I’ve been to Aussie Heat, Chippendales, and Thunder From Down Under a bunch of times. Most of the audience will be straight women, but it’s a blast and no one has ever given me a hard time as a gay man. Each of the shows has their own vibe.
Aussie Heat is the most gay-friendly of the Vegas male revues. They regularly bring men up on stage and will give lap dances to men in the audience (you buy a wristband to get lap dances, so bring cash with you). In terms of production values, it’s also the most low-budget of the male revues, but still a lot of fun. It’s very raunchy — they use a dildo for one number and bring people on stage for body shots in another. They just moved to a new location earlier this year, so I don’t know anything about the current theater.
Chippendales is a breathtaking production — the dancing/choreography is top-notch, and there’s more nudity in the show than the other revues. They typically don’t interact aith men in the audience, but there’s less audience interaction than the other shows to begin with. I’ve only seen them bring men on-stage for the final number, which I won’t spoil. That having been said, they are a gay-friendly company. At least three of the current dancers are openly gay, and several of the dancers (including straight ones) march in the gay pride parade each year as well as AIDS fundraisers. If you stick around after the show in the lounge area by bar, you can usually talk to them for a bit. The theater (inside the Rio) looks dated from the outside but has a very nice interior. If you’re going by yourself, try to get a ticket toward the front on the lefthand or righthand side (in the rows, not the VIP). You’ll have fewer people in front of you than if you sit center-stage and the dancers will sometimes fist-bump or high-five you when they’re. oming on or-off stage.
Thunder From Down Under is the least gay-friendly of the three. They completely ignore men in the audience, but they won’t turn you away either and I’ve never had anyone (dancers, cocktail servers, or other audience members) say anything homophobic to me either. I‘ve heard weird rumors about their management’s attitude toward gay men. Apparently, they used to do gay shows a decade ago but stopped doing it because it was “hurting their bramd.” Their dance captain also bragged in an interview several years ago that theyve never had a gay dancer, which I find suspicious (Chippendales has had at least 7-8 “out” gay dancers ove the years). Like Chippendales, there’s a meet-and-greet after the show. Some dancers are friendly to mem, some aren’t. The show is a little more raunchy than Chippendales in terms of sexual themes, but with less nudity. The theater is also a bit awkward — about 90% of the seats are vertical tables of 8, which means that if you go by yourself, you might end up in close quarters with 6-7 screaming bachelorettes. If you’re by yourself, I recommend buying a ticket for a seat along the wall above the booths. If you have another person with you, buy the tickets for the front two seats at one of the vertical tables.
I’ve never been to Magic Mike Live. I’ve heard that it’s a huge venue without much audience interaction and that the choreography is very intricate.
Finally, don’t go to Hunkomania if they’re advertising any Vegas shows. They’re sketchy as hell.