Westgate Las Vegas operates on its own schedule. Its unique status is partially defined by its location next door to the Las Vegas Convention Center, and also by its hybrid nature: hotel and timeshare resort.
After casinos were shuttered last March, Westgate waited for two weeks after the June 4 reopening date to come back to life, then slowly brought back its key restaurants and amenities. The big-room residency from Barry Manilow resumes at last on September 16, and smaller shows The Magic of Jen Kramer and Soul of Motown returned to the Westgate Cabaret on May 7.
Two more shows should launch in that space soon. The Bronx Wanderers concert production opens on September 20 after moving from Harrah’s, and longtime Vegas headliner George Wallace should be back later this year.
But the show that’s been at Westgate Cabaret almost as long as the Westgate name has been on the building just returned to the stage on August 6.
Dancer and choreographer Jennifer Romas met resort owner David Siegel at the 2014 ribbon cutting event marking the transition from LVH to Westgate, and she soon began pitching him her idea for a new Vegas burlesque show. Siegel wanted it up and running in time for CES, giving Romas three months to build it from scratch. She pulled it off, with topless revue Sexxy the Show hitting the stage in January 2015.
Romas says reviving the show after the long pandemic layoff feels similar to that wild initial launch.
“It’s kind of like going back to the start ... but at the end of the day I’m so grateful, and I feel very blessed,” she says. “Am I stressing right now? Of course. But we’re going to do what we do and come out strong. And if the girls have a great show and people walk out feeling happy and hopefully aroused a little bit, then we did our job.”
Adding to the stress is the continuation of Sexxy After Dark, a supper club version of the show, which Romas launched in partnership with Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club late last year. It was originally intended to keep the cast and crew busy until they could return to Westgate, but its success has spawned plans to expand the show to two other cities at gentlemen’s clubs operated by the same company.
“I’m thrilled to be working with both teams ... and now I’m employing three times as many people as before,” Romas says. “The partnership with the Hustler team [has] pushed me to work differently and figure some things out.”
She figured out some key changes to the Westgate version of the show, including some new cast members such as singer and Vegas stage veteran Anne Martinez and lots of refreshed music, choreography and costumes.
Romas also figured out how to grow her entertainment business during COVID, and to harness her energy and anxiety—“I’m still a little stress bunny,” she jokes—into productivity.
“It was a game-changer for me in every aspect of my life. It was figuring out a lot of things about myself and finding the most incredible man I want to spend the rest of my life with,” Romas says. “How he views the things that have been happening has been really eye-opening for me as an individual and as a business person.”
Actor, entertainer and personal trainer Rico Bozant is also one of the new cast members in Sexxy, performing with Romas in the show’s first-ever male-female act.
“I’ve learned to delegate,” she continues. “I realized I cannot do it all by myself so now there are team members doing everything, which is great.”
SEXXY THE SHOW Friday-Sunday, 10 p.m., $29-$59. Westgate Cabaret, sexxyshow.com.
SEXXY AFTER DARK Thursday-Saturday, 9:30 p.m., $20. Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club, 702-795-3131.
Click HERE to subscribe for free to the Weekly Fix, the digital edition of Las Vegas Weekly! Stay up to date with the latest on Las Vegas concerts, shows, restaurants, bars and more, sent directly to your inbox!
