As per usual, we roll into Vegas with about 30 minutes to check in, get our show tickets and get to Ballys to see the Bob Mackie vintage showgirl spectacular "Jubilee". (Sorry Peter -I know I resisted seeing Jubilee for a sixth time when we were with you, but it was three against one!)
We split up so we can get everything done - again I have bought several Bettie Page evening ensembles, and again we must dash to the theatre in our travelling clothes. I positively feel like an URCHIN.
Grant and Brendon head to the box office to collect our tickets and David and I do the checking in.The lobby is very glam with a floor to ceiling wall of chandelier and more marble floors than something that has a LOT of marble floors. We are lamenting the fact that the 2 bedroom suite we tried to book was unavailable on line, when our helpful checker inerer suggests he may be able to find us a suite to share ... a two bedroom suite ... actually a high roller suite ... actually a high roller suite with a separate bar,three bathrooms,dining room and living room ... actually a Strip view high roller suite ..actually a strip view high roller suite that has its own vintage Hollywood costume collection.
David and I are squealing like school girls until we see the price .... oh dear ... no thankyou, we'll just take our regular rooms please. Our helpful checker inerer is, of course, our best friend by now, and disapears to chat to Johnny Punch Clock to see what can be done.
A lot of time transpires and we are starting to glow from the pressure of the increasingly impatient texts from our husbands who are standing at the door of the theatre listening to the Jubilee overture.
Our helpful checker inerer returns and says we can have the high roller suite at a massive discount, meaning we only have to pay an extra $50 per night per person. More squealing and we say YES with only the slightest nagging thought that we might get into big trouble from our husbands.
We race to the room as time is of the essence, we swing open the huge double doors, through the dimly lit foyer with two huge gelatin prints of Greta Garbo and OH EM GEE .... This makes the penthouse from Pretty Woman look like a doss house. It is A>M>A>Z>I>N>G. It is HUGE, and oh lord the VIEW!!!!!!! The excitement level is at such adrenalin pumping levels that I literally wet my pants as David runs from room to room squealing like a frizzy haired whore.
We wait for the cases to arrive (with fresh smalls) and then must RUN to Ballys to meet our husbands. We decide not to tell them about the high roller suite until we go back to our room -he he he
Meanwhile, it transpires the same thing has happened to our husbands and although they purchased nose bleed section theatre seating tickets, our late and flustered arrival has lead the usher to feel sorry for us and lead us to a centre stage front row ringside table! pinch me!!
The show has already started, and being lead through the audience to our ringside table while thirty topless feather clad showgirls parade down a mirrored staircase is completely blowing my mind. Oh happy happy days.
The show is, of course, amazing, and only enhanced by Brendon and David being cruised by the chorus boys from minute one.
I immediately spot Miss Paula, my teacher from showgirl school last year, and happy days -she has moved from lowly chorus girl to dance LEAD! I feel so proud. Her inspirational story of moving to Vegas and becoming a topless dancer continues.
Seeing the show (especially the costumes) at such close range is a whole new experience and absolutely DAZZLING. Soon the cocktails start arriving and I am in HEAVEN all through the Irving Berlin medley, the salute to America,the homoerotic Samson & Delilah sequence, and of course, the topless sinking of the Titanic. Campest show EVER.
All too soon it is over, and we are strolling through Ballys and Paris, stopping for a bite to eat in gay Paree, and then back to our room where we have the champagne chilling and awaiting our grand entrance.
Any thoughts of being in trouble for upgrading the room are gone as our room length circular glass wall reveals the most glamorous part of the strip in all its glory - the Bellagio fountains, the Eiffel Tower of Paris, and on to Ceasars Palace. The view is absolutely breathtaking, and we sit for ages in our glamorous relaxing area, enjoying a glass of French, and wondering what the simple folk are up to.
Vegas never disapoints - best first night EVER.
de la fabulaire in the hollywood hills
