Las Vegas Weekly

November 26, 2008 · 6 AM

Exclusive Interviews, Part 2: The Peep Show’s tantalizing trio of Melanie Brown, Kelly Monaco and Jerry Mitchell

By Robin Leach

Kelly Monaco of Peep Show.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

A lavish, multimillion-dollar, topless, adult Strip show starring a pop superstar and a small-screen siren is set to be the most eagerly anticipated new Las Vegas show of 2009! Planet Hollywood chieftain Robert Earl has partnered with BASE Productions (Jersey Boys, Wayne Brady and Phantom -- Las Vegas Spectacular) for Peep Show, a modern-day burlesque production with 20 of the sexiest, breast-baring beauties in entertainment!

Vegas DeLuxe met up with Melanie Brown, aka Mel B and Scary Spice of the Spice Girls; former bare-it-all Playboy beauty Kelly Monaco, currently on the ABC soap General Hospital; and award-winning Broadway director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell for this exclusive three-part interview and photo feature.

We posted the interview with Mel B yesterday (click HERE to read it again); today it's all eyes on Kelly; and tomorrow, the spotlight shines on Jerry.

Kelly, who has appeared as one of the hottest ever Maxim magazine cover models in 2006, was the first-season winner of Dancing With the Stars while starring on the long-running daytime drama General Hospital.

Here’s my conversation with the 5’1” powerhouse:

Kelly Monaco: I was the first DWTS winner. There were no ingredients of how the show was or what it was. I got a letter in my mailbox at work: “Crazy new reality show coming out.” I was embarrassed to tell anyone I was a part of this reality show, or variety show, but we didn’t know that is what it was going to be. My partner was Alec Mazo. He is still there. It turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life, even though I did a split and I popped my hip out and it has never quite been the same. I almost lost my top on my salsa. Other than that, everything else went OK.

Robin Leach: When I say the words “peep show” on the Strip, I have to wonder how much do we get to see of Miss Monaco? Are you quite prepared to flash your assets?

KM: I am going to leave this up to Jerry Mitchell, who is our director and choreographer, and I think if you want to see, you will have to come out on March 30. I am very comfortable with my body; I was a Playmate in 1997. I am familiar with nudity. For me, as long as it is in a very tasteful and non-vulgar way, it is up for discussion.

RL: Will you give up General Hospital for this new burlesque show?

KM: I have been working in daytime for the past eight years on General Hospital. I will continue doing it while I am doing Peep Show. I’ll commute back and forth -- I have a day and a half off each week in Vegas -- so I will be making the trek back to L.A. I will be working GH Wednesday and Thursdays, Peep will be Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday night. I will get in four to five GH shows in that day and a half, so it will be pretty hard work. I’ll be running between Burbank and McCarran. Can you talk to anyone at Southwest and tell them I will be coming in? It is the only way you can get out every hour, on the hour. I love Vegas, though I am not particularly fond of excessive gambling. I think Vegas has really stepped up the plate with the shows and performances. It is not just a place to come to win or lose money anymore.

RL: Why is it tiny girls pack this powerful punch as sex symbols?

KM: I don’t really know. I make up for it in other areas. I am just little. I have four sisters. I had to make my way through the crowd in my family. I was the smallest in my family, so maybe I had to fight for attention. It had nothing to do with cute or sexy. I was always athletic and rough around the edges. I am all-natural, not fake, and a brunette, not a blonde.

RL: Did you always dream of acting and dancing?

KM: Always of acting. I had never been a dancer. I always dreamt of getting out of Pennsylvania and the Poconos. It was always the bright lights of Broadway, then Hollywood and then Vegas. When I heard I was going to be signed to do Peep Show in Vegas on the Strip, I was incredibly excited. It is going to be a fantastic show. I am proud to be a part of it. I’ve heard about the girls and the guys, and this will be a very sexy group cast in some outrageous outfits.

I’ve read the story of Little Bo Peep, and I can assure you we are telling a very different story. There will be sexy striptease, but it’s a story of sexuality and empowerment told through dance and contemporary music. Mel is the Peep Diva, a bold, powerful woman who has all the answers as she guides the timid me -- Bo -- on a swift journey of awakening and self-discovery, finding her own power and sexuality. I blossom into a sexy, daring, provocative and more confident woman by the time it’s over. I’m very comfortable and confident with that transformation!

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