The competition was fierce for Fantasy: The Strip’s Sexiest Tease on the night of its 24th anniversary and 2024 calendar release party. The topless revue was competing for the attention of attendees who could see Allegiant Stadium as they entered Luxor and vocalized loyalties to the Raiders or Packers squaring off for the second Monday Night Football game in October.
More than a dozen of the show’s performers arrived early for a red carpet and photos with founder Anita Mann, who had commented on her competitive nature earlier to friends who had flown in for the celebration, explaining that it motivates her to aspire for excellence in her own work and encourage the same in her dancers.
That aspiration paid off many times over at the Monday night performance, where the dancers for the evening blended classic numbers with new routines and demonstrated the right to boast of Fantasy as “The Strip’s Sexiest Tease.” Singer and emcee Lorena Peril got the crowd riled up from the get-go with her trademark wisecracks tempered with just enough raunch to make a grown man blush.
Clothes came off shortly after the cast appeared en masse to the opening number, “Let’s Get Loud.” Familiar faces such as ebullient Abby, flame-haired Gigi, statuesque Ashton, sultry Soolin and marvelous Mariah were on point all the way, with the latter three romping between the sheets to Vanity 6’s “Nasty Girl” during longtime audience favorite “Bed Fantasy.”
One newer face is Caroline, who performed the silks act with an abandon and flair unlike any previous performer in the show’s history. Her skills spinning on the lengths of cord hanging from the ceiling must be seen to be believed.
There was a little bit of country and a little bit of rock ’n’ roll as the topless dancers donned cowboy hats for Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” and let loose during Ike and Tina Turner’s hyper-drive version of “Proud Mary.” That 1971 song, and the energy it inspires, brings it all back home to Mann’s roots as a dancer and choreographer in the ’60s and ’70s, a story that may manifest as a memoir by the time of the 25th anniversary party.
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