Dangerous curves coming to Vegas

Claire and Coco. Or is that Coco and Claire? You decide, because the reality-TV pinup girls will be Las Vegas rivals. But either way it has a nice ring for those who appreciate dangerous curves.

After it was made official that Coco Austin will take over as the centerpiece of "Peepshow" in December comes news that Playboy model Claire Sinclair will star in a new show at the Stratosphere next year.

And the best news of all for those who love the ladies? It doesn't sound like "Bite" is disappearing after all.

Sinclair, Playboy's 2011 Playmate of the Year, will headline the show that replaces "Bite" at the Stratosphere after the topless vampire romp closes on Halloween. Sinclair's still-unnamed burlesque show will be produced under a guarantee by the Stratosphere, rather than contracted to an outside producer as "Bite" was.

Stratosphere officials confirm entertainer Frankie Moreno will have "some creative influence" on the new burlesque show as he continues his own show there earlier in the evening, but it was not clear if he will carry the actual title of producer.

Sinclair twice danced as a weeklong guest in the MGM Grand's "Crazy Horse Paris," and finds it symbolic to have closed her deal with the Stratosphere on the same night that the curtain came down Monday at the MGM.

"It was strange, kind of surreal that this is happening on the same night," Sinclair said Tuesday. "I was a mess." She loved "Crazy Horse" so much that "after the show ended, I was crying more than the girls when I went backstage to say goodbye to them."

Sinclair will move here from Los Angeles next month, and said she is ready to make a full-time commitment to headlining a Las Vegas show. She said she always thought, "There has to be a reason for me to move out to Vegas. It's so strange that it's happening so soon."

Twitter postings indicate the new show will be choreographed by Lacey Schwimmer of "Dancing with the Stars" fame, who made slight inroads into Las Vegas by staging the dancers in the Michael Turco "Magic & Mayhem" show.

It's early in the creative process, Sinclair said, but the show will reflect the retro, classic-burlesque vibe of her image as the spokesmodel for Bettie Page Clothing. "I've always been obsessed with retro things. I've always felt like I should be alive in the '50s and '60s, like I was born in the wrong era."

Sinclair attracted a lot of attention for being one of Playboy's youngest models. But she turned 21 in May and looks forward to seeing all she missed before. "Everything was blocked off to me" by casino executives acutely aware of her age, she recalled. "I was like a kid in a candy store who couldn't eat any of the candy." ...

Sinclair was part of "Holly's World" with her friend Holly Madison, and "Peepshow" has "never been more successful than when Holly was on television," "Peepshow" producer Scott Zeiger says of the E! cable reality show.

So Zeiger sounds happy to report that Austin's new job in "Peepshow" will be a "plotline" in "Ice Loves Coco." Not in the already filmed episodes that begin airing Oct. 28, but whenever the next batch of episodes runs next year.

"That's our plan. That's our hope," Zeiger says.

And since Ice-T and Coco's bulldog, Spartacus, seems to be the breakout star of the show, what about him? "That dog's gonna live backstage, pal," says Zeiger. "There's been a whole discussion about that."

Zeiger's Base Entertainment this week started remodeling The Venetian theater long occupied by the Blue Man Group. The Blue guys waited until Sunday to close there, only 10 days before they jump over to a newly remodeled theater and stage at the Monte Carlo next Wednesday.

It will be a bit of a race to get The Venetian theater remodeled in time to open "Rock of Ages" Dec. 18. "We're destroying the (Blue Man) set," Zeiger says. Not out of vindictiveness, but because it was structural architecture. ...

"Bite" producer Tim Mollyneux says he was hopeful the vampire show would continue by the number of calls he fielded when word got out the Stratosphere was replacing it with Sinclair's burlesque show.

"The support we got after we announced it was closing was really humbling," he says. "There's still a place for topless vampires in Las Vegas."

Molyneux says he has a pending deal to move the show, but did not want to announce the location until the contracts are signed. ...

Kevin Burke, the show-hopping star of both "Defending the Caveman" and "Mind-Blowing Comedy," moves the latter from The D to Hooters Hotel today. There's some symmetry there, since the Prince tribute Purple Reign moved from Hooters to The D. ...

Finally, it's always good to see that Don Rickles is still setting longevity records with shows at The Orleans this weekend. But it's also good not to let him have a complete lock on the octogenarian comedy dollar.

Sammy Shore - who did a lot of things in life besides being Pauly's father - is teaming up with one of the great Las Vegas raconteurs, Pete Barbutti, for "Sammy Shore's Legends of Comedy" each Saturday night at the Clarion starting this week.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.