The Katz Meow | X Burlesque Entertains Right Down to the Letter

By Bobbie Katz

If you can’t take the heat, you’d better stay out of Bugsy’s Showroom at Flamingo Las Vegas. That’s where “X” is marking the spot for the sizzling adult revue, “X Burlesque” that is raising temperatures nightly on the Las Vegas Strip.

Celebrating its 10^th anniversary on the famed boulevard, the 75-minute “X Burlesque” presents more than 20 vignettes, starring six of its nine rotating lovely dancers seven nights a week, along with a comedian. The show is staged with a pole in the middle and is guaranteed to give a whole different view of “climbing one’s way to the top.”

“This is a well-paced show,” says Angela Stabile, who created “X Burlesque” and produces it with her husband, Matt. “Some of the numbers are very sexy and sensual; others are cute, and yet others, fun. It would be too much if it was very sexy al the time. The editing of the music is very important because we need to keep the show moving so that the audience is always waiting for something new. Additionally, we change the show every year around this time, putting in new numbers and new costumes.

“My daughter, Tiffany, 28, is the co-manager of the show and she, Matt, and I come up with ideas for numbers and the music,” she continues. “Anthony Cardella helps manage the show and we have a choreographer, Meeka, who also dances in the show. Meeka has been with us since the very beginning and so has her sister, Shakira. We’ve had this cast for quite a while. We don’t go for one look where the dancers are concerned. The girls have to be sexy, talented and in great shape. Their job is to be amazing every night and make sure that they look like they’re having fun.”

In honor of “X Burlesque’s” 10^th anniversary, five new or changed numbers have been introduced. One of the numbers added is one in which a girl dances in a very large champagne glass.

“You think of that when you hear the word burlesque,” says Stabile, who used to be a dancer in “Crazy Girls.”   “We’ve provided a nice variety of numbers, which makes for a great topless revue. We always keep things tasteful and there are actual laws you must adhere to when doing a show like this. The room we’re in is very intimate – 200 seats --and the girls are in and out of the audience so the girls get to be up-close and personal with the crowd. They’re not allowed to be topless when they’re in the audience. This show is a celebration and admiration of the girls’ beauty and talent  -– it is not ditty in any way.”

Where the girls’ talent is concerned, they get notes nightly from the Stabiles or management about any corrections that need to be made in their performances, .To Stabile, that is the most challenging part of what she does.

“It’s important that they understand that this is a business and the criticism is not personal,” she explains. “The audience comes to see them and the show has to be where we want it. We renew our contract every three years.”

The Stabiles, who actually met when Angela hired Matt to do TV commercials for the show when she opened “X Burlesque” at the Aladdin in 2002, also offer X Burlesque University in which women take a 90-minute class to learn to put on showgirl makeup and eyelashes and are taught some of the choreography in the show by either Anthony Cardella or one of the “X” girls.

“The participants get boas, get to take a photo with the big “X” on the Strip, and get a souvenir photo,” Stabile relates. “They also graduate and get a diploma.”

“X” may be one of the last letters of the alphabet but this show proves that it’s one of the first letters in adult entertainment.

This article appears by courtesy of Vegas Insider Daily.com.