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Dancer Michelline Padilla waits for her cue at Tropicana’s Tiffany Theatre. “Les Folies Bergere” was first staged in Las Vegas in 1959. As of Saturday night, the show will have been performed 29,000 times.
Friday, March 27, 2009 | 2 a.m.
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- 'Les Folies Bergere' to end run at Tropicana (1-15-2009)
- Last of the red-hot showgirls (9-9-2008)
- Show and (a lot to) tell (5-15-2008)
- Still opulent and extravagant, the 'Folies Bergere' celebrates the big Four-O (12-10-1999)
Beyond the Sun
It’s 6:15 Monday night backstage at the Tropicana’s Tiffany Theatre — the beginning of the final “Les Folies Bergere” workweek.
No one is here. The rooms are filled with rows of mannequin heads topped with ornate headdresses, racks of sequined costumes and jars of rhinestones.
Almost 50 years have passed since “Folies Bergere” staged its first performance at the Tropicana. Photo collages in the hallways backstage tell the story of everything that’s happened in between. In black-and-white, faded sepia and bright color, performers in ornate plumage are arm in arm, smiling widely for the camera, frozen in time.
At 6:45 the performers begin to trickle in. Showgirls enter the dressing room and begin applying makeup and gluing eyelashes. Showgirl Kim Denmark sits down at her mirrored station and drops her bags on the floor, looking at herself in the mirror.
She sighs. “It’s going to be a hard week. I can already tell.”
“Folies Bergere” will stage its last performance at the Tropicana on Saturday night.
Tropicana Las Vegas sits on the south-east corner of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard, an intersection which has the most adjacent hotel rooms in the world, also making it one of the most busy. The hotel has 1,658 rooms, three restaurants, a 62,011-square foot casino and a spa.
The Tropicana's five-acre pool complex stretches throughout the center of the the hotel/casino and remains it's most recognizable feature. It features swim-up blackjack during the summer months, a swim-up bar, dining areas and a wedding chapel. The Tropicana is also home to Brad Garrett's Comedy Club. For pre-show dining, take advantage of one the casino’s dinner and a show packages or just head over to Cafe Nikki, Biscayne Steak, Sea & Wine or Bacio Pasta & Vino.
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It was time for the follies to go. They took Paris out of a parisian show.
Is it a matter of changing tastes, or changing economics? The last two shows I saw in Vegas were "Bite" and "Scarlett Princess of Magic". I enjoyed both immensely, but both shows were smaller budget productions involving no more than a dozen female dancers (and probably taped music). "Midnight Fantasy" at the Luxor wasn't a very big production either. I remember the fiasco a while back involving Robert Goulet, who couldn't afford to pay the rent on the venue at the Venetian, causing his show to close. Apparently it's not easy to put on a profitable show in Vegas--especially now.