Las Vegas Weekly

February 15, 2010 · 12:32 PM

Exclusive & Photo Gallery: Pussycat Dolls are leaving Pure for Paris

By Robin Leach

Drew Barrymore with the Las Vegas Pussycat Dolls at Caesars Palace.

Photo: Pure Management Group

The multi-year run of the long-legged, fishnet- and bustier-clad and booty-shaking beauties affectionately known as the Las Vegas Pussycat Dolls will come to an end at hotspot Pure in Caesars Palace at the end of this month.

It’s stunning and surprising nightclub news for Las Vegas. The glamour girls who have entertained everybody from Paris Hilton to Kim Kardashian in their sexy, seductive lineup are calling it quits in their lounge at Caesars Palace.

However, the Pussycat Dolls brand will actually be expanded at Caesars, even though the dancers will wind up in their own new space at the newly planned Chateau nightclub being built at the former Risque club at the Paris across the Strip. It’s all part of an ambitious $11 million makeover by the Sugar Factory folks.

The fast-growing candy conglomerate, which debuted its first outlet in The Mirage, just opened its second location at Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile yesterday. We posted our story and photo coverage this morning of Mel B, Kendra Wilkinson, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Holly Madison and Hank Baskett at the grand opening yesterday. The super-sized Sugar Factory store and restaurant in the existing Ah Sin opens late fall and will be expanded onto the Strip sidewalk area.

Chateau, with its new Pussycat Dolls attraction, will open on New Year’s Eve, with rehearsals for the new show starting in November. It also will have a disco version of the burlesque attraction reminiscent of the Broadway musical and now feature film Nine.

“Yes, your story is correct. The Pussycat Dolls will depart at the end of February,” said Michael Gilmartin, Pure Management Group’s director of public relations. “We will now make the official announcement tomorrow. We are going in a totally different direction with the space, although it will still be a big brand with some great names behind it.

“It’s a great new concept that we have to keep well under wraps for a while, but it does combine technology and music. Hopefully, we can make that announcement in the next month or so.”

Meantime, the PCD brand is expanding at Caesars Palace. A new Pussycat Dolls entertainment bar will be added as an extension to the existing PCD casino and lingerie store there. The femme fatale bartenders and shot girls all will be outfitted in sexy, sparkly new costumes, and there will be entertainment, although no burlesque writhing, sexy bathtubs or trapeze turns. A major headline star will come in for this fall’s opening festivities being planned for the new entertainment bar.

When I checked last night with various Caesars Palace officials, I couldn’t get any confirmations, but this morning, Pussycat Dolls founder and choreographer Robin Antin told me: “I’ve no idea how you learned about this, but it’s true. These are new times, and we need a whole new vibe. It’s been planned for quite a while, but we weren’t going to announce it until the end of the month.

“We’re in a new decade with 2010, so we have to keep changing. We are thrilled. I am really excited. We are in full design mode. I am inspired by all of this change. It’s so great!”

Robin also is the producer of the new Matt Goss show set for a March 12 unlimited run at Cleopatra’s Barge in Caesars. “I’m not mixing the two. They are separate entities,” she said.

The Pussycat Dolls lounge at Chateau will be the same size as the Pure space, Robin revealed. “But this time it gives me much more to play with because we’re starting the designs now from scratch. It will have a really fun French feeling.”

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

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Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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