Claire Sinclair has taken up a private booth at McCall’s Heartland Grill at the Stratosphere. Actually, all the booths are private, because the restaurant is closed—unless, of course, you are the star of the resort’s new show, Pin Up. For Sinclair, the 2011 Playboy Playmate of the Year, the restaurant never closes.

The 21-year-old Sinclair has been busy prepping for the new show, which has been moved back to a March 2 opening after its originally scheduled February 25 launch. The late delivery of lighting equipment is the official reason, but it’s clear the show can use all of the extra rehearsal time it can free up. As opening night approaches, we caught up with Sinclair, who has previously guest-starred in Crazy Horse Paris at MGM Grand, to talk about dancing with pillows, speaking onstage and why she’s not going topless.

What’s been the biggest challenge for you, as far as being onstage? I’m acting in the show a little bit, which I didn’t get to do in Crazy Horse. There’s no talking in Crazy Horse, and now I’m actually engaging the audience.

Do you have any favorite acts? My favorite act is “Pillow Talk,” where this pillow comes to life and flirts with me. It’s the most adorable thing in the world. It gets up and does a jig, and it’s a pillow, so it’s really cute.

It’s a dancer dressed as a pillow? No. It’s an actual pillow that dances.

It’s a puppet? What is this thing? What is going on with this pillow? (Laughs) It’s a secret ... It’s an actual pillow, and he’s lovely. We actually have a rendezvous at the end of the scene and it’s adorable.

I was talking to a big entertainment figure who asked me about Pin Up and if you were going to be topless in the show. The question was presented as, “Why would you have Claire Sinclair in a show if she is not going to be topless?” What’s your answer to that? Well, you know, the show compensates for not having topless girls. I think it’s almost sexier not to have them topless. What I find in Vegas, when I watch topless shows, is you kind of forget that there are boobs bouncing around in your face because they are out and about through the whole duration of the show. They kind of lose their sex appeal, almost, when they are out there from the beginning of the show to the end, and they are not sexy or mysterious at all.

You wouldn’t be in the type of show that is a series of topless numbers? Exactly. I wouldn’t want anything to do with that. I think Peepshow was good because Holly (Madison) only showed full breasts in a couple of scenes and people were anticipating it the whole show. Our show comes fairly close, because we get down to pasties, so you get to see the whole thing except for nipples. But it’s a buildup as well. I’m in a long Jessica Rabbit dress, and throughout the duration of the show I strip down. It’s almost a little more mysterious and sexy—you don’t need to see everything, and it leaves a lot to the imagination.

Have you anticipated what it’s going to feel like walking out on the stage in front of an audience for the first time in this show? It’s completely new to me, honestly, because I’ve never really done anything onstage where I have had to speak. With Crazy Horse, it was silent. I was just doing a couple of dance numbers. This is really a different feeling because I’m carrying the show in a way, in a lot of different aspects. I’m involved in every single scene, even if I’m not in it.

How so? I’m either narrating or my picture is up. I’m in it in some fashion. You’ll always see me, in every scene. And that’s a lot of weight to carry, and it’s also an adrenaline rush.

There is a lot of potential for this type of role. Frank Marino has become an icon with this type of role. Definitely. I’m excited for it. I feel that every day I’m doing it, it’s going to become a little more fun … I’m excited just to be doing it. I wish we were doing it tomorrow.