Revel casino hosting 'Royal Jelly' burlesque club

[February 21, 2012]  ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Casino patrons in Atlantic City will soon be Revel-ing in a new burlesque show.

When the Revel casino opens in April, one of its attractions will be "Ivan Kane's Royal Jelly," a burlesque show that lends a traditional nightclub with live bands and more than a dozen dancers who fan out into the audience as they strip down to barely-theres.

"It's sensual as opposed to sexy," said Kane, a New York club designer. "It's a nightclub, but during your time in the nightclub, all of a sudden there's gonna be a shift in energy and a show's gonna start, and live musicians are gonna be there and dancers are gonna be dancing all around and doing our version of how we do burlesque."

That version is more R-rated than anything else. Kane insists the show is not strip-tease or go-go. Rather, he says, it integrates the nightclub experience with a concert and Broadway show elements. There will be no nudity, and no physical contact with patrons.

What there will be is plenty of lights, some lasers, confetti, and highly choreographed numbers. Later in the evening, at 2 a.m., the show shifts to a rock concert, with the dancers performing on and offstage.

There will be tunnels and platforms, onto which dancers will pop out periodically.

"There's a level of elegance, and yet it's edgy at the same time," said Mitch Gorshin, the casino's executive creative director.

The show is part of an emerging trend in Atlantic City in which casinos are integrating burlesque or sexy-themed shows into their everyday routines. The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort plans to open a non-nude version of the Scores strip club, where dancers will have to wear pasties and G-strings. Last year, Resorts Casino Hotel hosted "The Naked Circus," a non-quite naked show in a tent in its parking lot in which aerialists and acrobats cavorted in less-than-traditional circus garb.

Kane formerly ran the Forty Deuce burlesque clubs in Los Angeles, and at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. He has appeared in Oliver Stone's Academy Award-winning film "Platoon," as well as "Born On The Fourth Of July," and several television shows.

Revel, Atlantic City's 12th casino, is opening April 2. It is expected to bring new business and revenue into the struggling resort, the second-largest in the nation after Las Vegas.

The casino will begin accepting reservations March 5.

[Associated Press; By WAYNE PARRY]

Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC.

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