MIKE WEATHERFORD: Porn video producer taking cautious approach to opening `Fashionistas'

For years, producers of Las Vegas topless revues have offered more sizzle than steak, you might say, with advertising that's more provocative than their actual product.

John Stagliano may have the opposite problem of trying to tone down expectations for "The Fashionistas" when it opens next month. That's because he's a famous porn video producer, and the show is a spinoff from a 4 1/2-hour hard-core movie that swept the Adult Video News Awards in ceremonies on the Strip last year.

"My lawyer wants the county to look at the show before it opens just to make sure we don't have any problems, but there's really nothing racier in it than anything else in Vegas," Stagliano says of the show he hopes to open the weekend of Sept. 10, in the Desert Passage mall nightclub formerly occupied by the Ibiza and Blue Note.

Stagliano says his show will display less skin than the MGM Grand's "La Femme," but will have a more intense impact because of "the ideas and the content."

"The Fashionistas" will have only a few lines of dialogue, but will use rear-screen video and "the feeling of the songs" in the soundtrack -- with songs by Evanescence, Lords of Acid and Tool -- to tell the movie's story of a young woman in the fashion industry becoming entangled in a love triangle with her female boss and a famous male designer.

Stagliano's movie is one of the top-renting titles in a video industry that's bigger than most of us will own up to. Beyond whatever synergy that comes from ticket-buyers familiar with the movie, "I believe the show could stand on its own" for people who have never heard of the movie, he says.

The producer says he checked out the topless shows on the Strip a couple of years ago, and "saw the tools were available to do a really interesting show in Las Vegas." He was impressed that Las Vegas producers can use any recorded source music they want, without the filmmaker's headache of licensing. And the better-trained dancers were "more familiar with doing the erotic-type stuff" than back in the old days when there was a big difference between a "showgirl" and a "dancer."

"Where I think I can complete in Vegas is with the quality of the ideas in the show," he says.

The nightclub will reopen with the new name Krave, positioning itself for an "alternative lifestyles" niche to avoid direct competition with the casino-financed nightspots. ...

Business is good for The Second City. The Flamingo-based comedy troupe is up to a landmark 14 shows per week, filling its former Wednesday dark night with two more performances of "Scriptless," an all-improv show that's doing well on late nights Tuesdays and Sundays.

Most Second City shows are a mix of scripted sketches and improv "games" based on audience suggestions. The cast will begin writing a new "main stage" show, as they call it, with Chicago-based director Tracey Thorpe on Sept. 27.

Company manager Brooke Schoening admits it's all a bit confusing for consumers and that marketing efforts will attempt to define "Scriptless" as a distinct product. ...

Fans of "Forever Plaid," the tribute to '50s harmony groups that played the Flamingo before Second City, should be in for some good news soon. It looks like the show will be back in Las Vegas early next year, although there's no contract signed with the venue that likely will host it. ...

Magician Rick Thomas, who has become more and more valuable to the Tropicana over the years, has been given space for his own retail magic shop. Thomas will use the shop near the casino's front entrance for the post-show meet-and-greets that used to take place on the showroom steps. ...

Longtime fans of jazz and R&B bandleader Tex Richardson should circle Aug. 23 on their calendars. Richardson has contracted the music hall at Fiesta Rancho and a four-camera video crew for a showcase concert to help him "make that leap" from lounges to showroom headliner.

"Since I've been doing it this long I want to give it a try," says the 24-year Las Vegan, who spent 10 years as Lola Falana's musical director and, as half of Tex & Kathy, performed in places such as Cafe Michelle and Play It Again Sam's.

Richardson took a year off from the lounges to gear up for his new Richardson-Red Project. The 15-piece band is fronted by Paris Red, who had a recording career in Europe and has worked with the Platters and Rose Royce.

"I'm trying to pick up from where Lola left off, with all the glitz and glamour," he says of the free 8 p.m. showcase. ...

Also on the Station Casinos front: Comedic drag queen Kenny Kerr ends his Thursday-Friday Sunset Station showcase on Aug. 27. The Friday night slot will be taken by hypnotist Tom Kaz starting Sept. 3. Kaz will continue the Monday and Thursday shows that have built a following at Palace Station; all three will remain free.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays.