{"id":887170,"date":"2025-06-03T14:13:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T21:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/?p=887170"},"modified":"2025-06-03T19:04:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T02:04:54","slug":"the-empire-strips-back-a-burlesque-parody-rio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blog\/the-empire-strips-back-a-burlesque-parody-rio\/","title":{"rendered":"The Empire Strips Back\u2014A Burlesque Parody (Rio)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Empire Strips Back<\/em> is the new show at the Rio. ESB<\/em> began as a small production in Sydney, Australia, and grew to a point where it has played in 40 cities, including London, Paris, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and now Vegas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it\u2019s based on the original Star Wars<\/em> trilogy, it\u2019s a jiggle show first and foremost, with nine female dancers, two males, and an emcee. Like all shows of this type, it\u2019s one vignette after another and you have to marvel at where they get the ideas to make them different enough, but that\u2019s where the Star Wars<\/em> theme works, as the segments play off the oh-so-well-known characters \u2014 Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, R2-D2, CYoda, Jabba the Hutt, Chewbacca, and on and on. Of course a strip show has to have familiar music and this one delivers, featuring licks by Run DMC, Backstreet Boys, Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, and Guns N\u2019 Roses, among many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sexy Quotient<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Make no mistake, the SQ (sexy quotient) is high, but there\u2019s almost no nudity. Other than some flashing topless moments, the rest is pretty much everything butt.<\/em> We have to admit, watching the Storm Troopers strip down to their Under Wars is titillating, but that doesn\u2019t have a thing on the moment when it becomes clear that Darth Vader is a girl! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of girls, the ladies in the audience get their turn when Luke does his thing to \u201cSmooth Criminal,\u201d with a few more performances by the guys throughout (after all, this was the former Chippendales stage). The highlight of the show is a romp by Chewbacca, who, thankfully, doesn\u2019t disrobe (in part because he doesn\u2019t have any clothes to take off). The entire cast comes out to tie a bow on it in the cool finale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Intermission<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the only shows in town that has an intermission. It\u2019s 20 minutes, which stretches the run time to almost two hours. Some like it, some don\u2019t. We didn\u2019t mind, if only for an easy bathroom break (see \u201cPro Tips\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pro Tips<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are two. During the intermission, the closest restroom is mobbed. Go down the escalator and walk back toward the casino to access an easier bathroom play. And seating is tight, uncomfortably almost, especially if you want to move while the row is seated. The showroom is small, so there\u2019s no sightline penalty for sitting in the back where it\u2019s less cramped. If you\u2019re not seated there to start, those seats open up after the intermission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Verdict<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is a good Vegas show. Whimsical, appropriately raunchy, definitely sexy, funny enough, and the dancing is impressive. The price is right (given today\u2019s standards) starting at $76. Before and after the show there are ample good choices for dinner, then some 9\/6 Jacks or Better video poker. As we\u2019ve been pointing out since the Rio came under new ownership, it keeps getting better over there and this show is a worthy addition to the mix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Empire Strips Back is the new show at the Rio. ESB began as a small production in Sydney, Australia, and grew to a point where it has played in 40 cities, including London, Paris, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and now Vegas. While it\u2019s based on the original Star Wars trilogy, it\u2019s a jiggle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":887162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1447],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-05-28-144133.png?fit=713%2C892&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887170"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887170"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":887196,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887170\/revisions\/887196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}