Las Vegas Weekly

December 17, 2008 · 10:26 AM

It’s been from Disney to the Strip and from burlesque to the boss for Karen Raider

By Robin Leach

A very Crazy Girls Christmas.

Photo: Courtesy

It’s another wonderful success story that could only happen in Las Vegas. In fact, it’s an inspiring showbiz tale for Karen Raider and proof that showgirls don’t have to just grow old and retire -- they can become mini-tycoons!

Karen started out as a dancer in a children’s entertainment show presented several times daily at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. She wanted the bright lights of Vegas and won an audition to be a topless dancer many years ago for Crazy Girls producer Norbert Aleman at the Riviera. Eventually, she wound up as the featured star dancer.

But then came that awful day when age met damaged body parts from years of dancing -- and the aches and pains could no longer be cured by mineral baths between shows!

“It might just have been the luckiest moment of my life,” Karen said. “One moment I was fretting retirement and wondering what on Earth I would do, and the next I was over the moon when the producer said he wanted me to be the company general manager. Now I’ve got a marvelous group of girls on stage presenting the sexiest show in Vegas!”

That meant sticking to the same work schedule, but instead of getting herself geared up for the stage, she now had to ensure that eight dancers, the swing shift and the stage crew were always ready and on time for the show. Now it meant overseeing the costumes rather than moaning about a dangling sequin or torn tights. Now it meant chasing the box office and running the advertising instead of being in it!

Karen, who is married to Vegas hair salon king Michael Boychuck, did so well in her first year that Norbert just made her a co-owner partner in the show and also the associate producer of the new spy movie spoof Crazy Girls Undercover starring Nikki Ziering and currently on In Demand on cable TV.

Norbert, who recently married one of the lead dancers in his show, said: “Karen was simply the best, the most diligent- and hard-working person I knew who had all the knowledge of the two shows. I couldn’t let her retire! She’s simply the greatest!”

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