Goodbye ‘Folies,’ hello ‘Peepshow’

One show closes and two days later, another opens. That's the natural ebb and flow of Las Vegas entertainment.

Except this time, a weird coincidence points out the difference between what is and what might have been.

The historic "Folies Bergere" closes at the Tropicana on March 28, less than a year shy of its 50th anniversary. Two days later, the brand new "Peepshow" opens at the Planet Hollywood Resort.

The latter is helmed by hot Broadway director Jerry Mitchell, who made no secret of a dream when he restaged "Hairspray" here in early 2006: "I'd like to do the today version of the Donn Arden spectacular."

Arden didn't do "Folies," but was behind other classic Vegas production shows such "Jubilee!," soon to be the last example of the iconic showgirl revue.

Mitchell sounded like he would gladly have taken a shot at breathing new life into "Folies."

Sadly, no one asked. So he created "Peepshow" from scratch, steering it more into burlesque but covering much of the same ground.

"I'm hoping this helps reinvent the production show for song and dance and sexiness," Mitchell explained. "The (production) values are going to be like the values in a Broadway production I work on. I'm taking all of that sensibility and I'm putting it into this production."

No one will deny the "Folies" was in need of new money and vision. Even its longtime keeper, Jerry Jackson, was frustrated that the last complete overhaul was in 1983. New sequences added in 1997 and 2001 amounted to patchwork.

The show was the rare one to be hotel-owned, yet continually neglected, mostly because of the Tropicana's long saga of turnover.

It's fair to ask whether "Folies" could be reinvented. Is the very concept of chorus girls too far gone? Time has erased most of 1959's touchstones, from exotic Parisian floor shows to Ed Sullivan variety acts.

But it would be nice to see someone try. The extent of the Tropicana's rights to the "Folies Bergere" name -- and just what will happen to it -- remain murky. But you have to wonder if throwing away almost 50 years of brand recognition is a mistake. Remember the legendary Sands name falling victim to briefly trendy city themes and a desire to cut ties with the Culinary Union when The Venetian was built.

Is giving up the "Folies" penny wise but pound foolish? Or is the showgirl now just a postcard image? We won't know until someone tries to update her. And no one really has tried since "Enter the Night" offered brief flashes of brilliance back in 1991, and "Showgirls" repackaged the genre in 2002 under the guise of historic tribute.

We'll see what the Tropicana comes up with next. And how it compares to "Peepshow."

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