LAS VEGAS — Good lord, Vader. We’re seeing the flip side of the Dark Side.

“The Empire Strips Back — A Burlesque Parody” opens May the 4th (be with you, yep) at the Rio. This is the saber-swinging “Star Wars” send-up in the space where the Chippendales once grooved.

The Strip has the Sphere. This show has stripping “Stormies.”

Fashioned after the generation-spanning sci-fi series, “Empire Strips Back” is funny and sexy but not topless. Ticket holders must be 18 or older. There are nine female dancers, two males and comic emcee Eric Newton, who appears intermittently in the variety show format.

Cast members dress in iconic “Star Wars” costumes, true to their original characters, but customized to show some skin and allow for dancing. Most of the roles played by guys in the films are taken by ladies in the satire show.

The performers wield such iconic props as blasters and lightsabers. Think Stormtroopers leading a revival of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” Princess Leia gyrating to “Closer,” R2-D2 making it rain by firing cash in the air, and Han Solo gyrating to “Smooth Criminal,” to screams that (we understand) reach the edge of the galaxy.

‘A dance-driven show’

The show draws exclusively from the franchise’s original trilogy, “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.” Producer David Foster requires cast members to watch the original “Star Wars” (later retitled “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope”) or “The Empire Strikes Back,” to help reinforce the Force of the farce.

But an extensive “Star Wars” education is not needed to perform the production.

“This is primarily a dance show, a genuinely raunchy and sexy show,” Foster says during a recent rehearsal, as a Jedi character wields a lightsaber for a photo shoot. “Obviously, you’re looking for charm and charisma, a sense of humor onstage. But this is a dance-driven show.”

Attendees who have never seen a “Star Wars” movie have responded to the intergalactic satire.

“I think this will work for the ‘Star Wars’ newbie, and it has at our other shows,” Foster says. “But there are things for the hard-core fan that no one else will get. There are Easter eggs and gags that only they’ll understand.”

Those “other shows” prove “Empire Strips Back” can play across the country and internationally. The production also opens Sunday in London. It runs in Chicago, and opens in Seattle in June. It has played in San Francisco, San Diego, Mexico City, Boston, Washington, D.C., Louisville, Kentucky, Houston and six cities in Australia. Versions are in development for Portland, Oregon, Phoenix and Atlanta.

After London, the show will tour the U.K., and a different company is due to tour Canada next year.

Universal appeal

A former Spiegelworld CEO, dating to the “Vegas Nocturne” era more than a decade ago, Foster caught the show in Australia. He’s piloting this Millennium Falcon with another Spiegelworld alum, creative producer Daniel Kells.

“I realized there’s something really unique about this show, the sort of chemistry where you have ‘Star Wars,’ which takes itself seriously, and parody burlesque,” Foster says. “It’s both sexy and comic, and something about these items really turns lead into gold.”

Associate choreographer Maria Lewis played several roles in “Empire Strips Back’s” Seattle and Mexico City companies.

She’s wearing a black-and-white, pinstriped baseball jersey with “VADER” across the back and “Dark Side” on the front, found in a Vegas thrift store.

“The good news is that dance is so international,” Lewis says. “The show is so universal. Everyone loves ‘Star Wars.’”

“Empire Strips Back” is the first show not piloted by the Chippendales to play the second-level theater.

The Chipps moved out on New Year’s Eve, with “Empire” leasing the space in an open-ended contract with the Rio.

Wookiees welcome

Hotel CEO Patrick Miller, a veteran Strip operator, is accustomed to inventive productions, as he was the GM of the Monte Carlo back when the Blue Man Group headlined its theater.

“This show is the perfect blend of spectacle, humor and seductive entertainment,” he says. “Fans are in for an unforgettable, out-of-this-world experience.”

Whether the show will enjoy a cult following, as it has around the world, remains to be seen.

There is at least one party of 30 that plans to attend the premiere, likely in their finest Sunday “Star Wars” attire.

“We often get customer service inquiries like, ‘Can I bring my lightsaber?’ Of course you can — our ushers have lightsabers,” Foster chuckles. “You can wear your Chewbacca outfit. Preferably, you take your headpiece off so people behind you can see. But you can come however you like.”

'The Empire Strips Back' cast

Emcee: Eric Newton

Female dancers:

Jasmyn Sosa-Houston

Bobbi Barricella

Joanne Daquigan

Annaka Vong

Mocha Mullins

Reese Schwarzentraub

Gabrielle Potapenko

Kennedy Sciarini

Male dancers:

Nathan Kara (parody Han Solo)

Joshua Bluhm (parody Chewie)

What: “The Empire Strips Back — A Burlesque Parody.”

Where: Rio Hotel & Casino.

When: 8 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursday; 7 p.m. Fridays through Sundays; additional shows 9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays (dark Tuesdays).

Tickets: $49-$119 (not including taxes and fees).

Information: TheEmpireStripsBack.com or RioLasVegas.com. Must be 18-over to attend.

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