In 1999, I received a request for proposal for an adult family show, which was kind of weird.

I'm a born performer.

It's the only thing I've ever wanted to do.

It keeps you young and fresh.

I wanted to be on billboards.

I wanted to have a show.

I had goals to be bigger.

For over 25 years, fantasy has been the ultimate celebration of the vibrant spirit of Las Vegas nightlife.

Welcome to the magic, of fantasy at Luxor.

Hello, I'm Anita Mann, and I'm the creator of fantasy.

Here I am in the Atrium showroom lobby about to hold auditions And I'm going to be getting one, maybe two ladies today.

And so we're going to give you a behind the scenes look.

So come on, let's go check it out okay.

ladies we're going to how many are here?

So what we're going to do we're going to learn the routine, and then we'll do it in smaller groups.

So you'll have room.

what I'm looking for today is something very special in a dancer.

And so I want to make sure when they walk in the door that I see who they are as a person, they have to be strong.

hit your marks, hit your positions and hit those steps that you are given.

you have to rise to the occasion You know, once we start the audition process, I'm pretty quick in spotting who I think is going to be the right person.

I may be wrong, but I'm usually pretty close, so it only takes me a couple of minutes, which is two weeks of a routine.

I have a lady leading this audition today named Ashton who is our performance director.

and this is the time that she shines.

if I can see that this dancer can do everything that Ashton is doing, then Ashton has given me everything that I need to see in that audition process, to pick the person who I think can live up to what we ask them to be.

and you may be perfect today, but maybe not the perfect height today.

Besides the dancing ability that I need to see right off the bat, I also interview the ladies.

We do a slate.

We ask them their name.

You know how tall they are.

I get a feeling of their personality.

I get a style of how they talk and and if they're comfortable talking, So when we're auditioning, Mariah sits to my left, Beverly sits to my right, Beverly is in my right ear.

Mariah is in my left ear, and as a team, we really form a strong triangle of people to come to the right decision.

auditioning is part of our industry?

It's not the part that I love.

I have to break hearts.

I know what it feels like.

I was a dancer.

I know what it feels like when you're standing on that line and they say, could you please step forward?

Could you please step forward?

And the rest of you, thank you so much.

It's heartbreaking.

I don't enjoy that.

I'm hoping that I find a lady today who can fill the job I'm comfortable.

I am the creator.

producer, and owner of Fantasy here at Luxor.

I think I knew I was going to be a dancer from the time I was five years old.

It was never a doubt in my mind what I wanted to be, and I just didn't know that I would end up where I've ended up.

And I knew I would never stop it was pretty coincidental that I went to a school called Fairfax High School.

It was right up the street from CBS.

I was walking home with my dance bag, I just saw a line of dancers in the parking lot I walked up to somebody and said, what are you guys doing in this line?

They said, we're auditioning, for an NAACP special.

I said, how do you do it?

And they just said, get in line.

can I say it?

I was 17, and I lied and said I was 18, but I got the job.

When I was a dancer and I must say i the 60s, it was entirely differe We didn't have agents, we didn't have Instagram, we didn't know how to really get jobs except by word of mouth it was, was a different world than it is now.

I was dancing in an Elvis film in the mid 60s called Spin Out.

I was very young, but I really liked watching cameras.

So I made up my own little routine.

The second day, the choreographer came up to me and said, we've been watching you dance, And would you be interested in assisting, the choreographer on the next Elvis film?

And I said, yes, And I became a choreographer or because Elvis asked me to.

then I started writing and creating and producing musicals everywhere.

And that was my job.

In 1999, I received a request for proposal for an adult family show, which was kind of weird, I thought, okay, it was at midnight.

So I wrote a little story about Cinderella, and I called it Midnight Fantasy.

I thought, okay, let's do a contemporary version of a showgirl we eventually got the job, and Beverly and I were part of that 1999 scary moment when we took it.

we only had six weeks to open.

But it was a matter of casting, creating, costuming, rehearsing and get it on stage in a matter of just a few weeks.

But we did it.

And so we try to continually tailor make the show every year to evolve into what we think the audience wants.

Okay, now we're going to meet my good friend Beverly, who's not just a friend.

She's also executive producer of Fantasy, and she's, probably the reason we're still running for 25 years.

Beverly.

Hi, sweetheart.

Hi.

Hi, hi.

Thank you for being here.

I know that it's, you do a lot of different things, but the most important thing that you do is keep the dancers happy, keep the company working as hard as it is, you keep everything running.

And there's nothing I can say except thank you.

It's a pleasure.

It's so wonderful to work for you.

I love it.

It's great.

