Calendar Girl

"Ah, Claire Sinclair. You put the Sin in Claire Sinclair." The Stratosphere's late-night show, PIN UP, is a starring vehicle for Sinclair (on my left in the blue dress), the 2011 Playmate of the Year, and so, appropriately, is structured as a salute to the pin-up girls of the Forties and Fifties. (A few years ago my friends took me to see Neil Sedaka for my birthday, so this is the second Vegas show where I've got to hear "Calendar Girl" sung.) 

It's a feast of swing music by a hot six-piece combo, dance numbers by four shapely showgirls and a dude (disclaimer: this review may reflect the biases of the author), and vocals by Lisa Marie Smith (on my right), whose smoky rendition of Sondheim's "Sooner or Later," surely the best torch song written in the last 30 years, especially won me over. It's an intimate setting where you may well find Lisa Marie crooning in your lap. A "Rosie the Riveter" number showcases some crazy jitterbugging, dancer Anya (on your far right) gets a show-stopping baseball routine, and when Lisa Marie belts out "This Girl's On Fire" prompting a dancer to come out dressed as a firefighter, it's a good excuse as any to get a pole onstage. Sinclair is given a few routines to make sure she has more to do than look pretty and exude charm, although she has that in spades; a highlight is when she has to interrupt her bedtime routine to fend off the advances of an amorous pillow. There's a bit of burlesque and a few rather impressive magic tricks, so pretty much something for everyone; well, everyone who likes a lot of swing music and half a dozen pretty girls. Well, and one dude. So, everyone, I guess.

Tickets are $49.99 plus taxes, although Stratosphere guests can get two tickets for the price of one. The same deal is offered in the 2014 American Casino Guide. Or if, like me, you know when to hold 'em, like me, you can try to win tickets online at AcePlay Poker, the Stratosphere's online poker site.