Las Vegas Weekly

August 26, 2008 · 6 AM

Crazy Horse to get a new look, thanks to Cirque genius

By Robin Leach

Baby Buns

Photo: Courtesy Crazy Horse

For the first time in nearly 20 years the legendary Crazy Horse cabaret is to undergo a total revamping -- and the new owners are spending more than $4 million in the process. It will be unveiled at the main showroom in the French capital. After Paris premieres it at the end of next year, the company will remake Forever Crazy here at the MGM Grand. The Crazy Horse has been a permanent attraction on the Strip since 2001.

The amazing makeover has been placed in the hands of creative genius Philippe Decoufle, who has been hired by Cirque du Soleil to lead its new and first permanent show at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. That massive spectacular is set to open in 2010 and insiders say it’s "the circus meets Hollywood,” with multiple projections 100 times grander than an Oscars telecast! Previously, Philippe was the creative genius who staged the French winter Olympics in Albertville and the country’s bi-centennial celebrations in Paris.

In the interim, former Vegas resident and Cirque executive Andree Duisenberg, who now runs the Paris and Vegas Crazy Horse venues, has staged a tribute show to Alain Bernardin, the founder who created the unique nightspot in 1951 -- that was 57 years ago in the basement of a prestigious Avenue George V building -- and it's still packing them in. Everybody from Madonna to Hugh Hefner, Sting, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera and Prince have been recent visitors. While I was in Paris last week, Andree told me the new Forever Crazy show runs 90 minutes with 14 separate acts and a rotating cast of 19 dancers, of which 13 perform nightly seven days a week! Many of the classic numbers through the decades have been recreated for this new renaissance.

Andree also confirmed that one dancer who entered the first-ever open auditions held for the Vegas show earlier this year will be flown to Paris in October for two months of special training and rehearsals. She will be integrated into the Paris cast during a one-week special run in Moscow, then will return to Vegas to join the lineup here in mid-December. Another Vegas candidate also selected already has been hired for an engagement in a major European circus tour.

The dancers, who each year go through 2,500 pairs of stockings, 720 pairs of false eyelashes, 300 red lipstick cases and 500 liters of body makeup, rotate between the Paris and Vegas venues every six months!

Said Hefner: “Just magnificent,” and Christina Aguilera added, ”so entertaining and beautiful." Jean Paul Gaultier commented, “I am crazy about the Crazy, always and more than forever.” Your humble correspondent simply says, "It’s the sexiest show on earth."

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