We can do so many different things in part of Fantasy.

Wardrobe, sets, lights, everything.

We get to do everything.

And the thing I like about Beverly.

More than I can even ever express.

Besides our friendship is how she has the integrity to keep everyone, everyone happy, Beverly and I have worked together since 1978?

We were trying to remember when it was.

She has done every job with me as a dancer, as a performer.

Sorry.

And then a company manager.

but on Solid Gold we did 17 dance numbers a week.

Beverly wasn't in all of them, but she knew every routine.

She would watch it and the dancers would say, what's next?

And I've said, oh, it's a one, two, three.

And I said, Bev, you're not even in that.

She knew everything.

She could take every single dance position on camera, everything that there was.

And I saw this and I said, there's something about her that stands out that started me on mentoring.

I think that in order to be fresh and be successful, you have to collaborate with the people around you.

without mentorship, I wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't have people in my life mentoring me.

don't know where I would be.

I needed that advice, that guidance, that creative influence that they were in my life.

And I want to pay it forward.

Professionally?

And it has been my entire life, basically.

So, you know, she's I've worked for her for ever.

And it's been great.

And I've been able to learn so many different things.

I started as a dancer and then as a company manager, and then I got into the finance, and I've learned so many things and all the different aspects of entertainment, and it's been an incredible ride and just trying to keep up with her.

That's been the hardest part.

I don't need to hire an executive producer, a line producer, a performance director, a showrunner.

I don't need to hire those people from outside my company because they exist in the company.

And let's face it, we can't dance at a certain age.

We would like to love to.

Bev and I woul be on stage tonight.

Five, six, seven, eight.

We would do it.

The audience would leave.

But you can't dance forever.

But you can have a job in your field of passion.

Beverly.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

See you later.

my name is Mariah Nieslanik I have been with Fantasy for 16 years, and I am a featured dancer and co-producer of the show.

My name is Ashton Bray.

I'm a featured dancer and performance director at Fantasy, and I've been with the show for over 12 years.

I've loved dancing since I was three years old.

Literally.

My mom could not keep me off stage.

I. I don't even think she probably wanted to put me in dance class, but I just loved it so much.

I was definitely shy as a kid to speak, but I could dance in front of a million people.

I have always loved it.

I didn't think it'd be my career.

So I started dancing when I was two, I think that's as early as you can put your kids into dance class.

I used to line up my stuffed animals and do performances.

And by the time I was ten, I was dancing 40 hours a week.

So my audition for Fantasy, I don't know if this dates me, but I messaged Fantasy on their Myspace page asking if they had any auditions and luckily they said, come in for a private audition and meet our producer Anita.

And if we like you, then, you know, we'll go from there.

Through friends, I scheduled a private audition with Anita.

We were supposed to go up on stage, but somehow the theater was locked, so we ended up doing the audition in the lobby.

So I showed up to the audition.

they were just like, you know, just freestyle and we'll just show you a couple accounts.

And I was like, oh, I literally thought, I embarrass myself.

I thought it was like, this is, I don't know what I just did.

Mariah's audition for Fantasy was a no brainer.

She walked onto the stage before she even started learning the routine I looked at her, she's got the job.

She said, okay, I'm just going to let you freestyle, and then I'll teach you a combo.

And she put the music on.

I had just go five, six, seven, eight, hit it, and I did the best I could.

Ashton was an incredible dancer and is an incredible dancer.

She ripped the sound off.

She said, I love you.

You're perfect.

How tall are you?

Youre hired.

I remember it like, there she was.

She's just she is everyone's dream.

she was like, we love you.

Well, you know, we'll start rehearsal next week.

And I literally didn't even have time to process how amazing because I was like, I'm literally just dancing in the lobby.

I don't think I did very good.

Working for Anita is a dream come true.

It's also intense.

It's very on your feet.

You learn to go with the flow.

it's scary.

It's a hard business.

It's hard to always stay on top of your game, I just want to do such a good job.

It keeps you young and fresh.

And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I'm a born performer.

It's the only thing I've ever wanted to do.

I went to school for accounting and business, so I definitely always knew that I wanted to do something in the business field as well as dance, Mariah kind of just fell naturally into the role of company manager, which means to keep the company managed.

My whole life, all I've ever wanted to do was perform.

I had never had any real plans outside of that.

But I've been in the show about 9 or 10 years and we're so busy here.

Everyone's doing a million things and wearing a thousand hats, and I just started doing things to help out, just kind of intuitively.

but Anita sees everything, and she actually called me and said, you know, how would you feel about having a management role with our company?

And I said, Ashton.

Do you think you could step into that track?

choreograph something at the last minute?

