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‘Sweets’ Spot’ premiered on February 14.
Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Singer and burlesque star Melody Sweets, who first came to Las Vegas in 2011 to star as the Green Fairy in “Absinthe,” always brings her uniquely naughty-but-nice style to whatever stage where she performs. Now she’s taking on a different medium, and she has plenty of talented Vegas friends joining her.
The new web series “Sweets’ Spot” premiered on Valentine’s Day on YouTube and SweetsSpotTV.com, and it’s an off-the-wall good time. With shades of the irreverent TV comedy series “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” and all the innuendo and cheeky humor one would expect from Sweets, the debut episode re-introduces your host as she bakes up a delicious dish inside her colorful, animated abode and features appearances and performances from a host of local singers, dancers and musicians, including Sabina Kelley, Skye Dee Miles, Hazel Honeysuckle, Darby Fox and more. We also meet the evil Dr. Donut (Bradford Scobie) and his villainous colleague Frida Hole (Anaïs Thomassian), and there’s a real commercial in the middle of the show — although it’s too funny to be taken too seriously — starring Kasey Wilson.
“Sweets’ Spot” was created by Sweets, Thomassian (who plays Penny Pibbets in “Absinthe”) and conceptual artist and performer Melissa King-Jules and was shot entirely in Las Vegas by Light Forge Studios. Five more episodes are in the works with release dates to be announced.
Sweets, who performed last year with Jeff Goldblum at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, explained the original idea for the show had been alive for years, but it took some interesting turns to end up online.
“It stemmed from a live show concept Ms. Tickle [King-Jules] and I were working on, and it was supposed to go on the Strip and then the world shut down” during the pandemic, she explained. Also a talented baker, Sweets hit the kitchen to make cakes and other goodies for her neighbors and friends when shows were shut down, and that experience took the concept in a different direction.
“Then Anaïs came in and I said I wanted to produce a cooking show, and it morphed into this extremely magical place, something so different that has taken on a life of its own,” Sweets continued. “Bringing her in, her comedy, her directing, her eye, she’s such a creative force on this project. I can’t believe where it went from where it started.”
Thomassian has been involved in musical theater since she was a child and has spent more time with live stage projects that those on the screen, but she lived in LA and did a lot of work on camera during that period.
“I think it was hard for me to just be an actor in front of someone that was in control of what we were putting out. When you’re filming something in someone else’s project … you have to put your faith into the people doing the editing and making your work,” Thomassian said. “That’s part of why I love it now because … I like having my hands in all the things, directing, editing. I like creating a world.”
That’s exactly what this team has done with “Sweets’ Spot” — created their own world full of brash, brazen characters, a world without restrictions. Viewers can rent or buy the uncensored version at SweetsSpotTV.com, but the regular version has plenty of spice and sizzle.
“There was no holding back,” said Thomassian. “We just decided to let everybody throw some things in this huge pot of ideas, and everyone’s got crazy ideas, but none of us held each other back. That’s what made it into this outrageous show, we kind of pushed each other to get there.”
Upcoming episodes will feature appearances from Flamingo headliner Piff the Magic Dragon, and another “Absinthe” graduate in Voki Kalfayan. Sweets said some of the guest artists were initially planned to play live in the original concept.
“It was always asking, how do I blend live entertainment, burlesque, singing, because I want to do everything I love in one place,” she said. “The fact that we didn’t have the [restrictions] that you have on a live show meant we could do whatever we want on film. We can fly if we want to, or we can have a crash landing of a blueberry pie spaceship. We’re able to use a different kind of imagination and tap into something different.”
