Iconic Las Vegas Strip show closing for third time

Like Wayne Newton, some Las Vegas Strip traditions refuse to die. Newton and Donny Osmond, who both have long-running Strip residencies, represent the old days.

They sing music few modern Las Vegas visitors want to see, and they don’t really have hits the way Barry Manilow, who has an off-Strip residency, does. These are old-school acts doing old-school shows in a town that has become all about having some of the biggest names in music on a nightly basis.

Related: Las Vegas Strip casino closes popular country singer residency

And while Newton, Osmond, and Manilow not only hang on, but remain popular and viable, many other Las Vegas Strip staples have quietly gone away. The long-running “Legends in Concert,” an act built around celebrity impersonators, has been gone for more than a year, while magic acts have dwindled to only the biggest of names.

For some reason, you can see a variety of topless reviews where attractive, nearly naked women sing (maybe lip-sync) contemporary music, but showgirls are long gone. Big, expensive productions not built around actual stars no longer seem to be a draw on the Strip.

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There was a time when a big, feathery hat on a dancer topped with other assets was novel, but that day seems to be a thing of the past. That makes the Chippendales, a near-naked male dance revue with a long Strip (and strip) history, a sort of anachronism whose time may have come.

Chippendales created a genre

While it’s not a big genre, Chippendales can take credit for the existence of other semi-naked, all-male dance reviews like “Thunder From Down Under.” That group uses a very similar concept, except its dancers are Australian (Now, that’s a knife!).

Chippendales, however, seem like something from the 1980s and 1990s, and the group’s biggest moment may have been the Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley send-up of the troupe on SNL way back in 1990. The group, however, still has a touring production and a Nashville residency, along with its perennial Las Vegas Strip presence.

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The company celebrates its longevity on its web page.

“Our world-famous male revue show has been entertaining audiences for over 45 years and we continue to raise the bar with each performance. After over 24 fantastic years at The Rio Hotel & Casino we have moved and are now nightly located in The Linq Hotel + Experience. Visit our new location on The Strip and see why we’ve won the Best Of Las Vegas gold award in Best Male Revue Show category for 14 consecutive years!”

Chippendales closing again

The problem is that that language needs to be updated, as the show has been canceled by Caesars Entertaiment’s (CZR) Linq property.

“Sources familiar with the Chipps’ plans indicate the show will be leaving the Linq Hotel this summer, with its next home Sin City Theater at Planet Hollywood. This would be the Chipps’ third venue within a year,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

The move would keep the dance troupe within the Caesars family of resort casinos.

Neither Caesars nor the Chippendales confirmed, or explained, the move to the paper.

No Chippendales shows are listed at The Linq after July 31. Mat Franco, who shares the theater, which is named after him, with the mostly naked male dancers, lists shows through the end of the year.

Related: Las Vegas Strip casino signs spectacular singer to long residency

The Mat Franco Theater has over 600 seats, while the Sin City Theater has about half that. The Review-Journal speculated that a general lack of ticket sales (sometimes fewer than 100 per night) led to the move.

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