Fixed staging, re-block.

It's a lot of work.

Teach the numbers, keep the performance looking the way you think.

I would like it to look every night.

I said, for a couple of weeks, and she's like, no, no, forever.

And Ashton said I want to do it.

So I became production manager, And she stepped into that role and has learned so much.

And then there was an opportunity for advancement, and I became the performance director.

I feel like this show is so special because it starts from the top.

It starts with Anita and her wanting to take care of us like family and her being a dancer herself, really appreciating and taking care of us, knowing that dancers are the heart of any show Our time on stage is finite.

It's not forever and we have to do something else.

The good thing is that dancers are really good at lots of things.

because you don't know what's going to come next.

I think what Ashton has developed into Now that she's in production, and now that Mariah is in production, they understand more about what goes on behind the scenes Mariah Hi.

I have the cameras here and they would love to know more about what we do behind the scenes.

Perfect.

Well, I'm tying shoes to make sure the girls don't trip because they drive me crazy.

Yeah, put it down So what kind of things you do before the dancers get here?

Well, you and I are usually the first and always and the last out it's it's a hard job keeping the show 8 dancers and aerialists and a singer on stage every single night.

the show runs seven days a week, and so it's different dancers in each track.

I have input from Mariah, from Anita about who does what track, who should be opposite who.

We are rarely opposite because of our height, but sometimes it's fun.

Right.

And, so the chart is really important.

Changes every day.

It is very interesting.

It keeps me on my toes for sure.

But I have Mondays off.

you have... No, no.

Never.

It varies.

No days off.

And that's kind of how it all goes.

And so you have the hardest job because people can call out at any time throughout the day.

Yeah, obviously, you know, emergencies happen, fast and furious.

And then all of a sudden the the crew saying five minutes and you realize that you have no makeup on and you're not ready for the show yourself.

And we're the first ones here and the last one's ready.

Yeah, almost every night.

And then we do a fabulous show.

Being a dancer, I knew what it was like to never have a day off or have a vacation and worry about losing your job or asking for a day off, and you're going to lose your job.

So I know what that feeling was like.

We have to keep everyone healthy and to keep them healthy.

We give them a life to enjoy and to stay healthy.

Im going to start crying Don't cry keep it together.

I'm really glad we have each other.

Because I couldn't do this without you.

And I know you love the show as much as I do.

And I love you.

I love working with you.

It's.

It's a dream come true to work with somebody every single day.

It's obviously how long we know each other.

Twelve years Every single day.

Six nights a week to, you know, work with somebody and still like each other at the end of the day Since you've taken the management role, it's been.

It's been a dream.

Thank you.

It made my job much easier.

and I can lean on you.

And I have leaned on you.

And so I really appreciate it.

I love you.

Hi, my name is Lorraine Apparel.

I'm the host of fantasy singer headliner, bad comedian goofball.

I've been singing since I was a little girl.

I fell in love with singing when my dad, bought me a karaoke system, the minute I got that karaoke machine, I was hooked.

my brother was an audience member, you know, grab my my brush and just sing to him and pretend I was a star.

just loved it so much.

I didn't care about anything else.

Okay, Lorena has an incredible story.

She was on a cruise ship.

She was not a performer.

There was open mic night She did a karaoke night.

- I didn't want to do it.

And my mom told me to go do it, and I believed in her, and I did it.

And next thing you know, everyone stands up and I get a standing ovation.

I was pretty much offered a job to be not just in a band, to be like the star and I toured the world for four years, And somebody on the cruise ship told her about Las Vegas I wanted to be on billboards.

I wanted to have a show.

I wanted my own show.

I had goals to be bigger.

and then I came to Vegas.

She came to Fantasy and auditioned But I didn't need a singer at that time.

and she was looking for a part time singer.

But I had bills to pay, so, she said try again later.

as it turned out, my singer had to leave.

A few years later, and next, you know I'm here headlining Fantasy And it was amazing.

My dreams came true.

- Lorena is remarkable.

we were meant to be together.

My role as an MC here in Vegas is to stick to the script, which I don't do.

Thank God bless Anita Mann is to be a singer, you know, host a show, audience participation.

I said, I think the singer can handle the show, can host the show and keep the show running and be the creative glue to the show.

And so the singer is critical to the show.

You know, a lot of the times, script scripted, which I follow the script sometimes.

Sorry, Anita, but I just love people.

I'm a people magnet.

The singers that we have in Fantasy are not just singers, they have to be comedians.

I don't have a background in comedy, but I believe that I get it from my mother My mom is always joking around.

She likes to laugh and have a good time.

She likes to make jokes.

