Las Vegas hasn't yet had the chance to experience the latest creation from Melody Sweets.
The singer and burlesque performer who originally hit the Strip as part of the cast of “Absinthe” at Caesars Palace had been developing a new production when the pandemic struck and shut down live entertainment.
“We were supposed to open on Valentine’s Day and then pushed it back to April, and then COVID hit in March and now we’re just waiting for the Governor to let us know when we can open and get something onstage,” she says on the latest episode of the Sun on the Strip podcast. “We were looking to open at Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace and are still hoping to do so. I would really love to return to Caesars [because] it would be full circle for me. Cleopatra’s Barge is a stunning room and I really just can’t wait to put my feathers all over that place.”
Sweet’s producing partners for the new burlesque show are Matt and Angela Stabile, the architects of the “X Burlesque” empire with three female revues at different Caesars Entertainment casino resorts. They also produce Piff the Magic Dragon’s popular show at the Flamingo.
“I’m really looking forward to collaborating with them and putting my show on the stage,” Sweets says. “They definitely have their own style and I will be something different for them. I look forward to seeing how we come together.”
Sweets has been focusing on creating new music during the shutdown — “that and baking a lot of cakes and breads,” she jokes. She’s working on a flirty tune for the holidays — she released the naughty “Santa Maybe” song and video a few years back — and teased a possible collaboration with another Strip headliner to create an album of burlesque-style music.
Like so many of her peers, she’s longing for the stage and the chance to continue her artistic contribution to the local entertainment scene.
“When I first came here, I [felt] like besides a select few others in town, I was kind of like a lone wolf. And I loved that because I felt like I was bringing a different style of burlesque to Las Vegas than what Las Vegas was accustomed to,” Sweets says. “I would bring in different [performers with] different body types, completely different kinds of people, I remember how the audience reacted and would look at each other like, am I allowed to like this? By the end of the act, those people were all on their feet and it definitely showed me Las Vegas really craved authentic burlesque.”
Listen to this and more on the Sun on the Strip, also available at Apple Podcasts.