Three new flavors of Vegas diversion

Tired of the same ol’ same ol’? It’s encouraging to see the usually unrelated items in this column share an effort to offer something new and offbeat.

At the Town Square shopping center, moonlighting artists led by a “Zumanity” performer reopen a theater with an original drama (though one with music and dance) about prostitution.

Next week, the sex gets back to a lighter note with “Spank!” – a touring parody of “50 Shades of Grey,” stopping for a limited run at the Rio.

And even “Bite,” the topless vampire epic that’s often drawn affectionate taunts from this corner, plans to relaunch at the Plaza with almost everything changed but the name … and, thankfully, the topless vamps.

So, to take them in order:

Wassa Coulibaly pursued a dream project and ended up running a theater in the process.

“I feel like I’m building a home for a lot of entertainers,” the African dancer from “Zumanity” says of the new venue that will house her side project “The Red Dress,” which debuts late tonight/early Friday at 12:30 a.m.

Coulibaly twice staged an earlier version of the work, then called “The Art of Prostitution,” at the Onyx Theatre in 2008 and 2009. Feeling she had outgrown 100 seats there, she discovered the abandoned studio theater built to house the short-lived “Shear Madness” at Town Square in 2009.

Plans for a limited run expanded to a landlord’s role after Coulibaly fielded inquiries from everyone from magicians to jazz musicians. The interest makes her optimistic that she can anchor the theater with weekly performances of “The Red Dress” and sublet other nights.

“I know it will work with a whole bunch of us,” she says. As an original cast member of “Zumanity” – she does the African dance segment near the beginning – Coulibaly certainly has the contacts; fellow cast and crew members have been coming over to help in the wee hours after their paid gigs.

Coulibaly says she has to be careful not to suggest an official Cirque connection to her show. At the same time, “they encourage us to do outside stuff like this,” she says. “It frees you as an artist because you’re being creative on multiple levels and you grow as an artist.”

Prostitution had been on her mind as a poet, and the world view that comes from her journeys from Senegal informs “The Red Dress” beyond Nevada’s legal and illegal trade.

“In my life I’ve seen it so many ways. I touch upon all those experiences,” she says. “When a father gives his daughter to a man because he bought this many cows … I see it all as prostitution.”

Coulibaly’s own experience never reached those extremes. But yearning to dance in a repressed Muslim society – “always rebellious and wanting to stand out” – she says, “I’ve been called that name many times before.”

And drawing from an early experience in the United States, she knows what it is to “fall in to the arms of a man who takes advantage of you. Somebody who thinks you belong to them.” …

Ever since The Second City pulled up stakes and left town, local producers figured it’s cheaper to serve comedy buffs a single stand-up at a microphone than with an ensemble or sketch troupe.

But “Fifty Shades of Grey” is enough of a literary phenomenon to create a ripple effect in national bookings for “Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody.”

The three-person show lands at the Rio for a limited run Tuesday through Nov. 10 (originally it was to open today, as previous listings reflect). National producer Michael Mills teams with Adam Steck as the local presenter.

Neither Mills nor veteran comedy writer and director Jim Millan had read the book before the producer called the director with the hiding-in-plain-sight notion to parody it.

Millan quickly caught up on his reading, but says not to fear if you have managed to resist the spicy best-seller. “It’s not like (the uninitiated) feel left out. They get it,” he says. “It’s about the nature of female escapist fantasy literature, and that includes lots of films.

“Whether it’s the desire to be swept up in a relationship with a dark prince or a sparkly vampire, all of this is so pop culture now. You have enough information to get all the jokes.”

Millan is only a shade removed from Las Vegas, even though he lives in Toronto. The director’s flair for nontraditional material has included work with impressionist Gordie Brown, the “Mythbusters” tour that recently stopped at the Palazzo and Larry King’s live dates at The Mirage last year.

Millan also helped Teller and Todd Robbins showcase “Play Dead” in Las Vegas and open it off-Broadway. “I think people are interested in seeing what I can bring to an idea that has potential, but has its challenges as well,” he says. …

Former Mayor Oscar Goodman has been called a lot of things. But a vampire?

The idea that all Vegas legends, from Frank Sinatra to the mayor-turned-restaurateur, secretly sprout fangs is one of the conceits behind the new “Bite.” The topless revue was set to close in its old form Wednesday at the Stratosphere, but plans to rise again Nov. 13 at the Plaza.

Creator Tim Molyneux promises new sets, costumes, choreography and a storyline revolving around one Count Rock. “We definitely have a lighter approach,” he says. “You won’t hear that big, ominous voice in the beginning.”

The dancing is “still aggressive and sexy,” he says, and still accompanied by classic-rock anthems.

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