appealing.

Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or jerry@lasvegassun.com.