Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY TK; ILLUSTRATION BY TK Folies Bergère at Tropicana. A veteran stage performer on the Strip, Cheaza Figueroa joined the cast in April and was instantly aware that being a showgirl in Jubilee is not like being part of a typical Vegas show. "I have not done anything so classically Las Vegas," says Figueroa, who was a member of the Peepshow ca st du r ing t hat show's ent ire fou r -year run, eventually assuming the lead role of Peep Diva. Orig inally, Peepshow was intended to be a topless version of Jubilee fea - t u r ing a series of production numbers. But that's where the similarities ended. "For me, the difference in Peep and Jubilee is those costumes," says Figueroa, one of the prin- cipa l singers in t he new version of Jubilee. "T he costumes in Peep are lavish, but nothing like this. There are 25-pound headdresses with these huge stones, $9,000 dresses. Are you kid- ding me? No show has this anymore. None." The production is unique in so many ways— not just because its Swarovski crystals are so rare t hat when one fa lls f rom a cost ume, da ncers scramble to retrieve it because it might well be irreplaceable. Jubilee is one of the last full-scale productions in Las Vegas to be owned fully by the hotel where it's staged. You could argue—as some have, and not just in jest—that Jubilee is so impor- tant to the city's culture that it should be publicly subsidized and protected as a historic landmark. But its owners are Caesars Entertainment and Bally's, and the evolution of Jubilee falls to mem- bers of the creative team who have been working on it for years. It has not been easy to remake Jubilee a s a more contempora r y show. Some long time fans wanted it to remain as is, a clas- sic product ion h igh light ing t he lav ish gow ns designed by Bob Mackie and Pete Menefee. But some of the acts and choreography had become dated, stale, and unintentionally campy. Beyoncé's choreog rapher, Frank Gatson Jr., was brought in to reimagine the show, using a character called Miss Jubilee and a narrator to carr y the stor y line. More R&B -infused dance numbers have been added; side acts were cut completely. Such popular numbers as "Samson and Delilah" and "Titanic" remain, amid new A showgirl in the new production of Jubilee. 92 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM