Lou Anne H. Chessik posing with other cast members in “Enter the Night.” Photo courtesy of UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives

Diane Christiansen and Lou Anne H. Chessik

Living the Life of Rhinestones, Feathers, Sequins … and Beyond

BY DEBBIE HALL

The iconic showgirl in Las Vegas remains an integral aspect of the city’s past, as the present honors the women (and men) of this timeless art form. Recently, Circa Resort & Casino welcomed the legendary Crazy Girls statue to the resort after shining for 24 years at the Riviera. Diane Christiansen and Lou Anne H. Chessik both embodied the showgirl persona while living that life before transitioning to different careers.

Christiansen parlayed her experiences as a showgirl into becoming an actress, dancer, author, director, producer, writer, costume designer and studio owner. Today, she is the owner, CEO and master coach at the Christiansen Acting Academy and the author of the recently released “The Last Real Showgirl: My Sequined ’70s Onstage.”

Chessik is the founder and president of the Showgirl Legacy Foundation, host of the broadcast show “The Showgirl Connection” and founder and producer of Cast and Crew Reunions.

The two women met during a cast and crew reunion for the Stardust Resort & Casino.

“I loved meeting Diane because we’ve been talking about how we just missed each other at the ‘Lido de Paris’ show since we both danced in the show,” Chessik said. “We also went to the Lido reunion in Paris, and our lives became more intertwined, really bonded over, and became good friends. Part of it is our love of keeping the iconic showgirl alive.”

The path to becoming a showgirl was very diverse for both women.

Christiansen grew up in Rock Island, Illinois, part of the Quad Cities area.

She spent her childhood performing, acting and singing, but became serious about dancing at the age of 13. She began training with a husband-and-wife team who had been performers in New York. Christiansen was a talented tap dancer and was determined to be ready for the audition with the Rockettes. In fact, her book opens with her audition with Russell Markert and Emilia Sherman, the original creator, choreographer and company manager of the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.

While her heart was in acting, and she even won an acting scholarship, Christiansen decided to remain on call to be a summer replacement for the Rockettes. Eventually, she auditioned for the Rudas Dancers and performed in shows in Montreal, Paradise Island in the Bahamas and “Folies Bergère” at the Tropicana in Las Vegas. She danced in “Lido de Paris” from 1979 to 1981.

Chessik began ballet training at age 6 and joined Tacoma City Ballet as a teenager. However, she grew to be 6 feet tall and was advised to train in another style of dance. She studied modern dance at the Martha Graham Studios and jazz at the Alvin Ailey Dance Studios in New York City.

After college, she drove to Las Vegas with her friend, and her mom got them tickets to see “Hallelujah Hollywood,” which was at the original MGM Grand. She went backstage and introduced herself to the company manager, Fluff LeCoque. The night before, producer Donn Arden had been in to see the show and fired a showgirl on the spot. Chessik auditioned for LeCoque and started dancing in “Hallelujah Hollywood” her second day in Las Vegas.

“We were dancing six nights a week, two shows a night and three on Saturday, and then during the disco days, we’d be all wound up from doing the shows. We would go out to Paul Anka’s Jubilations, The Brewery or Gipsy until the sun came up,” Christiansen said. “We had built-in entertainment backstage at the ‘Lido de Paris’ because we had the most talented cast, and the boys in our show entertained us between shows like it was their job.”

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Strip was home to fabulous female impersonators, such as Kenny Kerr, whom many considered beautiful, feminine and funny. Both women admitted it was a nonstop party.

“I had really accomplished a lot as an actor in those three years in Las Vegas, including three major feature films and three commercials that were all broadcast. The casting director from CBS for ‘The Young and the Restless’ was in Las Vegas, and I was one of three actors selected for a general interview,” Christiansen said. “A general interview is like gold. The next day, my agent called me for a callback. I drove to Los Angeles, where my first role was as a nurse.”

She moved to Los Angeles to continue her acting career, was signed by an agent and worked in two lead roles on a Canadian series on the Playboy Channel, similar to the American TV series “Love, American Style.” While appearing on the show, Christiansen met the love of her life and married him.

Chessik’s life changed while she was in rehearsals for “Jubilee” after “Hallelujah Hollywood” closed at the MGM Grand. About three weeks before the show was set to open, a major fire struck the MGM Grand.

“I never went back to dance in ‘Jubilee’ since it was delayed and opened eight months later. Over the next 10 years, I danced in the ‘Lido de Paris’ and ‘Enter the Night’ at the Stardust Hotel, ‘Hello Hollywood, Hello!’ at the MGM Grand Hotel in Reno, Nevada and ‘Las Vegas by Night’ at the Mikado Theatre in Tokyo. ‘Enter the Night’ was my last show, and I was in the original cast,” Chessik explained. “I knew it would be my last show because I was 36 years old and because I became pregnant with my son. I like to say my son danced with me onstage for five months until I couldn’t hold my stomach in any longer.”

For more than 33 years, Christiansen has operated her acting studio, with her daughter teaching for the past 15 years, following her own career as an actress from childhood into her early 30s. Students include those who perform in shows such as “Euphoria,” “This Is Us” and “Stranger Things.”

“We’ve been lucky; we have worked hard and won awards over the years as the best studio in Los Angeles. We’ve had the good fortune to train some of the hottest talent in Hollywood, including Chloe Cherry on ‘Euphoria.’ We trained Rhenzy Feliz on the new show ‘The Penguin’ with Colin Farrell, who won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role in that series. Rhenzy is a rising star,” Christiansen said. “Rhenzy got his agent with us in our showcase and has come up. He was the voice of the teen boy in ‘Encanto.’ We’ve got a lot of new people coming up.”

With the impending implosion of the Stardust Resort & Casino in 2006, Chessik created and organized a reunion, and over 650 people attended. Chessik created the website for the event (castandcrewreunion.com) and later the Showgirl Legacy Foundation (showgirllegacy.org).

“We didn’t have a lot of photos back then, so I thought about holding an art competition that would combine the visual and performing arts. I spoke with my friend Linda Spinks about my idea. Both of her daughters were attending the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, and she said to run it by their art instructor, Kelly Mabel. She immediately gained an understanding of the unique entertainment history of Las Vegas, which became part of her curriculum. The art students study the history of the showgirl and the stage show spectaculars and create their own interpretation of the iconic showgirl in a painting,” Chessik explained.

The Showgirl Legacy Foundation will present the 19th Annual Showgirl Art Competition, which showcases a historical perspective and presentation of the showgirl era by former performers. The presentation also features a showgirl modeling original costumes from the Las Vegas stage show spectaculars for photo references for the artists. The Las Vegas Academy of the Arts will host this program.

Another event led to Chessik hosting “The Showgirl Connection” on WWDB-TV (wwdbtv.com/shows/the-showgirl-connection). Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” ran for a limited engagement at Aliante Casino & Hotel in April 2024. It featured a 45-member cast, including 12 original Las Vegas showgirls and a 30-piece orchestra.

“I was one of the 12 legendary showgirls in Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Follies,’ and I never thought I’d be back on stage again,” Chessik said. “Diane’s acting classes helped me tremendously as well for that role. I was a guest on the show ‘The Gift of Giving’ on WWDB-TV as the founder and president of the Showgirl Legacy Foundation. John Stiles, the owner and producer of WWDB-TV, asked me after the show if I would consider hosting a show about showgirls, and I said yes. Around that time, Diane and I went to see the movie ‘The Last Showgirl’ and started brainstorming about the film. We decided to have Diane as my guest and compare the movie to her new book, which shares a similar title. We discussed what they got right and what they got wrong. She was my guest on the first three episodes of ‘The Showgirl Connection’ and co-hosted the fourth one with me.”