What show offers the perfect balance between sidesplitting comedy, impressive variety acts and human sexuality? The clear answer is none other than ROUGE, a high-energy co-ed revue featuring strong men, acrobats and so much more–all presented by the hilarious Dr. Libido and Nurse Naughty, who have a few tricks up their sleeves.
“We tried to take a genre that maybe, sometimes, is not treated or accepted in an artistic way and we wanted to … say that a sexy show can be artistic,” ROUGE director Hanoch Rosènn told Las Vegas Magazine in an exclusive interview. “I tried to do it like poetry; a (tribute) to the human body and to human love, and to treat it all with humor and with all kinds of ideas and approach. The main idea is that it will touch the normal person whoever (they are). Whoever has this kind of fantasy or this kind of memory or something like that … I really tried to concentrate and to have it for everybody; for men, for women, for gays, for lesbians, for everybody. Everybody will come there and find something there that they can identify with or can laugh about.”
Because of the show’s co-ed nature (and the dynamics that come along with it), it would be hard to leave this show without seeing something you can identify with. There’s a wealth of representation in this show, all done beautifully. One moment you’ll be watching a pair of phenomenal aerialists swinging in sync across the stage, the next you’ll be giggling at a particularly cheeky French Revolution-themed number, then you’ll be rocking out with some crazy horses and their seductive handler.
“It didn’t matter to me so much about the nudity,” Rosènn said. “It is a topless show, that’s true, but for me the biggest compliment is when people say, ‘We didn’t feel that they were topless.’ I wanted it to be like art.”
Each and every act in ROUGE features some supremely talented performers. When the trio of strongmen take the stage, you’ll have to pick your jaw up off the floor with each new pose they pull off. Fast-paced dance numbers provide plenty of energy in between slow, sultry acts, like a champagne glass performance set to Ariana Grande’s “Dangerous Woman,” to ensure the show never drags.
Also bringing so much life to the show, the comedic co-hosts, played by Zion and Poppy Martyn, quip with the crowd before pulling out an Icarian Games routine of their own—Zion uses his feet to toss Poppy into the air in a thrilling feat of strength, coordination and chemistry.
“I remember, when I was 17 years old and I went to Italy to see the statue of David … and we were standing in front of this statue (for), I think, like, 30 minutes without speaking because it’s so amazing to see this perfection … it’s unbelievable. The last thing you think about is that he’s naked. It’s art. So that’s what I was trying to do in the show,” Rosènn said.
The STRAT, 18+. tickets.thestrat.com
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