The Best Shows and Musicals in Las Vegas Right Now
Here are the most mind-blowing shows, from Magic Mike Live to Penn & Teller.
There’s a reason Las Vegas is known as the Entertainment Capital of the World, but with so many shows on so many stages on and off the Strip, what are truly the best Las Vegas things to do? Allow us to help with our insightful picks and proclamations of which Las Vegas happenings are worth your while. These are the best-bang-for-your-buck shows in Vegas—some global icons, some tried-and-true favorites—that are sure to entertain.
The Venetian
There are few residency headliners on the Las Vegas Strip that are so singularly iconic in their craft, and fewer still that qualify as a true “bucket list” show to see, such as Dita Von Teese. And her show at Voltaire is a must. Previously at the original Jubilee Theater inside what is now the Horseshoe Las Vegas, the show’s move to Voltaire is an even better fit for it – the venue drips with disco-inspired glamour and Art Deco opulence; an intimate, extravagant space that befits such a Queen. Von Teese is known for her vintage glamour, and her show is an homage to the glittering showgirls of Las Vegas’s vintage heyday. Incorporating many of the original, elaborate showgirl costumes from Jubilee! (the legendary Las Vegas revue that ran for 35 years), Von Teese’s love letter to Las Vegas is a sparkling, sequin-soaked spectacle and showcase of world-class burlesque.
Von Teese’s show takes the audience on a journey through the history of sensual female performance, with nods to other larger-than-life entertainment icons like Carmen Miranda, Bettie Page, and Liberace (note: there’s a good amount of boylesque in this show as well, and the retrofitted costumes customized for the male dancers look incredible). With tickets starting at just $60, this show is offered at an incredibly affordable price point.
The LINQ
Welcome to 1970s New York City where disco was king. Spiegelworld’s newest show on the Strip is a journey through the days of disco, using a variety of set pieces that are an homage to that era – a grimy NYC subway station as the lower level bar/lounge (you can pop in for a drink here even if you’re not going to the show), an industrial space nodding to the infamous loft parties of NYC DJ David Mancuso, and a nightclub with a Saturday Night Fever light-up dancefloor. DISCOSHOW is less a show than a comprehensive, and fully immersive, experience – this is an interactive dance party so don’t buy tickets thinking you’re going to sit and watch people on stage entertain you. This is all GA admission, standing – correction, dancing – room only. If that is not your vibe, this show is not for you.
The “show” itself is really a guided dance party full of frenetic energy with a fabulous drag queen host and professional dancers in sequined hot pants and roller-skates. Afterwards, have dinner at Diner Ross, a spectacularly themed upscale 1970s “diner.” Cocktails are equally throwback with canned Midori Sours and elevated Appletinia. Before you leave, be sure to hit the phone booth in the downstairs subway station for a photo opp – it’s a hidden photo booth and you can take and print as many photos as you’d like!
Caesars Palace
When Spiegelworld introduced Absinthe to Las Vegas thirteen years ago, it forever changed the Strip. Flashy productions with circus acts were nothing new, and more adult-oriented shows with naughtier themes and varying degrees of nudity weren’t either, but marrying the two under a big top tent in a raunchy, eye-popping spectacle overseen by the sleezy Gazillionaire was a whole new recipe for a Vegas (s)hit show.
The cast, characters, and acts have changed a lot over the years, but the performances always include some of the most jaw-dropping feats of physicality you will see anywhere, and nowhere else will you see four women on sway poles soaring directly over audience members’ heads in the most over-the-top bottle service display in Vegas.
The area around the Absinthe circus tent, now known as the Green Fairy Garden, is a great place to hang out in its own right, with a 35-foot-tall oak tree sculpture featuring 120,000 LED lights, a casual smashed burgers and tater tots concept, and hidden a cocktail bar.
The Venetian
From the same twisted minds behind Absinthe comes the most rootin’-tootinest, rip-roarin’ Wild West show to ever hit the Strip. Giddy-on-up over to Madame Boozy Skunkton’s saloon-brothel and watch as her cast of characters–including a rhinestone cowboy, two very naughty nuns, sexy star-crossed lovers, and a bunch of strongmen–takes us on a journey through the Old West. If you think you’ve seen eye-popping acrobatics before, think again. Also, if you think pole dancing is just for women, really think again. The song selection is also especially stellar. Think less Morgan Wallen and more “Cotton Eye Joe” and “Rhinestone Cowboy.”
