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- 'Les Folies Bergere' to end run at Tropicana (1-15-2009)
- Last of the red-hot showgirls (9-9-2008)
- Show and (a lot to) tell (5-15-2008)
- Still opulent and extravagant, the 'Folies Bergere' celebrates the big Four-O (12-10-1999)
Beyond the Sun
It’s 6:15 Monday night backstage at the Tropicana’s Tiffany Theatre — the beginning of the final “Les Folies Bergere” workweek.
No one is here. The rooms are filled with rows of mannequin heads topped with ornate headdresses, racks of sequined costumes and jars of rhinestones.
Almost 50 years have passed since “Folies Bergere” staged its first performance at the Tropicana. Photo collages in the hallways backstage tell the story of everything that’s happened in between. In black-and-white, faded sepia and bright color, performers in ornate plumage are arm in arm, smiling widely for the camera, frozen in time.
At 6:45 the performers begin to trickle in. Showgirls enter the dressing room and begin applying makeup and gluing eyelashes. Showgirl Kim Denmark sits down at her mirrored station and drops her bags on the floor, looking at herself in the mirror.
She sighs. “It’s going to be a hard week. I can already tell.”
“Folies Bergere” will stage its last performance at the Tropicana on Saturday night.
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