Las Vegas Weekly

March 17, 2009 · 12:52 PM

Photo Gallery: Mel B is bringing sexy back via Peep Show and Ultimo

By Robin Leach

Mel B.

Photo: Ultimo

Scary Spice is a 33-year-old mother of two, but she’s got the body of a sizzling pin-up model. Now that she has a Strip hypnotist on hand to calm her nerves, singer Mel B has no fears about flashing her flesh!

Rehearsals are underway for the former Spice Girl and her Playboy cover girl co-star Kelly Monaco for their new adult cabaret burlesque Peep Show opening at month’s end in Planet Hollywood.

Yesterday, designer David Rockwell, who has overhauled the mezzanine theater where Stomp was staged until New Year’s Eve, sat in on rehearsals. (Click HERE for a previous interview with David.) Jerry Mitchell, the show’s award-winning creator, director and famed Hairspray and The Full Monty choreographer, showed his lineup of the 14 beautiful dancers he’s hired after his nationwide search.

One spywitness who sat in told me: “Mel’s voice is strong, and she looks absolutely great. She is ideal as the saucy Peep Diva. Kelly is a natural fit as the shy Bo Peep. She becomes a woman in full during her quest for love. Women will love the show as much as the men.”

There’s reportedly one sequence in the show that really sends the temperature skyrocketing. I’m only allowed to hint that you should watch for “the saddle that falls from the sky”! More intimate details on opening night! The dancers will go topless, but Mel isn’t expected to show all. Kelly has said she has no problems with nudity, and don’t be surprised if one night both make headlines with an unexpected surprise showing! (Click HERE for previous interviews with Mel, Kelly and Jerry.)

Meantime, Mel has recruited comedy hypnotist Anthony Cools from the neighboring Paris to help keep her nerves in check as she peels down to her undies with her sensual striptease numbers! She told one British journalist: “I’m getting hypnosis. I'm doing this just in case I get any last-minute nerves -- you know, in case I can’t remember the lyrics or the moves while I’m undressing.”

Mel says she’s loving the half-naked art of burlesque so much that she’s ordered her Peep Show costumes be made shorter and sexier. Additionally, she’s continued the sexy and hot theme into the new advertising campaign for the British underwear company Ultimo. She shot the sizzling shots at a L.A. mansion and in the Pigalle Club in London before starting her Vegas rehearsals. While stripped down to bra, panties, stockings and garter belt, she described her Strip outfits as “scantily clad, but in a classy way.”

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Jerry Mitchell with Kelly Monaco and Mel B.

On her behind-the-scenes video filmed during the photo shoot, Mel said: “Burlesque is all about embracing and celebrating your body. The shoot was fantastic, and I felt every inch the burlesque star. A girl’s got to have great lingerie, but it’s also all about the wink and the tease that goes with it. Modeling lingerie is really empowering, and it was fantastic to get in character and strut my stuff.”

“I am over the moon to become the face and body of Ultimo lingerie. When owner Michelle Mone asked me, I was ecstatic. I was so excited but slightly nervous. I had never modeled lingerie before. The photo shoot in L.A. was fantastic.

“I’ve become obsessed with sexy lingerie. I’ve always been a big fan. Every woman should love her lingerie. It feels good to match the naughty stuff under the working clothes. I’ve worn it in the past selfishly, but now I wear it for my husband. I never thought at my age and with two kids that I’d be parading around in my underwear. But it makes me feel fantastic. The whole thing is so exciting at this time of my life.”

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Mel B, aka Scary Spice, of Peep Show.

Mel also has just launched her new workout DVD Totally Fit. It includes two cardiovascular workouts of 15 and 20 minutes and four 10-minutre routines targeting arms, legs, stomach and the backside. “I love a tight bum,” she laughed. The exercises also include knee lifts, jumping jacks and squats with some Tae Bo punches and uppercuts. In a nod to the economic times, she recommends using filled water bottles and soup cans in place of dumbbells and weights!

Mel has moved her new husband and two children here for her Peep Show run. She has a 10-year-old daughter, Phoenix, from a previous relationship, and she won $50,000 in monthly child support from Eddie Murphy, who denied he was the father of her now 22-month-old daughter Angel Iris. DNA tests in 2007 proved he is the father.

“My family always comes before my career,” Mel said. “I lead a normal life without a team of nannies or assistants. I drive my kids to school in the morning and then pick them up from school. My schedule works around my family life because it’s important to be involved in our kids’ lives.”

Photo: ABC TV

Melanie "Mel B" Brown, aka Scary Spice, with Maksim Chmerkovskiy on Dancing With the Stars.

Tickets are available now for preview performances starting March 30, with an all-star gala opening planned for April 18. Set in a new, custom-designed theater, Peep Show will highlight the art of the tease featuring an all-female band and more than 20 sexy dancers from film, TV, Broadway and beyond for a show unlike any other on the Strip. An upfront and close VIP package including bottle service at a cabaret table is $165.

Says Jerry of his new creation: “Peep Show is a story of sexuality and empowerment told through dance and contemporary popular music, featuring the Peep Diva, a bold and powerful woman (Mel) with all the answers, who guides the timid Bo Peep, a modern woman who has yet to find her own power and sexuality (Kelly), on a swift journey of awakening and self-discovery during which she’s inspired through sensual awareness and blossoms into a sexy, daring, provocative and more confident woman.

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