The theater itself is as much a part of this wild Wild West experience – with wooden balustrades and church pews, stained glass panels, and ornately detailed curved balconies, it all looks straight out of the 1800s. Be sure to grab a drink before or after the show at the Cow Hide, the speakeasy hidden within Atomic Saloon (no show ticket required).
Wynn Las Vegas
Awakening at the Wynn has gone through a few extended periods of retooling after some disappointing ticket sales and reviews in its first year. The $150 million+ production is visually breathtaking—the costumes are absolutely stunning, and the 60-foot, 360-degree prismatic stage (custom-designed with dichroic glass that incorporates large-scale LED screens) is an engineering feat, segmenting into a variety of different formations that lift up and down and rotate throughout the show. The puppetry is gorgeous. The music (not the two original songs, but the rest of the original score pumped through the speakers found in the headrests of every single seat in the round theater), is fantastic.
Much of the production will have you watching in awe, mouth slightly agape, nailing those “Oh, WOW” moments that are now crucial to the success of any resident show on the Strip. It often takes a while for a new show to find its footing, if it even manages to last long enough to do so. Now that this show has two years under its extremely stylish belt (seriously, the costumes are incredible), here’s hoping they will continue to fine-tune it until they find the winning formula.
New York-New York Hotel & Casino
Mad Apple is not like other Cirque shows. Shirking the typical Cirque formula of circus acts and colorful costumes, Mad Apple is more of a hybrid of Cirque and the variety shows so popular in Vegas. The acts are always changing, but you can expect some combination of stand-up comedy, sleight-of-hand magic, juggling, and sword-swallowing. Some staples of the show include Harlem Globetrotters-style acrobatic basketball tricks, a double wheel of death (very Cirque), a burlesque-esque Lady Liberty, sexy aerial duos and strongmen stunts, and a hair suspension act.
Mad Apple is a music-driven production with stellar vocalists backed by an excellent band and a dance crew paying homage to dance styles that originated in NYC, from breaking to ballroom culture. Be sure to grab a drink and a selfie onstage before the show starts!
Bellagio
An aquatic tribute that pays homage to different performing arts disciplines from opera to, yes, clowns, “O” is simply gorgeous. Everything about the stage and its mechanics, down to the curtains and the lighting, is an intricate illusion. At times massive set pieces emerge, floating through the air, from the seemingly cavernous depths of the back of the stage. The stage shifts from solid floor to open water deep enough for high divers.
There is so much happening everywhere you look that it’s impossible to really take it all in on one viewing. It is a visual feast and a piece of mechanical wizardry that serves to remind audiences this is why Cirque’s popularity is so enduring, and why this show in particular has been wowing audiences on the Las Vegas Strip for more than 25 years now. If you see one Cirque show in your life, make it this one – this is a bucket list Vegas experience.
The Plaza
If you’ve been following Miss Behave, née producer and performer Amy Saunders, for some time, then you may recall her quirky “Miss Behave Gameshow” at Bally’s (RIP) several years ago, or her first incarnation of “Miss Behave’s Mavericks” at Cheapshot in DTLV. She then went and got herself lost at sea for a while, but now she’s back in a beautiful vintage Vegas showroom at the ever-evolving Plaza Las Vegas with a variety show that is pure vaudeville (in ways most other Vegas variety shows really aren’t). There’s burlesque acts and circus acts and plenty of what David Letterman immortally referred to as “stupid human tricks,” and it’s all played for laughs – this show is all about having FUN.
Another thing that really sets this show apart is Miss Behave herself. What is often missing from Vegas variety shows is a truly charismatic emcee; one who is an integral part of the show and keeps the audience engaged and entertained throughout (this is one thing that Absinthe nailed from the beginning with the Gazillionaire and is a credit to its long-term success). Make no mistake, Miss Behave is the real driving force behind her Mavericks, and she is what really sets this show apart – and her eye for some truly unique talent, no doubt. Another bonus: she’s a cheap date, with tickets starting at $49 all in – you won’t find prices like that on the Strip!