They have to be able to talk to the audience and to really relate to the audience and to keep our show glued together with creative interludes.

Okay.

We have just completed an incredible audition.

We had about 20 ladies, and I've asked four ladies to stay.

And I'm about to tell them what we're going to do.

And it was a fun time.

And these are incredibly beautiful dancers.

- Ladies.

the most exciting part of an audition is giving a person a job.

so what we will do now is have you contacted by Ashton, who organizes rehearsals She's our performance director.

you're all here because this is what you do for a living, Congratulations.

This is a goal in life and for them to accomplish that and for me me to able to say, you have the job gives me so much joy, and I know it gives them so much joy as well.

We are in the lobby of the atrium showroom where fantasy appears every night.

Here we go.

We're going in here.

Luxor employees only.

All right.

A backstage look.

hello.

Hi, Cynthia.

So this is like, costumes galore.

And this is where we kind of get our clothes organized every night.

well, she does for us.

here we are, ladies.

Oh, the dressing room.

This is where we kind of hang out, do our warm up before the show, do our makeup, hair, chit chat, gossip.

That's the number one thing we do.

Gossip.

and here we find the heart of fantasy.

Hi, Shannon.

I'm working on some videos currently.

So Shannon is our advertising marketing director of everything media, editing, ads.

I mean, she does everything.

the dancers get what's called a five minute call.

When they get their five minute call, they start dribbling out in this hallway.

Because if it weren't for the last minute, we wouldn't be moving.

But a five minute call makes you go this way.

This is where they make all their costume changes.

the man who makes it happen, Jay Tell us a little bit about what do you do Jay I just help keep the show running.

That's it.

I change scenes, open and close the curtain, make sure the girls get on and off stage OK. And, you set all the... And you set the stage He is a one man band back here.

Really running the show in every direction possible, And, Jay, you've been with us for how long?

Very long time.

My dad was here before that.

He started the show over here and then I came in way later.

I'm like fourth generation in the business.

My daughter also is over at Excalibur.

She does lighting.

And then I got a 14 year old, too.

She's starting lighting herself in school right now.

So she goes to... - It'll be the fifth, sixth generation and keep going.

Fabio.

Yes, ma'am.

Have you ever hiked a mountain?

Yes.

Just like these stairs.

Every day.

So what happens is this.

When we put in a new number and we put them in like several times a year?

A lot actually this year we did like six new numbers.

We rehearsed it in a rehearsal hall.

Then we block it on stage and we film it, and the only person we send it to is Fabio, because then Fabio takes that piece What we have staged and creates magic.

I've been here since the beginning.

25 years.

We've seen a few changes.

Oh, yeah, a lot of them.

And we are so proud that 25 years ago we opened this show, we are still running, we are still selling out, and we are still having excited audiences every night.

I feel like this show is so special because it starts from the top.

It starts with Anita and her wanting to take care of us like family.

- The fact that there's this ladder that you can climb, What makes this show special is Anita Mann.

Because she's brilliant.

She's smart.

She keeps the show fresh.

Anita sees everyone's talents and abilities and moves us up through the ranks to learn things, to be in positions that are not normally available for dancers.

Looking back at the 25 years of fantasy I am most proud of our cast.

We have had incredible dancers over the years and it has become a family.

Fantasy is my life.

Fantasy is my life.

It's my whole life.

I've worked here six nights a week for the last 16 years.

This is what I love doing.

All my friends are here.

It's like family.

It's what I think about when I'm not here.

would never I will never take my job for granted.

I love my job so much.

I love performing here.

I will perform here until I cannot.

as long as Anita will have me, I hope to continue to dance it.

And then I also will, be a part of the show for as long as it's it's around behind the scenes or wherever they'll have me.

because it's the best thing in the world and nothing will ever compare to it.

I just want to leave the world a better place.

But I want to help people Congratulate them every day for what they do and watch what they do, and it inspires me to see how successful they are.

whether I make it or not, I want to continue singing and performing and inspiring I just want to keep rocking.

I'm not done.

I'm not done.

There's a certain love for Vegas that I have in Vegas performers.

It's a really tight knit community.

It's a really small town.

Vegas is home.

I, I found my people and where I'm supposed to be, and I could not imagine living anywhere else.

I got a job here and I realized how amazing the city is.

And anything that you want to do, you can do here.

I'll be here forever, Being a Las Vegas showgirl is literally a dream come true.

what I can say to you is follow your dream, follow your passion.

and never give up on creating a life for yourself to follow your dream.

And just keep trying and just know that it's your dream to come true and it can happen to anyone if you don't give up.

That's the show.

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