‘Peepshow’

"Peepshow" really is more of one now. How much more? The singer gets topless before the famous Playmate.

When the singer is nasty girl Aubrey O'Day, it should be no surprise she would shed more than the all-talk Scary Spice (Melanie Brown), who opened the thing in April, or the respectable Broadway performer Shoshana Bean, who fell in between.

Yes, it's early to review the upscale burlesque revue again. Especially since O'Day sounds like a royal mess who might not make it another three weeks, let alone the full three months of her contract. She's already stirred up attention by calling Fidel Castro and Adolf Hitler "brilliant" on FOX News, and by stripping in a YouTube rant after someone sneaked photos of her first show and mocked her on the Internet.

But in all other aspects, "Peepshow" seems more settled now. The original was, as they say on the news, not sustainable. The new edition plays like the "real" one that stands half a chance of making it.

Producers envisioned a modern-day burlesque romp as Broadway musical, with first-rate talent and Broadway production values widening the demographic net to pack a 1,500-seat theater.

Didn't happen. Never will. Not with that title, which niche-markets by its very premise. Adjustments were made. The all-female band is gone, replaced by recorded tracks. The 80/20 split of imported New York dancers to local gals has roughly reversed.

But most of the cool stuff remains: a giant pumpkin, Allie Meixner's swing ride over the first few rows, and Stoyan Metchkarov's acrobatic rope tricks over a bathtub.

And the show now delivers on the implied promise. You see bare breasts within minutes, and the strip-tease numbers now build to a payoff. The nudity adds hetero balance to the more fabulous elements of a revue that -- like many a Vegas spectacular before it -- is directed by a gay man (Broadway choreographer Jerry Mitchell).

"Peepshow" also found its muse in Holly Madison, who is onboard for at least a year.

With her sweet, wholesome face topping an over-the-top centerfold body, she's a living embodiment of the way "Peepshow" wraps its good clean fun in a veneer of pretend raunch. She doesn't do much more than stand around being sexy cute, but it's enough.

Who else but Madison could sell the flimsy premise of a lonely girl drifting into a dreamland where storybook characters are turned into bad puns?

That whole angle mercifully falls by the wayside after early numbers play out the idea, with a red-carpet, red-sports car Riding Hood (Tara Palsha) and a Big Bad Wolf (Nick Kenkel) making hay of old-Vegas crazy "straw" and "stick" costumes.

O'Day saves the day by belting "Brick House." Later, she pops her top in a funny take on the old Connie Francis song "Teddy." Is she of real value to the show? Depends on how much you care about her going in.

Think of it this way. Mr. Skin is a popular Web site that obsessively annotates celebrity nudity in mainstream movies, even though hard-core porn is only a click away. If O'Day's semifamous boobs are meaningful to those who watched her on "Making the Band," power to 'em.

If not, she's one of many bodies to ogle. She does fine with the Broadway-style song "A Trick Or Two," that takes her out of her the loud-pop comfort zone. And she's scarily at ease as emcee, pulling an Australian guy up for an audience participation bit and asking him casually, "We had sex in Australia. We (expletive), didn't we?"

With all this planned turnover in the lead roles, "Peepshow" has buffered itself with a core of unbilled talent that can and does (when the show is in between stars or when O'Day doesn't show up) carry on without star names.

Josh Strickland, who played "Tarzan" on Broadway, adds class and sex appeal for the women in the crowd. Marielys Molina raps a sassy "Milkshake" as a big red wagon rises to the stage bearing a tank of milky water.

We're all for innovation on a Strip that's full up with magicians. But "Peepshow" has gone a bit more Las Vegas without squeezing all the New York life out of it, and seems the better for it.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.