SAHARA Las Vegas
Las Vegas is a full of sexy shows with varying degrees of nudity, and there are plenty of ab-centric male revues from the likes of Chippendales, Thunder from Down Under, Aussie Heat, etc. Magic Mike Live is different. This is a full-blown 360-degree theatrical production, not just a glute-clenching, ab-flexing, all-male beefcake parade. It is, dare we say, classier – and sexier for it – with fully choreographed dance numbers, super-sexy audience member seductions, and an overall sex-positive message that celebrates female desire. There is humor, heat, and still plenty of glute-clenching and ab-flexing, but this show also has heart.
Upgrade your night with one of their VIP experiences designed for groups, so gather your squad and enjoy personalized service that includes a tasting menu at Bazaar Meat or Balla at SAHARA, drinks during the show, post-show meet-and-greets, and a dedicated VIP coordinator.
Cheapshot
When it comes to burlesque shows in Las Vegas, Dita Von Teese is all about the vintage Vegas glamour, Miss Behave’s Mavericks is all about the vaudevillian laughs, and the Jiggle Room is all about, well...the jiggle! This monthly burlesque variety show is held inside Cheapshot in DTLV, an elegant sliver of a showroom and discotheque on East Fremont (capacity is only 99 people, and half of them wouldn’t be sitting).
Produced by Las Vegas burlesque queen Raquel Reed – she also produces the Sin City Burlesque Festival – the Jiggle Room brings together an ever-evolving lineup of national and international burlesque (and boylesque) stars in an evening ranging from the classic to the quirky, all overseen by the fabulous host Cocoa Lamarr – she sings, she dances, and she keeps the audience laughing throughout! The Jiggle Room is held monthly on the fourth Friday of the month, with upcoming events on Nov. 22 and Dec. 27. Pro tip: Get there early because seating is all GA and the seats with the best views of the stage fill up quickly.
Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
Lady Like has a lot more in common with Vegas’s topless revues than it does with true burlesque shows – burlesque being all about the tease, with elaborate costumes exaggeratedly removed one layer at a time – but as a non-topless-but-still-extremely-scantily-clad revue primarily driven by dance choreography, it’s a fun romp. Using the “helpful” lessons on how to be “lady like” from very real commercials from the 1950s, Lady Like is a giant middle finger to that repressive representation of gender performance.
While most of the show is group dance numbers in sparkly, frilly, frosting-colored barely-there costumes, the solo and duo acts are the real standouts, and the live singing from the charm school Headmistress adds a fun dimension to the show. The music is mostly contemporary bangers (Lizzo’s “Lingerie” and the quirky “Supermarket” by Bart & Baker are used tremendously well) with a splash of 1950s throwbacks, such as the very real novelty song from 1957 titled “It's Illegal, It's Immoral, or It Makes You Fat,” about how everything fun is one of those three things (sung live). Lady Like is tongue-in-cheek cheesecake for the TikTok generation, and if you’re looking for a female revue that isn’t fully topless with some nudge-nudge, wink-wink humor, it’s a fun time.
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
There are 21-year-olds celebrating their milestone birthdays in Las Vegas today who have been alive for less time than Penn & Teller have been headlining Las Vegas—the magic-performing pair is now in their 23rd year as residency headliners at the Rio. Pay respect to the elders and see for yourselves exactly why this dynamic duo has been successfully headlining Vegas for the last two decades. Theirs is the longest-running residency in Las Vegas history, and their unique blend of timeless magic and timely comedy keeps fans coming back time and time again (it helps that they also introduce new illusions regularly to keep the show feeling fresh—no small feat given the longevity of this show).
The Flamingo
Much like history’s greatest jesters, Piff uses self-deprecating humor to serve his own purpose and wears a ridiculous costume to distract from his stunning stage work. Mr. Piffles, the world’s only magic-performing chihuahua, also provides plenty of audience distraction as Piff performs the kind of illusions that will leave you thinking long after the show ends. His piercing-sharp humor makes him all the more suited to make a mockery out of the more ridiculous stereotypes of stage magic (and magicians).
The Flamingo
A rotating cast of the fiercest queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race can be seen slaying their very own show at the Flamingo, and these sickening showgirls know how to werk. RuPaul’s Drag Race LIVE! is an original production based on the Emmy Award-winning reality competition featuring hit songs from the past 16 seasons of Drag Race as well as original numbers and all-new elaborate costumes and choreography. The current lineup of performers includes Aquaria, Asia O’Hara, Derrick Barry, Eureka O’Hara, Jaida Essence Hall, and Jorgeous. Sashay! Shante!