MAGIC:

Magician’s new act a bit more revealing than a typical show

Friday, June 26, 2009 | 2 a.m.

PUBLICITY PHOTO

Scarlett, Princess of Magic, a former dancer and magician's assistant from Reno, studies international business at UNLV when not performing. Her magic show will be the first by a woman on the Las Vegas Strip in about two years.

What: "Scarlett and the Seductive Ladies of Magic"
When: 10 p.m. Saturdays through Thursdays, dark Fridays
Where: The Riviera's Versailles Theatre
Tickets: $44.55 to $53.64; 794-9433; must be 18 years or older

Red-haired magician Scarlett will launch a provocative new production Wednesday at the Riviera. It will feature more than pulling rabbits out of a hat and sawing someone in half. The "Princess of Magic" will be backed by a bevy of topless dancers in the adult version of her act, directed by Las Vegas choreographer Bobby Boling.

The 23-year-old magician performed at the V Theater before moving down the street to the Riviera's Versailles Theatre, where "La Cage" was staged for 24 years before closing in February.

She will share the space with "Ice," the Russian ice skating revue, and - beginning July 10 - Charo.

Scarlett became a magician by chance. Three years ago magician John Lewis (stage name Jon Andrew) was looking for an assistant in Reno. He contacted a dance studio where Scarlett was training and hired her.

Lewis was impressed with how fast his protege learned magic and took her under his wing. Today he produces her shows.

Scarlett's 70-minute production includes plenty of magic - linking rings with her special twist; a hypnotized rabbit; Houdini's torture chamber and Harry Blackstone Jr.'s Topsy-Turvy box. "There are only two Topsy-Turvy boxes in the world, and we have one of them," Lewis says.

And now, topless assistants.