Night Clubs Reviews

Feb 12, 2003 - Gorgeous girls, hunky guys, skimpy costumes: "Passion Xtreme" is the Tahoe show to see

By Jack Neal

If great looking prime-of-life young people making all the right, hot moves is your thing, see "Passion Xtreme." The girls are gorgeous, the guys are hunky, the costumes are skimpy and the dancing is on the hot side of erotic.

Who could ask for anything more?

"Passion Xtreme," the new ultra-adult show at Caesar's Tahoe, has been created by veteran night-spot producers Breck Wall and Patrick Maes. Directed, choreographed, costumed and lighted by Michael Darrin, "Passion Xtreme" is so hot it will scorch even the most lecherous of imaginations.

The scenario is a simple one: Start provocatively, then sizzle through the next 70 minutes with just the right amounts of skin, sexual fantasy, and first-rate, sensuous choreography. "Passion Xtreme" is designed to keep audiences ogling and entertained every suggestive move of the way.

Opening with "Dance With Me," under the circumstanes an invitation that's hard to resist, and closing with "Die Another Day," with a cast of to-die-for bodies, "Passion Xtreme" is so steamy it would be banned in Boston, if anything were banned in Boston anymore.

The erotic revolving mirror number, a series of reflectioned forbidden dreams, is sensuously artful in the way Michelangelo sculptures would be sensuously artful should they come to life. "The Web," done to Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana," and "The Bull," done to Christina Aguilera's "Infatuation," are all beguiling studies in the sensuality of the male and female human form intertwined in exotic and erotic movement.

Riders of the Thunderdome, too daredevils riding motorcycles inside an 18 foot sphere, is an adrenalin-pumping act and a terrific change of pace in an already terrific show. Comedian Khris Francis is "Passion Xtreme's" laugh talent. A gifted pianist, an adequate singer, and a lightning-quick wit, Francis is lots of fun. But even lots-of-fun has its limits. He's on stage a bit too long. He's also too vulgar to be classically good in the laugh business. Francis has a genuine talent, and doesn't need - nor does the show need, the cheap shock value of foul language. On the positive side, he manages audiences well. His gift for having song titles suggested by members of the audience, then parlaying the suggestions into catchy tunes with witty lyrics is the stuff from which enduring cabaret stars are made.

"Passion Xtreme" is a beautifully produced show that intends nothing more than bringing sexual fantasy to life for adult audiences. What it does along the way is move commercial entertainment into a higher realm of dance art that makes "Passion Xtreme" much more provocative than run-of-the mill-skin-baring shows. The show has legs and they're not just the shapely or muscular ones fans of adult shows have come to relish.

Its lack of pretense, suggestive sensuality and artful ambiance makes "Passion Xtreme" the show to see for adult Lake Tahoe audiences.

"Passion Xtreme" can be seen Sundays through Thursdays in Caesars Tahoe's Circus Maximus showroom located at Stateline (Lake Tahoe), Nevada. "Passion Xtreme" was reviewed from its Sunday, February 2, 2003, performance. For ticket information call 1-800-648-3353 or 775 586-2044.