The Queen of Modern Burlesque took over Jubilee Theater last year with an inspired production like no other. And her highness, Dita Von Teese herself, chatted with Las Vegas Magazine about using pieces of Vegas history, diversity in casting and more in Dita Las Vegas: A Jubilant Revue.

In casting Dita Las Vegas: A Jubilant Revue, did you intentionally choose such a diverse group of performers or did that sort of naturally happen?

It’s something I’ve always done in my touring shows. It just happened to be because I found that so many of the great burlesque performers are unique and different, and I wanted to change people’s minds about burlesque … I have two authentic burlesque performers in this Vegas show, but I also wanted to cast a lot of dancers. And I have to say, it’s not a thing in Vegas to cast for diversity, so it’s not even that easy to do. But I did it, of course. And it’s not just about body diversity, either. It’s about age diversity as well and that’s always been important to me, too, because I think it’s important that we see people going through different stages of life and feel like there is representation and that you can see beauty and sensuality in many forms, whether that’s body or age or gender—it’s all of it. Those things have always been important for my shows, and I know it’s something that’s not typical for Vegas.

Was the Jubilee Theater the obvious choice to host your show?

It was, but it wasn’t. How things went was that I was doing my tour, and I was at the Beacon and Chicago theaters, which are these big historic theaters, and Caesars and Live Nation came out to see those shows and were like “Oh, this is a big show, you need a big theater.” So, they presented the idea of the Jubilee Theater to me, and I was, of course, excited because I had seen Jubilee! so many times over the years. I flew out and I was struck with just the vastness of that stage. That’s when I asked about the costumes that were in Jubilee!, where they were and what they were doing with them, because I did not feel like it was my first choice to go into (such a large space) without those huge showgirl costumes and using some of the set. 

Were there challenges you faced using the original Jubilee! set pieces and costumes?

Not really, because I dive into the history of everything–that’s my expertise. I was working directly with someone who had worked on Jubilee! and we have several people working on the costumes that worked with the show before, so they know a lot … It was very important to me that everything gets treated well and that things don’t get misused. I have a great reverence for what Jubilee! was and for what the Vegas showgirl was and how we can pay homage to that but also advance it and capture the spirit of it without totally imitating. 

How did you strike a balance between paying homage to Jubilee! while creating a show that’s undeniably Dita?

Well, the show, make no mistake, is not a redo of Jubilee!—I brought my 30 years of life’s work into this show, so it had to always be my signature. The act is full of strip-scapes that I created with my longtime partner, Catherine D’Lish, and so you have all my (original acts). You have all of my martini and champagne glasses all onstage at once, my giant powder compact, my carousel horses, my big, gilded shell–my Venus shell. It’s pretty much almost everything I ever did, done in a big way and with other performers doing the numbers under my direction … It’s my life’s work in one show for the first time ever. And there were things that I wanted to stay true to when it comes to my brand of burlesque. For instance, Jubilee! was a topless revue and I love the aesthetic of the crystallized pasties, so those are in there. That’s not a showgirl thing, that’s just a little nod to the golden age of burlesque that I bring in there.

When you’re in town, what’s your most visited spot in Las Vegas?

I don’t get out much, yet. There’re always things I need to do (for) the show. I organize my dressing room myself, so I’m always down there fiddling with things and putting things away or still putting rhinestones on things. I’ll take out the Liberace car and drive it around. I like to get off-Strip and maybe drive to a favorite Thai restaurant in the Liberace car.

I’d like to see you driving around in the Liberace car one day.

I know. It’s funny because, obviously, it’s got crystal on it and everything, so it’s kind of wild. I just go out there and zip around a little bit. I don’t often drive down the Strip, although sometimes I do. I just take it out because it needs to be driven on the road. Cars like that need to be driven and they need to be driven at full speed instead of just onstage. People are always asking, “Are you really driving that?” Of course I’m really driving it, I’m a car collector.

Horseshoe Las Vegas. ticketmaster.com

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